What goes through online cheaters' minds?

[MasterEn]

Are anti-cheating measures not pretty robust in most big games these days? I guess it depends on the game/servers in question, but I feel like there’s too much effort involved in cheating for it to be a completely casual thing.

the ps3 was "unhackable". i hacked my ps3 so i could play back-ups of my games after wearing out the blu-ray drive. if a wall exists, someone is going to batman or spiderman their way up it.

 

[ciro64]

There's this edge case too where a speedrunner is already good at the game, but they fail at THAT one specific moment in the run, so they cheat a bit because they got so close to glory they felt entitled to it. I guess more often than not it becomes a habit from there.

Some games and leaderboards are unfortunately infested with cheaters too, so there's always the excuse of "if others are doing it, I might do it as well".

Cheating can also can be some kind of self-fulfilling act on itself. There was this Minecraft speedrunner who used his coding passion to make his own cheating software and felt good about it.

I'll say though that cheating on vanilla GTA 5 online is sort of justified. It's not a competitive game and the balancing is a mess so it makes sense some players would cheat their way into having more fun.

 

[bloodywing]

I used to write my own bots for facebook games, the motivation behind it was purely to find ways to break something.

It was more like curiosity, and how broken things get once you find out how mechanics work.

Before you freak out. No, other players were not affected by my bots and i think cheating in online games ruins it for everyone, including the cheater.

 

[ciro64]

I forgot one primarily motivator too... money. This can range from selling rare items and accounts from online games to speedrunners making money off twitch.

 

[ZombieFish]

the ps3 was "unhackable". i hacked my ps3 so i could play back-ups of my games after wearing out the blu-ray drive. if a wall exists, someone is going to batman or spiderman their way up it.

I get that, but that’s kinda my point. Being Batman is hard. You can’t be Batman casually.

 

[MasterEn]

I get that, but that’s kinda my point. Being Batman is hard. You can’t be Batman casually.

yeah, but some people either like the challenge or like the idea of humbling someone. the psp was easy to hack, the ps3 was claimed to be unhackable. it's been hacked for years. that's probably the real reason that the vita was barely mentioned. very little attention from sony, hackers take their time getting to it. there's only been a handful of vita software archives popping up recently compared to the other sony console and handheld.

 

[Clippy]

They want to live out their fantasies of being a

 

[ZombieFish]

yeah, but some people either like the challenge or like the idea of humbling someone. the psp was easy to hack, the ps3 was claimed to be unhackable. it's been hacked for years. that's probably the real reason that the vita was barely mentioned. very little attention from sony, hackers take their time getting to it. there's only been a handful of vita software archives popping up recently compared to the other sony console and handheld.

One recently popped up here, even. I can understand wanting to hack all the things. I too want to hack all the things.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is that when it’s spoiling an online game for other folks, either that person is severely lacking in basic social awareness/empathy(which can be neurological, I know), or messing with people is part of the appeal. That is to say, I don’t see there being a huge contingent of cheaters who aren’t at least somewhat malicious.

 

[kanesha]

You can’t be Batman casually.

In world of software you can, you just need to get a copy of latest Batmantor 3000, that the original Batman created or comissioned for themselves (which they are likely to eventually share for street cred or sell for money).

 

[Waffles]

the ps3 was "unhackable". i hacked my ps3 so i could play back-ups of my games after wearing out the blu-ray drive. if a wall exists, someone is going to batman or spiderman their way up it.

Aye. The only reason I'm active as a writer on these forums is because I was able to get DosBox in there through hacking it.

 

[DanVzare]

For the record, I don't cheat on online games. Never have, never will. I can't be bothered to set that stuff up, nor do I even care to play online on games anyway. (Singleplayer for life!)

But with that being said, I completely understand why people cheat on online games, and it's for the same reason people cheat on offline games.
To... have... FUN!
Believe it or not, it's fun to just completely annihilate everyone. Whether they're bots or real people. It's fun to have that power fantasy. And hey, it's just a game.

Now is it ok to do? Probably not. Since their fun is coming at the expense of others. Which is morally objectionable.
But at the same time... they're not really hurting anyone... most of the time. So there's some wiggle room there.
Of course though, they just don't care about any of that, nor do they even consider it. I mean in their mind, they're thinking why they even need to bother justifying it. That's because they're just being true to themselves by making their own fun, regardless of anyone else. And for that reason alone, I can respect them up to a point... even though most of them are assholes.

TL;DR
Cheaters want to have fun, and they don't care about ruining the game for random people they don't know nor will they ever meet.
Of course, there are always exceptions.

 

[middler]

I compare using cheats online to athletes using steroids. Its usually not the ones that aren't good at sport/game, Or the ones that are only participating for fun, it is usually the ones that are in the 6th to 15th place area that are most likely to use them.

Image always being 7th place in a game/sport that you have dedicated your passion to.

Sure at 7th place you are no slouch but, if you aren't in the top 5 you don't get much if any attention...

 

[NOTthatHARD]

It's really not that complicated , cheaters are just people that want to win NOW without putting in the effort and time to properly learn how to play the game , victory and attention are the main motivations.

 

[Trix_]

I cheated only a few times, and as far as I can remember this happened on Grand Chase which was my first MMORPG. Despite the fact that I had been playing for years, it was on and off, so there came a time where I was left behind. I wasn't able to progress by myself, and I really wanted new characters and classes... so I downloaded a hack tool that would aid me in this journey, and sometimes I would help another player while using it. After a while I stopped cheating because I was afraid of getting banned.

