Mia Consalvo is Associate Professor of C C H E A T I N G Telecommunications at Ohio University. Gaining Advantage in Videogames Mia Consalvo H The widely varying experiences of players of digital games challenge the notion that there is only one E correct way to play a game. Some players routinely use cheat codes, consult strategy guides, or buy A and sell in-game accounts, while others consider any or all of these practices off limits. Meanwhile, the game industry works to constrain certain read- T ings or activities and promote certain ways of play- ing. In Cheating, Mia Consalvo investigates how I players choose to play games and what happens new media/game studies when they can’t always play the way they’d like. N She explores a broad range of player behavior, in- C H E A T I N G “An intriguing look at one of the most maligned aspects of gameplay, Cheating explores the act of cluding cheating (alone and in groups); examines subverting game rules from a range of perspectives and fi nds, surprisingly, not villains and spoil- the varying ways that players and industry defi ne G sports, but players of all types engaged in a complex negotiation of personal, cultural, and industrial cheating; describes how the game industry itself exchange.” has helped systematize cheating; and studies on- —Tracy Fullerton, Codirector, Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab, University of Southern California line cheating in context in an online ethnography School of Cinematic Arts of Final Fantasy XI. She develops the concept of “gaming capital” as a key way to understand indi- “Mia Consalvo’s analysis of cheating is a bold contribution to the growing games studies litera- viduals’ interaction with games, information about ture. She shows how the concept can help us draw meaningful connections between the technical, games, the game industry, and other players. economic, aesthetic, and social aspects of game culture. How can we cheat if the possibilities are Consalvo provides a cultural history of cheat- hardcoded into the game, and if the tips or tools we are using are sold to us by the game company? ing in videogames, looking at how the packaging How can players have so many different and contradictory ideas about what constitutes cheating in Gaining Advantage in Videogames and selling of such cheat-enablers as cheat books, an electronic game? Where does cheating end and social networking/collaboration begin? I will be C GameSharks, and mod chips created a cheat pondering some of these questions long after I put the book aside.” o industry. She investigates how players themselves —Henry Jenkins, Codirector, Comparative Media Studies Program, MIT, and author of Convergence n defi ne cheating and how their playing choices can s Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide be understood, with particular attention to online a l cheating. Finally, she examines the growth of the v Mia Consalvo o peripheral game industries that produce informa- tion about games rather than actual games. Digi- tal games are spaces for play and experimentation; the way we use and think about digital games, The MIT Press Consalvo argues, is crucially important and re- Massachusetts Institute of Technology fl ects ethical choices in gameplay and elsewhere. Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 http://mitpress.mit.edu 0-262-03365-8 978-0-262-03365-7 Consalvo_jkt.indd 1 5/22/07 10:13:15 AM Cheating Cheating Gaining Advantage in Videogames Mia Consalvo The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MITPress books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email <special_sales@ mitpress.mit.edu> or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. This book was set in Rotis Sans and Janson by The MIT Press. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Consalvo, Mia, 1969– Cheating : gaining advantage in videogames / Mia Consalvo. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-0-262-03365-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Cheating at video games. 2. Video games industry—Corrupt practices. 3. Video games—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title. GV1469.34.C67C66 2007 798.8—dc22 2006030942 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction: To Cheat or Not to Cheat: Is That Even the Question? 1 I A Cultural History of Cheating in Games 1 Creating the Market: Easter Eggs and Secret Agents 17 2 Guidance Goes Independent: The Rise of Strategy Guide Publishers 41 3 Genies, Sharks, and Chips: The Technological Side to Cheating 65 II Game Players 4 Gaining Advantage: How Videogame Players Define and Negotiate Cheating 83 5 The Cheaters 107 6 Busting Punks and Policing Players: The Anticheating Industry 129 7 A Mage’s Chronicle: Cheating and Life in Vana’diel 149 III Capital and Game Ethics 8 Capitalizing on Paratexts: Gameplay, Ethics, and Everyday Life 175 Notes 191 References 211 Index 221 Acknowledgments There are many people who I need to thank in relation to this project, and as my dissertation advisor Professor Sue Lafky once told me, you can never go wrong when thanking people, repeatedly, for the help, ideas, and support they’ve given along