ARTICLE TOOLS

Guides Are The New Cheats

Back in the day of the pioneering consoles, man forged the ultimate tool of single player gaming fun, the cheat. Back in the days of the Atari a "cheat" was basically going into the code and changing numbers until you found out which number changed what, to a desirable effect. Such as giving the player an ungodly amount of lives to ensure that even the most unable of players could finish the sometimes ball-breakingly hard games of old.

warning: will break balls.

Now, moving through time, we reach the NES, and guess what we find here kids?

CONTRA!!

You should know this, seriously guys.

Yay! We find Contra, and thanks to Konami we receive the first legit cheat code in history. And thanks to this, cheats become somewhat of an accepted standard to be mixed into any video game.

Moving now, on up to the N64 and the OG PS1. Within this adorable console generation cheats really begin to boom as we see big head mode for Goldeneye and the fearsome nude hack for the original Tomb Raider on PS1. Also, speaking of hacks, you could even buy nice little tools like GameSharks. And big thanks to the internet for not being a huge influence at the time, you could even find cheat books to buy anywhere you went, cheats were becoming more and successively more commonplace among games and gamers alike.

And what do we find as we increase our infinite knowledge ever further into the boundless heavens of cheating know-how? Let's ask the last great generation for cheats, the Gamecube/PS2/Xbox generation. Here is where cheats peaked, but quickly started on their descent into the void, here cheats continued on their normal path, until Microsoft started up Live, which is when gamers started seeing things in a different light. Now this isn't the end for cheats, they have but one last breath before they are all but beaten out by something far more sinister.

The current generation consoles. With the introduction to achievements, and later trophies, cheating has become largely a dead, and discouraged art. Seeing as using cheats often voids getting achievements many a person wholly refrains from even looking up cheats to see of their existence.

But Achievements aren't the only thing holding cheats back, it's more or less the fact that games have evolved. They have become much deeper and rich experiences for the player, and the demand for cheats just couldn't fit into a game like Heavy Rain or MW:2 at that. Fixation on multiplayer doesn't help either, where cheaters are heavily looked down on and for good reason.

Although cheats aren't really totally dead, these days it's more or less about achievements or hacking of some sort. Pretty much the only games where cheating is feasible would be sandbox type games like GTA 4 or Saints Row, where some quirky and over the top cheats are still present

So, considering that cheats are no longer the next big thing, what is? Achievements, most achievements are challenging to some degree and getting 1000/1000 is usually never an easy task. So this is where the almighty guide comes into play you can find them all over the net at sites like gamefaqs.com. You can find out how to find all the bobble-heads in Fallout, or all of the audio diaries in BioShock, without, you know, having to find them yourself.

That's pretty much my reasoning for believing that guides are, in fact the new "cheats" because, you are aiming to attain something, that being achievements or maybe other things like, say glitches? And now more than ever before guides are prominent tools to gaining said goal, so viola don't want to spend the time to do it yourself? I guarantee there's a guide for it!

But think about it, when was the last time you actually used a cheat, just for the sheer fun of it?

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Tyson Monagle

August 16, 2010 10:46

I think it would be interesting, too, to consider what happens to many of those games with 1000 achievements (exaggeration in most cases, I realize, though I don't doubt some exist) if guides did not exist. Particularly, in any event that requires going back and forth across great distances or multiple play-throughs, or has a stage with dozens of variables and hundreds of event permutations, getting every achievement would be virtually impossible -- especially without knowing what they are as, let's remember, most games don't tell you what the achievements/trophies are until you earn them! But I don't think guides are stealing away from play-hours. In fact, I think game designers have recognized that people playing video games want to feel achievement and that, if guides are here to stay, then the achievements and complexity just has to be ratcheted up several notches.

Most people don't need a guide to find secrets in the Lost Levels, for contrast. You pick up the controller and dash through the levels, break some bricks and get it into your head that maybe you can break the ceiling in an underground level. Then, before you know it, you're standing on the ceiling, and you've found a set of pipes hidden after the apparent end. Voila. Sure, a guide probably exists, but the fact is, it isn't necessary.

Modern games, however, seem to be designed with a 'guide is necessary' mindset. And why not? If you can force people to want to talk about your game -- because, how do you find the Sword of Roses after killing the XKZ-02? (What, you get to fight robots? No way!) -- then you've stumbled across a way to boost the marketability of your game. And companies publishing guidebooks, or which facilitate on-line guides (gamefaqs, anyone?) can't be unhappy with the extra buyers or traffic.

The biggest difference, particularly in the on-line example, is that the internet opens up a much bigger network of people. It used to be that your friend's brother found this cool secret and maybe, if you traded him your Yoohoo for his Capri Sun, he'd tell you where it was. Now you have sites specifically designed for people to reveal these secrets. And it works! Because people also feel achievement in being able to show that they know how to find the Helion Laser which lets you one-shot the boss [yes, I'm making up examples right now, just like the roses/robot example before -- massive points to whoever makes these an easter egg or nod in a game, especially if it's actually a return to 'old-school' play!].

But there's a catch. That achievement is short-lived. I don't want this comment to go on forever, but suffice to say that there's a reason people say video games and movies and such are an escape: they are. So the achievement you feel is usually brief, but it's powerful enough to make you want more. Essentially, the guidebook & forum capitalize on this by providing you with a tool to get your fix quicker. Who can say 'no,' especially when it's free? Of course, I'm not knocking escapism, nor am I decrying guides (okay, maybe I am just a little). Rather, my point is one of 'this is why we're here right now.' It's an adaptation to the market and to psychology. It's profitable for companies and (seems to be) rewarding for players.

So that's that. And me? I'll keep waiting for my games that don't rely on hiding all the good stuff, or hide it just poorly (obviously) enough that you can find a thread to pull.

PS: To answer your italicized question, it was definitely a Grand Theft Auto game (bring it on, violent citizens, I have a gatling gun!), maybe the second one? I never actually owned any GTA games, but most of my friends did.

Camaren Crook

August 18, 2010 17:11

Wow, nice comment. I think that guides are just an easy way (well you still have to follow the guide in game) to fulfill your desire for getting an achievement, alternate costume, secret weapon, easter eggs etc etc. And that with the internet, there's bound to be someone who's found out what that locked achievement was for, or where all the collectibles are located.

And I, personally would love to see some more games shy from being super serious challenging. And focus more on just stupid fun. Like say, garry's mod?