Consequences

Does Cheating Cause Any Real Harm To Consumers?

I remember, back in the early days of online play, just how awesome it was to play Mech Warrior 2 and Descent II on the net. The games were just incredibly fun and the fact that you could play them against others over your phone lines was amazing. However, once in a while you'd get all jazzed-up, find a game and jump in only to be slapped down within 20 seconds. You figure it's just your lack of experience, so you jump back on, hide behind a support column and fire some clean missile shots at the guy who blew you away. You are stunned when he takes no damage. You fire again and again and your rockets slam into his ship, but he is still there, only now he has a bead on you. He fires one shot and boom - you buy the farm. You shake your head thinking "What did I do wrong?" You go online, you ask your friends and you realize that this player you fought so hard against could not be killed at all because he was using a hacked program to make himself invincible.

The magical reverence that you had only a few hours ago when you got into your first online game vanishes and is replaced with the stark realization that the online world is just as brutal and unfair as the real world, and no matter how hard you work and try to play by the rules, cheaters always seem to get ahead. The bitterness you had all your life in school as you saw the teacher's pet get the A+ grade when they did not even do the work suddenly lands in your gut like a stone. You become jaded and angry and may even become a cheater yourself, thus continuing the cycle.

Cheating as a worldview

Think I'm exaggerating? Think again. Thanks to cyber gaming leagues around the globe, professional gaming is becoming a big business. With thousands and thousands of dollars at stake, people are already taking these shortcuts, justifying them because they feel they could do just as well on their own if they tried, or because "the guy I'm playing might be cheating, and I won't let them beat me because of that". Everybody else does it, why shouldn't I? I'm just "leveling the playing field."

Is cheating in computer games the cause of the decline in Western Civilization? No, but it is a symptom of a greater problem. We live in a world where liars and cheats win, and honest people suffer. It makes pessimists out of even the most hopeful of people as it beats down their will. It is an extension of those things that are going wrong with our society, and it confirms that in our heart of hearts, many of us are corruptible and weak. The line between right and wrong is blurred to such a degree that it may never be clearly visible again to many of us. It used to be that doing the right thing for the right reasons was its own reward. But now, the phrase "Nice Guys Finish Last" is starting to ring true for so many of us that we throw our hands up in despair, wondering what went wrong.

Awww screw it. Nobody's listening. I'm gonna start up my aimbot cheat, get online and vent some of my anger in UT. After all, I'm not really hurting anybody...