Brig Ponders There Are Only Three Truths In Life: Death, Taxes And Everyone Cheats

Original cartoon by Clay Bennett

Have you ever thought about how much everyone cheats now-a-days? Long gone are the days of, “If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you?” Today’s you’re more apt to find someone asking, “How is it cheating if everyone else does it?” It used to be there are only two certainties in life, Death and Taxes. But I think now we have three, Death, Taxes and Everyone Cheats.

This past week the gaming community found out that one of the most successful World of Warcraft guilds was found guilty of cheating. Seemed Paragon got suspended for exploiting a new in-game feature in achieving their World First.

And though I don’t play WoW anymore, I found this particular story intriguing. See, I’ve been talking about this topic with one of my Rift Riders co-hosts, Josh. We’ve been going back and forth on what constitutes cheating. And I guess we’re not alone because Mike Norton lit Google+ on fire with his own post about it.

The biggest issue seems to stem over what exactly is cheating.

If you found out using something within the game or system differently than intended, is that cheating?

If you use tools available to anyone to achieve an objective, is that cheating?

What about using hints and detailed information from outside resources? Is that cheating?

Or could it be that cheating is purely a question of legality? Is the only way one is cheating is if they’re breaking established rules?

In the gaming world this question isn’t a black and white as it might seem. It seems there are about as many definitions for the term cheating as there are ways to cheat.

And you know what? This really scares me.

Why?

Well, if a society can’t decide where to draw the line on what is or is not cheating, then how can we set a moral compass and define right from wrong?

By no means am I asking for us to return to some puritanical way of life. But I do think we need to think just how far down this slope we want to slide. At some time we need to draw a line so future generations can know which way is up. Otherwise, how can we, the parents of today, have hope that life will be better for the children of the future?

Ponder that one and let me know what you think.