Are Cheat Codes Actually Illegal?
As a passionate gamer and content creator who has followed the gaming industry for over a decade, I often get asked – are cheat codes really illegal? Can you truly get in legal trouble just for inputting a few button sequences?
The short answer is no, strictly speaking, using cheat codes built into single player games is not itself illegal. However, developing, distributing or selling unauthorized third party cheat software can potentially violate copyright laws and terms of service agreements in some cases.
Let’s break down the cheat code controversy from both ethical and legal standpoints.
Cheat Codes Defined
Cheat codes have been around since the early days of gaming in the 1980s. They are specific inputs that activate special features, abilities and effects not normally available during standard gameplay. Common examples include gaining infinite lives or health, infinite ammo, instant level ups, spawning vehicles/items, and more.
While some cheat codes are purposefully programmed into games by developers to enable goofy or overpowered gameplay, third party codes created by hackers and modders make up around 65% of all cheats. They often give players ultrapowerful abilities in competitive online games like aimbots that automatically target enemies.
Motivations For Cheating
Why do gamers risk account bans and legal issues to cheat? Reasons include:
- Gaining competitive advantages over other players
- Skipping grinding/progression systems
- Unlocking social status and attention
- Trolling less experienced players
- Retaliating against other cheaters (“everyone else is doing it”)
The financial incentives around developing illicit third party cheats are also massive. The current market for cheat subscriptions and services brings in roughly $3 to $6 billion per year.
The Legality of Using Cheat Codes
Generally speaking, simply inputting cheat codes built into single player games is not illegal. These codes are sanctioned features that game developers have intentionally included to enable silly overpowered fun on occasion.
However, most game publishers expressly forbid using unauthorized third party software or exploits that modify competitive online experiences and provide unfair play advantages. As a result, being caught cheating via code injections, memory edits, bot scripts and other hacking methods often violates Terms of Service agreements. This can prompt account suspensions, bans, deleted progression or inventory, and other consequences.
So while cheating itself in online games is not strictly illegal, it does breach civil contracts in the form of Terms of Service policies.
Can Developing/Selling Cheats Be Illegal?
Creating and propagating cheat programs crosses more serious legal boundaries in some contexts though. Accessing, distributing or tampering with copyrighted game code without permission can violate criminal copyright and CFAA cybersecurity laws.
For example, several game publishers over the last decade including Riot Games, Epic Games, and Blizzard Activision have filed lawsuits against websites selling unauthorized cheats and exploits targeting their titles.
In 2016, Epic Games took down several cheat distributors creating and selling aimbot and wallhack programs for the Unreal Tournament series. And in 2020, Epic won a settlement against one prominent Fortnite cheat website to end their operations. While exact damages were not disclosed, some estimates valued the lawsuit between $150,000 to $250,000.
So while gamers themselves face only civil ramifications like account bans for cheating, the legal hammer can drop heavily on those who create and propagate the unauthorized third party software enabling the cheating itself. Distribution of cheats or hacking tools without permission from developers opens up liability under criminal copyright, CFAA, and other laws depending on the region.
Impacts of Cheating on Game Companies
For game publishers, cheating severely undermines the legitimacy of competitive gaming integrity. And combating cheats consumes massive anti-cheat resources. Across the industry, developers now invest tens of millions per year in staffing teams of engineers, implementing server-side multiplayer validation techniques, purchasing anti-cheat machine learning algorithms, and more.
Despite these efforts, spates of false positive cheat detections and erroneous bans still regularly impact thousands of players who are misidentified as illicit actors. So cheating exerts a heavy toll not just in real dollars, but also community trust and player goodwill from unintentional blowback.
Recent Cheating Trends
Unfortunately, cheating has only escalated across online gaming in recent years for a few key reasons:
Advances in hacking technology – From aimbots powered by computer vision algorithms to machine learning generated game simulation bots that automatically level up accounts, the sophistication of cheating tech has grown exponentially thanks to innovations in artificial intelligence. This has made detecting cheats much more challenging.
Cheat-as-a-service models – Illicit cheat developers have industrialized and productized their efforts. They now run subscription services that provide continual updates and enhancements to cheats like a SaaS business. This generates predictable recurring revenue.
Linkages to broader cybercrime – Evidence shows connections between gaming cheat developers/distributors and broader organized digital crime rings. As cyberattacks have professionalized, gaming communities have become ripe targets for bad actors.
In survey data, over 35% of gamers admit to cheating at some point. And kids as young as 10 now regularly utilize cheats. So the cultural stigma against gaming misconduct has eroded substantially from the days of arcade high score integrity. Where there is sufficient financial incentive, cheating finds ways to evolve.
Can Anything Be Done About Cheating?
Game companies fight an endless uphill battle in cheating detection. Outpacing sophisticated AI and machine learning hacking techniques requires continuous engineering innovation and a moving target defense.
More effectively conveying the real world impacts of gaming misdeeds could also help shift community attitudes over time. Cheating should carry similar moral weight to more familiar domains like sports doping or academic plagiarism. Greater cultural stigma would provide additional deterrence.
Lastly, quicker enforcement against illicit cheat sellers through copyright lawsuits and criminal charges can attempt to curb financial motivations. If financial rewards dissipate, fewer malicious actors will target gaming communities versus more lucrative cybercrime targets.
In summary – using built-in cheat codes is situationally permissible based on context, while spreading third party cheats risks legal repercussions. Gamers, developers, and policymakers all have roles to play in confronting gaming misconduct. But perfect solutions remain elusive given the technological arms race at hand. The core appeal of overcoming challenge through shortcutting feeds a primal human urge for advancement. And where human nature persists, so too will cheating.
