Do you think this is cheating?

No, it isn't. Cheating is manipulating the game in a way that was not intended for public use, where as this is something you can buy that is open to anyone willing to purchase it and use in their game. That's like saying someone in a game like call of duty
with a higher rank than you who has access to better equipment that you have no access to is cheating, because they have an advantage you don't.

 

If this wasn't cheating it would be allowed in pro competetive gaming. If players had to declare they were using this thing, other players would avoid playing with them, and would instead play with people who are playing the game as it was intended to be
played.

The devs didn't *forget* to add crosshairs when firing from the hip. There is no option to turn crosshairs on when firing from the hip. You are therefore not supposed to have a crosshair when firing from the hip... you are manipulating the game for an advantage...
that is the very definition of cheating.

When people start turning up to MLG or EVO tournaments and playing fighting games with turbo pads... come back to me, and I might agree it's not cheating. Otherwise, readily available peripheral or not, it is an advantage all don't have, or even expect others
to have, and it is cheating. lol

 

@ Argontheos MLG limits gamers to standards of what a pro is. Anyone who would use this product and consider themselves MLG would only be cheating themselves out of a grand prize. The way I see it is if the rules say it is not allowed and you use it then
you would be cheating. Halo made MLG and the needler is not allowed in MLG play. However the needler is in Halo multiplayer for everyone to use so does that mean anyone that picks up the needler is a cheater because MLG does not allow it?

 

No it doesn't. lol But uh... my point about competitive gaming is more to do with what's in the game, as opposed to what exists to aid you outside of it. That's why I said if players had to declare they were using this thing, other players would avoid them.
They don't know, let alone have a choice, when people buy and use this thing.

"Oh by the way guys, I'm using something that shaves seconds off my reaction time, and eases my ability to react and kill you when we meet one another from around a corner and fire from the hip. You all okay with that?"

"Uh... no."

In competitive gaming players agree to turn the blood off to aid frame-rate in Mortal Kombat. No using quad-damage, or the BFG in QIIIA. These things, options, whatever, exist inside the game, and are omitted when the players agree to omit them. He mentioned
players of a higher level having access to better equipment. That's a part of the game. Not cheating.

A phantom, magical crosshair where there shouldn't be one... isn't part of the game. Is cheating. The ability to hit a button a million times a second on a dodgy third-party controller, isn't part of the game, or in any way how the game is intended to be
played. Is cheating.

Just because everybody can buy one doesn't make it okay, either, or... not cheating, IMO. Everybody can kick their golf ball out of the rough and not taint their scorecards, "Hey what're you complaining about partner? You can do it to yours too!" - but they
don't. Everybody can pull a pool ball into a pocket with their hand, or nudge the cue ball with their cue to line it up better, but they don't. Because it's cheating. lol {XD

Edit: Whoa, wall of text. My bad. {>_<}

 

No, its not cheating, from what you're arguing, at most, you can say its frowned upon, in competitive gaming, call it gamers code or honor to not use it, or whatever you like, because in competitive gaming it is a recorded test of skill and everyone is recording
this based on 'rules' of equality. If someone were to use this in a competition with strict rules to enter and it was found out, they are breaking the rules of said competition, but these rules don't exist in every day gaming, every example you listed to do
with cheating is a competition with potential winning and losses recorded of two or more players of equal skill and opportunity, equal skill and opportunity in essence of the rules placed on to make it a fair competition.

Like I said, at most, you could call them a harsh name for using it in every day gaming, half the time you wouldn't even know if someone is using it, it just makes their game easier, put it down to lack of skill on their behalf, but everyone is entitled
to use it, if they pay for it.

 

Everything I listed is... a game! A game designed with rules and a structure (a way it is intended to be played) and if somebody changes the rules (or the way a game is intended to be played, and unless all agree to change the rules) then they are cheating.
People don't just avoid nudging a cue ball with their cue because it's cheating, but because if everybody decided it was okay, because it's "available for everyone to do" ... it would undermine the point of the game and the way it was designed.

Here's what you said in your OP: "Cheating is manipulating the game in a way that was not intended for public use, where as this is something you can buy that is open to anyone willing to purchase..."

You're basically saying here that because everybody can buy this thing, this thing that gives gamers an advantage...

cheat

verb

act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage.

... isn't cheating. The developers of the game would have added a crosshair if they intended for the game to have one. Or they would add documentation that points to some third-party partners to let everybody know this distinct advantage in the form of a
peripheral is available, and if you don't buy it, you could be at a disadvantage against opponents in the game that they designed - because they may have it.

I'm not calling people who use this a harsh name. That isn't the most the most I can do. Just call them what they are... cheaters. Controllers with turbo buttons are never made by the people who make the consoles. It's odd, that. Stickers and lasers aren't
made by devs who produce FPS's... why would they be? If they wanted gamers using crosshairs at a time when a man with a gun is supposed to lack precision aim, they would have added it to the game. They didn't.

Players are playing the game as it was designed, and intended to be played, vanilla game. But some are subverting that design with third-party crap, and have an advantage over the vanilla guys, advantage equals... cheating...

... ergo, vis a vis... concordantly... cheaters. lol

 

Lame and cheap I admit but Argontheos makes a good argument to call it cheating.

 

Then I guess it's just differing of opinion, I wouldn't call it cheating, the idea is subjective, but hey if you call it cheating that's up to you

Developers lock content and unlock it later in a game for you to use as an advantage over people who haven't got the same thing, it's in the same concept.

 

Either way it is a tough call jackrevenant but I just feel that Argontheos is more right then wrong. We can agree on a halo snipers only game but the fact remains that the product in question can still effect the outcome of the game unknowingly.

 

^^ Cheers BIGB! {XD

IMHO, anything the devs add or remove to affect the game is legit. The advantages they add are calculated and balance is a consideration. So they'll offer a gun with a 2% improvement in recoil, and 1% rate-of-fire or something. They're forever nerfing guns
and equipment for balance, maybe even moving unlocks up to higher levels, or bumping them down.

They can't adjust for things outside of the game, like what the averages are in crosshair/no crosshair hip-firing encounters. Is it 9 out of 10 times the crosshair-toting critical hit neck/head shot comes off against the no crosshair shoulder/chest hit?
Meh.

*shrug*