The History of Games Cheats
While cheat codes may seem like a thing of the past, they’re still very much a part of gaming culture. And while some cheats, like level select and spawning enemies, are just for fun, others give players an unfair advantage over the computer or their peers.
The earliest game cheats were used to debug titles during testing and debugging, but soon players began using self-made cheats to help them beat games they thought were too hard. This was largely due to the fact that 8-bit consoles had simple programming systems that allowed gamers with basic knowledge of computer programming (using POKE commands) to change in-game statistics such as lives, health and ammo. By altering these values, gamers could make their characters godlike unstoppable forces of nature or cause the game to behave in unusual ways.
Later, as video games grew in complexity and scope, developers included cheat codes to encourage players to keep playing their titles. No developer wants a player to get so frustrated with a game that they stop playing altogether, and using a cheat code to become the ultimate super-hero or cause the game to be more difficult can help overcome this problem.
Many modern games also include cheat codes to increase a title’s replay value, as well as to appeal to players with special needs or disabilities. In her 2007 book Cheating: The Ethics of Video Game Play, Mia Consalvo argues that these kinds of cheats are justified because they can help gamers gain “gaming capital”, which is similar to the kind of social capital described by Pierre Bourdieu. This is because gamers are a subculture with their own rules and hierarchy, and being seen as an all-powerful super-hero or even just as someone who can play the game without dying can enhance a gamer’s status within this subculture.
While some cheats simply give a player an unfair advantage, other cheats make the game more challenging or humorous. For example, the “assistant mode” found in games such as Celeste and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe takes some of the sting out of challenging gameplay by helping players to steer or accelerate their character.
Moreover, while cheating in one-player games isn’t a big deal, it becomes more of an issue when players cheat at multiplayer games. According to Irdeto’s Global Gaming Survey, 59% of players believe that other players’ cheating negatively impacted their multiplayer experience. These cheats, which are often referred to as coin farming, stat padding and currency manipulation, give some gamers an artificially inflated win rate or ranking by generating more game currency than other players.
Other cheats involve modifying a gaming system or controller to gain an advantage over the normal gameplay. For example, using a program that simulates rapid key presses automatically is considered cheating because the modified controller or keyboard can fire weapons more quickly than a human player can. Similarly, using a mouse macro setting that can be triggered with a button press to spawn a specific entity is also considered cheating.
