Question for those who like to use cheats

[Crewman47]

I bought the new Aliens vs Predator 2010 version and I found a site that does trainers for it, but for each one they release Steam comes up with a new update or the game's built-in anti cheat system kicks in and and crashes. It's like the game developers just don't want people to cheat at this as there aren't any console cheats or code cheats!

Is this us now in the age where gaming software has come this far that for us to play a PC game we need to also install extra software that requires an online connection and can kick you off if you cheat, especially in single player mode?

Can you see this happening for future games or is this just a one off?

 

[Kibbin]

Yes, I can tottally see that happening, not that it will stop people cheating. As you noted, for each patch and update they release to stop wall hacks and the like, some body always finds another loophole. Often people put so much time and effort into cheating that if they just put that into the game they would be unbeatable anyway. It's kinnda admirable, in a way.

 

[TheSpaceBiker]

OH NOES DOUBLE POST

 

[TheSpaceBiker]

Oh no, you actually have to PLAY the game? That's terrible :P

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I really don't see the big deal with cheating at single-player games or in SP modes. Problem is, the anti-cheat detection used by Steam is probably not smart enough to distinguish between cheat programs that affect single-player and ones that affect multiplayer.

Is there not a non-Steam version of the game? I suspect it would be a lot friendlier with trainers since you could update it at your leisure.

 

[Deckerd]

The developers should just build cheats in for those who like them. It would save a lot of hassle all round.

 

[Hermiod]

The more recent GTA games don't seem to care if you cheat that much. If you use a cheat code it will A) store it in your character's mobile phone so you can quickly use it again later and B) tell you exactly what achievements you can now not get until you reload the game.

Since I don't care about achievements anyway, that took a lot of the pain out of constantly having to find fast cars, boats, weapons, ammo etc.

 

[MNM]

Oh no, you actually have to PLAY the game? That's terrible :P

Meh, I use cheats to get rid of aspects of a game I am not interested in. In football manager I give myself an huge budget because wheeling and dealing in the transfer market isnt my thing. On Baldur's gate and Dragon Age I pump up the xp level of my character and give them money as I prefer to go through the story than spend all day leveling up to level 5 and scouring every single bloody jar that comes my way for a handful of bronze etc

 

[Docbrown777]

Cheat codes used to be the norm for every single game made. As long as it was not for online play.

I find it odd that a company would spend time trying to stop people from cheating in the single player game. Time = money. Don't the programmers have better things to do?

 

[FordSVT]

Cheat codes used to be the norm for every single game made. As long as it was not for online play.

I find it odd that a company would spend time trying to stop people from cheating in the single player game. Time = money. Don't the programmers have better things to do?

I think that's the point actually. By trying to stop cheating in multi-player they haven't bothered to come up with a system that recognizes when you're just playing single player, likely due to time or money constraints.

By the way, those of you that love Steam and beyond that love the idea of "the cloud" where you can just interface with a game and not have to have it locally based at all? This is what it results in: a lack of control over what you want to do with the software you own. It's only going to get more draconian over time as developers desperately try to prevent piracy and do all kinds of stupid things that have nothing to do with piracy instead.

 

[firehawk12]

On console, it allows publishers to sell cheats - EA with their sports games and Namco with their RPGs. That's probably where we're going to end up on PC.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

I generally end up installing a steam patch to get rid of steam. It's nice on multi-player games like left for dead since you can easily meet friends and whatnot, but it's a waste of time and resources for single player games. It's sad that pirated games offer an increasingly better gaming experience than retail games.

For the question of why cheat. Not everyone has the same taste in games. I know some game designers have this idea that we have to play the game on their terms, but since I paid for it I don't really care. I'll play it the way I want to play it. If that means I don't have to use save locations or not having to farm gold or whatever other retarded thing they want to implement, I honestly don't care if developers get butt hurt about it. It's a single player game and I'm only hurting myself really. Usually I'll play the game as is, but if some aspect gets tiresome I have no qualms about using a cheat to get around it. In Oblivion I increased my carry capacity because I was just tired of having to quick travel to town and sell stuff off.

I honestly don't really like the direction games are going. I understand the need to keep the integrity of online multi-player, but most of the moves seem mostly in the interest of control on the company's part. Looking at the recent UFC game, everything they've done has been completely stupid. First there's a one time use code just to play online, so if you sell the game, rent it, or even take it over to your buddy's house, you can't play online. On top of that, they patched the game recently to almost completely nuke the single player career mode because people were using it to make super fighters online. So instead of maybe restricting the stats of created fighters online, they just decided to make the career mode useless. Which didn't even fix the problem because all people had to do was uninstall the patch, make their cheap super-fighters, then re-install the patch to cheese online again. This is where we're at right now. It's pretty adversarial between gamers and publishers these days.

 

[Rii]

It's only going to get more draconian over time as developers desperately try to prevent piracy and do all kinds of stupid things that have nothing to do with piracy instead.

You're too kind. They know full well what they're doing, and it isn't fighting piracy. Makes for good PR spin, though.

Outside a handful of specific titles I can't say I'm particularly fussed. Indie's where it's at these days anyway; if the mainstream wants to dig itself a giant hole to fall into, it can go right ahead. I'm not thirteen any more and there's plenty of other shit besides video games demanding my time and money.