Cheats

When I start to play a game on Webkinz World or on my Facebook account, I just play the game and I have never even thought about cheats or anything to get along farther with. Even when I attempt to play some video games over at someone else's house it never crossed my mind that there were cheats out there that could help me do better in the game. Sure I have heard of them before, but I thought "come on now, who really uses those?" You can imagine my shock after reading Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming" by Richard Heeks. Heeks introduces the reader to the idea of Gold Farming being "the production of virtual goods and services for players of online games." Not only can they help the player of these games get more goods on hand, but they can also help them get further on in the game by going in and playing in place of them. There are several jobs that workers do that make this possible, and let me tell you, they make tons of money! Heeks tells us that workers make around $145.00 per month, and there are around 400,000 of these workers so all together they make around one point four billion dollars per year!

"World of development economics Warcraft" by Andrew Leonard goes along with Gold Farming article. Leonard tells us of how his son got a better feeling when he got ahead in game by another player just giving him goods he needed. His son "could have earned that gold himself by killing enemies or selling. . or he could have hooked up with a Gold Farmer." In "To Cheat or Not Cheat: Is That Even the Question?" this young boy peeked at his Christmas present, and got some negative feelings for doing so. He was not as happy for what he got because he already knew what it was going to be. If Leonard's son would have paid for someone to get him farther in the game he was playing he would not have been so proud or happy of doing so. This is just like how this young boy was not so happy because he knew what he was going to get.

"Cheaters: A Special Report" by the Game Reporter Staff tells us that Robert Bowling a Call Of Duty 4 manager thinks of cheating more as "glitching." This is anything in the game that allows other players to get ahead in an unfair manor. Like the author of "To Cheat or Not Cheat: Is That Even the Question?" brings up a good point of how rules make the game worth playing. What is the point of going out and just breaking all the rules to say you are the winner?

"The Jam, All Mod Cons" by Olli Sotamaa tells the reader that "the player becomes a fundamental feature of any game." So the ways the player picks to get around, get through obstacles, and solve problems really does play a big roll. Not only do they have the option to use cheats, they have the option of playing as a real non-cheating player. What's the enjoyment when you know you really cannot win a game unless you get a set of cheat notes along with it?

The last article we will look at for today is called "The Social Network Game Boom" written by Sande Chen. Chen tells us the thing we hear almost every day, that people are using the internet more and more these days. We are playing games on sites that are suppose to be for interacting with other people, sites such as Facebook and Myspace. With these we can play games with our friends, and the other people we have on our friends list. Chen says there are "forced invites" that these sites may make you send to your friends, so they are more like advertisements rather than just games online.

The way I see Gold Farming, is that it is such a waste of money, and cheats aren't doing you any good! Why would someone want to spend their hard earned money just for someone to help them do better in an online game? Sure Gold Farming might be a good thing in some places because there are a low number of jobs, but that makes me think who really has the money to spend on these online games and cheats. If I were to use Gold Farmers I would be scared that I would be robbed, or wake up one day to my credit card being blacked out. Most people feel much more self-worth if they reach something they have been working on for a long period of time. There are rules that help you get along in the game, and if you can't get past one level, will it really do any good to pay someone to get to onto a higher and much more difficult level? If you can't play a game on your own, then you really shouldn't be playing it!
Let's look at it this way: what if someone had a cheat for everything they did in life. They had cheats for driving, cheats for testing, cheats for cooking. . and so on. How would you feel if you were up all night studying for a test while another student was out at a party because they were going to use a cheat on the test in the morning? If people start playing with more and more cheats, I think they will expect other things in life to have cheats, or ways to get around the hard stuff.