Cheating is objectively, morally wrong
Cheating in online games is pathetic, scummy, childish, and simply wrong. Whatever one’s subjective reasons for why they cheat are, none of them could ever possibly be good or justifiable. This should go without saying, and for most it does go without saying. Those who violate an unspoken rule like this are what we in the business call ass holes.
But there is a contingent of the internet who just does not understand or, perhaps, care. This video is intended for you: ass holes.
In my online game of choice, Counter Strike 2 there is a culture of cheating. Not unlike the one that exists on its more casual, less competitive cousin Team Fortress 2. Routinely finding these people makes the game difficult to play because it fundamentally breaks the game, undoing its intended difficulty balance. Cheaters impose an entirely different game, on an unready population of gamers who had hoped to play a competitive match based on merit and skill.
If they had wanted to play against the robotic commands of a computer, why would they not play against bots? Human error is one of the main things that makes online gaming consistently fun. Each match is going to be different because human creativity, motivation, and facilities are fundamentally different from that of a computer. Attempting to predict the actions of an opposite team of conscious players cannot become stale in the same way that a single player game can. But cheaters do not play like conscious players, they play like computers.
In the process of cheating, they entirely uproot what makes the game fun by becoming, in essence, a bot that isn’t trained to let you win sometimes. A bot that isn’t taught to be balanced. The kind of human balance that comes from playing against other humans is gone.
And to what end? To assuage the insecurities of gamers with low self esteem? Did we forget that it’s just a video game? If you spend a significant portion of your time with a game, if you take it seriously, good! There’s nothing wrong with caring deeply about the things you love. In fact, such a thing should be encouraged. However, it is important to remember something like your self esteem should not be negatively impacted by ones and zeros on a screen. Your ability to play a game that has no material impact on the outside world or your standing in it, should not impact how you see yourself.
It is true that everyone starts at a different skill level, such a thing is inevitable when considering the varied factors that influence human consciousness. But regardless of where you start, unlike with something like basketball or other physical sports, video games are one of the very few arenas where practice mostly does make perfect. So, it is entirely possible for someone who spends 10,000 hours consciously considering each move they make in CS or TF2, studying the game in depth, practicing daily, to reach a professional level. That is possible. Regardless of where they are coming from. Unless they are one of the few exceptions, like the severely disabled. You probably aren’t them. So if you tried, you could actually do it.
Starting at a particularly bad point only means you need to practice thoughtfully, to practice more.
You failed? You practice. You get better. You have fun. If teaching yourself to have this more positive mindset about the game simply isn’t working, maybe you just shouldn’t be playing it in the first place. To resort to imposing, for your own sake, an entirely different game on other people, who do enjoy the game, who do want to improve at it, and enjoy the process of succeeding through merit, is just plain wrong.
Those gamers are living, breathing people with their own feelings and desires. No matter how distinct said feelings and desires are from yours, you still know what it’s like to have feelings and desires in the first place. Imagine how it would feel to have your feelings and desires trampled on. You know how you’d feel if someone else were not considerate to you, so why do it to someone else?
Have you ever had someone be inconsiderate to you and then wish that they had not been? Of course you have. Because experiencing that hurts. Each and every time I encounter someone who does choose to be considerate to me and my feelings, that ‘someone’ feels like a small superhero. They make my day. They make everything feel a little better. They make it feel okay to exist. Don’t you want to be that for someone else? Even if there are no consequences for the bad things that you are doing, wouldn’t you want to go to bed at the end of the day knowing that you had a positive impact on someone else? That is the kind of thing that makes us see ourselves in a better light, that makes us happy.
Sure, you may think it’s silly to care about playing a balanced game online. Sure, you may not care all that much about reaching a better level fairly. But is that any reason to harm the people who do? They are not you. But they are still human, just like you.
In this respect, cheaters can never win. Not just because they are not playing the same game as everyone else. That does make them, by definition, a loser. But because of the lack of consideration for others, for their feelings, for their lives, makes them no different from the losers who once lacked consideration for them. Cheating isn’t just wrong for the other people involved. It’s wrong for you. So get good, or go do something else.
Now, I would like to give a quick shoutout to hack vs. hack servers. Because there are legitimate reasons to enjoy breaking a game. Like, for example, the fact breaking the game forms an entirely new game within the game. That’s awesome. Just, don’t force all of us to play it. Play that game with other people who want to play it.