My brother cheats on pretty much everything he plays, including singleplayer games, because he is lazy and doesn't want to put in the effort to actually improve his skills.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

I don't know, but it's definitely fun watching compilation videos of them getting caught lol

 

[Aziamuth]

In most games at least you get to spite people because hacks get wacky

Fighting games, on the other hand, you're pretty much cheating to... not play? If you configure a macro for every single thing that takes a load off your mind then there's no purpose. The other player might get annoyed but they can simply quit, and losses are inevitable in a fighting game so it's not a big deal

 

[Don Patch]

Itty-bitty power trips (kinda in the same vein as middle managers), the "lolz", and villain complexes.
My observation sees the latter as the bigger motivator.

Some people's only way to bring about affect is to do so negatively. Gives them a feeling of power and control. Seeing themselves as the antagonist gives them their own personal spotlight and qualifies their existence and participation in things.

 

[KirboDeku]

I've had an interaction with one, and he seemed to do it because he found pleasure in the act of messing with the game. He got a lot of attention for it in the game, so maybe he lacked that IRL.

 

[Leifang]

In most games at least you get to spite people because hacks get wacky

Fighting games, on the other hand, you're pretty much cheating to... not play? If you configure a macro for every single thing that takes a load off your mind then there's no purpose. The other player might get annoyed but they can simply quit, and losses are inevitable in a fighting game so it's not a big deal

I've known people who in low-level play spammed moves opponent didn't have a counter, abused glitches, ran away till timer runs out, or did other annoying stuff that's just unfun. No practical gain from that (even bragging rights since it was at home), and no real entertainment... Special mention for stealing health items while being at full health when you need them in co-op games.

They do it because they have an emotional response to deceiving someone. If you played with people like that on couch or arcade, there's a tell-tale smirk after winning that someone shows when they play just to beat you and not because they enjoy playing.

Many don't understand playing for fun. I am better than most people I know IRL at fighters, and a friend looked at me with surprise when I casually threw a round after winning one*, and when I let his little sister win, he looked at me the same befuddled way people do when you refuse to drink with them (I also don't understand why that makes them feel insulted).

*it's considered ethical and comes from casual play in arcades, nobody wants to be stuck playing CPU, you extend the play time because ultimately, your opponent isn't the enemy, so you value playing longer more than guaranteed win.

We had a few network games of Red Alert with the same dude, and it ended up with 2/2 and one of the games was a long stalemate, he later lectured me on why I didn't X or Y because I could win. I was like, why do you care so much, you won and we're even. He couldn't answer, the idea that I don't care about losing felt alien to him. It's like kleptomania when people can't help but take others things, but here they can't not cheat or abuse something if they can win at any cost.

And I'm someone who loses on purpose to CPU in single player games just to see death animations. Some do not understand enjoying the process, they might as well skip the race and only play the podium part. For them, cheating online is sometimes a reward of its own, duping someone IS the prize.

 

[chufflord]

I think it's worth pointing out that sometimes people hack / cheat in games as a message to the developers or publishers as well.

"Oh, this game is P2W? I'm gonna get those cash shop items for free!"

"Why is this grind so long? Is it to sell EXP boosters? I'm just gonna give myself more exp on kill."

"This game is a buggy mess, if I drag my game window around while in combat the game won't update, and I won't take any damage."

That kinda beat.

Ultimately though, I'm pretty unbothered. If folks cheat enough in a way that has a direct effect on other players, they usually wind up getting banned- unless the game is abandoned by the developers, or they lack the knowledge or tools to address the issues.

If it's the latter, private communities tend to prop up for people that want to play the game legit. For example; PSO during it's Dreamcast run, when folks would just start making private lobbies to avoid hackers that were telepipe crashing games and corrupting their saves. Password protected lobbies FTW, and always back up your character saves regardless of the game if you put a lot of time into them.

 

[Anim8rDude]

Mario Kart DS & Metroid Prime Hunters were the very first online games I played as a kid, & I've been asking this age old question myself since then. Nintendo Wifi may have been free, but at the time I had to buy that stinkin' USB dongle that goes into your computer in order to connect online.
So when going through all that only to find out a few matches later that hacking was a thing, I was like "Why would you ever want to be that guy?"
Oddly enough going against hackers also promotes new tactics & such. It's just me & MPHunters in particular, but I have very fond memories of glitching out of bounds with fellow strangers whenever there was hacker.

 

[RanmyakuIchi]

My cousin's the type to do this. Cheats, hacking, banned strategies/cards, ragequitting you name it. From what I've noticed, it stems from an entitlement to be the best at everything, regardless of if it's earned for not. We used to play Street Fighter together and he literally cut me out of his life when I started playing competitively.

 

[YuriSukiSan]

A lot has already been said but in my experience from the people I knew it was because they had a deep insecurity and a lack of self esteem, their parents weren't the nicest people, their family generally wasn't unsurprisingly and they obviously weren't either. You have to be pretty narcissistic (and damaged) to think cheating yourself of out personal growth is an accomplishment, it's one thing to claw to the top of a ladder in a business (I still wouldn't want to associate with someone like that) but in a video game? You're chasing a momentary high with no gain.

I think what's important to keep in mind is that you only get to see the highlight reels of the wealthy, famous and successful people in our lives. With it comes an immense amount of failure, learning, self improvement and embarrassment. Cheating yourself out of that journey is the ultimate act of self sabotage. You're giving in to nihilism and giving up on yourself. It's the ultimate act of surrender.

 

[Wixman]

I think it's just people who want instant gratification. I can imagine a game like Overwatch could be pretty satisfying to play if you're cheating. The bright colours and flashy lights going off, the satisfying hit marker noise leading to that even more satisfying elimination noise. Seeing your rank and other numbers go up would be good too. It definitely defeats the point of a competitive shooter, but it seems like it would turn into something like a clicker game. Perhaps a bit less engaging, though.