Online Cheating

Playing another game: Twinking in World of Warcraft

by René Glas

in: Baba, Akira (ed.), DiGRA 2007: Situated Play Proceedings. Tokyo: DiGRA Japan, 2007. pp. 249-356 (conference 24-28 September, Tokyo).

Breaking Reality: Exploring Pervasive Cheating in Foursquare

by René Glas

Think Design Play - DiGRA Conference 2011 Proceedings. Utrecht School of the Arts, 14-17 September, Hilversum.

This paper explores the notion of cheating in location-based mobile applications. Using the popular smartphone app... more This paper explores the notion of cheating in location-based mobile applications. Using the popular smartphone app Foursquare as main case study, I address the question if and how devious practices impact the boundaries between play and reality as a negotiated space of interaction. After establishing Foursquare as a prime example of the gamification phenomenon and pervasive gaming, both of which require us to rethink notions of game and play, I will argue that cheating in location-based mobile applications challenges not just the boundaries of play, but also of playful identity.

An exploration of cheating in a virtual gaming world

by Delia Dumitrica

This article looks at the `culture of cheating' within a specific virtual gaming world, Neopets. It argues that this... more This article looks at the `culture of cheating' within a specific virtual gaming world, Neopets. It argues that this `culture of cheating', informed by a neo-liberal capitalist discourse, has been embedded in the structure of the world. Thus, Neopets promotes an image of wealth as accumulation and as an expression of individual will and effort. Cheating becomes an instrument for personal achievement in a world where access to resources has been designed as unequal. In the case discussed here, socialization within this world may be interpreted as offering users an experience of neo-liberal capitalism that renders inequality as a `natural' consequence of individual choices. What remains hidden is precisely the interweaving of social processes and technical design in constructing this neo-liberal capitalist experience of the world in the first place.

“We Will Always Be One Step Ahead of Them”: A Case Study on the Economy of Cheating in MMORPGs

by Stefano De Paoli

Published in Journal of Virtual Worlds Research - Co-Authored with Aphra Kerr

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are a sub-sector of virtual worlds that share with other... more Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are a sub-sector of virtual worlds that share with other worlds the characteristics of both complex technological systems and complex societies. The success of several MMORPGs
makes them a vibrant area for research from different points of view, including their economic aspects (Castronova, 2005). Our research is mainly concerned with the practice of cheating in MMORPGs and its consequences.
In this paper we explore the economic dimensions of cheating in MMORPGs as they relate to the business activities of companies that offer cheating software, in particular programs called 'bots'. Specifically, we address the following question:
"How do cheating practices shape economic interactions around MMORPGs?" We characterize the economy of cheating (as it is carried out by cheating companies) as an answer to breakdowns in the relationship between cheaters and cheating companies (Winograd and Flores, 1987; Akrich, 1992), which involves both
learning and innovation processes. In order to answer our question we present a case study of the Tibia (http://www.tibia.com) and an ongoing anti-cheating
campaign. In the conclusion of the paper we provide some general reflections on the relevance of the economy of cheating to Virtual Worlds research.

Assemblage of Cheating: How to Study Cheating as Imbroglio in MMORPGs

by Stefano De Paoli

Published in Fibreculture 16 - Co-Authored with Aphra Kerr

In this paper we investigate cheating in Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMOPRGs) using the 'Assemblage... more In this paper we investigate cheating in Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMOPRGs) using the 'Assemblage Theory'. We start by critiquing existing definitions of cheating as the set of actions that bring unfair advantages to cheaters. For us this definition is based on an essentialist view that already prefigures what cheating is. By contrast, we focus on cheating as the outcome of the interrelations of different elements in the assemblage. We focus in particular on the interrelations between the game architecture, the code and the legal documents. Using the concept of assemblage, we analyse examples taken from a case study of the MMORPG Tibia and the virtual/actual articulation of cheating. At the end of the paper we discuss the contribution of this paper to the concept of 'counterplay' and formulate an alternative definition of cheating as 'imbroglio'