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Cheating and The Psychology of Gaming

Following on from my previous post about cheaters in online games I think it is worth making a link between cheating and the psychology of gaming achievement.

Performers might be tempted to cheat because they crave the ego boost of achievement but are not prepared to put hard work into getting it.

Masters on the other hand are prepared to slog through the game in order to earn their achievements.

This viewpoint might explain why many adults who really should know better still cheat. If you are a cheater don't expect me to feel sorry for you though just because you have a mixed up psychological alignment!

EDIT: Applying this analayis to the resons given by cheaters in the last post:


I think I started cheating because when you die in CSS you have to wait until the next round to play again. I wanted to keep playing. - PERFORMER
 Think I started cheating because I work for a living and don't have all day to learn to play a PC game just so some 12 yr old hairless scrotum can sling 'l33t' speak insults at me. PERFORMER (or perhaps just misopedic)
i loved how i can cause rage on people who take the gaming too seriously and start throwing killing threats on you etc. hilarious crap SOCIOPATH ???
I started cheating for the sole purpose of cheating: having advantages over other players. I got bored of playing the game the way it was supposed to be played: PERFORMER
I'm just really lazy and I don't feel like waiting to get the newest gear and stuff. I know it takes away the challenge, but to me, that's not really a big deal. e-peen growth is srs bsns. PERFORMER
Meh, I cheat in TF2 because the game is boring.PERFORMER
 
Pretty conclusive don't you think?
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Comments

Jayedub said…
I used to cheat in single player games all the time. But at some point I just stopped. I feel that cheating ruins the experience of the game, and cheating online is just plain lame.

The only time I cheat is if there is a game that I want to play through really quick.
5:35 pm
mbp said…
I don't count single player games as cheating Jayedub. You are not affecting anyone else but yourself. Its more like a user selectable difficulty level.
6:31 pm
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