Cheat Codes Were Never Created As A 'Hack', But By Game Developers Themselves. Here's Why

Cheat codes weren’t originally developed to be used by the general consumer, but everyone can agree that they have become an unforgettable part of the gaming culture that exists today. 

For many people, a big part of the satisfaction that comes from completing a particular task comes from the effort they put into it. They often give their blood, sweat, and tears to finally attain success. This feeling is one that many within the gaming community can empathise with. 

Games have always challenged players and encouraged them to go beyond their limits. Tough nuts such as the Dark Souls series, Elden Ring, Hollow Knight and Ultrakill are just a few that have a reputation for doing the same. 

However, within the gaming community, another kind of gamer can also be found - one who utilises unintended means to achieve victory. They’re known as a hacker or cheater. 

Their actions might be frowned upon when it comes to online games, but the use of cheat codes is a feature most players who played old games like GTA San Andreas have taken advantage of and enjoyed themselves. They were also underhanded means to play the game, but people were having too much fun to care. 

Now, what if this author told you that the concept of the cheat code was never actually meant to be used in this manner. And that they were created and implemented by the very developers of the games you used them in. 

Intrigued? Well, allow me to give you a crash course on the exciting history of cheat codes and how they compare to cheating mechanisms that exist today.

A Brief History Of Cheat Codes

Cheat codes were initially developed as a means of play-testing games. Play-testers are often required to repeatedly test the different mechanics present within a game. Cheat codes were created to make this task easier. 

One of the first and most iconic cheat codes in gaming history is the Konami Code (see above). It was developed by the late Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who first implemented it in the home port of the arcade game Gradius, because he was finding it too difficult to play through the game while testing. Using the cheat code gave the player a full set of power-ups in the game. 

However, the story of the Konami Code doesn’t end here. The legendary code was implemented in future Konami games as well, with the most notable being Contra. 

The code has become an iconic Easter egg on the internet. If you recite the code to Siri, it will call you a nerd and doing the same on Amazon Alexa will trigger the following dialogue, “Super Alexa mode: Activated. Starting reactors: Online. Enabling advanced systems: Online. Raising dongers. Error: Dongers missing. Aborting..."

It has even made appearances in modern games. Ultrakill pays homage to it by giving you access to cheat mode when you enter the code.

How Players Discovered Cheat Codes

One important thing to keep in mind is that cheat codes were mostly used to aid the development process, so they were not intended to be released to, or be used by the public. 

For example, Rockstar didn’t make cheat codes for older GTA titles like San Andreas, public. An individual known only as Edison Carter, creator of the original CheatDevice, was responsible for the discovery of the cheat codes available within the game. 

Every game didn’t go down this path though. Many games within the Lego franchise like Lego Marvel Superheroes have a dedicated in-game option to enter cheats. These cheats granted players access to different characters and perks within the game. Contrary to Rockstar, Lego distributed the cheat codes officially through their forums, lego sets and much more. 

So, it doesn’t matter if it’s through official or unofficial means, cheat codes have found their way into many prominent game franchises, and they’ve become a well-known term within the gaming world. 

Cheating Today 

Today, many cheaters can be found in online games, especially in the FPS (First Person Shooter) category. Instead of cheat codes, they use unauthorised software that enables features like aimbot, which automatically adjusts and improves the player’s aim. 

While the usage of cheat codes in single-player games often invokes a sense of joy and nostalgia, encountering someone utilising cheats in an online game only brings out anger within the affected party. Cheat codes only affect the individual playing the game, but the use of cheats in online games acts as a source of annoyance to all the people playing it at that moment.

Cheaters in online games ruin the experience for everyone. For most people, it’s just annoying but within the professional gaming scene, cheating is perceived as an extremely disrespectful act by players who worked hard to attain their position. It hurts not only the player, but also the entire community. 

A great example of this is the story of Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat. He was a part of one of the first major Indian e-sports teams, OpTic India. The team initially showed a lot of promise, but everything went south when Kumawat was caught cheating during the eXTREMESLAND 2018 finals. 

The team was instantly disqualified. Other members of the team were devastated. Indian fans were disappointed and angry. The situation afterwards was terrible. “Almost immediately, everyone was allergic to that region and that scene,” said Nikhil Hathiramani, co-founder and CEO of IMPLS Entertainment and Paper Rex, in an interview with Euronews. 

All of this dealt a significant blow to India’s e-sports scene. 

This goes to show just how many people can be hurt by one person’s act of cheating. 

Cheats Are Fun, But For How Long?

Cheat codes weren’t originally developed to be used by the general consumer, but everyone can agree that they have become an unforgettable part of the gaming culture that exists today. 

They add excitement and fun to our games. Almost everyone who played games in the early 2010’s has memories of using them but for many, their usage is an unintended way to play the game which ruins the vision of the creator. 

And I agree. Cheat codes are fun even today, but they rob the player of a truly unfiltered experience in many cases. And as we previously discussed, the broader culture of cheating within games has only led to problems. 

Using cheat codes in single-player experiences is a personal choice and no one has the right to judge someone for doing so, but I would recommend that players get the authentic experience of a game before they use cheats. Using them in subsequent playthroughs is an excellent way to gain a brand-new perspective of the same game. 

(The author is a student of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi)