Cheating! Why do People do it?

To answer your question about skipping certain parts of a game which originally requires you to use an item of sorts, is called "sequence breaking", and isn't really considered cheating. The Metroid and Castlevania series are well known games for being "exploited" in such a way.
In my opinion, the word "cheating" is irrelevant unless you're actually cheating in a game with other people, like using codes and hacking.

Man recently I've been pissed at cheaters in games. A game a number of community memeber play, erepublik, has had a bad time with people using mutliple accounts to completly ruin any chances of playing fair.

I wouldn't consister that cheating. Now there was a cheat in left 4 dead where all you have to do is hit a button before you start the no mercy campaign and you get all the achievements. Notice how the in game trophys are called achievements not "cheatments". I consister that cheating.

Cheating is a very broad term. I am a lover of speed runs so take this how you will.

First off, To me, cheating is when you are taking advantage of a glitch, something the creators of the game did not realize you could do or left it in, to benifet yourself against other players.
ex: Metroid Prime hunters. In many maps in the multiplayer mode, you could glitch yourself out of the walls of the map and kill your openents without them ever getting a shot at you. This is cheating for you are taking advantage of a flaw in the game and using it against others.

second, when you physically alter the game, like giving yourself infinite life/ammo/jumping/etc, this is outright cheating for your changing the game itself. Again, if your doing this against other people, then there is a huge problem.
ex: many pc shooters. because of how easy it is for some to mod and alter pc games, you will find many able to alter their games in both good and bad ways. many times bad.

and finally, for me, there is another style of cheating. when you use cheat codes built into the game (contra code), use glitches/moves to sequence break (getting the space jump boots as your first upgrade in metroid prime by using the lock-on side jump), and using "cheap" tactics to beat enemies or stages or puzzles "stand in a safe spot where an enemy can't hit you but you can hit them, and its not supposed to be this way), FOR PERSONAL USE IN SINGLE PLAYER. If your in a single player game and you want to mess around or use cheap tactics, go right ahead, your not hurting anyone else and sometimes those glitches can really damage your game.

I always considered cheating as exploiting the game to get and advantage that im not supposed to get, but if the item is optional with what i have then im not cheating

I only consider something cheating if an unfair technique is employed to beat another person who isn't also using it, beating someone who doesn't know how to play, or beating the game in a cheating way. It's definately cheating when you're fighting your friend in a fighting game and you have infinate health...

Some idiots are consumed by winning over all else and would cheat at checkers against a 5 year old if it meant a W, but should we be surprised? Our society glorifies winning by any means necessary without repercussion; cheaters in the stock market got golden parachutes, cheaters in college football got to keep their heisman trophy, and cheaters in politics got to be president for 8 years.

I think sequence breaking is just a fun thing to do after you've already played through the game anyway. The real cheaters are snot nosed kids who use unlimited combos in fighting games online... makes me want to punch them through the f*cking screen.

I agree with your sentiment on cheating whole heartily (as far as cheating in a single player game doesn't really matter). Hope to read more articles from you Nolan.

About your comment on speed runs of Ocarina of Time, etc, I wouldn't consider that cheating. You simply found flaws in the level design you're in and you found an alternate path to go through. You wouldn't be ruining the experience of yourself or others, since if you're attempting to speed run a game then you most likely have beaten the game normally at least once, giving you that experience the developers intended. However, exploiting the flaws and using them to take alternate paths, I believe, grant a new experience, giving you the feeling "Wow, I struggled so hard by normally doing ______ when I could've just use this mechanic to ______."

But say you use those flaws to get advantage on another player, or giving you the high score on the leaderboards, etc. That, I consider cheating.

I only really consider cheating hacking and stuff. Entering a code to unlock characters in a rental or something that you would get either way is fine even though I tend not to do that even. Games that I use cheat codes in I have a separate memory card (ps2/ps1 era) for and end up beating it legit first or after. I don't really count exploiting things like the cardboard box as cheating, but I try to do it as little as possible. The only time I really ever cheated was in Starcraft on my second account in one game. I had the cannon stack hack and a map hack which I used once for fun. was hilarious as hell but I found if you do even your allies turn against you and kill you with the others. 5 v 1 hacker=not good odds and you lose. On games like solider of fortune when people hack I did used to get really pissed though.

Cheating I think is giving yourself any advantage in a game that you were not intended to have. When you access an area you are not supposed to or do things out of order, or skip sequences, that's exploitation. Both I feel are acceptable, cheating or using power ups if you absolutely cannot get past a difficult portion, or just to fool around after beating a game. If you find out an exploit on your own, it's usually enough work that I feel you are justified in using it. It is wrong to cheat or exploit if it is at the expense of another player or alters a competition (like leaderboards).

To troll.

Exploiting a flaw in the game like you said in Ocarina of Time isn't cheating, it is being smart enough to find it and use it to your advantage. However this does not include using glitches, like when you hump a rock in MW2 to get inside it and kill anyone who comes within 30 feet of you, that IS cheating, because it is unfair. I also think it is cheating because you are hurting other players for your gain, by means of unplanned happenings in the game.

