Re: OT: Blizzard Entertainment disabled around 20,000 accounts of cheaters
I think you all miss the point of "cheats" in commercial games:
Games have to be tested before they are shipped. You have a QA-department to do that, BUT they are not playing the same game over and over again, they test certain features, as they get ready. And they have limited personal as well as a deadline.
The programer just finished an end-game-feature (lets say level 50), that you can access if you made certain steps in level 10. How do you test this as fast as possible ? You get a tester, skip lvl 1-10, make the right choice, skip lvl 11-50, play (test) the game.
To do that, you have to make code that allows for "cheating" (skipping lvl's, invulnerability, unlim. money, etc). What most companies do before they ship, they "block" or "hide" the code in several ways. But some clever guy is certain to find a way around this and revive the cheat-code.
And this is also why you know the cheat code even BEFORE the game is in stores: an official tester made a few bucks on the side by selling the information how to do his job (testing the game).
That said, I would like to add something: giving an advantage to one player that the others don't have (cheating) is in my opinion not in itself bad. The intention behind this is what makes the difference.
You want a true Babylon 5 mod, and get the feel of the series in the game ? Well, at least the shadows and the vorlon race SHOULD cheat, because they just mop the floor with any other race.
Is it fun to loose as the EA against the shadows ? Usually NO, but if you have a roleplaying aspect behind it that you enjoy, it may as well be YES. You want to play the vorlon yourself and win every time in single player ? Fine with me.
Whatever makes you happy.
(and sorry for long post, I will just shut up and get a life ... oh wait, I have one *g*)
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