Get a handle on games

Cheat your way ahead
But before we dig into the murkier side of cheating, we should discuss the positives. Well, positive in the sense that you can extend your enjoyment of favourite games without harming anyone.

Invariably the line between good and evil is whether you’re playing solo or multiplayer.

If you want to skip a level or two on Half Life because you’re stuck, or add some money to your Sim City bank account then that’s your business, but if you start doing it to beat fellow players then bending the rules can become a thorny issue.

If you’re of the honest variety then there are many places to get assistance, most notably the internet. Cheat websites such as gamefaqs.com, cheatcodesgalore.com, and uk.cheats.ign.com offer walkthroughs, codes and modifications, or mods, that can give you a helping hand with virtually every game for any system.

Such websites expand on the sections that have featured in computer magazines for years, offering tips and cheats for games, and are now huge libraries of helpful quick-fixes.

As an example, we searched on GamesFAQS for Harry Potter. Every game featuring the pint-sized wizard is listed and on multiple formats. Want to jump higher on the PC version of Sorceror’s Stone? Simply type in harrysuperjump during the game, and quite literally, ta da!

Of course, using any such method comes at a price, most notably the shame and guilt of not being able to advance without some assistance. And like anything from the internet, what’s not to say that what you’ve read is complete rubbish? It might not work or it could crash your computer.

Fighting back
So it’s all good, clean fun, right? Well, as mentioned, cheating at games evolved from a sneaky quick-fix to help you get past that impossible end-of-level baddie to a serious blot on the games scene that threatened to ruin honest players’ entertainment. It started with the development of exploits in online multiplayer games, these being the re-arranging of the game’s program code to assist players.

Soon players could become superheroes without earning their cape, which naturally left non-geeks battered and bruised when their decidedly average characters came up against unfairly enhanced mega-villians.

As online titles began to increase in popularity with the acceleration of internet speeds, developers soon started detailing the rules and regulations regarding fair play in agreements that players had to promise to adhere to.

Inevitably though, many just ticked yes to these terms and used such exploits nonetheless. And while some might have just been innocent newbies experimenting with nifty tricks to help them progress, many others were much more unscrupulous and quickly become too powerful for the good of the game.

Honest players became frustrated at servers being ruined by such antics, and it seemed that companies were doing little to stamp it out. One such aggrieved game administrator was Tony Rey, who set about trying to eradicate the problem in 2001. He established a program called Punkbuster, which started out as an independent application before quickly being integrated into many titles’ game engines.

Rey explains: “Years ago, my favourite online game was pretty much destroyed by a large influx of cheating. Many people were trying to come up with a way to address the cheating problem, as the game’s developer had thrown their hands up and admitted they just weren’t going to try to address the issue.

"The idea was to have a virtual referee standing over the shoulder of the player watching what was running on the computer while the game was being played.”

Punkbuster’s expansion means it has become the online gaming world’s best police force, and it has evolved to become a sophisticated system to prevent cheating.

It works by scanning for known cheat codes, monitoring players and checking games to see if cheats have been used. Once suspect players are detected, they can be banned from games and servers. Proof of its success comes from the fact that myriad major games (including Quake 4, F.E.A.R and Far Cry) now have the system built into their online games.

Until recently, it was predominantly shooter titles (where strength and firepower advantages can quickly ruin a game), but many role-playing offerings are now using it as well.

Aaron Cohen, the producer of MMORPG Ultima Online, recently commented: “Punkbuster is obviously our most public effort to combat cheating… Our goal is to make sure players who play by the rules are rewarded for their hard work.”