Inside The Mind of a Cheater

As someone who has cheated in a different game, I thought I would explain my experience.

I was a reasonably high level player at this game(it's a 1 vs 1 game). When I started playing people were immediately telling me that I was naturally very good and I could be the best. This happens to a lot of people in a lot of competitive environments. Naturally I believed their hype. However there were loads of players better than me and I couldn't work out how to improve. I started to realise that I wasn't special and I eventually lost belief that I could be the best.

Then I stumbled across a glitch that would essentially turn losses into draws. And I was presented with a choice, I could either leave the game, or I could cheat. For me it was an easy choice, I could now fulfill my ultimate of aim of becoming no.1. There was no risk vs reward analysis here, because there was no risk, if I was caught I would just quit the game.

So I exploited this glitch to become the number 1 rated player at that game. I was a bit smart at it, made sure I didn't over use the glitch vs the same player etc. but it was essentially mindless winning.

This game had some RNG in, so you were basically guaranteed to win the odd game. So, if you never lost any rating points, you will eventually become number 1 on the rating ladder.

When I was climbing the ranked ladder all I could think about was becoming the no.1 rated player. I was determined to keep going and see how high I could get, how much I could exploit this trick. I was enjoying it. I was proud of myself for discovering it.

I think this pride is something that people who don't cheat have difficulty understanding. I felt like I was smarter than my opponents, that I was outplaying them because I was cheating. I would use the 'cheat' and laugh at my opponents, thinking they were idiots for not realising what was going on.

Towards the end of my grind I knew it was inevitable that I would get to no.1 and I was just carrying on to prove the concept to myself.

When I eventually got to number 1 I had no emotion. There was no enjoyment, no relief, it was just 'meh'. I also had no desire to stay at number 1. I think I played a few games without cheating, lost the no.1 spot and retired from the game. I didn't really think to much of it.

About a year or 2 later I returned to the game and I got a lot better at it. I started grinding the ladder again, but this time without cheating. I got to no.1 legitimately and it was a completely different experience because I knew I was actually no.1. I was happy, I felt relief and I had desire to stay at no.1, in fact I went on to remain at no.1 for most of the year. I kept playing because I hadn't 'completed the game' in my head, I always had new ideas and new concepts that I wanted to test out. I didn't get that from cheating. Cheating was an entirely competitive experience when all I cared about was winning and the 'game' was completely irrelevant.

The issue I believe people have with chess is the same with any ELO system. The more you play the higher your rating gets and the harder it gets for you to win and the harder it gets for you to improve. Cheating is a short term solution to this problem and can sometimes be more enjoyable than not cheating, although it will ultimately ruin the experience in the long run.

@george182 sounds like you were playing Starcraft or another RTS ;)

Hey... thanks for sharing @george182

Testimonials as yours gives us all insights into the human mind. Reading your post can only help us to better understand ourselves.

The quest to achieve a #1 ranking becomes the sole objective. Blinders are worn, no thought is given to consequences of being caught, after all, it's only a game.

Lessons get learned. I truly believe the phenomenon of internet chess cheating will decline as players become educated, those that continue playing will do so realizing chess is but a hobby for most of us. Enjoyment of the game is found in playing others of similar skills without any outside assistance.

Good link. Great interview with Morozevich in which he covers a lot of territory on computers, the current state of chess, cheating, the attitudes of professionals and hobbyists alike.

I asked Ben Johnson to try and get a convicted cheat like Dlugy or Baron on his podcast. I think that would be an interesting interview. For them the motivation was money. I would guess others that cheat just want to appear good at a game that has quite a steep learning curve without having to put in the work. There is also a large number of programmers that cheat as they enjoy writing chess bots and seeing how long they can go undetected for.