this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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I don't find shame in cheating in video games. It was a stigma to hear about growing up, that cheating in video games meant you prefer the shortcuts in life or that you didn't know what earning anything was. When, that was all just bullshit talk.

I cheat in video games, when available to on some games, to give me a little kick of fun. Sometimes I don't have the patience to tediously go through the standard way. Other times, I feel I've earned it anyways, because of having undergone the stresses and frustrations or the time I've played of certain games to go through the normal way.

Like in Terraria, it's a game I've clocked in upwards of 900 hours. I felt like I had done everything in the game prior to the content that added the Moon Lord and many other things. At that time, it was 850 hours.

So the point of the matter is, yeah I don't find it that big of a deal to cheat in video games. If I cared to and want to, I'm decent enough to handle games without cheats, given enough time.

Multiplayer of course I never cheat in those.

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[–] CannedCairn@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

In single player yes, who cares, mods are fun too. In co-op, fine, as long as everyone is on board with the change. In PvP, never, thanks for fucking ruining the fun.

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 11 hours ago

I do not, as a rule, play games where my enjoyment affects others. When I do, no, I don’t cheat. The rest of the time? I’m not above taking a shortcut if it brings me more enjoyment if the product I paid for. I occasionally cheat at Animal Crossing. Look up treasure islands. I don’t abuse them but I definitely make use of them.

[–] AlphaOmega@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

Back in the day my friend couldn't get through the MOH level with snow. It would just freeze and crash. So I showed him how to cheat and bypass the level.

If it's single player then do whatever you want. It only affects you.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

I don't get it in multiplayer games. Why ruin it for everyone and why cheat? Your not actually that good. I just don't get it.

And then what is cheering is watching/reading a walk through cheating? Single player so what you want.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

I used to back in the late 90s-early 2000s in StarCraft: BroodWar when I was a kid. Mainly because I was absolute trash and was trying to compete.

My favorite hacks were map hacks (removes fog of war) and stack hacks (construct buildings on top of each other to fit more in your base). I also used a no-CD crack (glad those days are over), and a disconnect hack so that I would never have a loss on my record.

Even with these hacks I was still trash at StarCraft, and always will be. Gave up on RTS games a long time ago. Hacks can't save you from poor resource management and low APM.

Haven't hacked in a game since. I heard that hacks cost money these days. I couldn't possibly imagine paying real money to cheat. The closest I get to cheating in games today is playing mobile shooters in an Android emulator on PC. That way I can take advantage of mouse & keyboard + playing on a larger 4K HFR screen for smoother framerates and better visibility over a phone screen. But that's allowed (Tencent even has an official emulator for this very thing), and many mobile shooters will detect M&KB input and try to only match you with other players using the same input method, so I'm not sure if you can really call that cheating.

It does give me an advantage, though.

[–] LucidNightmare@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I play games to have fun, which is the reason I don't play multiplayer games (unless local). I also have a very limited amount of time to play games after work.

I cheat with WeMod on openSUSE Tumbleweed for every game I can. I've just recently beaten Resident Evil 2+3 and am currently on 4 right now, and am having a blast getting to play these games!

The number one reason I am having a blast is BECAUSE of the cheats. Every game is different for me, so I only use the cheats that will minimize the amount of time I have to do silly shit like collect X amount of this material or whatever other stupid grindy stuff they come up with that doesn't respect my time as a player. Using the RE games as an example, I don't turn on every single cheat. I don't want to worry about inventory management (not fun to me, personally), so I turn on No Reload. This means my weapons will never need to be reloaded, which means more space in the inventory for the story important items. Win/Win for me. What I don't do, for these games in particular, is use the infinite/god mode cheats. I still want to get damaged and try to recover if it happens, so I leave that one off.

People get... really fuckin' weird when you talk about how much fun you have using cheats in a video game. "You can't be having that much fun, or else you wouldn't cheat!", "You shouldn't cheat on video games because it takes the fun away!", "WOW, YOU NEED TO GET GUD SCRUB. ONLY LITTLE BABIES CHEAT IN VIDEO GAMES!!!!!111!!". And here I am just having fun and completing game after game after game to get through my monumental Steam library. :P

[–] nwtreeoctopus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago

Cheating to get around parts that aren't fun for you is just valuing your time. I'll cheat any way that improves the fun of the game. Sometimes, that's extra ammo or money or materials I don't want to grind for.

