Cheater cheater pumpkin eater!

Image by Random Factor via Flickr

You are special. In fact, everyone is special. You are a unique and special little snowflake and there's no one in the world like you.

How many times have we heard this or something just like this? Mother's special little guy. Daddy's special little girl. The teachers special class of special children. And yet, if we are all special, then none of us are special.

But, if people hear they are special long enough and often enough, they begin to believe it. Once they believe it, then all bets are off, folks. You can forget about them waiting patiently in line at the bank or paying attention to road signs. They are special. Those rules are for everyone else. Definitely not them.

The rules of our games are no different. Hacks, cheat codes, exploits and bugs are all fair game. Recently, on my podcast, Inside Azeroth, I blasted people who were cheating in Wintergrasp. The response I got left me fairly amazed. emails and comments from people telling me I had it all wrong. That a tactics change was needed to combat cheaters, not a ban from the game. As if cheating were a legitimate tactic!!!

If a poker player has an ace up his sleeve, this is wrong. Yet, if someone uses an exploit in a game, to gain an unfair and unintended advantage, the gaming community not only discusses it's legitimacy as a tactic, but actually defends the cheater and protests when they receive a ban. Is this who we have become? Are we so morally and ethically bankrupt that we can no longer see simple right and wrong?

For me, the situation is black and white. Cheating is wrong...period. I cannot for the life of me fathom defending a cheater. but there are those that do. Are these simply the cheaters themselves, justifying their actions with flimsy and morally ambiguous arguments? Or, are these people who have lost their way? Or, am I just too uptight as some would claim?

Is it uptight to expect people to have some sort of moral compass? To have some sort of sense of fair play? To have some sort of moral and ethical character?

If so, I weep for the world.