My friend Casey over at MaisonBisson posted an article (Wide World of Video Games) where he shoots down the ideas of laws that are being built around MMORPGs and the reasons behind them. I don’t entirely agree with his statement:
One argument is that these games occupy players time and cost money, so in-game theft results in real-life loss. Baloney. Chess and Monopoly occupy great deals of time, but try telling the cops I rooked your knight. Money? A huge number of Americans invest time and money on building and racing cars on the approximately 1800 racetracks around the country. Real time and and hard-earned money are lost when cars crash, but the track has its own rules[…]
First, comparing Chess and Monopoly to MMORPGs is just silly. Yes they are both games, but they aren’t even the same caliber! Thats like saying a helium-filled balloon is the same as a state fair. You can get enjoyment from both a baloon and a state fair, but there is a huge cost difference, a difference in the level of participation by large numbers of people, activities in one that don’t exist in the other, etc.
Secondly, the racecar analogy falls through the roof once a little background info on racing is dug up. Yes, cars cost a crap ton of money to construct, fund, and race and it is expected that you will inevitably break something and/or crash. Its all part of the game. But what happens when that crash is intentionally caused by another player? You see, when once racecar driver causes an accident on purpose, there are repercussions…fines anywhere from $100-10,000 to both the speedway AND the ‘targets of destruction’, suspension, loss of championship points (whatever those are), permanent banning, etc. Check these references if you wish :
- Article at ThatsRacin.com
- Article at Inside Racing
- Bullet 20-22 of Race Procedures at Citrus County Speedway
In an MMORPG, you purchase and play the game (within the rules) and assume others will do the same. But what happens when someone cheats -using bots, hacks, etc- to best you at something and take your hard earned items? When I say hard earned, those items can have 1000+ hours of play time behind them, 5 months of paying $15/month, etc.
Should there be repercussions for MMORPG cheating? Perhaps. I’m not sold either way but to write it off so quickly is just ludicrous. As MMORPGs grow in popularity and become a larger beast in our society, the world will be faced with larger numbers of people that will want justice for in-game theft, in-game cheating, etc. How will society draw the line and where will we put it?
Comments
16 responses to “MMORPG Cheating”
Game rules are enforced in-game. The possibility of exclusion from a game (or social group) for refusal to follow the rules is one of the first lessons of childhood. On the other hand, our culture seems to endorse the notion that what the ref doesn’t see is fair game.
But none of this translates to tolerance of out-of-game real-world violence or legal action. Gamers and contestants enter the game knowing the rules and knowing that loss is possible (or likely) outcome. If the game rules allow theft, then players have to accept it (and defend against it appropriately, in-game). If the game is truly so immersive as to create rich online communities, then those virtual communities must take in-game responsibility for socializing the players and managing behaviors.
Sports and game organizations like the World Chess Federation, National Scrabble Association, and National Hot Rod Association have been enforcing and arbitrating game rules for years, and they’ve done so rather effectively.
But if game rules allowed intentional crashing, as is de rigeur in a smash-up derby, why would we expect or tolerate interference from the law?
I’d like to point out a couple of things.
First…we’re talking about a country (China that is) where typing “Democracy” into a google search engine brings up a page saying “You should not be searching for this word. You may be contacted by the police” so lets kind of keep that in perspective. Yes, there are laws in China which prohibit you from playing more than three consecutive hours. There are now laws which say children under 18 (how many children over 18 do we all know) cannot play games where PKing is a method to gain levels (DAOC, Guild Wars, Shadowbane, etc.) So we’re not talking about a “good” country here.
You’ll never see laws like this in the states because virtual items don’t cost anything to produce. Yeah, YOU had to work really hard to get that uber sword of usefullness, but that doesn’t mean it has a value. It’s a 1 on a server somewhere. Anyone, with sufficient rights, could choose to give that sword to you. Cars are not the same way. When you damage one there is no easy way to fix it, and the destruction has real costs involved.
Another reason your debunking of the car analogy fails is that you’re ignoring WHERE the fines and suspensions come from. They do not come from state or federal or even county law. They come from the organization which complies with the county, state, and federal laws and THEY are held accountable first. They can then pass off blame if they want, but at the end of the day it is the racetrack, or gaming company, who is ultimately responsible for what happens in it’s private club.
