Confessions of a Middle School Cheater
by Mike D'Anna 
Apr 13th 2006 at 9:00AM
In yet another sign of the decaying morals of
our youth, today's Salt Lake Tribune has an article on 'cheating' in MMO's that contains some shamefully unremorseful
confessions by some local youths of their nefarious gold-buying & pay-per-level activities. Where are these kids
getting the cash to buy hundreds of dollars worth of powerleveling services, anyway? At that age I was lucky to get 35
cents to buy a comic book (yes, they were 35 cents...and I was still pissed about the price hike from 25).I love how these kids absolve themselves of guilt with statements like "Yeah, it was cheating...but I got a whole bunch of weapons". I'm pretty sure Lex Luthor said that once...
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Odds and ends, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
toolmonkey Apr 13th 2006 11:05AM
To call some of the things mentioned in that article "cheating" is just ridiculous.
For the casual gamer then paying someone to level up your character is the only way they're ever going to get into the end game stuff without spending months at a time going in 10 level blocks or something.
Some people don't care for the level grinding, some people don't even care for the story, they just want PvP or the chance to go through the "talked about instances" and the quickest way for them to do it is to pay some "chinese farmer" to level up their character.
At least the kid in the beginning of the article didn't beat up children on the playground for money, but to call that cheating is just garbage.
Penguintine Apr 13th 2006 11:31AM
I don't cheat because for me the fun of the game is the challenge. But is cheating big enough of a deal to feel "guilty", I'm not so sure. Should Blizz crack down on cheating? Yes, but only to keep it in check so the game isn't totally ruined for others. Cheating is a natural part of any electronic gaming experience.
PodMonkeys Apr 13th 2006 11:48AM
"Cheating is a natural part of any electronic gaming experience." is like saying "cheating is a part of any sporting experience, or any testing/school experience." Its a sign of the low level to which our level of honor has fallen when you start saying cheating is just the way things are done. Cheating is as natural a part of the electronic gaming experience as shop-lifting is part of the shopping experience.
slagar Apr 13th 2006 2:44PM
"Cheating is as natural a part of the electronic gaming experience as shop-lifting is part of the shopping experience."
comparing "electronic gaming" to real life, as in shoplifting, shows the lengths of people who are offended by cheaters. everyone is paying for access to the game. anyone who is offended by anything anyone does can quit the game if they feel it detracts from their playing time. if enough people quit because they are tire of the tele-hacks and gold selling something will be done about it. until that time please hold you self-righteous attitude as far as comparing in game cheating to real life experiences. as far as i know, no municipality or government has signed laws making gold selling illegal.
(this message does not mean i condone thoes behaviors. they infuriate me as much as those who decry them as illegal.)