What is your opinion of people who use hints/tips, walkthroughs, cheats and hacks in video games?

[AGXStarseed]

My own opinion for each is as follows:

Hints/Tips: I think these are fine, regardless of whether you play single player all by yourself, multiplayer and/or online. I see them as similar to a mentor/teacher giving a student advice on how to get past an obstacle in their way. In video games, those hints/tips can help you with getting past problems, solving riddles/puzzles and defeating bosses.
Most video games offer hints/tips anyway so I think these are fine.

Walkthroughs: Walkthroughs, for those who don't know, are text/videos that tell/show you exactly how to get through the game, from stuff you can pick up and how to get it, to getting past certain levels and defeating bosses.
I've used these in the past for getting through difficult levels in the GBA version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that require stealth (something I'm terrible at in video games) so I know exactly what to expect and what to do - as one of the background elements of the game is trying to make sure you get points to help Gryffindor win the House Cup and if you lose too many points (by been caught by the Prefects, by Filch or by Snape) then Slytherin will win instead.
I think Walkthroughs are fine and can be useful, although I think they're best used when you're genuinely stuck and need some help.

Cheats/Hacks: While a lot of games nowadays put in ways to stop you from cheating/hacking nowadays (like Saints Row 4 disabling its autosave feature and crashing randomly at a set time afterwards if you use cheats), some older games still allow it and some games even give you unlockable cheats - like the LEGO games giving you faster building speeds and invincibility among others once you find and buy the corresponding red brick.
For me, cheats/hacks are only okay if you're playing offline and everyone playing your game has access to them. Cheats and hacks can offer some fun elements that you wouldn't otherwise get from playing the game normally and can help when you're fighting difficult bosses - especially if you use cheating devices like Gameshark or Codebreaker.
Once you start trying to do it online or when only you can use them in a multiplayer game, however, that's when I think it becomes wrong.

What do you guys think?

 

[Bikutoso]

My own opinion for each is as follows:

Hints/Tips: I think these are fine, regardless of whether you play single player all by yourself, multiplayer and/or online. I see them as similar to a mentor/teacher giving a student advice on how to get past an obstacle in their way. In video games, those hints/tips can help you with getting past problems, solving riddles/puzzles and defeating bosses.
Most video games offer hints/tips anyway so I think these are fine.

Walkthroughs: Walkthroughs, for those who don't know, are text/videos that tell/show you exactly how to get through the game, from stuff you can pick up and how to get it, to getting past certain levels and defeating bosses.
I've used these in the past for getting through difficult levels in the GBA version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that require stealth (something I'm terrible at in video games) so I know exactly what to expect and what to do - as one of the background elements of the game is trying to make sure you get points to help Gryffindor win the House Cup and if you lose too many points (by been caught by the Prefects, by Filch or by Snape) then Slytherin will win instead.
I think Walkthroughs are fine and can be useful, although I think they're best used when you're genuinely stuck and need some help.

Cheats/Hacks: While a lot of games nowadays put in ways to stop you from cheating/hacking nowadays (like Saints Row 4 disabling its autosave feature and crashing randomly at a set time afterwards if you use cheats), some older games still allow it and some games even give you unlockable cheats - like the LEGO games giving you faster building speeds and invincibility among others once you find and buy the corresponding red brick.
For me, cheats/hacks are only okay if you're playing offline and everyone playing your game has access to them. Cheats and hacks can offer some fun elements that you wouldn't otherwise get from playing the game normally and can help when you're fighting difficult bosses - especially if you use cheating devices like Gameshark or Codebreaker.
Once you start trying to do it online or when only you can use them in a multiplayer game, however, that's when I think it becomes wrong.

What do you guys think?

I agree to what you said, but will add that Hints/Tips and Walkthroughs can sometimes destroy the experience of a game.
But I can't complain that much as I use them myself; One example is when I was playing Blackwell Epiphany when trying to save Peter Fielding, I feel I missed some of the of the game after doing it.

