Cheating on Nintendo: Is fair play being given the squeeze?

From Games Radar: "There are hardly any barriers in place for Nintendo's online gaming strategy. We're not talking about players injecting reaction-improving drugs up their nostrils - rather, we're talking about the trend of repeatedly exploiting glitches and gameplay imbalances to score an easy win over potentially more skilful opponents.

But like the steroid poser, the morality of this issue is a moodylicous shade of gray. After all, these people aren't cheating per se, are they? They're not breaking the game rules, or putting us off our game by Wii-mailing us pictures of sad kittens, or doing anything that we couldn't hypothetically learn to do ourselves. If we want to compete, we'd just better learn to beat them at their own game, right? But what if we don't want to? What if we find the repeated use of a single move to be so bitterly tedious and game-breaking that we don't want to play any more? Well, perhaps that's just tough nuts for us. Or is it?"

[LeShin]

Good article. I don't care that people use walktroughs and game genies in their single player game, if they want to shorten their experience having plonked down £50 for a game, thats their business. Cheating online just pisses me off. This is the exact reason that when someone announces that their game is online, a feeling of dread creeps over me. Back in the day when it was you and your friend playing split-screen against each other, he couldn't cheat because he was within punching distance :)

Nowadays some people will use all matter of glitches and exploits to win multiplayer battles, which just takes all the fun out of it. I remember playing Halo 2 like Gameradar said and seeing a bunch of players bouncing around like bloody rabbits and glitching. Put me right off multiplayer.

Even now, last month me and my friends had a team in R:FOM and were against another team who for some reason kept on "teleporting" as we shot them and reappeared behind us like their names were bloody Dhalsim!

Thats the thing about online, you open the game up to all the idiots and cheats out there.

[M_Prime]

yeah.. but there are decent people out there.. i play a lot of DOD and CS:SOURCE as well as TFC and i see valve put in some good anti-cheat code in there but its not perfect and we still get cheaters.. but mods are usually good and catch em.. though some players are that good and seem to be cheating when they're not.. so nintendo can fix these problems on the wii at least with DC but i don't have any WII online games yet so i dunno how bad it is.. (strikers is pre-ordered)

also as for MKDS snaking caught me off guard at first but then i mastered it and kicked ass.. the fact with that game is if u finish everything in single player you will know all these techniques when u play multi-player.. the only people that are lost when playing that game is people that don't bother playing the 50cc 100cc and 150cc.. if u can't beat the 150cc theres a good chance that you will suck online.. also i have everything unlocked so if i can use faster characters that gives me the advantage as well, so techically MKDS rewards the fact u finished single player tracks and i like that..

[ItsDubC]

I have to agree w/ u. I haven't had my DS for very long and haven't had time to finish MKDS. I'm well-aware of snaking and try to use it to my advantage both online and offline, but online I get smoked every time. It doesn't bother me though, because I know that I shouldn't be able to beat other players who have finished the game and are more familiar with it. If I've only had time to finish the 50cc and am able to beat everyone online, the game would have some serious flaws.

[jigaman]

Totally agree with you. I also play DOD (great game btw) and they have decent anti cheat programs. There are servers that you can go on that have craziness going on, but since there is thousands of servers...you have the choice of not playing there.

And as far as MKDS goes drift turbo aka snaking is a part of the game. I learned it after I demolished single player. Time trials also gives good practice as far as learning DT and snaking goes. People who haven't learned this technique are the whiners and they usually disconnect on me cause I mastered it.

That aside I do dislike cheaters alot. It's cheap, and unfair to those who have taken the time (and money) to master a game. I hope Nintendo has researched this and taken necessary precaution to prevent it.

Then again as long as their is games I think there will always be cheaters. It comes with the territory.

[firstworldman]

This article seems to be attacking Nintendo on their game design, saying how these 'cheats' are built into the game's code–going even as far to say that it's because they lack the ability to program well.

These exploits or super-moves are there for that goal-driven gamer. If you don't want to break your thumb snaking then don't, but be prepared to be left in the asphalt-wake of those who wear splints. Or, go on some Nintendo forums and look for people who are adamant on not snaking–these people exist and have internet access, as pointed out by the article. ;)

As for Strikers, they've attempted a balance–I haven't played it yet; I have a pre-order. They've attempted to balance the game, from what I've seen, by including the ability to stop Megastrikes. Oh, is that not fair enough? Well, now they're worth 5 goals instead of 2–was it two or three?

And, I won't even get into Warp pipes–it's an off-line experience.

[ChickeyCantor]

Nintendo always puts these things in their games, they are sneaky.
just like ssbm: stuff like L-cancel and dashing stuff like that, even n64 version had those things.