The Psychology of Cheating

[macacoalbino]

Guys, I've been searching for some explanation to why people cheat in multiplayer games when there's nothing really to gain from it (no money prize for example). We've had our fair share of cheats in the aoe3 community, also I've come across cheaters in a lot of other multiplayer games such as: csgo, chess, dark souls pvp, etc.

So far I've found only one article (https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/7731 ... y-cheating) which is focused on board games. However, I'm interested in finding a more thorough analysis, so if anyone has any insight or some material to share on the matter I'd appreciate it.
Cheers

[Riotcoke]

Because they want to feel like they matter

[occamslightsaber]

Personally, I've never encountered a blatant cheater in 1v1 on AOE3, although I have suspected some people of cheating in team games. On lower levels, players often accuse others of cheating just because they are better than them (happened to me once). When it comes to real cheaters though, I guess it's fun to have god-like powers and watch other people rage about their trolling, but I'm sure that gets old pretty fast and they move on to other stuff.

I've read that cheating/hacking is more prevalent in Asian countries because their cultures encourage people to do well no matter the means or the cost, but having lived in Asia and seen how people enjoy gaming as much as those in Western countries, I don't really buy it. I'm sure they aren't any fonder of cheaters who ruin gaming experience than us. It's more likely to have to do with the fact that Asia has a lot more people than Europe and North America combined and hence a lot more assholes who cheat/hack as well.

[tedere12]

there are many types of cheaters. For example there are ones like sirmusket who admire top players a lot and want to be like them, there are ones who get frustrated after losing a game and drop/oos (more because they want to deprive opponent of rank than not lose rank themselves), and there are ones who just want to waste your time and make you feel like shit like wuziqi

[fightinfrenchman]

The invite spammer should be sent to the shadow realm for his crimes

[bittersalt123]

Pretty much getting really angry over losing and cheating is seen as getting revenge.

[deleted_user]

dopamine, addiction

[Papist]

I agree with @tedere12 's breakdown. The drop/oos cheaters do it to protect their rank or ego, or to take revenge on their opponent when they're angry about losing a game. The oos cheaters I've encountered usually accuse me of cheating and use that the "justify" the oos.

Then there are the competitive cheaters who want to win the game playing normally but don't have the skills to make it happen, so they give themselves a little boost in the form of extra crates or units (or a maphack). These guys want to be part of the mainstream community, so they are secretive about their cheating. It's basically the AoE equivalent of moving a chess piece one square over when the opponent isn't looking -- you're trying to give yourself an edge while still appearing to play within the confines of the rules.

And there are the trolls who cheat for the fun of it. These are the people who rush your base down with myth units because they find it amusing. They don't tend to stick around for long, because the novelty of playing that way wears off really fast.

[fightinfrenchman]

I'm more curious about reading about the psychology of crooked mods tbh

[howlingwolfpaw]

I feel bad for cheaters.... I have much more fun losing than I ever would winning unfairly, what must be going on in their heads to think they won or something.

Just played a game tonight, I was germans, 6 player FFA on Deccan, I wasn't paying attention, this japan player steals my +5 pop treasure. So I make uhlans…. lots of em. And I siege down his TC and kill tons of vils. Then he spawns 3 monster trucks killing my base. What did it prove? all it accomplished is a ban and a shout out to the clan members to avoid playing this person. Well i did leave the game, so I guess he got to continue and play the fools that didn't act on it.

[Papist]

I feel bad for cheaters.... I have much more fun losing than I ever would winning unfairly, what must be going on in their heads to think they won or something.

The dude in your game was clearly more concerned with taking revenge than "winning". I've seen guys spawn monster trucks to kill the opponent, only to resign themselves after he's out -- they don't have any illusions about "winning", they just want to deprive the other guy of the win out of spite.

On another note, I found this quote in the article @macacoalbino posted. I think it provides some insight into the behavior of people like sir musket.

Likewise, people using programs to cheat at online games could tell themselves it's not really cheating, or doesn't really matter, or it's just a way to play the game. These cognitions can become habitual, creating a vicious, escalating cycle of dishonesty.