 

[tlc]

Nothing against anyone who uses them. To each their own.

But to me, it spoils the fun and challenge of the game. Unless I've already figured out the game, then they can be fun to mess around with, and interesting to see other people's method/perspective on the game.

 

[Bolletje]

I don’t mind, as long as people don’t use it for multiplayer games, because that creates an unfair advantage. I like how sometimes cheats/hacks or mods can give a game a whole new dimension. But I like to make it a point to play a game without first. Walkthroughs and hints are for when I get stuck trying to figure it out on my own.

 

[Misery]

I tend to think it depends heavily on the type of game.

I play alot of roguelikes/lites/whatever and similar games... pretty much my main genre at this point. Aside from being freakishly difficult, they also tend to use alot of very obscure/twisted mechanics. Most games in most genres are very straightforward... even "hidden" stuff usually isnt all that hard to figure out. In alot of roguelikes, BASIC stuff can be very hard to figure out. Same with survival games for that matter.

For alot of these games, a mere walkthrough isnt good enough. You cant really make a direct walkthrough for a game that is different every single time you play it. For many of these games, they'll often have a full wiki site. For instance, Dont Starve has a wiki that has over 1400 pages to it... every conceivable item/monster/mechanic/whatever has a page, and the pages are usually quite long. When playing a game like that, I find that I end up referring to the wiki fairly often. These games often do not explain things to you. Like, at all. Hell, Dont Starve outright tells you this on the Steam page for it... there's not only no handholding, but no tutorial whatsoever. You're dropped into a game that is very complex, this sinister-looking dude says something like "you better try to find something to eat before dark" and then that's it... have fun, try not to die. The game doesnt explain even the very basics. And like most games I play, it uses both permadeath and procedural generation... you cannot just load an earlier save, and the world is different every time, so you cant memorize things about it for the next run. So then other stuff, more late-game things, tend to get REALLY complicated. Often I see something like that, read up on it, and I think "How the hell is anyone supposed to figure that out on their own?

A good example is Spelunky. It's not that hard of a game to understand at a basic level, though you will die *often* in it. But if you want to get to the true final level, you have to go through this very long, very convoluted process to enter that area. This long string of rather nonsensical events. There's one point in this event string where you must be carrying a very specific item, go to a very specific place (which could be in a different point in each run) and then die there, which instead of ending your run, will cause you to warp to a door that cannot be reached otherwise. The item that you need to get can only be gotten from an area which is itself a hidden level, and finding that involves finding a secret door in the jungle level that could be *anywhere*, always behind destructible terrain (and ALL terrain is destructible), and so the only way to find it without extreme luck is to have ANOTHER certain item (that acts as a radar for the door) and to get THAT you have to open a locked chest in the first area... There's even more past that, and the final door that leads to the actual final area is in the main boss chamber, where you must get the boss to die in a really specific spot (which is different each run) and use him as a platform to get into the door as he sinks into the lava. IF you have done all the required steps. Then, and only then, can you enter the true final area. Oh, and this is in a game that has *alot* of things that can insta-kill you. It is entirely possible to have a run that lasts literally 5 seconsds. And it uses permadeath.... no saving. And there is not a single hint in the entire game as to ANY of that stuff, or even that the true final area exists at all. I have no idea how anyone figured it out to begin with.


The interesting thing about these games though is that looking this stuff up doesnt exactly ruin the experience... you still need the skill to pull it off, which most players outright dont have. And you also need enough knowledge of the rest of the game, to deal with the many challenges it will throw at you during your run. For Spelunky, not only will most players not be able to handle the challenges to complete that event string, but they tend to get stuck in the jungle level (which is world 2 of 4), hitting a wall of difficulty that they just cant get past.

And that's just that game... Spelunky is pretty simple compared to many roguelikes (though it is brutally difficult).



