I've been thinking about this topic for a few days now. Yes, I've been lazy and haven't really had anything to write about (can I claim bloggers block?) but in my defense, my mind has been reminiscing about and rehashing the topic for a while now.

I'm talking about my gaming years when I was younger. Things were quite different back then. My first console was a Nintendo Entertainment System. Yes, the first one. Mind you, that was the first console I bought with my own money. The first console I played on was the Atari 2600 that my mom bought for herself. I used to play games in arcades or the corner cafe with 20c coins.

My friends had XT's on which we played games like Space Quest, Deathtrack and Alley Cat.

Sure, a lot of things have changed over the years. The more obvious things that have changed are of course, the graphical abilities of the hardware. With the advent of the GPU and real-time rendered 3D scenes, games have been pushing the graphical boundaries on an almost impossible scale.

I fondly recall saving up R500 to buy a second-hand 3dfx Voodoo 2 card from a friend, so that I can play Need for Speed 2 with new and improved 3D graphics. If you're not a gamer, you just cannot understand the feelings that go flowing through you the first time that 3dfx logo came up on screen in all it's fluid beauty.

I myself have also evolved as a gamer. For one, I now know that I am a gamer and a geek, something that I did not know at school. Thanks to the Internet, I now know that I was not a weirdo. Just a little socially inept.

My gaming needs have also changed a lot. It started out with action and racing games. Games that were exciting and could give you a quick fix. Just one race before bed or just this level. Favourites included Super Mario Bros, Contra and Track & Field.

As I got older though, I started looking for more in my games. I started moving on to smaller RPG's and more challenging games. Not that I had any idea that they were RPG's at the time. For the first time though, gaming was not a mindless, repetitive exercise mean to relieve stress. For the first time, I could escape to someone else's world. My characters had stories. There were epic missions to complete. Well, missions other than saving the princess who is always in another castle.

I think my very first (minor) RPG that I played was Flying Warriors. Once again, no idea that it was one, but it really was an experience. Not to mention darn difficult! It contained more action than RPG but it was the first game that I played with "Command Battles" that are now synonymous with the Final Fantasy series. From there I moved on to Star Trek: 25th Anniversary for the NES.

The years went by and one day, I saw Final Fantasy VII on the PSX. That was the moment. I just somehow knew that my gaming would never again be boring. That I would have hours full of intrigue, character development, stories and of course... saving the world.

This (finally) brings me to my blog title. As my gaming habits evolved over the years, so have my cheating habits.

I remember countless nights playing Doom with iddqd enabled. I almost never played Warcraft 2 without cheats. I would peruse through EGM's for cheats or watch shows like Video Power for tips and hints to my favourite games. Remember, this was way before the days of the internet.

Gradually though, I found myself using them less and less.

Coming back to the present, there are a few things about my cheating and gaming habits that are very different today than what they used to be.

I find myself almost never starting a game on the easy difficulty, instead jumping directly into the medium or equivalent difficulty. Even then, when it's too easy, I will start over on a harder difficulty. Games like Forza 2 give you the ability to tune your difficulty with regards to driving aids. I find myself turning off ABS, turning off traction control, turning off stability management, turning off racing line indicators, turning on full damage capabilities and finally, having the opponent drivers AI on medium. At the very least.

Sure, I still peruse GameFAQS for walkthroughs if I'm stuck in a certain part of The Dig. Or I want to take a look at someone's character build for a Barbarian in Diablo 2. But outright cheat? Can't remember when last I've done that.

Last night I'm playing Rock Band 2 with the nephews and niece. I haven't unlocked all the songs yet, so the selection of (kid-friendly) songs are quite limited. A quick peek online and 5 minutes later I had the unlock code for all the songs. Entering it though felt strange. It wasn't like I was cheating, it was more of a 'convenience code' than a cheat. Or was it? Would you believe that I actually felt guilty afterwards? Don't get me wrong, I still plan on completing the tour (on hard) but now it almost feels like it would be for nothing. My rewards won't be as great.

Last night's event finally pushed me to writing this post that has been revolving around my cranium for the past few days.

How do you guys experience cheating in games? Do you revel to enter that invulnerability cheat and mow down the computer-controlled AI without so much as a scratch on you? Or do you feel guilty when you resort to cheats?

I know I'm feeling just a tad guilty...