What is cheating, and why do people do it.

[Blake Sterling Jr.]

Why do people cheat?  Is it the drive to get ahead of another person? The pressure of being the best? Just a quick way for greed? Is it the thrill of breaking a rule?

Players who cheat has been on my mind a lot recently and I thought I would write down on here my thoughts and maybe, hopefully we can find a way for people to grow a little and decide that they don't need to. 

I strongly feel that thrusting something into the light of day and making it easy to see will fix a lot of problems. It's the easiness of something, the crime of opportunity, that sometimes is the sole reason for someone to do something.

First off let me come clean, I have cheated before in my life. I have broken laws, lied, and done a lot of things that at the time seemed the right thing to do or at least the wrong thing that had no repercussions. Did I get caught? Sometimes rarely to be honest because cheating is easy to do.

Then one day in my twenties it hit me, when I cheat it just means I'm admitting that I cannot win otherwise. That the other person is better and even if I win through cheating it means that I am not as good as my opponent. Some people don't care, A win is a win, I have heard more than a few times in my life.

But it means something to me and that's enough for me.

I ran Magic tournaments for about five years at a local game store, and let me tell you the tome that is the rules for that game is impressive and has been combed over by a hundred lawyers for a hundred nights or at least that's how it feels. The exact verbiage of a sentence is as important as what it says. Most games don't go into this level of preciseness and if you're accustomed to it when you read something it means exactly what it means and someone else reads it and it means something else.

I'm not talking about honest misinterpreting rules. I'm talking about exploiting fuzzy writing for the sole benefit of a persons character or even out and out ignoring of rules for character benefit. 

One of the ways I've seen someone cheat is by ignoring a result caused by bad die rolls/Poor in game decisions. For example I once had someone tell me to ignore my characters death because no one would know I rolled poorly in a Vampire game. I retired that character after that, I wasn't going to become party to someone cheating even when it benefited me.

In our game, live action role playing that is. There are no real winners, only people who haven't lost yet. Rolling poorly is a way of life, some people even break statistics on the luck they have with how poorly they roll at times. Still people feel the need to feel that they can never fail because failing is bad. No one likes to lose a game after all.

Is it part of human nature to want to cheat? Base on one article I found around 11% of players cheat at social games. 

techcrunch.com/2012/01/11/popcap-people-who-cheat-in-social-games-are-more-likely-to-cheat-in-real-life/

This article goes into some interesting points on the subject as well:

www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/08/why-winners-become-cheaters/

So why do you think people feel the need to cheat? What can we do to draw attention to cheating that might be happening already at the game? What can we do to make sure everyone has a fun and fair game in the world of terrible things that happen to you in the night?

-Cory

[Shah-Khohr of Ventrue]

You start this off by saying you want to drag something in the light to discuss it, but I don't see anything specific that you're dragging into the light.

Are these specific issues we should be, as a community, discussing? Or just a general disdain for cheating?

-Rob.

[Loren Gabelein]

Would this discussion also include MetaGaming?

(Or using information you (Player) knows about something but your character doesnt know).


-Loren AKA Stitches

[Oberon Gault]

Metagaming is cheating, yes, as it is using information that the character would not otherwise have. This is also covered in the Charter under the below subsection (Emphasis added):

2.Responsibility

1.You are responsible for your own actions- This includes behavior, speech, interactions and other activities you engage in at game.

2.You are responsible for your own possessions- Stolen or misplaced objects are not our responsibility.

3.Respect the space- Leave it in a better state then you found it. We want to continue to play where we are playing.

4.Sheets and item cards- You are responsible to bring your sheet and item cards to game. If you fail to bring a card, your character does not have access to those items. If you don’t have your sheet, you automatically fail challenges and relent to powers used against you. Players are responsible for maintaining character sheets and alerting staff of changes.

5.Rules of the Sphere- It is the player’s responsibility for being familiar with the Code of Conduct and the base rules of their sphere.

6.Snowflake Clause- If you have mechanics, powers, merits, etc on your sheet that does not appear in the CORE book for your sphere, you must have a hard copy on your person at game detailing the outline of stated mechanic.

7.Metagaming- Metagaming, as defined as utilizing knowledge the player possesses but their character does not have access to for the benefit of the character, is not allowed.

8.Rule of one- Players are only allowed one character per sphere at a time. It is the player’s responsibility to request hiatus or extended breaks. Players may play a different character for one month before their previous character is retired. The HST has ultimate discretion on whether a character can return to play at a later time.

9.Accept the ruling of a Storyteller- If a storyteller gives a ruling you do not like, you can appeal this by sending the whole of staff an email. Please, do not go to another singular storyteller and complain or expect another result.

[Shah-Khohr of Ventrue]

That charter though.

[Oberon Gault]

If there are specific concerns on a player or players cheating/metagaming/etc., I would encourage engaging either staff or the Player Advocates.

While positive intent may exist behind it, threads intent on discussing the topic on the forums rarely result in little more than paranoia amongst each other, leading to distrust of players and staff alike. Obviously, that sort of behavior (even unintentional) does no one any good, and serves only to pull apart a community.

This is in no way an attempt to stifle discussion on topics and the like, but more to ensure the community trusts and believes in one another, rather than engaging in a subconscious witch-hunt for what may or may not even be happening.