[giveuanxiety]

There are cheaters in all forms of competition. Professional sports, the Olympics etc.

[deleted_user]

I feel bad for cheaters.... I have much more fun losing than I ever would winning unfairly, what must be going on in their heads to think they won or something.

Just played a game tonight, I was germans, 6 player FFA on Deccan, I wasn't paying attention, this japan player steals my +5 pop treasure. So I make uhlans…. lots of em. And I siege down his TC and kill tons of vils. Then he spawns 3 monster trucks killing my base. What did it prove? all it accomplished is a ban and a shout out to the clan members to avoid playing this person. Well i did leave the game, so I guess he got to continue and play the fools that didn't act on it.

So here's a story that soured my taste for FFA.

I was playing a FFA, going ham, playing aggro, rekking everyone on the map. Meanwhile a French player does nothing and goes untouched imperial and starts spamming cuirs. I'm killing them extremely cost effectively with goons because this guy is just not bothering to micro anything. But the batches. keep. coming. And coming. Batches like these are from moesbars, you can tell. Last thing I do before outing is I typed "blue is cheater" or smth.

When I'm resigned, I see the host of the FFA type "lol, blue isn't cheating." Then 20 mostertrucks get run into his base.

[deleted_user]

I'm more curious about reading about the psychology of crooked mods tbh

http://web.lemoyne.edu/~Freemams/index_ ... serial.htm

[howlingwolfpaw]

I feel bad for cheaters.... I have much more fun losing than I ever would winning unfairly, what must be going on in their heads to think they won or something.

Just played a game tonight, I was germans, 6 player FFA on Deccan, I wasn't paying attention, this japan player steals my +5 pop treasure. So I make uhlans…. lots of em. And I siege down his TC and kill tons of vils. Then he spawns 3 monster trucks killing my base. What did it prove? all it accomplished is a ban and a shout out to the clan members to avoid playing this person. Well i did leave the game, so I guess he got to continue and play the fools that didn't act on it.

So here's a story that soured my taste for FFA.

I was playing a FFA, going ham, playing aggro, rekking everyone on the map. Meanwhile a French player does nothing and goes untouched imperial and starts spamming cuirs. I'm killing them extremely cost effectively with goons because this guy is just not bothering to micro anything. But the batches. keep. coming. And coming. Batches like these are from moesbars, you can tell. Last thing I do before outing is I typed "blue is cheater" or smth.

When I'm resigned, I see the host of the FFA type "lol, blue isn't cheating." Then 20 mostertrucks get run into his base.

unfortunately FFA is a strong draw for cheaters because its seen as non competitive or something so therefor its "ok" to do it just to have fun and or even the odds. Somehow cheating multiplayers is more appealing. This kind of cheating isn't that bad though, its the subtle cheating that boost score but can go undetected

One cheater in particular has been quite abusive and found to have so many accounts its like he found a way to hack the account creator. He would map hack, then use dogs to kill treasures and get the loot, double deck etc....


I still love ffa though, not gonna let a few sourpuss ruin my day, but that is why we have strong clan, to find the cheaters and pest them, since Microsoft won't monitor their game

[howlingwolfpaw]

I'm more curious about reading about the psychology of crooked mods tbh

Here is a crooked mod

I was once part of this star wars group on facebook, The administrator and team was always very anti repro anything concerning the vintage toy line (lots of fake weapons). They were the experts on how to detect fakes. Turned out he was caught buying mint figures and making cards and bubbles and selling them as genuine. kind of genius really to control the market so much, put on in position of trust, and be the snake making thousands of dollars off people.


I was there to sell off my old collection of vintage toys.

