Cigam on 20/12/2016 at 23:41

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Which of the following would you classify as cheating?

1) Navigating to a part of the level the designers probably didn't intend the player to go, in order to circumvent triggering a mission objective? (such as the trick to avoid the Brother Murus quest in RttC).

2) Not completing an objective in the "intended" way when it is clear the designers anticipated that players might do this and allowed for it. For example in THC you are "meant" to go to the Cathedral, get the instructions from The Eye, then follow them. But nothing stops you just going straight to the Keeper pedestal and shooting the stature etc, and can complete the mission without ever seeing The Eye. possibly without even visiting the Cathedral. Is that "cheating"? And of course in RttC you can complete all of Brother Murus's tasks before he gives them to you, and it is actually easier in some cases this way.

3) Using strafe-running (ie pressing W and either A or D for a speed boost) to escape a pursuing enemy.

4) Using strafe-running to help with a timed-section. For instance passing through an underwater section when there is a time limit on your breath. Or getting from the Holy Fountain to the dormant zombie you need to remove for easiest entry to the Cragscleft factory level, before the 30 seconds are up and your Holy water arrows become non-Holy again?

5) Using other kinds of engine "exploits" that where not intended as a mechanic, such as keyholing to get into the Fire Tower and avoid the earlier two?

Just musing on this stuff because I am trying to complete a challenge and if I complete it would not want thoughts of "cheated" in my mind :)

Grandmauden on 21/12/2016 at 02:37

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I've always considered "cheating" to be "externally tampering with the game in order to give yourself an unfair advantage." Anything that can be done in the game without external modifications is fair game, in my opinion. That includes strafe-running and engine exploits, regardless of whether they are glitches or intended features. Because Thief is a single-player game, any quirks you take advantage of will only affect your experience and not the experiences of your fellow players.

Also, there's no reason #2 could be called cheating in any way. Like you said, if the developers anticipated and allowed for it, then they clearly saw this "unintended" method as a perfectly acceptable way of completing the mission.

Yandros on 22/12/2016 at 13:39

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I would amend that to read, "It's not cheating if the original, unmodified game lets you do it." But otherwise... yeah, and also caring more about playing than winning, which seems to be a bit more rare of an attitude these days amongst the younger gamers.

TannisRoot on 23/12/2016 at 14:29

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Why would these be considered cheating? For one they are all pretty advanced techniques. Most people utilizing them have already completed the game multiple times. I don't think any n00bs are using these techniques to circumvent the difficulty of the game because the game itself isn't that hard to beat.

PyroRogue on 18/1/2017 at 01:15

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Cigam,
I personally wouldn't consider anything you've listed as cheating within my own personal playthrough. Now, if your in a competition for speed run, or something like that, and they have rules, then breaking those rules would be cheating.
Or, say, If your uploading a playthrough on youtube or something and want to play a "legit" game. Then yeah you might want to avoid exploits. But, better to use an exploit and apologize for it, than have to replay an entire mission.