To cheat,or not to cheat? What IS cheating?

[Lek Dukagjin]

Technically speaking, ANYTHING that gives you foreknowledge of events that will transpire you can label as "cheating". Think about it - if you actually quantum leapt into your characters and went through that game as a real adventure you wouldn't get to replay it! If you did something then you would have to live with its consequences.

Let me give you an example from Baldur's Gate - I sent my party down some narrow tunnels which would split and loop back on themselves. I encountered a chap called Prat, who had a bunch of mages with him. They slaughtered us due to lack of manoeuvering space for my team members. After reloading I split my team into 2 and ambushed Prat & Friends from 2 sides. How did I know something would happen in order to do that? Because of foreknowledge. Thus you could say that trying different tactics = cheating.

Hell, anything less than playing a game straight through without reloading (unless YOU die) = cheating!



[ 05-23-2002, 08:05 AM: Message edited by: Lek Dukagjin ]

[andrewas]

In general doing anything that a human DM woudnt (or shoudnt) let you do is cheating. So the obvious ones - god mode, extra items, infinite XP loops are all cheating.

And Ive yet to meet a DM that'll let me see whats up ahead, unless Im needed to manipulate the group and thats not often.

Hell, ive yet to meet a DM that allows a save-game feature. Except the time 5 characters died from the most unlucky set of dice-rolls and alcohol-induced bad decisions Ive seen in my life, and that was only because one level 11 mage (the survivor) cant do much by himself while trapped in a dead-magic zone.

[Micah Foehammer]

@Andrewas, you have to remember that this ISN'T PnP. PnP DM's usually don't let you have max hit points on levelling, don't let you roll unlimited times for stats, don't let you bail out of encounters by exiting map screens and certainly don't let you replay encounters! [img]smile.gif[/img] So by its very nature, a CRPG will allow you to do things that you can't do in PnP - but that does not make it "cheating", IMO.

To me, "cheating" in IWD (or most other computer games) typically involves one of the following activities:

(a) Using a Character editor to alter stats to levels which can NOT be obtained by using the random stat generator. What's the point of playing a character with all 25's for stats?

(b) Creating and hacking in uber items - like the +10 sword of armageddon,does 10d10 per hit and causes anyone hit to save vs death at -10 or be instantly destroyed - *yawn* why bother?

(c) Hacking in items at the beginning of the game that a 1st level party would not, SHOULD not have access to. +5 weapons and full plate for a first level party?

(d) Exploiting the import / export loophole to generate multiple copies of unique one of a kind items.

(e) Hacking in items that you did not legitimately obtain. If you really want the long bow +4 "Hammer", you have to KILL someone to get it!!!

Anyway, I think you all get my point. Replaying a lost battle is just part of the game imo. I suppose one could make a point that if your party is all killed, then the game is over, start again ... but really, how many people have actually done that?? Be truthful now. How many people have gone through IWD / HOW / TOL starting with a first level unhacked party with NO RELOADS!?

[Azred]

The save game feature allows you, the player, to gain experience just like your characters.
Take the cave outside Easthaven. The first time I went through that after first installing IWD, I had a character die. So, I reload and rethink my strategy. The next time I went through that cave, no one died--I had learned from my previous mistakes.
In real life, that character would remain dead (well, it is a fantasy realm, so I could get him raised), but what is the fun in that? Real life can be enough of a drag at times, just relax and enjoy the game! [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

[Malystrom]

I don't cheat because for 1: it doesn't work on my computer, 2: IWD can be easily beaten without cheating.

[Loremage]

Whats wrong with cheating. Personally I hate cheating, I think it really takes alot away from the game . But if some people think it's fun and it makes there game more fun then so be it. The purpose of any game is for fun and if cheating make some peoples games more fun then cheatings a good thing. The only thing bad about cheating is that it takes away the social element of the game. Which in my opionon is the best part. Thats why I don't "cheat"

[Micah Foehammer]

Welcome to the forums Loremage [img]smile.gif[/img]

Personally, I think "cheating" ruins the fun of the game. But I am not suggesting that people shouldn't cheat if they want to. I am only responding to the first post as to how do people "define" cheating. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[arcanixus]

It always comes down to "what is cheating?" and "at what point is cheating okay?"

Everyone defines this differently. Personally speaking, cheating is using any resource outside of the game and instruction manual (or supplementary material in the retail box). However, if I am stuck at some point or have too much trouble figuring out something, for instance why that one door in Kuldahar won't open, I will look for the answer. If my own stupidity is preventing me from having fun with the game, I cheat. I don't artificially inflate my characters, I just look for answers and advice online or from other users. I know some would object to my own justification of cheating, but, again, it's my own.