Can players become better at a game, if you design a game that lets them cheat and not cheat?

So for the past year or so, I started working on a game idea where the game has two modes , one lets you cheat and the other does not. Its designed like a science experiment where you have the control and the experiment, in this case the experiment is the ability to cheat in the game. So, I came up with this idea, that if you provide two versions of the same game ( as one game actually ) to a player, that they will use the cheat mode more than play the game without cheating, but at the same time the player gets to learn how to play the game so when they play the game without cheating, they have learned how to be a better player because its just like the game, in the mode that lets you cheat. One thing different about the cheat mode is that you can graduate from the cheat mode by turning off , one by one what cheats you dont want ( or even all of them ). In the other mode that does not allow cheats, you have higher score rewards in the same game, than in the game that lets you cheat, so that's the trade off.

So my theory is that you learn how to be a better player by cheating in a game, and when you want to play the game that does not let you cheat, your a better player, versus playing the game that does not let you cheat in the first place, has a higher learning curve, but provides higher scoring.

Would it work like that in reality or would a player do something different?
 

flyinian

Member
You can't dictate how a player is going to play a game(most players don't like to be stuck on a mundane path). Usually players end up breaking your game when you didn't design it to be played a certain way. Look at minecraft, They had the creative mode which is unlimited everything(essentially cheat mode) and then you have the survival mode(which isn't cheat mode). Players were able to use mods which made the game easier or harder, more fun or less fun. You don't want players speeding through your game if its a immersion game or there is small details that you want the player to experience. As anyone will say, "it depends on your game and your goal".

Some people like to "cheat" and others don't.

I would just do the traditional method and do creative mode and then do survival mode and then add a extensive options list that effects individual things in your game(example: Enemy does x amount of damage and the player inputs a desired value).

P.S. I cheated extensively on GTA Sand andreas and I never got better at it. Heck, the game disciplined me for cheating and permanently saved the crazy cheats(like making citizens rampage). Citizens where running around killing each other.
 
I would just do the traditional method and do creative mode and then do survival mode and then add a extensive options list that effects individual things in your game(example: Enemy does x amount of damage and the player inputs a desired value).
Your confusing my game with minecraft, with the modes. I have only one mode that is toggled on or off, and when its on has a slew of cheat modes that are also manually toggled on or off.
 

O.Stogden

Member
I would say you learn more by not cheating, because you become familiar with all aspects of the game.

If you join a Minecraft game (as an example) half way through, and you had never played before and are "gifted" the basic starting stuff, you wouldn't be able to properly play the game, because you would have no idea how to progress from scratch.

It does entirely depend on how your game is made though. Whether it's simple or complicated.

If it's a complicated game like Stationeer or Space Engineers, absolutely cheating does not help you, it makes you lazy, and if you ever come to the point where you have to learn how to do everything, you'd probably just quit rather than learn all of the mechanics you need to know to play it properly and achieve what you achieved while cheating, because you can cheat about 20 hours of work in about 10 seconds in Space Engineers. Those games are complex to the point where cheaters will probably never learn how everything works, you really need to do everything by hand to learn how to play.

If it's a simple game, then a "cheater" could probably use common sense to work things out if his cheats were ever removed from him.

TL;DR Cheating generally makes people lazy, and if they start the game by cheating, and then the cheats are removed from them, they'll probably just quit rather than try to learn a complicated game. If it's simple, they might put in the effort. Doing things the hard way is how you learn to be a good player. Skipping steps = gaps in knowledge.
 
T

Taddio

Guest
Depends on the type of game, I guess.
I played a LOT of Civilization 2 on my trusty old 486 back in the day, and I did messed quite a bit with the cheat mode in it.
It was way easier to find good strategies and stuff that way. But of course, that was not an action game at all.
Same goes with the original Starcraft, we used "show me the money" code quite a lot when the game first came out, just to find out what were the best strategies and for the fun of building unrealistically strong and cool-looking armies. It would also clearly state that you had used the cheat mode in your score, so that was legit anti-brag for your cheating friends as well.
On the other hand, I don't think games like SMB, Megaman or Pokemon would have been improved by a cheat mode. On the contrary, just a simple glitch can totally break these games, so I guess it's better to leave it at what it's intentended to be.
I remember way back in the 90's, I used to make my own Game Genie codes on the NES, but I guess I just liked to mess around with stuff, as it didn't made the games any better than they were, or me any better at playing them.
 

flyinian

Member
Your confusing my game with minecraft, with the modes. I have only one mode that is toggled on or off, and when its on has a slew of cheat modes that are also manually toggled on or off.
It was an analogy. "Your cheat mode" is minecraft's creative mode and "your non cheat mode" is minecraft's survival mode. Then adding a list of game options to change the player's game play experience.
 
Players can have fun and longevity for a game if you let them cheat. As for difficulty, I've started doing the Nintendo method with characters that make the game stupidly easy. You never know when it will literally be someone's first video game or a parent, baby sitter or older sibling that just wants to play your awesome game, but they have kids around that want to play too.
 
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Smiechu

Member
As a kid I used cheats almost all the time... I don't know why, back than the contact with the game itself, not the actual gaming experience was the exciting and fun part...
When I got older and more mature this balance changed and I was mich more excited by the unspoiled gameplay. I think it's quite natural thing...

So here is a hint for you... young players will overuse your cheat mode and older players will avoid your cheat mode.

If the switching between the modes is part of the gameplay, you need to make clear that it is your intention and the way to achieve the goal is to use both of them... Fail is impossible in both modes.
 

Morendral

Member
What you are describing is what paradox does for their games. They have a game mode called "ironman" which doesn't allow access to the debug console, which the player can access to cheat with if they wish. Also, mods cannot affect gameplay, otherwise ironman is disabled.

The only way to earn achievements is by playing ironman games, so there is the carrot for most people.
 
If the switching between the modes is part of the gameplay, you need to make clear that it is your intention and the way to achieve the goal is to use both of them... Fail is impossible in both modes.
Yes, that is my actual intention of my gameplay - the cheat mode is considered an experiment to learn how the game play runs so that you know, what not to do - or learn how the gameplay works. The cheat mode can be turned off while in the game mode that allows cheating . The same game in the other mode which does not allow any cheating, is the mode where you do your master moves, decisions, that you have learned from playing the cheat mode. That's part of the game play.
 

pixeltroid

Member
why let players cheat? Just make the game balanced with incrementally increasing difficulty, so players get better at the game gradually.

But then again, allowing them to cheat might keep players interested in the game. So who knows!
 
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