Now, games in other genres though... I can see how walkthroughs could reduce the experience of it. Like, playing through that old Kirby game on the NES, it had a bazillion secret areas to find if you wanted to get 100%, but a walkthrough would have spoiled much of the challenge. The game gave plenty of hints to observant players... you absolutely can find all the things yourself, and that's how you're intended to do it.


Cheats, on the other hand.... no. I dont touch them. With one incredibly specific exception: Minecraft. I always have cheats enabled in that, and for one reason: It's a buggy game. Having cheats active can allow me to escape situations where a legitimate glitch would otherwise kill me (thus spraying my inventory all over the place and forcing me to trek back to collect it, all because of a stupid bug). Cheats to get past genuine glitches always seem fine to me... sometimes you just get games that are super buggy like that.

 

[Isadoorian]

I personally like to use Cheats in Single Player games when I can (and feel like it) because I don't really care for the Game Mechanics, just the Story itself as it's the Story that a majority of people play games for; if you've played one game w/ certain mechanics, you've played all of em with those mechanics (i.e. Dark Souls or Hack n Slash games like Darksiders)

Hints/Tips and Walkthroughs I enjoy as well; if I'm stuck on a part that I've been going at for 15 to 20 minutes, I'll use them

 

[Fino]

I always used walkthroughs the moment I didn't know where to go. My favorite games have always been the ones that tell you exactly where to go. I don't want that kind of challenge. I immediately become frustrated and stop having fun. I never want anything to be difficult. I want to know what to do at all times. The kinds of challenges I'm okay with are, "This takes five hours or you have to do this 10,000 times or this has to be done every day, etc," which is why playing dah piano worked out so well.

 

[xudo]

Hints and tips are fine, if that's what you want to do and you're stuck. Walkthroughs I've only used for Lego games that I've been looking to 100% but crack on if you want to use them too. Cheats as has been mentioned are available for things like faster build speed and locators for the general area of collectibles in Lego games, and are invaluable if you're trying to 100%.

I think however, cheats that give you an unfair advantage over other players should rightly be clamped down on.

 

[Graphin]

I'm for cheating even in multiplayer, under the condition that cheaters and non cheaters can be seperated. It can be really interesting

 

[UberScout]

My opinion is thank God we have walkthroughs. In the case of MMORPGs like FF14 which generously scatters quest givers and objectives around everywhere with a very kind minimal that tells you where they are but not whether they're above or below you, the walkthroughs that do exist are a big help. In the case of OTHER quests with cryptic objectives and such, you will find very little or no information at all on what to do.

Great game.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I'm for cheating even in multiplayer, under the condition that cheaters and non cheaters can be seperated. It can be really interesting

Yeah, seeing games that do separate cheaters and non-cheaters can be fun to watch, as the cheaters now again have no advantage.
(Titanfall did that)

 

[AGXStarseed]

Since we're on this topic, I felt this video would be good to share.

It's a video documenting 10 games that would humiliate those who tried to cheat in them:

 

[Mia]

Don't use them. Figuring everything out over time, is what interests me.

 

[xudo]

My opinion is thank God we have walkthroughs. In the case of MMORPGs like FF14 which generously scatters quest givers and objectives around everywhere with a very kind minimal that tells you where they are but not whether they're above or below you, the walkthroughs that do exist are a big help. In the case of OTHER quests with cryptic objectives and such, you will find very little or no information at all on what to do.

Great game.

Yes, walkthroughs are fantastic for those of us who want to find every last thing in a game. I'm currently playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and I want to find every single thing that shows on the map. So far I've played 70+ hours, and I'm nowhere close.

 

[Cinnamon115]

I find walkthroughs to be helpful for certain games, like Final Fantasy IX. In that game, you only have a small amount of time to do certain side quests and you can't go back and do them later. You lose out on a ton of spells, armor, and abilities without doing them. I also use them for figuring out some puzzles that I have trouble with, like sliding block puzzles.