Is cheating in single-player games a bad thing?

[FAST6191]

About the only thing it does it make it harder to compare the "same" game with other people -- if you nerf a mechanic then you fundamentally change a game and thus make comparison harder in a broad sense. That said your time to do with as you please and it is not like games are some sacred immutable work laid down by grand masters or some such.

 

[ELY_M]

No

 

[Paulsar99]

Nope. It's your playthrough so you're free to do what you want with it, if you enjoy using cheats to make your life easy or enhanced your gaming experience so be it. Cheating on a mp game is a different story though.

 

[Mythical]

I feel as if some games are truly hard to appreciate fully if you cheat though. I feel this way about games like EO and SMT, but I could see how some people might want some help with those

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I feel as if some games are truly hard to appreciate fully if you cheat though. I feel this way about games like EO and SMT, but I could see how some people might want some help with those

Resident evil with infinite ammo is fun.

 

[wownmnpare]

I'm using cheat on fire emblem games on my 3ds for support conversations only.

 

[Alexander1970]

Is cheating in single-player games a bad thing?

No.

 

[Taleweaver]

If you want to cheat in your single player games, then the only thing stopping you is... well...

• some kind of legal contract terms of service thingy that may cause punishment if you do

Erm...I feel like I'm going to regret asking this, but...do you have examples of where this actually happened?

I suddenly get the mental dystopian image of the police busting in a place, catching a player. And while's being dragged away, screaming "but I was playing singleplayer", one of them mutters a disgruntled "yeah, yeah, yeah...our records show that you clicked 'okay' to the EULA clause after 2.73 seconds. So don't even PRETEND you've read those 100+ pages wherein you agreed not to cheat AT ALL."

 

[npiet1]

No. I cheat if I get bored of skill trees or upgrades but that's about it and only if the game has become tiresome collecting things.

 

[Veho]

One could argue cheating takes away from the sense of accomplishment (and that is true to some extent) but there is more to a game than pure mechanics and you can still enjoy the story, characters, music, level design, scenery and so on even if the obstacles are easier to overcome.

People watch gameplay videos on YouTube, and that has zero interaction. Cheats still have you play the game, just on a lower difficulty setting.

There's also some emergent gameplay when you turn on some cheats, there's fun to be had when you play the game with a whole different set of challenges. Think of the infinite ammo rocket launcher in Resident Evil: ammo and weapon weakness are no longer an issue, but splash damage is suddenly something to consider, and the whole play tactic turns on its head.

This question reminded me of Dara O'Briain's bit on video games, this part in particular:

 

[CORE]

I prefer to have fixed amount of Ammo no Infinite I like running out so I can switch to the other Gun that I saved Ammo for etc Doom being a good example always seem to use Shotgun more than anything even now modern Doom.

I tend to not like extra Ammo just enough to get by Full Clip for each Gun nothing more or less.
Multiplayer Online Cheating is just stupid and pointless unless the whole purpose is to just hear someone bitch about you cheating which alone is pointless.

 

[Stwert]

I like to play through once without any cheats. After that, if there’s a cheat that does something cool, I’ll use it.

 

[Superbronx]

Nah, why should it be?
Cheating in multiplayer games is bad because it can ruin the fun for other players, however, there's no such thing in single player ones. On the other hand, doing so after completing a certain game can actually improve its longevity by letting you experiment around with otherwise impossible things in the game's intended experience: think about the classic GTA cheat codes, for example. So... I really don't see what's wrong about it.

Excellent point. For example back in the days when NES was nearing the end of it's life cycle a company called Galoob created the game genie and it breathed new life into all of those old games I had already beaten multiple times. Actually made me get them back out and dust them off.
Not only could I make the game easier. I could also make them more challenging. I could give myself less time on a timed level or decrease my health bar, etc., etc.


I do not object to cheating in single player.

 

[ELY_M]

No I really love to cheat on games. cheating is really fun for me! hahahahahahaha

 

[Sethtimus Prime]

No. Everyone plays their own way.