I have never cheated in a game where there are other players. I have used cheat codes for sims.. everyone does though lol. But it pisses me off when people use cheats in online games and call others "noobs".. which is the stupidest word that was invented. I think they cheat to feel better about themselves.

I do not cheat as a main game thing, but when I've finished the game, and I want to have some fun, namely playing Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, I open up a multiplayer game and cheat the fuck out of it.

I'm not talking giving us super powers or anything but using some simple tricks in the console that Valve was gracious enough to make it easy.

Like for example, giving the tank 20x the health he normally has and then giving him the speed of a charging charger, I consider that fun, and that's roughly the only way I cheat in modern gaming I'd say.

For active cheaters in most games, I would say it's just to get attention and to cheaply be better then others.

Like someone said earlier, Cheating is gaining an unfair advantage through exploits or perhaps through unsportsmanlike conduct. But if you only do it for fun, by yourself, then I don't think it's really cheating. If, however, you do any of these things with the purpose of achieving a certain recognition, or besting other people then yes, cheating. What if you use glitches for a speed-run? If you make it clear that you are using exploits, fine, but if you conceal this fact then yes, cheating. Don't be deceptive, kids. Play nice.

I've mastered Peace Walker's controls and much of the AI's nuances. The controls aren't ideal, but I don't think they're bad to the point you can't do what you want without re-mapping buttons and contorting your hands in weird ways.

Anyway, I don't really consider box-trick cheating because for me at this point, that would actually be harder/slower for me to do than just run past everybody and holding up any guards that get in my way. I would be more concerned with shortchanging yourself on the game experience by doing that. I mean, wouldn't you rather be good enough with the controls that you could comfortably run around and shoot people in the dick or however you actually want to play?

I think of cheating as taking advantage of any flaw, glitch, etc. that gives you an extra edge that the game doesn't initially intend for your to have. These Zelda speed runners glitching off fence posts and skipping entire sections of the game are definitely cheating. They're not only cheating the game, in my opinion they're also cheating on their speed run, as it's not getting through the whole game fairly.
In my opinion, cheating in multiplayer is just rude, and wouldn't single player cheating just make you feel more jaded about your game?

Cheating can be defined in many ways. In Single player I don't think it would really matter since you are having fun with the game exploiting the game for your best interests and entertainment while no one is being hurt from this experiment.

In the online world, ALOT of people tend to use cheating for griefing, And making the experience of others hell. The games that I experienced this sort of cheating on were from SWBF2, Gears of war 2, And CoD4. From SWBF2, People would jump into walls or if they had a jetpack they would fall up to the sky past the border where they could see the entire stage.
Oh and MW2 where the leaderboards have been shit on by cheaters or idiots who want to get 10th prestige easily. This sort of cheating is looked down upon I feel.

Basicly, if its not intended to be used, then its cheating. I mean Now days you see games patched to fix those old tricks used to get out of the map and such. or Unlock items early. because the developers dont want that to happen. Basicly anything you do that the developers didnt intend to be done, is cheating.

To actually be 'cheating' you have to use a third-party program which alters the game.

But that's where it should stop. Map exploits aren't cheating, they're in the game. Using game mechanics to your advantage isn't cheating, it's something open for you to use. If the devs consider it cheating then they should fix it.
Some people just like playing casually, they like to mess around.

Yeah, I don't think its called "cheating" when its single player. I call that lots of fun and barrel of lolz.

However, I do not like "cheating" in multiplayer games. "Boosting" is a form of cheating in my world. Like in MW2, 4 of my good buddies do Boosting Lobbies. Sometimes these lobbies are modded; they have been altered in someway, somehow. I have attended one before, where all they would do is pikc a gun, pick a partner, and headshot each other. This will get them titles and EXP.
I Find this complete BULLSHYT. I worked very, VERY hard to get this one title for my .50 Cal, the one where you must prestige and get like 2500 headshots with it. And these cheating mofos have them already. I worked and earned mines, while there are thousands of cheating peeps who have them.

And they are like...10th prestige. I mean C'MON! Sure, you have all the guns. I mean, yeah some guns are better than others, but they don't make SUCH a drastic difference!

What's the point of titles, callsigns, and even achievements if someone is going to find a way to exploit the game (cheating, in a sense) and get them with almost no hard work at all?

I've cheated on a very unpopular online mmo so that my level was so off the charts the game froze if i tried to check it. why? to see if i could. and i could, so i quit playing it after an hour.

in my opinion hacking is just about the same as glitching. you basically get the same sort of awesome feeling when you figure out an amazing glitch, as when you do an amazing hack.

but i agree it's not cool if you do it at the expense of others.

I wouldnt consider what i do cheating but, when i play a PC game i mod the crap out of it on my second or third play threw, best example is on Fable for the pc i took the first chest that i knew could find in the game (the demon door that you need the lamp to open) and places the best armor and weapons in it, since i already beat the game about 3 times befor i did this, i didn't mind doing this

i have done the same thing with dragon age before to