Former Ultima Online lead designer Raph Koster scrutinizes the debate over virtual item sales in his latest blog entry and he concludes that while these sales are cheating, the objectionable nature of cheating is completely subjective and evolutionary.
Koster points out that looking up quest objectives and locations using the Internet -- a common occurence nowadays -- was once considered a bannable offense in the multi-user dungeons that directly preceded the first graphical MMOs.
Koster's most important point is that "cheating is, in the end, violating the spirit of the rules. But the spirits of games evolve."
There will always be those who seek to gain an upper hand on others, and while game design constantly evolves to combat cheating, realistically cheating is only trumped by it becoming a socially acceptable activity, and subsequently losing its stigma.
I agree with Raph to a certain extent here.
Personally, I never want to see players given the ability to buy their way to stratospheric power in a virtual world, but I realize that there is a demand out there for this. That said, I think his example of comparing virtual item sales to the use of information sites like Thottbot is slightly off target.
The difference between quest spoilers and virtual item purchases is the number of people pulling for their inclusion in legitimate gameplay. The idea of what constitutes cheating evolved away from informative sites simply because so many people wanted to use them.
While item sales have their fans, I'd be willing to wager the Azerothian monetary equivalent of $10 USD that they are the vast majority -- an insignificant minority when compared to those who feel this sort of thing is an act of virtual heresy.
Then again, maybe I'm completely in the dark. What say you readers?
What is cheating? [Raph Koster's Website]
