Cheaters! We’ve all played with one before. They download hacks, use map exploits, utilize user-interface changes that give them an upper hand, and all for what? What is it that makes people go beyond the basis on which the games are formed? What is it that forces people to give themselves an unfair advantage over the others in the game? To answer this question, we must first understand cheating itself.

Of course, cheating is found outside of video games. Steroids have been all over the news in the Baseball community, ever since we found out just how many professional ball players really do use these performance-enhancing drugs. In fact, if you’ve been paying attention Roger Clemens just ended his trial in front of the United States House of Representitives Oversight and Government Reform Commitee a few days ago. But why is it that these all-stars did these drugs? Isn’t it enough that they’re professional? Isn’t it enough that they’re looked up to by just about every little boy across the country? I guess not.

Cheating, it seems, doesn’t spawn from a want to further oneself in the eyes of society; if that held true I doubt a single professional player would use, only the lesser-knowns would. Cheating spawns from self-consciousness, doubt in one’s own abilities, and a degrading lack of self-image. People get much too touchy about their statistics, and want to make sure that they’re above all the rest; not because they want to look good, but because they want to feel good.

So how does this apply to gaming? Well, it’s caused by the same thing. If you’re in the CAL-O playoffs, and you decide to use cheats, who’s going to be more impressed: you, or the two people paying attention to the outcome of this game, other than the players involved? It doesn’t matter, in reality. Of course it’s great to want to further one’s team in CAL, but if you do it through the use of cheats, did you really accomplish anything?

Now, I’m not completely sure on how often cheats are used in the higher branches of CAL and CEVO, but I’d say that it’s not completely unheard of in CEVO-P / CAL-I. These guys, granted, have a much grander spectator base. But what’s to gain from cheating? The prizes in CEVO and CAL aren’t stellar. They’re better than nothing, of course, but gaming hasn’t yet developed into that much of a lucrative franchise. In CGS you end up going into a very strictly controlled environment where the odds of you actually being able to get away with cheats are microscopic, if not zero. So why d0 people insist, even when the benefits are so small, on using cheats in competitive gaming? The answer is the link between steroids and cheating; it makes the user feel better about themselves.

As I’ve already pointed out, the benefits of using cheats, even when the stakes are as high as CGS, are minimal at best. However, we still hear stories about person after person being branded a cheater - probably the worst thing that one can be labeled in the gaming community! Why do people persist? Because these people feel bad about the fact that they’re not as good as others. They feel that the only way to be proud of their skills is to cheat. If they played by the rules, they’d lose; why take a risk like that. The only thing standing in their way is the anti-cheat, so might as well go for it! It’s disgusting.

Now, I know that there are also people who cheat in public servers, and these guys will get on me if I lump them in with the rest of the cheaters. Speaking from the perspective of a guy who used to cheat in pugs for fun, when I was around my friend, it’s the most childish thing that a gamer can do. It’s like egging a house. When you’re… I don’t know… Twelve, it seems pretty funny. However when you gain something that this blogger likes to refer to as “maturity,” you realize that it’s really just a waste of time.

It’s fun, don’t get me wrong. It’s hilarious seeing the reactions of the enemy team when you knife them to death no more than a second out of spawn. However, it ruins the game, and I know that I used to get angrier than ever when people would do the exact same to me. It just took me a while to realize how idiotic the entire idea of cheating is.

Playing games is fun. You get to do things you never could in real life, but it just breaks the mood when some jerk comes in with toggle-hacks on, ready to ruin the fun. Suddenly, it turns from a 100% fun rate (because even when you lose, you’re still getting at least moderately entertained), into a one-man show. Smart players simply leave when a hacker joins; more stoic players stay and try to wait the guy out. Either way, it ruins the game, and when you hackers are on the receiving end of the bargain, you’ll quickly realize, as did I, how dumb the cheater looks.

Cheaters are and will always be blemishes on the gaming society. However, it’s important to understand the reasons that people do this. I hope some cheaters read this article and at least think about how stupid it is what they are doing. From a self-conscious, skill-less hopeful who doesn’t realize that he’ll gain nothing from cheating in competitive gaming, to a little twelve-year-old with a bit too high of a free time to maturity ratio, all cheaters are just plain idiotic. But despite our best efforts, they’ll always be there to ruin the fun, and keep real, skilled e-sports superstars out of the limelight to fight for their spot in the competitive world another day.