Cheat in Games: What Drives Players to Cheat?

Remember the cheaters that wreck you in one lobby? Do you want to know why do they cheat? What is the motivation behind their act?

Cheating… sounds evil, right?

In every aspect of life, cheating is perceived negatively. It is defined as the act of dishonesty to gain advantages in various aspects. In video game history, cheats have been around in Video Games since forever. Cheating can come in many forms, including editing the game data, copying others’ save data, or even viewing walkthroughs is considered cheating in a game.

Until now, there are many people who choose to cheat either in single-player or multiplayer games. But why? Why do they cheat? Well, while the research about cheating in games is not much, there are several researchers that actually trying to find out the reason for cheating. One of the earliest pieces of literature on why people cheat is made by Mia Consalvo (2009). Consalvo stated that there are 4 reasons of people to cheat.

1. Stuck at the Game

At some point in our gameplay, we might stuck even though we have tried our best. For example, imagine you fight a boss. You failed at your first try, then you want to try again, you failed again, again, and again until you had enough of it. Eventually, at some point, we want to quit trying. At this point, there are choices to quit the game or to cheat so we can progress. Besides that, there might be a bug that makes you cannot progress the game and the only way to continue your gameplay is by cheating. This actually happened to me when I was playing Baldur’s Gate 3. I could not go to the designated area, even after I restarted, and load the saved data from 2 hours before that point. The only way to fix it at that time was by using a cheat to teleport me to that area.

2. Playing God

Imagine that you are immortal, you could beat your enemies mercilessly while not getting any damage from them. Well, in many games, you can cheat to experience that. Even there is a widely used cheat named “god mode” that makes you invincible in the game. People with this motive of cheating typically use cheats to increase their enjoyment of the game. Besides that, this type of cheat is typically used to help players unlock some content that they cannot get on their first playthrough.

3. Speed-up Gameplay

Ever experienced the need to grind for hours only to have enough stat to beat a boss? Well with cheat, players can speed up their progress without the countless hours of grinding. Especially in today’s hustle culture that makes us have less time to play games. Cheating can be one of the ways to keep playing games enjoyable even if you have a busy schedule.

4. Being a Jerk

Well, this is the most hated type of cheater. They are motivated to cheat because they just want to disturb other people’s gameplay in multiplayer games. The reaction of their victim is their satisfaction, some said that they cheat to get revenge on another player. Either way, in my opinion, it cannot justify their action to cheat in multiplayer games, especially in a competitive game where facing a cheater is almost impossible to win.

Those are the reasons for cheating by Consalvo (2009). Latest studies in the field of video game cheating expand the motivation to more aspects of the game. Doherty et al. (2014) expands the motivation of cheating to 12 categories. Furthermore, a study by Passmore (2020) found that cheating in single-player games can be good for your mental health.

However, cheating is still cheating. Especially in multiplayer games that can disturb others’ gaming experience. In single-player games, some developers even give the player built-in cheats that can be used to enjoy their gaming experience.

In your future gaming experiences, consider the motivations behind cheating and how they may impact both the individual and the gaming community as a whole. As responsible gamers, let’s create a fair and enjoyable gaming environment for all. Share your thoughts on this topic and your own experiences with gaming ethics, and together, we can continue to explore the evolving landscape of gaming culture.

References: Consalvo, M. (2009). Cheating: Gaining advantage in videogames. MIT Press.

Doherty, S. M., Liskey, D., Via, C. M., Frederick, C., Kring, J. P., & Liu, D. (2014). An Analysis of Expressed Cheating Behaviors in Video Games. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 58(1), 2393–2396. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541931214581498