Multiplayer Games

Some things should not be tolerated

I have a completely different take on Multi-Player games, however. Everybody despises it when people cheat against other players. Quite simply, it's unfair to take advantage of other gamers who pour hours into playing by the rules only for some geek to type in a cheat code, blow them away, steal all of their inventory and disappear into a wall.

If someone was sitting across the table playing Monopoly and cheated, you could confront them directly and they would have to look you right in the eye and feel the searing gaze. In fact, they might even feel guilty about the entire incident and apologize. But with the Internet, people feel that they are protected and insulated by the anonymity of the medium. It is a lot easier to bend the rules when nobody can call you on it face to face and you don't have to account for your actions.

The biggest online multiplayer FPS in the world is Counterstrike, and it's no wonder that it's also the most cheated game out there. Granted, in this case (and with most multiplayer games) we're not talking about hidden codes intentionally placed into the code. These are bugs that slipped past QA, user-modified game resources, and even hacks that snoop out data from network packets and video drivers.

Why cheat, and why does it matter?

So what is the motivation? Why would people go to the trouble of installing hacks and cheats? To win? To enjoy an unfair advantage? Or just to be a jerk and ruffle some feathers, and know that nobody can do anything about it? Most people are honest folks, but one thing is for sure: like those secret camera shows that expose what people do when they don't think they're being scrutinized, not everything or everyone can be taken at face value, and given the opportunity, many will seize that unfair advantage.

Because of these players who feel the need to make life miserable for everyone else, gaming companies now have to spend a great deal of time and money to put a stop to online cheating, particularly in massively multiplayer games (MMPG). When you have people paying cash money to play MMPG's online, you want to do the best you can to ensure that cheaters never prosper. But inevitably, a few bad apples end up spoiling the whole darn bunch.

It makes me sick that four out of five CS competitions were cancelled due to rampant cheating, or that Battle.net programmers have to take down an entire system to re-secure servers that have been compromised. Perhaps the worst of all is the injustice forced upon people who pay their monthly subscriptions for online-only games, only to be taken advantage of by a few small-minded people.

One of the sad facts here is that gaming companies are having a hard enough time surviving, and the money spent on defeating online cheaters could be much better invested in making a stronger, more feature-rich game. Instead, they have to make cuts to the overall budget so they can afford the resources to protect honest players against these gutless wonders who have nothing better to do than to try to torpedo the whole experience for everyone.