Up,Down,Up,Down,LT,Triangle,Square: I am A Cheater

response to: 
Forbidden Pleasures: Cheating in Computer Games by Julian Kücklich

    Cheating in video games is not something new. Originally intended as a dev tool ( to allow the developers to play through the game for quality assessment using as little time and effort as possible), the cheats have stuck around in the end-product to be manipulated by the consumers - the gamers. In games with high interactivity, like First-person shooters (FPS), Role-playing and beat-em-ups, cheats give access to previously locked content, such as maps, weapons and skill moves, including the ever-popular ‘GODMODE’. For the curious, this cheat allows the player to wander around the map, invulnerable to any harm, free to dish out punishment to others. Still wondering how it got its name?

    Arguments are abound on whether the use of cheats are, um, ethical. While theoretically, cheats alter a player’s gaming experience with a little sacrifice on realism (think zero gravity or bazookas with infinite ammo), I think cheating alters it for the better, to some extent. I’m sure thousands share my sentiment. In games with heavy narrative progression or with blatantly insane difficulty, I’m sure everyone must’ve experienced ‘stuck points’ once in a while, or tough boss fights that required inhuman reflexes, at least once in their gaming career. At that moment, nothing seems possible except for ‘outside’ help; a short peek at the walkthrough or a cheeky modification of values in the .INI files would do wonders in terms of self-satisfaction. Let’s face it, contrary to popular beliefs, most gamers do have a life. We don’t have time to spend hours and hours of ‘farming’ our characters or fighting the same boss hundreds of times.

    However, cheating in multiplayer matches is still a total bitch. Gamers may recall in annoyance of the legendarily annoying aimbots in CounterStrike, a modified aiming algorithm that allowed noobs to win without any sense of skill, reflexes nor strategy. Now that’s unethical.

    To quote Kücklich, cheating in game worlds “is a signal… that the playing field extends far beyond the boundaries of these game worlds” and are always up for the interpretation of the creative clan of people we call cheaters, and those who worked hard to develop/create all those functionality mods, bug exploitations, trainers, walkthrough, hex value modifications and so on. Cheers to you.

Like the famous saying goes, when the going gets tough, dust yourself up and try again. Then switch on to GODMODE.

Excuses

Is it fair to blame the world for the squalid condition of your life ?
Is it fair to refer to an ancient but plausible set of rules as "how things should be" ?
Is it fair to say that one way is the definite way of how life should be run?

Hey, don't mind me. It's your life. Just don't drag me down with your lack of self-determinism.

Love makes the world go round (and crazy)

I don't get the rationale behind girls dragging their boyfriends into lectures to sit next to them and look all bored listening to lectures they are not even enrolled in the first place. Seriously, guys, have some worth. There are many many ways to spend quality time with your beloved; at the beach, on her bed, at the mall, somewhere else other than annoying others with your hand-holding and mushy talks in between of taking down notes.

And as I settled down on a bench to eat my lunch in peace, a couple nearby was having a heated arguments. Nothing physical, but it didn't require much eavesdropping to know that the Asian guy was jealous because the girl went to hit the clubs with her girlfriends. Without him. He felt he needed to be there to "protect her from other guys, you know how clubs are like" . I was too hungry to care and ate my lunch. Hey, free afternoon soap.

I just think this is what happens when love gets a little overboard. When you throw yourself and everything you have to love. When you care too much. When things start to go downhill and the hurting and insecurities took over. He/she may be the one (at least that's what we think at this moment - nothing can be said of the future) but seriously?

I've known guys who went broke paying for the things their girlfriends wanted (under the false pretence of chivalry) and girls doing stupid stuffs to get the attention of their boyfriends (under the false pretence that her boyfriend will recognize the error of his way and apologize to her), and vice-versa. Seriously? Is that love? Was there even love in the first place? Thanks to modernization, the 'noble' term of love that the purist had championed for so long have appeared to be diluted by every passing day. The idea of self-sacrificial, undying love is maybe too idealistic, if not impractical, to be embraced in these era of globalization.

And love is not at all related to marriage. People don't seem to get that it's TWO very different things. As much as unmarried lovers are a common sight, love-less marriages are more in number, even if they may not be as prevalent and obvious as the former.

At the time this article/rant is written, I'm in a loving relationship where we cared for ourselves more than/as much as we care about each other. And I'm happy to keep it that way for the time being.