Society will draw the line, I predict, at value. So long as MMORPG’s are housed on servers, and so long as “items” are nothing more than database entries, they will not have any value. No value, no crime. You’ll see legislation around harrassment long before you see it around theft.
[…] I made a post a little while back that on MMORPG Cheating and received a very interesting and convincing argument from Gaming Freedom that I thought warranted another post. Basically, the previous post was to emphasize how MMORPGs should be taken a little bit more serious when it comes to its future and how they will function as a major recreation tool the world over. I feel this is becoming more of a reality. (see my post on World of Warcract and the future of MMORPGs). […]
[…] My pal Casey over at MaisonBisson.com has made a follow up post to my MMORPG Cheating post. I figured it warranted me making another post rather than simply replying to his blog. He writes: Matt says my attempts to analogize online roleplaying games to more familiar contests like chess or automobile racing are “just silly.” But his response appears to reinforce my point rather than refute it. It is the responsibility of the gamers and gaming organizations to create and enforce rules. People violating those rules are subject to sanctions by the gaming organization first, but it’s hard to imagine how any contestant who follows the rules of a (legal) game can be subject to legal sanction. […]
[…] Matt says my attempts to analogize online roleplaying games to more familiar contests like chess or automobile racing are “just silly.” But his response appears to reinforce my point rather than refute it. It is the responsibility of the gamers and gaming organizations to create and enforce rules. People violating those rules are subject to sanctions by the gaming organization first, but it’s hard to imagine how any contestant who follows the rules of a (legal) game can be subject to legal sanction. […]
This is gold glove caliber writing and I love the clutch stuff about cars. Keep up the great stuff.
B.
very good page
[…] BorkWeb MMORPG Cheating One argument is that these games occupy players time and cost money, so in-game theft … Should there be repercussions for MMORPG cheating? Perhaps. … […]
i need that money cheat but i wont pay anything for that shit
lol
Hi
I am a fanatic gaming fan of the Growingly famous MMORPG known as EvE Online and others alike, though.. i have become more and more interested the concept of (MY) ‘Gamers Rights’ within these ‘Virtual Worlds’ and i am on the hunt for the existence of such a thing as ‘Gamers Rights’. As you may know MMORPGs, or at least the most popular ones,’ are successful through its Huge player base and interest in the game, but it is a growing worry in my mind that the Corporation behind the scenes of these MMORPG games hold too much power in terms of the accounts each and every person playing the games owns.. basically a piece of software that you are forever developing yourself through your own time and you pay a monthly or quarterly (Subscription) to buy your time to play this account you are forever developing.. well to cut it short.. and get to the point, i am saying that maybe these (Kind) of games that are not only Global but also unregulated in terms of (The Player) within the game true there are legalities that these companies must abide by but i do not believe there is sufficient (Law) in place to prevent a players (Account) from being either banned or temporarily banned due to a violation of the Said MMORPGs Rules of play which of course could be bent to the will of the Company running the Game even if it would be a small infrigment, basically in these examples the point being driven at is ‘Does the company of Said MMORPG, hold free rane over the Subscriber’?
Regards
Sean R.
THAT IS SOOO STUPID!!
i really really hate games i kant cheat on.
its not a challenge when the game takes YEARS OF SOMEONES LIFE leveling up.
its a damn game!!! its shouldnt kontrol lives! if you kan cheat in games then people get bored faster and most MMORPG’s are free anyways so theres no profit from them anyhow! who kares if its “UNFAIR” to some other players.. so is buying online items.. the stupid rich people with no lives do that that kan afford it. thats not fair either and well i love just making my char as powerful as possible and cheating is the fastest, easiest, and most fun way!
Simple deal folks. these are GAMES. break the rules and another bad happens. If it DOES, it is the result of people taking games too serious. Doesn’t mean I condone cheating. Just the opposite. Hacks have ruined online games as far back as quake. Just saying, gets some perspective: “Gamer Rights” implies some sort of implied equity in an unnatural, invented world. That’s nonesense…go look up the history of human rights
Simple deal folks. these are GAMES. break the rules and nothing bad happens. If it DOES, it is the result of people taking games too serious. That doesn’t mean I condone cheating. Just the opposite. Hacks have ruined online games as far back as quake. Just saying, gets some perspective: “Gamer Rights” implies some sort of implied equity in an unnatural, invented world. That’s nonesense…go look up the history of human rights
i want to hack fckers
Money is root of all evil, wait, level too, and high score…