That said, my favorite games are still Souls games and the only "cheats" I like there are ones that make the game harder.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 2 points 12 hours ago

I had a game genie for my nes. Highly recommended. But for modern games? Na. I'll look up a boss if I'm having a hard time, but I don't really feel the need to cheat, outside of carry limit on stalker.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 2 points 12 hours ago

Honestly, I don't even like using the word "cheat" to describe customizing a single-player gaming experience in a way not blessed by the developers. Terrafirmacraft (and maybe even just Gregtech) isn't cheating at Minecraft; certainly the experience isn't "easier".

So, yes, I will play the game is whatever way makes for the most fun for me, whether that's "cheating" or not to you.

For experiences that aren't single-player, including (e.g.) anything with a global leaderboard (even at third-party one), I can understand why someone might choose to cheat, but I think I could deny myself those temptations. But, I've never been a "simple" cheat away from the top of a leaderboard or any other sort of acclaim or reward.

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 1 points 11 hours ago

The ways I cheat depends on the game. Sometimes to get rid of grind, others to obtain abilities that are mutually exclusive. EG: X-COM, where I had soldiers with all branches of their abilities active, rather than having to pick just one. Max stat spreads, without having to pick a specialty.

I pretty much play games for narrative or to simply keep my hands busy while listening to Behind the Bastards.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 15 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Cheating in multiplayer games is lame and defeats one of the main reasons people play games with each other.

There is nothing you can do to cheat in a single player game. You decide how you play single player.

[–] mrmule@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago

cheese steak jimmy's

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 points 13 hours ago

Yes if the game is more frustrating than fun without it. The most notable example is probably Elden Ring, which I cheated the whole way through.

[–] lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

I was getting ready to rant until you mentioned Terraria. Then I read the last line of your post.

Shoot, if I'm playing against the computer I use the game the way I want. It's not cheating if your opponent is non-sentient.

I especially feel that way in games where ridiculous stuff happens at random (e.g. Rimworld). If I'm 2h into building a new colony and somehow get wiped out by 1 rabid squirrel, I curse, laugh my ass off for a minute, then load an autosave.

[–] greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 13 hours ago

One of the best things in games that aren't super polished or balanced is figuring out how to exploit the game. It gives you the same kind of feeling you get from getting to the end game in Gothic (or something like that). Getting powerful through your own skill and commitment to the game. Steady progression is good sometimes, but so is feeling progress.

Also yeah sometimes I cheat in single player games

[–] DrunkAnRoot@sh.itjust.works 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

yep used to tp an spawn shit on random ppl in quite a few games an made a full menu for csgo

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 1 points 11 hours ago

Why though. How is that fun?

[–] kosanovskiy@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Single player games only and only once I complete the main story and any side quests that I wanted to do, only then I install stat or mechanics altering mods for a new variety of play. Graphical or visual mods I install immediately, I don't consider those as cheating. Funny enough "cheating" in Skyrim has become one of my most played games in itself. I maybe played 5 hours at most of actuall Skyrim, yet have spent over 900 hours modding, breaking and then fixing the game. This involved anything from Thomas the Dank engine ramming a Sylvari in more way than one to modifying actions and scripts where everytime an NPC says the phrase "dragon" the game would summon a dragon and who will subsequently Fush-Roh-Dah their asses across the map to the top of a Whiterun building.

[–] callyral@pawb.social 1 points 12 hours ago

Yes, but also not really? Not sure if enabling "Keep Inventory" counts as cheating in survival Minecraft or if it counts as a play style. Of course creative mode is only cheating when you use it in a world that was meant for survival, but I haven't done that. Really unsure what counts as cheating in Minecraft singleplayer to be honest.

Other games: no, not really, I don't even know how to cheat in Hollow Knight for example, Universe Sandbox is fully a sandbox game so you can't cheat, and...

Oh wait, I guess I did use Assist Mode in Celeste once? I think that counts as cheating since I didn't really need assist mode at all I was just frustrated and wanted to have fun. Yeah, sometimes I cheat actually. It's fun in singleplayer and doesn't ruin the game for anyone else.

