The sad thing is that most multiplayer cheats have a ready line in rationalisation for their actions. The roving killers claim that real life has this sort of person so they're just fulfilling that role in a fantasy world. The argument that they're turning what was intended to be a rich and rewarding fun experience for an entire online community into a killing field has little weight with them. They're having fun so who cares? The hackers use the usual hacker's excuse, that the very fact they can hack the code justifies their actions and so why doesn't everyone else do it? The fact that most players are trying to play a game as the designers intended it, not enter into some hacking competition, never occurs to them.

The losers are initially honest gamers and, ultimately, gaming itself. The motto "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is a much followed one and it's worrying that over time all multiplayer games could easily become no more than a battle of hackers and cheats. The faceless nature of online gaming means that such cheating can quickly become a victimless crime in the mind of the cheat as it's so much easier to defraud someone you've never met, nor are likely to meet. At the moment, most gamers are honest and see it as a matter of pride not to cheat. It lies with them to stamp out this cancer at the root of online gaming by consistently pouring scorn on the cheats, never praising them in any way and remaining firm in the conviction to never stoop so low.

So there you have it. Multiplayer cheating. Not very nice, is it? By all means cheat at single-player games, but in multiplayer gaming, if you can't take the heat then there's the kitchen door.