the way. And even thanking them repeatedly doesn’t seem enough, as I literally could not have completed (or even started) this project without the help of others—the players who volun- teered to talk with me, the game developers and publishers who freely shared information with me, and my friends, colleagues, and family members who all helped me sharpen my arguments and refine my ideas as well as offered wonderful advice and suggestions. I’m listed as the author, but only because I stand on the shoulders of many terrific people as I do so. And of course, the mistakes within are my own, probably despite the good advice of those I’ve consulted as I’ve done this research. A few of the following chapters are much revised and expanded versions of material published elsewhere. Small portions of chapters 1, 2, and 3 appear in “Cheat Codes, Strategy Guides, and Walkthroughs: Official and Unofficial Sources of Cheating and Help in the Digital Game Industry,” a chapter in Digital Games Industries: Work, Knowledge and Consumption, edited by Jason Rutter, forthcoming; an earlier version of chapter 4, “Gaining Advantage: How Videogame Players Define and Negotiate Cheating,” appeared in the Changing Views: Worlds in Playpro- ceedings of the 2005 Digital Games Research Association Conference, Vancouver; and segments of chapter 8 first appeared in “Rule Sets, Cheating, and Magic Circles: Studying Games and Ethics,” International Review of Information Ethics, vol. 4, December 2005. There are quite a few people from the game industry who have con- tributed directly to the information I’ve gathered here. I enjoyed talking | viii | nts with all of them, and they offered valuable perspectives that have helped e gm me in understanding the evolving nature of the digital game industry. d e wl Those individuals include David Waybright of BradyGames; Andy Rolleri o n Ack of Prima Games; Tony Ray of Even Balance; Will Leverett, Charlie Porter, and Phil Cimoch of NCsoft; independent strategy guide writers Bart Farkas and Mark Walker; Ben Sawyer from Digital Mill; Steven Davis of IT GlobalSecure; Jennifer Sun of Numedeon; and Tom Odell, Jim Hughes, Rick Johnson, and Bobby Duncanson of Raven Software. I also greatly appreciate the game industry folks who provided general perspectives, detailed information in related areas, and ideas and encour- agement to me throughout this project. They include Sheri Graner Ray, Sheri Pocilujko, Clarinda Merripen, Eric Marcoullier, Marty Poulin, Noah Falstein, Cory Ondrejka, Daniel James, Dave Weinstein, Mike Steele, Neil Kirby, Brad King, and Victor Jimenez. In addition to the players I formally interviewed while conducting the research, there are also the players that I spent time with in game, partic- ularly in Final Fantasy XI. That includes, most of all, the individuals in CantaPerMe, “the finest role-playing linkshell” on my server. Those people include Akuma, Tobias, Xenedra, Wriath, ShiroMiro, Alveen, Ayvaen, Keiro, Vyce, Wendell, Richelle, Psylight, Psylite, Kaahi, and Unikatze. When it came time to discuss, analyze, and critique what I was working on, I again found people willing to help and encourage me. At both Ohio University and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee as well as when visiting other parts of the world, I had (and still have) the privilege of working with amazingly smart people who made my work so much better. They include Tasha Oren, Stewart Ikeda, Nola, Karen Riggs, Roger Cooper, Amy Mattson Lauters, Casey Hayward, Courtney Cole, Keiko Yanagiya, Chris Curley, Nathan Dutton, the students in all of my digital games classes over the past few years, and especially Erica Butcher, who offered me the term “gaming capital” to encapsulate what I had been thinking about in relation to gamers and their knowledge. Further afield but closer discipline-wise, there are many game studies folks who I have looked forward to talking with at conferences, over IM, and any chance I get, really, about cheating and games, and they include Ren Reynolds, Ian Bogost, Jason Rutter, Aphra Kerr, Julian Kücklich, David Thomas, T. L. Taylor, Dmitri Williams, Tom Malaby, Ted | ix | Castronova, Charles Ess, and Matthew Weise, who must take some of nts e both the blame and credit for getting me interested in studying games. gm d e Likewise, my family has always been there for me, and I have been wl o n extremely lucky in that regard. They have consistently encouraged my Ack interests and passions, and have been unwaveringly supportive in their belief that I can achieve whatever I desire. I can never repay that debt, but plan to keep thanking them often and frequently. To Mom and Dad, Jen, Blair, Matante, Uncle Rusty, Nana and Grampy, and Cleo, thank you for your love and support. Finally, there are the ones who were physically there throughout it all, including the endless research, writing, rewriting, editing, waiting, and completion. Without the love, support, meals, walks, ideas, critiques, and company, this book would still be a pile of paper somewhere, an interest- ing idea never completed. To Jasper, Georgia, Malcolm, and most of all Bill Reader, thank you for everything—this book is for you.