Last night was one of those nights. Playing a quick game of Gears of War 2 and I had a moment of genius when I stood alone against all five opponents and managed to kill them all to trigger much “whooping” and “yeah-ing” in the post round chat room. The same situation presented itself in the next round and as I took a shot at an incoming opponent my bullets ricocheted off as if there was a shield present. Unable to take any damage off I promptly died and began apologising for what I assumed was my rubbish connection causing issues. “It’s not you Crunchy, they are glitching” was the response which made my heart tremble.
You see, glitching like this is the first sign of an arms race between developers and those who follow the mantra of “It’s in the game, so it’s allowed” and like all good arms races the only people who lose are the honest consumers who make up the majority. Be it flicking the standby switch on your modem to lag everybody except you out, finding ways of escaping maps but still being able to shoot or making your entire team vanish to your opponents eyes in Fifa (also a recurring nightmare for football managers everywhere) this notion of pushing the limits of the game in order to win is rampant in multiplayer gaming. Developers release a patch and the first instinct of some isn’t to enjoy the newly patched game bug-free game but to search long and hard for the exploits in the new patch.
For me the problem isn’t the oft discussed issue of whether or not it constitutes cheating considering it’s not overt (i.e it’s part of the game, albeit probably a bug ergo if it’s part of the game code is it a cheat), it’s more a simple question of why? These glitches and bugs when exploited undoubtedly ruin everyone’s enjoyment as more often than not it’s a case of use them yourself or have an extremely frustrating experience. Consequently it can absolutely kill the communities surrounding certain games.
By the end of the original Gears of War’s online lifespan people were constantly glitching, leaving the map and making online play unplayable. Is the lust for victory online so irresistible that it’s a case of winning at any cost giving no regard to other people or is it just a challenge aspect as the arms race between developers patching the game and gamers searching for exploits is one that’s ever evolving? I’m as competitive as the next person but cheating to win devalues the win itself. The worst part is as long as this continues, random matchmaking online will lose honest gamers who just want to have fun whilst idiots will reign supreme. So next time you find a glitch that gives you an advantage online think about why you are using it and how it’ll affect everyone else.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.