On Current Affairs
The whole theme behind Team Fortress is team work.
— The Hal
The whole theme behind Team fortress is team work. I find that the apathy that cheaters and players who employ lameness are receiving is pathetic. I have been given many suggestions in the past few days including, "Just ignore them," and "Just leave the server," if I encounter them. Well I will be damned if I am going to let that sort of behavior run me off. Those who are letting them do as they please are not team players. YOU are the ones who are letting them divide us. Simply put, if you believe in team play and honor, you should do nothing but fight them every step of the way.
What right does the cheater have in ruining a good, fun, honorable game? Let's interject one of the favorite arguments of the less than honest. "LPB's are not fair." The fact remains that they don't do something dishonest to gain their advantage. No, you didn't say the LPB was cheating, but you are saying it is an unfair advantage so that is why you cheat. They have an honest advantage, you have a dishonest advantage, that is not the same thing. You may have a HPB who can whip ass big time because he spent 12 hours a day developing his skill. So I suppose that is not fair because you are only able to spend 2 hours a day or 4 maybe. So then would that also be grounds for accusing that player of cheating, or in the cheaters words, "having an unfair advantage?"
I wonder how many of the less than honest or those who employ lame playing tactics will be teaching their children those things. Or if you don't have children, distributing and teaching your younger friends how to do it. You think they will not apply that to real life? Let's interject another favorite argument of theirs in here. "Well you can't really apply this to real life because it is just a game." Oh well, I guess there have never been any cheating scandals in Baseball or Basketball games? The whole deal of growing up and learning is so you can apply what you learn later on in life. Is cheating something valuable to learn or to apply to your future? I think not. You will find the punishment in the real world much more harsh than anything you will be subjected to here.
Another argument. "We are exposing the flaws in the game code so that it can be fixed." That is a crock. There may be a few less than honest out there who have exposed flaws and reported them, but there are many many more of them who distribute the cheats freely, to their friends and in some cases, fellow clan mates so they are able to take advantage of whoever they choose. "It is fun." So in order for the cheat, the 'one' to have fun, he spoils it for all others? In this case, the good of the many, does indeed outweigh the good of the one. The cheat should not be allowed to have 'fun' at all the honest players expense. That, is an advantage I am un able to accept.
I feel that for every argument I have against cheating, two more will be invented for cheating. A person who basis their fun on cheating has a flawed character. It seems it would have to be so much more fun and full filling to be competitive with skill or cunning tactics than with cheating. While I do not advocate hacking, the cheat sites invite this sort of thing by the very nature of their content. You may find hacking a cheat site just as bad a cheating, but the difference is, it is done for an honorable reason. (That is not a justification of hacking in my mind. That is an explanation of the difference between cheating which is based on being dishonorable, and hacking a site to rid us of those who cause us our grief, for honorable reasons.) So someone is doing onto them, as they do onto others. They do covet that attention so they can gain apathy for their less than honest cause. Think about it. They are crying injustice for someone keeping them from distributing cheats that others can use to ruin a perfectly good game. What kind of sense does that make? The cheater looses his rights as soon as he cheats, the same as a convicted thief would.
Cheating because someone has an advantage on you is flawed reasoning any way you look at it. If you apply your time towards improving your skill and tactics, the reward will be much more fulfilling. What possible enjoyment is there in cheating in order to beat a better opponent? It means nothing. It's a meaningless win. You have won nothing, you cheated. It has never been accepted in our society and it should never be accepted in the TF community. Any who suggest otherwise are mistaken. And to be apathetic or meek in your response to cheating is wrong. Turning your back or running away is not going to make it go away. The less than honest are not going away if you ignore them. They are going to be working hard as ever, developing more cheats, improving on the old ones and distributing them to their less than honest friends. So you say if you bring it in the lime light, they will hide even deeper and spread even worse. They have all ready done that. I was told one cheat site has five mirror locations. They are exposing the cheats to the largest possible amount of people that they can. And protecting their malicious sites with redundant locations just so they can continue on about their cheating ways, unabated if one site is found. Now is that explained away by them "Just trying to expose the flaws in the code so they can be fixed?" I don't think so.
Closing comment: If for any reason you feel I have done PlanetFortress an injustice by reporting cheaters and lame behavior, I have to say I am a bit dissappointed. My actions were based on my sole belief that i was doing the right thing. If anything I have said or done has caused any discomfort or inconvenience to any cheats or those who act lamely, then I can only say, don't cheat or be lame and you won't have to worry about it. Every once in a while, when I get obsessed, I may provide content that you are not used to seeing or reading at PF. If there was ever a reason to step out of character a bit, in my opinion, the fight against cheating would be it. For someone to subject us to this exposes the nature of the beast where there is no such thing as honor and sportsmanship. I am not blowing it out of proportion. Team Fortress is based on as level a playing experience as the game designers were able to implement. Some player will always have an advantage whether it be from natural skill, type of connection or simply by the time they are able to spend developing their natural talent or skill. They are all honest advantages. Cheating is dishonest no matter how you cut the cake, and should never become a viable choice availible in the main stream. Cheating instigates rash reactions. That is not a justification or excuse of our actions, but an explanation. If you don't like what you feel is our unwarranted attention, then just don't cheat.
Think the author was right on target or completely off the deep end? Let us know -- mail us or post in the forums!
|
RSS Feeds
