Do Cheaters Ever Prosper? Just Ask Them

            The article “Do Cheaters Ever Prosper? Just Ask Them”[1] by Peter Wayner appeared in the March 27, 2003 New York Times newspaper. The author explores the rapid growth of virtual interactive games and the lengths to which some players will go to gain an unfair advantage. 

            Is using bots (extra software) cheating?  While bending the rules has always been part of the gaming world experience, the advanced bots can change the feel of the entire game.  Most people engage in virtual games for pleasure or competition.  When one player, using some game enhancement, monopolizes the game, what are the others to do?  What is the point of playing a game you cannot possibly beat?

            Gamers can significantly alter the rules by creating bots. The simple bots can automate monotonous acts, such as clicking.  The more complex bots “automate aiming tools that target opponents more rapidly than the quickest fingers.”[2]  Another form of enhancement is reprogramming your video card to hide walls.  This would allow you to see behind walls and kill your opponents faster.  Others can rewrite program instructions and add them to the game. 

Game designers today are faced with many problems.  They not only have to make an interesting game but one in which all the possible scenarios for exploiting glitches are thought of.  Some game developers are finding creative ways to minimize cheating.   One company “encrypts all communications and stores data in different parts every time a user plays.”[3]  Unfortunately, gamers will always find ways to circumvent the games they play.