NBrid

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Written by: BoneStormer

The other night I was sitting in chat (well actually I was standing,
but that's another story), when PSO came up (which it often does these
days). Those bloody thieves that no one likes came up, but soon something
far more disturbing came up. To make a long story short (TOO LATE!), the
topic of cheating in PSO came up. As with any online game, cheating in
PSO has become rampant. Cheating in a game once you've 'mastered' it,
and it's starting to lose its fun, is exceptable to bring some enjoyment
back to the game. But in an online world, cheating in any form is NEVER
exceptable. You have to remember, cheating effects EVERYONE in an online
world (offline you just effect yourself).

Sega has stated they are going to start to crack down on cheaters who
do things like infinite HP and such online (sure they will, Sega says
a lot of things it never follows up on). But really, does this effect
us? Not really. It only hurts the cheater. I think PSO would get old pretty
fast if nothing can hurt you. The worse problem is dupers.

For those that don't know, 'duping' is basically making a copy of an
item (i.e. you give one of your items to someone else without actually
losing that item from your inventory). Duping an item is spreading like
a bad disease on PSO. There is no such thing as a 'rare' item in the world
of PSO anymore. Everyone has Mag Cells and Spread Needles. People are
like, "OOooOOoo, I gotta have that so I can be cool too!; And they'll
get it at any cost. People don't trade one item for another. They say,
"I'll give you a copy of my Double Saber, if you give me a copy of
your Egg Blaster." Even if you traded someone for a rare item, chances
are it was duped somewhere along the line. Maybe you can't be blamed in
this case, but it goes to show how far and wide an impact duping can have.

If you don't think 'duping' is really cheating, you're just fooling yourself.
You just saw how cool that real Agito was, and had to have one too, at
any cost. You didn't wanna feel "left out". So when people call
you cheaters, you go, "Naw, it's not really cheating. Finding those items
is just luck anyways." And I say, BULL! Duping is the definition of cheating!
Those who actually 'earned' a rare item like the Holy Ray don't feel that
satisfaction they should since everyone seems to have one. There is a
reason why these items were originally called 'rare' afterall. Diablo
(which PSO is just like) is full of cheaters that ruins the experience
for everyone. I had hoped that on the more stringent and controlled console
platform, cheating could be controlled better. What was I smoking when
I thought that...

Stealing someone's item when they are dead, or screwing someone over
on a trade are both horrible things. Everyone agrees on this, and anyone
seen doing such is blacklisted. So it boggles my mind why people don't
see anything wrong with duping. In fact, just the act of duping has become
as 'cool' as owning a Book of Agito once was. "Everyone else is doing
it, so I want to too." However in my mind, duping is just as bad
as thievery. Sure you're not directly stealing it from someone, but it's
still stealing since you didn't 'earn' it. Plus you are stealing it from
someone who did 'earn' it since they no longer have a 'rare' item, and
hence its value drops. There is NO exceptable reason for duping. (Well,
if you got the BSOD and lost all your items, you could make a case for
it. But anything short of that is crap.)

Bottom line is cheating in an online game like PSO hurts everyone. You
want to cheat in say Perfect Dark? Go right ahead. What do I care? It
doesn't effect me at all. But before you dupe that Soul Eater, remember
that EVERYONE who plays PSO is effected by making that item a little less
rare. Congratulation! You have just become a cheater. A lifeform only
one step above a leech, and one step below a rat.