Sorry for the lengthy AFK all. I’ve been putting in some long hours at work, but now I’m back with something that I’d like your opinion on. What’s the difference between cheating in video games and exploiting a system that’s already implemented into the game?
When it comes to video games, people will always find various ways to cheat. It’s just in our nature. Whether it be the 30-life Contra code or hacking a mmorpg to get better items, cheating and exploiting will always be around. There’s also a fine line between the two.
Everyone knows about World of Warcraft’s first expansion called the Burning Crusades, which released a few weeks ago. One of the new features is a raised level cap from 60 to 70. To a lot of casual players, that brings another month to three months of level grinding and questing to hit the new level cap. Well not everyone.
A player from France was able to reach level 70 twenty-eight hours after the release of the game. He grinded constantly without any sleep. As tales of him being the first level 70 player in the game spread, he began releasing his strategy to many curious and amazed players. He had forty of his guildies helping him out. He would hit (tag) the mob to claim ownership of the kill, and then the rest of his guild would kill the mob and keep him healed as he moved on to the next mob to repeat the process. Twenty-eight hours later **poof** level 70.
Now here’s where the controversy comes in. It seems that others are saying that he cheated. In my opinion, “cheated” is a strong word to use in this instance. He only did what Blizzard and every other mmorpg developer intends for you to do when you log in to their game and that’s interact with other players to get the most out of the game. I see it more as exploiting the system than cheating. He didn’t use a hack or mod to speed up the fight or increase the experience points. He just used and benefited from the help of some friends to get the job done.
I pose the question to all of you. Is what he did cheating or exploiting a system that’s already in motion? You want my opinion? I say, don’t hate the player. Instead, hate the player that can’t play the game.
Any thoughts?
When it comes to video games, people will always find various ways to cheat. It’s just in our nature. Whether it be the 30-life Contra code or hacking a mmorpg to get better items, cheating and exploiting will always be around. There’s also a fine line between the two.Everyone knows about World of Warcraft’s first expansion called the Burning Crusades, which released a few weeks ago. One of the new features is a raised level cap from 60 to 70. To a lot of casual players, that brings another month to three months of level grinding and questing to hit the new level cap. Well not everyone.
A player from France was able to reach level 70 twenty-eight hours after the release of the game. He grinded constantly without any sleep. As tales of him being the first level 70 player in the game spread, he began releasing his strategy to many curious and amazed players. He had forty of his guildies helping him out. He would hit (tag) the mob to claim ownership of the kill, and then the rest of his guild would kill the mob and keep him healed as he moved on to the next mob to repeat the process. Twenty-eight hours later **poof** level 70.
Now here’s where the controversy comes in. It seems that others are saying that he cheated. In my opinion, “cheated” is a strong word to use in this instance. He only did what Blizzard and every other mmorpg developer intends for you to do when you log in to their game and that’s interact with other players to get the most out of the game. I see it more as exploiting the system than cheating. He didn’t use a hack or mod to speed up the fight or increase the experience points. He just used and benefited from the help of some friends to get the job done.
I pose the question to all of you. Is what he did cheating or exploiting a system that’s already in motion? You want my opinion? I say, don’t hate the player. Instead, hate the player that can’t play the game.
Any thoughts?
Labels: Burning-Crusade, Douceswild, Games, Guild, hacking, MMORPG, Videogames, World-of-Warcraft
El fiesta en su pantalones! Holy Bob is my spanish bad, good thing for you this game is not... I'm talking about Viva Piñata from Rare [Microsoft Studios] of course. I've been able to sit down with the game for a few weeks now, and I'm ready to share my thoughts on it with you... because you are my friend, you are special to me.
In Viva Piñata, you play the guiding hand in growing a piñata plantation. [It's more like neighborhood building, but I like the way plantation sounds better.] You start out with a crummy shovel and a small plot of land that you have to work into something piñatas in the wild will want to give up their roaming ways for. Sounds easy, and in the beginning it is, but as you progress on in the game gaining new plantation residents you'll start finding out that keeping your new little eco-system in tact will be difficult. For instance, in order to get some piñatas to become residents on your plantation you have to let them eat some of your existing residents. Before you start with the, "hey this is supposed to be a kid friendly game, not violent at all..." crap remember that I said they are piñatas. They get broken open [being paper mache] and their carcass floats off into a bright light towards the sky leaving behind candy which is eaten by the conquering piñata. It's so cute you barely recognize that your plantation residents are happy canabals. ☺
As I said, Viva Piñata is very much like a Sims game... you have to do a job [tend to your garden planting flowers, trees, grass, digging ponds, etc.,] and meet criteria in order to get wild piñatas to want to visit your garden. Once they have visited you now have to find out what they need to have happen in order to get down to business. Yeah, you heard me correctly. Once you get a couple of the same species of piñata in your garden/plantation you have to figure out how to get them to reproduce. This usually entails having a house for their species built on the plantation and feeding them one of whatever thing it is that they like to eat. The first piñata that you will get to be resident and reproduce will be the "worm" piñata which are called whirlms. The first time you get your piñata to "romance" [that's what it's called in the game] you will have to guide a piñata through a mini game to the other piñata in order to get them to do the mating dance and make a baby! And when it is the first time that you have gotten a species to "romance" you actually get to watch them do it. The mating dance you perv, not "it" it. Every species has a different dance. Once the dance is completed the piñata leave the house and wait for Storkos to bring their baby egg. It is at this point that the game is nearly too adorable for words. I'm not kidding. It is the most cute thing I've played I think ever. This game is MORE adorable than Animal Crossing... and that's a HUGE statement coming from me. I used to play that game for 8 or more hours a day man! Moving on.
There is a little dude that wears a monkey mask that drives out in a shrinermobile to the aid of your nearly dead piñata. How do you make money to pay for these doctor visits? You can sell the fruit from plants you grow, seeds, flowers, pick up coins during the "romancing" mini-games, or just sell your piñatas that are residents. I recommend breeding the hell out of your "bee" piñata as you get over a grand per bee you sell, and the only things they need in order to get busy are a bee house and any piece of fruit. This is why I refer to the garden as a plantation, because you spend most of your time breeding and selling piñata in order to be able to attract other piñata to your land in hopes of ensaring, I mean, encouraging them to live on your land.
This game is damned addictive. I can't stop playing it. The textures are gorgeous. When piñata come into view and move around their paper hair moves [i.e. rises and falls] in a way that seems natural, but it looks sooo good. I love that all the helper characters that speak in the game have an English accent. It makes it seem like it really is a "goodnight" story that someone is reading to your kid... even if that kid happens to be 27 yr old me. But what I like most about Viva Piñata is that it's a game that parents can actually enjoy playing with their kid or at very least enjoy watching their young kid play. It's light hearted, it teaches your kids how to manage money, and take care of things. All this, and it looks good too!