[–] Vipsu@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Not in the typical sense, but I do use mods that may alter the vanilla experience to be less grindy.

For example in Sacred 2 remaster I use mod that doubles the quantity of enemies making it more challenging but also more challenging.

In Incredible adventures of Van Helsing I made set and godlike items drop from special mobs with 1/10th of chance of epic items or something as without mods you'd have to grind for keys to open offline lootboxes.

I do also like exploits that may trivialize the game. Especially in rpgs where they may allow mevto create ridiculously powerful builds.

[–] pugsnroses77@sh.itjust.works 3 points 16 hours ago

i do in minecraft. ive done the song and dance of cutting tree, making table, making wood pick, getting stone farrr too many times. i cheat in a stone set, turn on warp/tp, and turn keepinventory on. makes it a less stressful game when my true intention is just to mine and decorate with friends high after work.

[–] count_dongulus@lemmy.world 14 points 23 hours ago

I don't, because I find that as soon as I do, the game feels permanently pointless. It's like grinding to get some random chance item, and then someone gives you a magic menu enabling you to just put any items you want in your inventory whenever you want. Items mentally become zero value. And then any game mechanics built around scarcity and the intended emotional impact of that scarcity become permanently meaningless too.

It's pulling back the curtain. You can't unsee what's going on back there. Any further interaction with the game just leaves me feeling "this is just a video game, the rules are pointless and with that menu I can get it to do whatever". Even partial cheats, like infinite ammo with no reloading needed, break the illusion for me permanently and leave further gameplay even without cheats feeling unsatisfying and pointless.

For me, it's rare that a game can survive its mechanics or overall gameplay loop being destroyed by cheats when those are what make games...games. You're left with either a creative mode sandbox, or a movie, neither of which I care for in a video game format.

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 5 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

IDKFA, IDDQD

DNKROZ, DNSTUFF

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 5 points 17 hours ago

Thereisnocowlevel

[–] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

DNCORNHOLIO

[–] serpineslair@lemmy.world 265 points 1 day ago (10 children)

Singleplayer do whatever you like, multiplayer do not cheat.

Multiplayer, don't cheat - join or start lobbies playing the way you want to play.

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[–] jaupsinluggies@feddit.uk 3 points 19 hours ago

No, I tweak the rules to better suit my gameplay preferences.

[–] tobz619@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

single player games? yeah, especially if I've already beaten the game

other times I'm just skipping tedious grinding

definitely never in mp games

[–] RexWrexWrecks@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

Yes.

I play single player games on my PC without sharing my achievements with anyone or bragging about my exploits. When I discuss games with my friends, I usually talk about story, narrative, writing, acting, mechanics, etc. I don't discuss difficulty and I think people who say "not revert game is for everyone" are stupid, especially when a game is more than just its mechanics.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Depends on the game and platform really.

Been using game cheats since IDDQD and IDKFA. I've never used a cheat in a multiplayer competitive game, that's like cheating at golf. No one really cares what your fucking score is, and cheating ruins any and all accomplishment and personal validation from competing. At that point, you're just being an asshole to other people for imaginary clout, and you should really consider what is gratifying about playing in the first place.

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[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 6 points 22 hours ago

Only if it's single player and there's some bullshit time consuming part I don't want to deal with or some bug fucks me over. I wouldn't in multiplayer. I can't even bring myself to murder people in arc raiders unless its self defense.

[–] regedit@lemmy.zip 3 points 19 hours ago

In a world where everything is trying to steal as many minutes of our attention as possible, cheating in single-player games is just a way to experience the content without the grind. I appreciate any SP game that offers "dad-mode" difficulty options, but those are few. My favorite types of games are those that incentivize replay by offering "cheats" within the game. Games such as Dead Space and Silent Hill IV incentivized replay by offering enhanced items or, in the case of SH4, an infinite rocket launcher. Those are still, to this day, games I've played at least 3-4 times from start to end just to find fun ways to play and be a badass while doing it!

