NO! NO! NO! he/she cheated!
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If you haven’t guessed.
This post is going to be about cheaters and the effect they have on players and developers alike.
First, I’m going to focus on the complaints
The amount of, this person is a cheater that developers get is amazing. I don’t see a problem with this, so long as there is proof of this. Going to someone and saying this person cheated but I can’t prove it, is just as bad as saying I passed my math exam with an A, but I don’t have my grades. If you have no proof, the developer can do nothing. At all. As if this person did not cheat, and you are saying it because you don’t like them, and the developer did act, that would make that developer look harsh and bring about a sense of doubt in his or her ability to be mature about handling complaints.
On the other hand, if someone comes to a developer with proof of a cheater, then the developer should act accordingly to their game’s rules. And again, if they do not act, their reputation might be damaged by their inability to make decisions about the running of their game.
Second, the impact on players
Cheaters are no fun.
Cheating on an online game especially will have a great impact on the other players. Whether it be game breaking, example being able to crash the server, or just causing the players grief, making them lose items, causing lag, walking through walls on maps, those types of things. This, of course, drives players away. It also may lead to the developer making his or her game pay to play, or have limitations for people that do not pay. I see various upsides and downsides to this.
the upsides.
1. The developer gets money. What’s wrong with this? Nothing, there’s your answer. Developers put work into games and sometimes money of their own. Why shouldn’t they make a profit?
2. Less frequent cheating. Well, hasn’t this been the point of making said game pay to play anyway? Mostly, it is. If a cheater must constantly buy new accounts to evade bans, they are much less likely to cheat in the first place.
the downsides
1. Smaller player base. This is especially true for audio games. The blind community is small, and the number of blind people that can afford to spend money on games is even smaller. Making a game paid will reduce the amount of people that may play your game.
2. complaints, flaming, trolls, that sort of thing. You will get this if you make a game pay to play. People will complain, and wine, and scream, and many other things. Or just beg for a free copy/account. This causes problems for developers as developers for the most part I believe want to keep their players happy, and if that means denying someone a place on their game because they can’t buy it, then that’s ok, as every other player bought it. However, there is a point where developers must use logic. If someone has bought a key to a game previously, unless stated, they should be entitled to replacement keys for that game if they get a new machine or lose the key.
Conclusion
Cheaters are bad for everyone. Developers, having to prevent them, and players, having to deal with bad gaming because of them.
So cheaters, if you read this, think about the hardships you are causing in other people that want to play a game that is fair and fun, and a developer that wants to enjoy their game, and enjoy making it.
If you have anything to add, or yell at me about, leave a comment.