User blog:Sirebel/Cheating

There seems to be a lot of accusations of cheating on here recently and I thought I'd put my perspective on what is and isn't cheating when playing computer games, I have quite a simple and straightforward view on this to be fair: So basically, I don't seem much evidence of people cheating at RR3. Occassionally I see impossible times set on WTT races but these are usually removed by FM before the end of the week. I'm assuming these are posted by hacking the interface between the client and the server but I'm guessing.
 * If you play an unmodified version of the game only through the provided interface then it is never cheating
 * If you find a bug or exploit the game and exploit it then this is not cheating but some might consider it unfair
 * If you modify the game in some way, or change any file outside playing the game then it is always cheating

It is up to the game developer to set the rules of the game by writing the game so that you can only play in the way they want you to play. Playing the game can never be defined as cheating if the game lets you play that way. So the following, in my opinion, are not cheating: Which of these techniques or exploits do I use? I've tried them all at one time. 1 is a standard game play technique since the dawn of computers whilst 2 is not unusual either, I use both all the time.
 * 1) Cloud saving before a difficult race, restoring after a failure and retrying (nowhere near cheating)
 * 2) Force quiting the game before the end of a race (not cheating)
 * 3) Changing the time / timezone on your device to speed up servicing / upgrades (not cheating, no matter what FM say)
 * 4) Bouncing off walls to take corners faster (not cheating but certainly not real racing)
 * 5) Cutting corners at chicanes (most certainly not cheating in RR3 but would get you penalised in real racing)
 * 6) Turning around and driving backwards to exploit long start / finish straights in Speed Record events or deliberately running into walls at the end of the straight to get the speed required (definitely not cheating)
 * 7) Cloud saving, fully upgrading a car, posting a WTT time and restoring afterwards (not cheating but certainly exploiting a loophole in the gold / upgrade system vs the WTT time posting)
 * 8) Restarting the app and/or resetting your ad identifier to get more free ads (definitely not cheating)

I don't recommend using 3 as FM don't like it and they will ban you if they catch you at it. I experimented with this approach when I started the Speedrush TV challenge, which in hindsite wasn't very clever. Subsequently I lost the opportunity to win the Audi R8 V10 Spider for free and it set me back quite a bit (not to mention probably flagged me up with FM as well). I haven't used it since (but do have trouble when changing timezones legitimately).

4, 5 and 6 are just normal gameplay, if you think they are cheating then consider that FM could easily change the way the game works to stop you using them. The car could slow down much more when completely off track (as in Online Multiplayer) and they could add in-race damage to stop you bouncing off barriers or just add the no-barrier collision check that already existing in special events (i.e. no additional coding required). So FM are aware of both these conditions and choose not to close of these exploits. I don't bounce off the walls much

7 is certainly the most contentious exploit but it still fits in these simple rules, does the game let you do it without modifying game files? FM could easily close off this loophole as well if they wanted (It wouldn't be too difficult to revert any WTT times made since the last cloud save but would require a little bit of effort).

8 is probably the most grey of the exploits, however, you are free to reset your game or your ad identifier as much as you like. If FM don't want you to get more adverts by doing this then it is up to them to code their game that way.

Now, I know not everyone will agree with my viewpoint but I think it is worth saying that unless you hack the game in some way, you are playing by the games rules. If the game lets you do it, then you should be able to do it. On that basis you could consider 3 to be cheating as the game does attempt to catch it and stop it but then it isn't coded very well and if you find a way to exploit this then you are free to do so (but don't come crying to me if you get caught and banned)

Feel free to disagree with me, post comments about other ways of playing that are not cheating, but please don't accuse people of cheating at a computer game unless you know they have hacked it by modifying the game code or game files outside of normal game play. If you do feel like commenting on this blog, this is a contentious issue so please remain polite and don't make personal insults.