Would you ever … cheat?!

I don’t mean the unforgivable sin of academia, or the meeting with the cute co-worker for some (as AC/DC so eloquently put it) dirty deeds, done dirt cheap.

Would you ever … cheat … at a video game?

This question has been around since the days of Mario, hopping around shouting out the word Atari (said to originate from the game GO, and is used to inform a player that he or she is in danger, according to http://www.reference.com), and the answers to this question have been gone back and forth more times than Venus and Serena.

Over time, the availability of cheats has evolved, starting out as a few codes here and there, into devices such as the GameShark and Game Genie, FAQ’s, Code Books, and Walkthroughs. Later, in the early days of the Playstation, cheats evolved to include the DexDrive, a tool enabling players to upload their memory card data onto the Internet for other players to download.

On one side of the debate, gamers who use cheats typically cite that they feel no remorse for doing so, and that they are merely capitalizing on the things that the game designer put into the programming. On the other side, die-hard gamers who refuse to use them feel that it cheapens the outcome of the game (I once heard a player say that winning with a cheat is like watching a stripper and claiming to have had sex), and that they will openly discredit the gaming victories of those who use them.

I will not deny that I have utilized cheats, but I also cannot deny that my feelings towards my own win fell very much in line with those who decline their use—I get the finishing screen as a reward, but there is a nagging voice in the back of my mind, telling me I cheated and that I need to go back and win without it in order to achieve redemption.

The back-and-forth debate over the use of cheat tools is likely to continue on as long as there are people playing games. I guess the ultimate answer comes by the definition of the player—is the stolen candy truly sweeter than the one paid for?