Code of Conflict
Gaming as a millennial, you’d understand the fun involved in keying in cheat codes. Applying the code itself was a fun experience cause you’d have no idea it would work until it does. Suddenly a whole load of skins and mods were available to you elevating your gaming experience. You’d be able to fly F14s through the skies, helicopters upside down and even unlocking unrealistic race tracks.
No matter what game you played, the Devs often incorporated hidden unique features to give you a little extra. Nowadays it’s mostly behind a paywall, somewhat eliminating the fun and thrill of finding a ‘secret’.
I don’t game on PC anymore, but even in mobile games, users often find ways to cheat their way through games. Especially in PvP games like MLBB, a 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena, people would hack maps to reveal enemies or even pay people to help them rank their accounts higher. The problem with this is, when you’re matched with them, their skills don’t translate in-game and you’re stuck with a team that’s guaranteed to lose. It ruins the overall experience for honest gamers that are genuinely trying to squeeze their brains to figure out an angle to win.
Then there’s an excellent real word game like Pokémon Go. Individuals get so invested to “be the very best” to “catch em’ all” by ‘spoofing’ the game. They’ll cheat their way by ‘teleporting’ to other countries and locations just to catch these digital creatures. They’ll cheat their way to progress through the game and proudly showcase their hoard without any regret. Luck can be manufactured, if you have low integrity.
I enjoy such games and follow the rules, and I tend to have biases against such people. Me in the past wouldn’t be interested to be friends/ get close to such people, but the current me is interested to find out why such people do what they do. Are they looking for some sort of recognition? Validation? Belonging? I am guilty of looking for the easiest way out, but I limit myself to the rules and laws of my ecosystem. Breaking it displays a lack of character often forfeiting the ‘fun’ aspect of discovery, and winning a game.
I’m no saint and I am guilty of cheating even outside the limits of a video games. I tried extremely hard as a teen to do well in my studies and I cheated once when I was 15, in a history test — my worst subject. It was a MCQ test and some of my classmates and I were fluent in the sign language of cheating. Because of that one subject I jumped from being middle in the rankings to one of the top. Although extremely proud initially, it slowly ate me up. From then I just helped others cheat. The latter was fine to me because I wanted my friends to do well and I didn’t mind sharing the stage so to speak.
But is there a difference in cheating and allowing yourself to be cheated? I truly struggle with this question. Like, I want to help movies break records in the box office, but I’m scared of getting disappointed or being part of ‘the crowd’, so I download them — especially movies that don’t make it to my country. Thank God for Spotify, otherwise I’d be downloading music too. But companies are getting stricter with their products. When you buy a game from Nintendo, you’re essentially borrowing it, you can’t own it. They‘re essentially licenses for you to download and it wouldn’t exist forever, unlike games in the past.
So sometimes I can’t help but feel, people that provide ‘cracked’ games are unsung heroes that help immortalize memories, and bequeath said games/movies/music to future generations.
Like Nintendo, many corporations from many industries do this, they create an ecosystem that can be accessed only through a paywall, and keep milking you for as long as they can. I personally don’t find it ethical. Do you?
Many of us would prefer cheating, and many of us enable cheating. So I too can’t blame some organizations from being overprotective. Should a line be drawn? Perhaps after a fixed duration of exposure to the market?
Like in F1, and most of society, we’re already somewhat placed where we should be by the first few races, it is highly unlikely that a bottom team suddenly snatches first place outside incredible circumstances. The top three teams remain top three with little to no deviation unless they…cheat. I still think Lewis was robbed by Max of his 8th thanks to Horner’s persuasion skills. Stupid FIA =S.
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Horner is 99% a cheater who looks for gaps and makes use of it. A genius who has mastered the art of conversation can either be entirely dangerous or a blessing. Meet their demands and they’ll carry you forward.
But the education system doesn’t really identify such characters well enough, as some geniuses tend to reveal themselves oftentimes outside the realms of education. Through qualitative skills like conversational, negotiation, mediation, socializing, creativity, problem solving, strategy, leadership, collaboration, management and many more. Being extremely good at any one, should immediately qualify you as a genius — not just academically. Perhaps there’s more than IQ, EQ, SQ, AQ ?
Identifying and honing of such skills is important and even in university it often gets neglected/ overlooked. Only when said individuals do well in well established companies do they get recognized. Now ask yourselves, how many well established companies are there that are capable of unlocking their employee’s true potential? Most of these individuals usually get tired of working with degenerates and eventually venture out on their own.
Untapped geniuses often become cheaters, even evil geniuses that will do whatever’s necessary to prove a point, even at the expense of others. Sadly spouses, colleagues, society are usually their victims. Cheaters are people who find gaps and manipulate them for their own benefit. Another word for them is opportunist, and the current system encourages it. Whoever get the most, brings the most, destroys the most and is great at manipulating are rewarded tremendously. They do not care, as long as money constantly moves around.
However, being aware of gaps and fixing it is what we should strive to do. There are plenty of societal gaps that are screaming fix me! Why should a teacher or dancer deserve less just because they’re intrinsically motivated to uplift and inspire their communities? Can’t their geniuses be rewarded? How about the farmers or fishermen? Can’t their dedication be rewarded? Why is it always the cheaters and opportunists who enjoy spa days or track days and big bungalows with swimming pools?
I’ve already mentioned how in a previous post, but identifying and matchmaking individuals will be integral in the future. We no longer need sub par HR whose worldview is often trying to tackle the rich employees, to determine and qualify candidates for a company. All we need is enough credible data about a person both personally and professionally to employ them. Easier said then done, but hopefully with technology, we can keep improving by connecting dots from the entirety of a personal data bank perhaps through a Global ID. Giving people the jobs they truly deserve, and even managing expectations through personalities, as quickly as possible.
Cheaters exist in every levels of society. From students to world leaders, from non profit charity organizations, to sports teams. It’s part of the game, and there’s no two ways about it. Or could there be? In a true God fearing society, we should know that cheating is unrighteous because He commands truthfulness, justice, fairness, and love for another. We’re told not to have dishonest scales/measurements, steal, lie, deceit and exploit another.
Why? Because doing any of the above corrodes trust in communities and relationships, and cannot be a foundation we can build upon for true prosperity or lasting peace. It leads to spiritual corruption and eventually separation from God. Cheating wouldn’t be encouraged or necessary if we could all share the same stage.
Go tell that long-tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back-biter
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
He will eventually get to you and cut you down. Evil can be managed and though there’s no better way than opening your Bible, technologies can be created to connect dots and help guide you away.
This is part of a series under “Project Kuchiku”, a project designed to help Fix the Future through Platform Building.
Please help this imperfect soul try to perfect this project by contributing $1/month here and share this idea of a better future with potential futurists. Arigato =)