As with most things in my life, if it isn't hurting anything/anyone why would/should I or anyone else care? Cheating in MP is akin to drinking water from a public toilet, though. Almost nothing grosser than that action and those people!

All that said, one thing I've learned about myself over the years, especially since my ADHD diagnosis last year (or the year before, time is a blur anymore), is that cheating is nearly always going to kill any interest I have in that game. It's when I know I'm nearing the end of my interest in the game. It extends to hobbies, too, though the "cheating" in that is splurging and finally buying stuff to really get good at the hobby. I did that with woodworking, 3D printing, and ghost hunting. Bought the shit, got excited about using it, and basically didn't touch the hobby afterwards. It kind of sucks and I'm working on that stuff, though!

[–] Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you cheat in a single player game you do you. You can do whatever you want. If you do the same in a multiplayer online game: fuck you, you are ruining it for the rest of us.

Edit: To answer the question: No, I don't cheat. Neither in single player nor in multiplayer games.

[–] Neps@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Yep i used to a bunch in shooters, even helped develop some for Rianbow six siege and valorant, also cheated a bunch in Apex legends. Believe it or not most people cheat in comp shooters to fuck with other people or to boost their freinds, I've known pro players and ranked stars that loved to cheat heavily on alts just to troll or post dumb closet cheat kill montages. The market used to be a great way to make money, not so sure now though.

[–] hardcoreufo@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

Not really, I don't even know how you cheat in modern games. Retro games I'll put in codes if they are built into the game but not game genie/ game shark codes.

I got no problem what you do in single player games though, you do you. I don't play online multiplayer anymore but you suck if you cheat online.

[–] Datz@szmer.info 4 points 22 hours ago

When an aspect of a game is ass (usually grinding, and I tend to be tolerant), even if I try to engage with it. Or if I'm about to drop the game anyway and cheats means seeing an ending. Last time I did was Megaman ZX, the game was already tedious and expects you to then also do a boss rush with limited ways to recover between fights, so I cheated infinite lives to get it over with.

[–] pheonixdown@sh.itjust.works 92 points 1 day ago (7 children)

The point of games is to have fun, "cheats" are essentially just difficulty options.

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[–] Unleaded8163@fedia.io 74 points 1 day ago

It's only really cheating if you cheat someone else. The point of video games is fun and entertainment. If "cheating" improves that, have at 'er.

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

I would consider dev mode in rimworld to be cheating in a “technically it is” sort of way.. spawning infant thralls that are then adopted by my colony, or spawning whatever activity site I choose are definitely not how the game is supposed to work. The mods are sort of also cheating I guess, tho most of them are content heavy.. there are definitely several hacky mods in my list, like minify everything.

But while it’s cheating in a technical sense, it doesn’t impact anyone and it’s teaching me a lot about how video games function, which I find more entertaining than completing hard-coded objectives. It’s the first game I ever put a lot of mods on, and between troubleshooting and testing stuff, it’s been nearly as illuminating as rendering lag that adds each texture layer individually starting from low poly (my ps4 is having some major lag issues I’m trying to sort out, and horizon zero dawn is fascinating for this rendering issue, so so many layers! And then to realize it usually gets processed in real time! 🤯)

As for cheating in multiplayer, it hasn’t come up in decades. WoW was the last multiplayer game I played, and I stopped that when whatever the third expansion was came out. So like 2010 or so?

[–] blue_skull@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

Porntipsguzzardo

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 day ago (4 children)

no, I mod them

there is no such thing as cheating in a personal game

don't tell the people on Don't Starve forums, but save mods are totally okay and not at all "cheating and ruining the game". you know what ruins the game? losing my several hundred days of progress because I didn't actually pause the game when my dog started making puking sounds and I ran away from my computer

also, Minecraft automation - sure, I could let my server run overnight, or I could just directly give myself the materials the farm would have produced in 12 hours and save the power consumption. ofc I validate all my farms before I do any of that, and I don't give more resources than they produce.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 20 hours ago

Also, don't attempt to use the term 'mod' as it is used literally everywhere else, with people who play GTAV/RDR2 online.

In their weird, niche vernacular, 'mod' = 'hack/cheat engine'.

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[–] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 58 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

Only single player games -- and usually only after they become monotonous playing the intended way.

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