[dansil92]

Basically dont green up in FFA vs france and 99% of the time you'll be ok. Cheaters almost universally play france (i got a cuir maphacker in 1v1 once, even his starting hunt was untouched), though that japan one above is concerning

[howlingwolfpaw]

Basically dont green up in FFA vs france and 99% of the time you'll be ok. Cheaters almost universally play france (i got a cuir maphacker in 1v1 once, even his starting hunt was untouched), though that japan one above is concerning

This is so true, france is the #1 pick for cheaters. I typically do not let france in FFA, and then tell that person to pick my civ. Its just game breaking for FFA to be able to build tons of stables and spam units and for a few other reasons too. (fast vills, super eco, great support units, etc... ) in hands of good player it is so hard to kill even if you are clearly doing things better.

[macacoalbino]

I agree with @tedere12 's breakdown. The drop/oos cheaters do it to protect their rank or ego, or to take revenge on their opponent when they're angry about losing a game. The oos cheaters I've encountered usually accuse me of cheating and use that the "justify" the oos.

Then there are the competitive cheaters who want to win the game playing normally but don't have the skills to make it happen, so they give themselves a little boost in the form of extra crates or units (or a maphack). These guys want to be part of the mainstream community, so they are secretive about their cheating. It's basically the AoE equivalent of moving a chess piece one square over when the opponent isn't looking -- you're trying to give yourself an edge while still appearing to play within the confines of the rules.

And there are the trolls who cheat for the fun of it. These are the people who rush your base down with myth units because they find it amusing. They don't tend to stick around for long, because the novelty of playing that way wears off really fast.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything here. I wonder if there is actual research on this matter somewhere...

[howlingwolfpaw]

here's another one for you psychoanalytic types....

Guy with squiggly lines for a name, says hes from uraguay, seems real friendly, lst lt ranking.

Spawns vills to increase score and at end after losing it all spawns military of nearly 600 pop. Still kinda nice and friendly about it all, yet not realizing 2 of us have spies and can see it all. I actually kinda suspected he was cheating at beginning due to score jump, but we started questioning it and he deleted some vils and score went to normal. I decided to keep playing even though one guy left.

[deleted_user]

here's another one for you psychoanalytic types....

Guy with squiggly lines for a name, says hes from uraguay, seems real friendly, lst lt ranking.

Spawns vills to increase score and at end after losing it all spawns military of nearly 600 pop. Still kinda nice and friendly about it all, yet not realizing 2 of us have spies and can see it all. I actually kinda suspected he was cheating at beginning due to score jump, but we started questioning it and he deleted some vils and score went to normal. I decided to keep playing even though one guy left.

Dopamine.

[spanky4ever]

I would call Cheating in games like this, borderline anti-social behavior, to be honest. Some ppl have very low self-esteem, and simply cannot take a loss, even if it is fair. So they cheat, to enhance their position, and to look good in other players eyes.
I have seen ppl cheat in card games, where there is NOTHING to gain by it, other than, not loosing. Loosing is dangerous for their shaky self-esteem. My respect for ppl like that sinks like a rock.
That was my in deep analyzes of it.

[japanesegeneral]

I would call Cheating in games like this, borderline anti-social behavior, to be honest. Some ppl have very low self-esteem, and simply cannot take a loss, even if it is fair. So they cheat, to enhance their position, and to look good in other players eyes.
I have seen ppl cheat in card games, where there is NOTHING to gain by it, other than, not loosing. Loosing is dangerous for their shaky self-esteem. My respect for ppl like that sinks like a rock.
That was my in deep analyzes of it.

I am pretty sure cheating in a card game is a completely different thing. I have done it myself, however I would never dare to do it in an online game.
I believe the reason most people cheat in card games is the rush of adrenaline you get from doing so since the chances of getting caught are relatively high. However people who cheat in online games probably do it to win the game.

[howlingwolfpaw]

The odd thing is I still want to like this guy. But now I question everything we talked about as lies. for as much power as he really could have had he wasn't abusive or anything. But Its still a big NO for anyone cauht cheating to play again in my games.

[occamslightsaber]

No doubt there is cheating in this game, but sometimes your opponent is just better than you.

Here's a moron who kept leveling hackusations against me even after I whooped his ass the second time using the exact same FI strategy (on RE). I admit this is somewhat of an ego post, but he insisted on recording, so I thought I might as well share it.