After two decades of game play I think I’ve identified three distinctive phases to the use of game cheat codes. The last point is most recent and has been the most utilitarian.
1. Use to Enhance
When starting our we’re all young, playing games of any type any time we can is all we want to do. When we come across and use a cheat code, it just makes the game more interesting. We can get to places and levels never before seen. We can replay through the game quickly. For us in our 3nd or 4th decade we probably didn’t have as easy access to cheat codes in those early DOS and NES games. We just wanted to play all we could as kids, so we played through the game once normally, then used cheat codes to relive. The first game I really remember this happening for me was the Commander Keen series. Holding down G-O-D let you go through anything, so then the challenge was to get through as quick as possible without falling into a pit.
2. Avoid to Enjoy
Then there comes a turning point where you realize that using cheat codes actually, really, takes away the fun of the game. Phase 1 above tends to lead to using cheat codes wherever and whenever. But as we mature we realize the fun of the game comes in the challenge. So we start playing a new game thinking “I won’t use cheat codes this time!”. Maybe we slip and use a code to unblock that one thing really annoying in a game, like unlimited ammo, but we make a conscious decision not to go overboard. The game that made this turning point for me was Civ II.
3. Apply for the Kill
After really getting the hang of not using any cheat codes, I recently discovered this (hopefully) last phase of cheat code use. I was playing Minecraft for like 8 hrs a night a few months back. I then set up a craftbucket server for friends and family to play together. Well in that process I realized there was an admin command to give unlimited resources. At first I was like ‘nope, not going to touch it’, but it was right there. After using it for a bit, it really killed all the joy and challenge of the game. About that time I was kicking myself for spending so much time on the game. It was getting addicting. Using the admin unlimited resources command killed the game for me. It’s not the same anymore to go back and play even without the admin mode. Since then I’ve learned that if I’m spending too much time playing a game, to make a conscious choice to go ahead and look up a cheat code. Applying cheat codes to effectively kill obsessing about the game and move on. They’re a useful tool now. I still get plenty of fun from the game before, then when realizing other duties or games are being put off, just find and use a cheat code to finish the apply the kill. May work for kids too. Know a kid playing a game way too much? Try giving them some killer cheat codes.
Insightful stuff. There’s four additional scenarios I’ve encountered with regards to “cheating”, thought you might be interested.
A) Cheating to Avoid Farming
There are many games that tend to use repetitive, non-challenging methods of gameplay to get you to work towards adding towards some number (typically, credits/virtual cash are ones I’m looking at – the effectiveness of XP farming for challenging gameplay is usually dependent on the game). I get the feeling that’s the intent of getting more “gameplay hours” for the game, even though there’s no additional challenge, and it’s kind of a “cheap” way to make it last the 20-30 hours. I didn’t cheat playing the original Assassin’s Creed, but towards the end I felt like I wish I had.
B) Better Enjoyment of the Game, Faster
You’ve mentioned the enhancement of a game by cheating – doing things you can’t normally, getting through faster (replay or otherwise). That’s definitely there. There’s also the aspect of what the game provides: I find myself more interested in the developing storyline than some of the gameplay itself, ironic of course because these are games we’re talking about. I’ve played the 3 Mass Effects, and found that I care more about the discussions, the sideplots, the story, and if cheating makes it faster, easier, or less stressful to get to the elements of the game worth enjoying, I say “yay” to that.
C) Balancing the Game
Bugs. Or just some things you *know* are inherently badly designed/wrong. Can’t remember the number of times I’ve shot some sort of grenade or rocket in a game like GTA IV and have it blow up in my face because of an invisible wall. Or some sort of unexpected scenario. I mean, I don’t use God mode in the games I play – you would literally walk through everything and not experience any gameplay – but it often avoids the sort of cheap, buggy scenario of death.
D) Inability to Cheat
Isn’t so much a phase – and maybe it is – than the scenario of not being able to cheat. Console games are a good example of this, where at some point GameShark meant something to many, most games on recent consoles disallow this sort of experience.
More recently, there’s Steam. I haven’t yet cheated on any of the games – it looks like it’s possible – but I’m just not that interested in getting potentially banned for hacking a legitimate game I’ve bought. That, and the unknown number of viruses/malware that come along with the memory hack executables.
I like your blog 3 Stages to Game Cheat Codes.Thanks for sharing this with us..