Complex ethical questions about Cheating

[EnriqueHavoc]

hello everyone, i am a cheater. I have used gameshark to give my character money and increased stats.

Why? Simply, i am in college and i dont have the time these days to run around and play as much as id like. I have a force and I gain much more enjoyment out of the game this way.

Now these are the only gameshark codes i have used. I feel adamantly that i am not affecting anyones enjoyment of the game but my own. I have never stolen an item(aside from one time a guy was a complete asshole to everyone in our game), and i have not duped or hacked any items.


So here comes the question:

in an online multiplayer game like PSO, is all cheating wrong.. regardless of severity?


i feel it is among the most disrespectful and dishonorable things you can do to cheat in a competitive game because it shortchanges other players ability to derive fun from the competition.

but on a personal and non competitive level, it becomes a grey area.. throw in a semi-competitive online multiplayer community into the mix and it gets even greyer.

thoughts?

[PUCK]

Umm... Can you repeat the question? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/icon_smile.gif

[Nordramor]

EnriqueHavoc,

You raise an interesting point. PSO is a cooperative game, so it is rather awkward to determine whether or not cheating is harmful to others. Hacking/Duplicating items and distributing them does mess up the game quite horribly, because it distorts one of the few competitive areas: trading. Here is a simple method to determine if what you are doing is hurting the game:

Are you using an overpowered character for your level? Does your level 5 character have the stats of a level 90 character? If your character has impossibly high stats for his level, do you play with characters with similiar stats or similiar levels?

If you are using a 'super powered' level 5 character and playing with other level 5 characters, I would have to say what you're are doing is harmful. Your 'super powered' character is inadvertently drawing others into your cheating game and tainting their experience. If you have the stats of a level 90 character, and you're playing with level 90 characters, it doesn't really matter.

Unfortunately, the money cheat can be harmful to the game. When you play online, you must compete with other characters for items dropped by monsters. If you have 999,999 Meseta, you really never need to pick up any items to sell for the funds needed to buy mates and fluids. This means that by using the money cheat, you are removing yourself from the equation of 'finding items for money' but not from the 'helping to kill monsters for money faster' part of the equation. This really isn't a BIG cheat, as money isn't a terribly hard thing to come by once you hit level 30 or so. Early on tho, it is noticeable however, and I would say that it is yes, still technically harmful, even if it eventually drops to negligible amounts.

Nordramor
Nordy!

[f0rge]

well you are only hurting yourself by upping your stats, you say you never duped or hacked any items, so you really arent hurting anyone else.

well that still makes you a cheater, but it doenst make you a harmful one....

gray area indeed

[Mayi]

Why isnt this in the cheating forum?

[DarkWolf]

Nordramor brings up quite a few good points. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/icon_smile.gif

As far as I'm concerned, if you cheat offline, you hurt no one, except your own gaming experience. But once you take a character into a community, that changes everything.

About the stats, I feel it would only be "fair" (in the broadest sense of the word), if you played with 1) characters of equal stats (like Nordy said) or 2) characters of your level, if you acted as a HUmar http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/icon_smile.gif shield, getting maybe 1 hit each monster while ensuring that you kill nothing.

About the money, I don't think it's really that big of a deal AS LONG as you don't GIVE it to anyone who couldn't find that much at their current level (ie a level 10 guy asks for 100000 meseta... he couldn't earn that much in several days of playing, so just giving GS meseta wouldn't be fair, however I see no harm in giving an equal amount to a lvl 50-70 and up character, who could easily find it in a quick romp through the mines V.Hard).

As far as duping and GS'ing items, that ruins EVERYONE's fun. I mean, if it takes a lvl 100 person his entire character's gaming career to find "God's Left Foot" ;D, while a newbie lvl 1 char can go to Oberon and say "Can I have it?" and get it in an instant, how many hours have been wasted and stripped from that lvl 100 char? Needless to say I give you a lot of credit for not duping. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/icon_smile.gif

And when it comes to stealing, I personally couldn't steal from anyone, but I have no qualms if a Thief/Duper/Complete-Whole-A$$ed-Jerk is stolen from. B)

I also give you a lot of credit for openly and honestly admitting that you GS.

[segagameplay]

its a game to be honest i think it is taken to seriously

[Ambrai]

It's not in the cheaters forum just yet because I just saw it http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/icon_wink.gif.

/sigh wish people could post in the right place.

/punt cheaters.

[OMEGA_RAIDER]

Tell me...What is the point of buying the game if you arn't really going to play it?

Even in your case, I think up-ing your stats is wrong. Very Hard should be something you have to work up to. Play with the lvl 28s instead of the 100s. Looking back, my favorite games were played with fellow poorly equiped Low Levels.

I have the same argument with the people who buy the playerz guides (for other games).