In a real life fight, some people will scratch, claw, bite, and pull hair in order to win. They will use whatever tools will give them an advantage, regardless of how unfair it might be. These are the type of people whose first move in combat will always be the kick to the groin. These are the type of people that always have an over-shield in Halo or an RCP 90 in Goldeneye.

To some, they are cheap bastards, to others they are simply taking advantage of what the game provides.

I have seen battles between people that exploit every advantage the game provides and those that try to play the game with a sense of honor. It often leads to harsh words, ill will, and punches in the arm. Neither one understands how the other can play that way.

When I play an FPS, I subscribe to a martial code. I do not abuse body armor or rocket launchers. I do not camp out at spawn points. I don’t steal a couple kills when the phone rings and you have to put the controller down. I would rather die an honorable death than win unfairly.

To some people this makes me honorable. To others it just makes me an idiot.

I often feel like I am playing a different game than everyone else. I don’t want games to be about finding the overpowered weapon or the perch no one else can see or hit. I want games to be a test of skill; either I beat you or you beat me. I want to win because I am better than you. I want you to win because you are better than me. I don’t want to have to worry that I only won because my gun does three times the damage of yours or you won because you had armor that let you absorb more punishment than me. I don’t understand the thrill of spamming an unblockable move over and over or making your kills with an overpowered weapon.

I grew up in the halcyon days when an arcade was still a viable business. Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat sucked up hundreds of my quarters. You would put in your quarter and start battling. Gamers would put their quarters up on the screen to signify they “got next”. Sometimes there would be a line of people waiting to take you on. There was something so satisfying about crushing a line of guys. Other times you would see a gaming Titan obliterating all comers. You would see guys that were so good that it was worth 25 cents just to watch them annihilate you.

There was still trash talking, but it was kept to a minimum because there was no anonymity. If you were a jerk you had to do it to a guy standing 6 inches to your right. You wouldn’t dream of talking trash to the 25 year old on his lunch break who smelled like cigarettes and weed. I hear kids on Xbox Live cursing up a storm and I wonder, “Would they be like this if they were 6 inches to my right, staring 2 feet up at my chin?” Sure, people still abused glitches and unfair advantages (Guile’s Slow Sonic Boom to throw move for one), but it felt like that was the exception rather than the rule. Because again, you had to do it to the guy 6 inches to your right.

I hear kids talk about Care Package cheats and the mods they got for their controllers and I feel like they’re missing the point. A victory attained through cheating just feels hollow and empty. If you beat someone by cheating did you really win? Or did your modified controller win?

No game has achieved perfect balance. There is always that one weapon or character or move that is a little too powerful. There will always be people that will exploit that weapon to achieve victory. Maybe they’ll read this and think twice about spawn camping. Maybe they won’t pick up that rocket launcher when the other guy has a pistol.

More likely, they will be invisible with an over-shield, hiding in a hole in the games geometry, reveling in their victory, completely oblivious that they did anything wrong.

Tags: arcade games, cheats, Editorials, exploits, Goldeneye, Halo, honor, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, xbox live

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.