Growing up when I was gaming in the 90s and on, I knew of the stigma of cheating in video games. You were seen as stupid, someone incapable of completing challenges on your own. You were seen as lowly, someone who can never go through life without cheating. Like, it was a pretty big deal as I grew up, hearing all of this for years on end.
I’ve been able to beat games without cheating, of course. But during my late teens and early adulthood, I just tried going past the stigma. Cheating in video games don’t necessarily reflect how you handle life and don’t translate. I’ve found it quite fun to cheat in video games. Probably not in multiplayer and especially on the receiving end.
I even use cheats just to beat games anymore, who the hell cares. People only care if you want to make a big deal about it, by showing it to everyone and boast how you’ve beaten a game in record times. I’ve tried beating some games head on without cheats but there just comes a point where you ask yourself if it is fun dying a hundred times at some part of a game. I don’t think so, personally.
So yeah, I don’t have the stigma anymore. I kinda like how gamers today only care about cheating if it was done in multiplayer or if you’re trying to beat a speedrunning record or some score record. Fun is meant to be how you find it.
The older you get the less time you realize you have to do things like gaming. I don’t even have kids, but my last 5 weekends have had events/meetups/items on them that 10 years ago I wouldn’t have had. I’m more exhausted after work now too, and spinning up a game and getting into the mode is effort in itself now. So, when I do game, I find myself being annoyed at games that want me to sit for an hour whittling down a boss, or figuring out some inane puzzle. If I only have max 10 hours a week to game, then I want to spend them making progress in a game.
For example I’m playing FF7 remake (first playthrough, no spoilers please) and I was fighting in the arena, and it took me a couple tries and finally made it through after probably 2 hours of fighting. Then the surprise round with the house, and I failed 5 times, I’m simply not spec’d right, and wasted 3 hours trying to get past it. At that point I’m not even enjoying the game anymore, and the small amount of time I get to play games I didn’t even get to see any new story or character development. Then I have to go do something else and it’s been 2 weeks now since I have had time to game, but thinking about it I just get annoyed.