To cheat or not to cheat? Have walkthroughs and cheats ruined modern video games?

Growing up as a kid in the 80's, loyal to my Commodore 64, I never knew the definition of cheating in a video game. I played for the fun and the challenge.

If I ran into a puzzle I could not solve, and the Commodore 64 had many games with good challenges, I would get excited and work hard to solve it, recruiting all my energy and brain cells to decipher the riddles. I would talk about the games with classmates, see if they had any tips, have friend over and we would try to solve the puzzles together. It would sometime take hours, or days, or even months to beat a game. But when this was done, it felt like a great feeling of achievement and accomplishment.

There was no Internet back then.

But today, when one faces a challenge, they immediately turn to cheats and walkthroughs. I know many who will not spend more than 5 minutes trying to solve a puzzle before turning to Google or GameFaqs. Even if the solution is right in front of them. And I confess, I am guilty of this too. I am an extremely busy individual, with literally no free time. But when I do get the chance to play a game, if I see I am wasting too much time trying to solve something, I'll turn to walkthroughs. Otherwise I get a feeling of frustration, something which I never felt as a kid facing the same type of challenges. But then, when I beat the game (and with cheats and walkthroughs many games can be beaten in matter of hours) I do not feel the same as what I felt beating the games on my own or with friends, as a kid. Something is a miss...

I created this post to discuss how the internet, with all the cheats, guides and walkthroughs have affected modern video gaming. For example, does this reflect on real life? Do kids get tempted to cheat more on exams because they are used to get all the solutions for video games easily from walkthroughs? Please post your opinions

I agree with many of your points. I think it's all part of the nature of what the world has become. It's not just about gaming; gaming is just a small part of it. In the busy world we live in there's no time for anything; so people seek shortcuts. And the abundance of information on the internet and the global world we are, means that there's no problem finding the answers to anything.

For example if a student is stuck on a college assignment- he can probably find the solution using Google. Advice with girls- Google :)

Not that its all bad. I mean we do get to do more. but we also take more on ourselves.

So same for Video Games, people are busy to actually solve the puzzles or beat the game by themselves, so they turn to walkthroughs. A good side is that they can then try more types of games (Since there are so many produced nowadays). Now, is it fun to beat a game using a walkthrough? For some it could be fun I guess.

I am 21 and grew up with the SNES, N64, and the GameBoy (to start with, then my collection of consoles grew). When I was younger, I remember playing a lot of games that had puzzles, and was able to complete these without the use of cheats/walkthroughs.

Now when I got put on FPS games, I started to cheat more to make sure I didn't die/die as much. Throughout playing games I have always disliked dieing and usually did what I could to avoid it at all costs. I can honestly say I've never used a guide to complete over 1/3 of a game (if that). With a lot of the new games there are just a ton of bonus material that you can complete the game with or without these items. So I have used a guide to help me get some of the bonus things, like PS3 trophies.

Put me infront of a puzzle though and I will try and try until I get it without the use of a walkthrough. I've used a walkthrough before to find the quickest way to the puzzle part of a game before just to see if I could comprehend and accurately finish the puzzle.

I believe the convenience of the internet has made people more willing to go to it for answers, it can also be how people were raised towards rules. As a kid I picked up on the importance of rules early on and rarely have I cheated in school, but a lot on games.