ELI5: Why is cheating in online games seemingly so prevelant? - eviltoast

What do these people think they gain?

Whats the point?

Do they really just want to ruin stuff for everyone?

  • BougieBirdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    I’m also nostalgic for the era where cheats were easter eggs that enhanced the single-player experience.

    Like, as a kid I was interested in Warcraft/Starcraft, but I’m horrible at RTS gameplay. Cheats gave me an out so that I could enjoy the story.

    Historically, cheats were essentially debug tools that the developer could use to, say, thoroughly play through a level with unlimited lives. But around the 90s/00s you started to see this shift away from using a complicated code of buttons to activate (Konami Code, IDDQD) to a simple to remember phrase (“PowerOverwhelming,”“GiveUsATank,” “GunsGunsGuns”).

    That shift makes me think that the cheats were for the players to enjoy. Otherwise they wouldn’t have fun names to activate them.