Aincrad

The previous day was a harsh one; the first boss was finally beaten. There were a few deaths, but it was too many for some people's comfort. Though today is a new day, and Molock was going to make the most of it. After a well deserved rest he went out to find some mobs to fight. And it wasn't long before he found them. "These are too weak to get any benefit from," Molock said to himself as he continued on a bit. Shortly passed the first mobs were some a couple levels stronger than himself. It may be risky but Molock felt this was the best way to advance in this world. To him the reward outweighed the risk right now. With a few quick slashes of his sword the mob went down. "let's see...Based on how much health I lost there I can afford to kill a few at a time before resting. This should be decent progress for now." He ready his blade and went at the next mob, ready for the fight to come.

Before he could get close enough though a field boss appeared and swung at him. This mob was strong, maybe even too strong to fight alone with his health not full. Luckily Molock dodged the hit in time. But with the mob focusing solely on him his luck might run out this time. "This might be bad," he said aloud thinking he was alone; not that he was paying too much attention to see if anyone was around him.

Death seemed to be all around...only dismissed as a game, Arcedies was disgusted at this turn of events, The first bossing was brutal too, She was still Relieved that the strategy severely reduced the amount of deaths, but corpses lined the ground nonetheless, Allies she fought along side with have disappeared into nothingness, their particles filling the air. However, she had no time to dwell in the past, She needed to become strong, She didn't want to be left behind, After some sleep, She purchased a bundle of health potions and walked to the exit, Noticing a man dressed in a black robe, Preparing to leave as well. This peeked her interest as she quietly followed the man, Jumping from building to building, She thanked her Acrobatics skill under her breath as she continued to follow the man, Hopefully without the man knowing.

Arcedies was awestruck at this man, This man knew full well the dangers in fighting stronger monsters, but that didn't seem to stop him, "What a musclehead" She frowned. He might actually have been a good guy if not for being so half-baked, He would only be saved by his good lo.. Arcedies cupped her hand over her mouth, She continued to observe, Her face covered with a blush.

The sight of the field boss scared Arcedies greatly, Small monsters didn't bother her, But when it came to bosses, She knew someone was going to die, Fully illustrated in the 1st floor boss battle. The man who is going to fade is the muscle-head that she has been watching all day. Knowing full well of the danger of this action, She cursed under her breath and charged at the monster

She threw her weapon, Doing a basic spear throwing skill known as «Missile», A basic Spear throwing skill that requires the user to retrieve the spear after thrown. After the spear made contact with the enemy, She leaped up and pulled out the spear before doing a move known as «Pantheon», which is a aerial skill that allows the user to bat away the enemy, A single target stun, That renders the attacker unable to do actions for a small amount of time, before landing on the area next to the man, Arcedies' attack had a considerable effect to the monster, But not nearly enough to slay it, Arcedies stood beside the man, Waiting for him to follow up.

Just as Molock thought he was going to have to fight alone a spear hit the field boss. Quickly following it was the owner of the spear. She followed up the first strike with another quickly, stunning the mob for a moment. Molock remembered this skill, it left the user unable to do anything for a moment after it was used. Not wanting to let this chance go to waste Molock jumped in and swung his blade across the boss pausing behind him for a moment. Before the boss had a chance to do anything more Molock turned around and hit the boss three more times. This left behind a square around the creature and did quite a bit of damage; those that knew this skill knew it was called Vertical Square. Just in case it wasn't dead yet Molock swung one last time hitting the boss.

Luckily for Molock this was just enough damage to kill the boss. Even though Molock didn't know anyone seeing this could: the boss had its blade right next to Molock's head about to cut him for some major damage. He didn't even get the chance to see where the blade was since the boss disappeared before Molock could see the result.

The item drop went to Molock. A ring that boosted one's one-handed damage and acrobatics slightly. It wasn't much but it was a boost none the less. "Here, this is thanks for helping me out there," Molock said as he tossed the ring to his savoir. "If you hadn't shown up when you did I would likely not be here anymore." Molock smiled at the girl before him, she was cute and looked close to his own age. "The name's Molock," he introduced himself, hopeful that he might have made a good friend for his time in this world.

Arcedies was somewhat surprised, Not only did the person she decided to assist stay alive for such a long time, But was able to deal an equally as effective blow as her's, Making their synergy seem impeccable, After checking the amount of exp she received, She walked away, Before catching a small piece of jewelry. The man that has committed this action, Stuck out his hand and introduce himself "The name's Moluck". The ring, The Hand, this all surprised her, She was born and built in a world where the best stand out, the best win. This Moluck character not only gave tribute for his actions, instead of running away taking the object with him, Which in that scenario, Arcedies would proceed to not care, But instead also offered his hand. Friends were a dangerous thing, As your are exposing yourself to unknown human species, While making yourself vulnerable to a knife in the back, Arcedies has seen too much people lying on the ground with a weapon in their chest that belonged to someone they would call a "friend", but to be honest, The person that was standing in front of her was a 17 year old male, Who wouldn't hurt anyone, An observation that was quite obvious as the marker on top of him being as green as a traffic light. Arcedies instead of dismissing this "Moluck" as a random character that she just helped, She felt beating in her chest, Her checks turned crimson, And her eyes began to motion to the virtual plains that were just ahead. "Next time you decide to kill yourself, Make sure no one is around..." Arcedies couldn't keep her tough girl act up for much longer, She looked away, Her checks getting more red by the second.

Molock couldn't help but laugh a bit at he reply. He wasn't sure if she was joking or not but for some reason it hit his funny bone. "Beautiful and funny, that's a dangerous combination right there. Mind if I get your name?" Jackson started to walk next to this girl that had pretty much saved his life. Upon closer inspection Molock noticed that she was also in the first floor boss battle with him. Taking that fight into consideration it makes this look like he made an mature mistake. Molock hoped that she wouldn't remember or recognize him from that fight, yet at the same time didn't completely mind. Sure it made it seem like he wasn't paying attention with that field boss; but he was proud to call himself a frontliner, even though the front line wasn't really that far ahead at this point in time.

His words hit like a train, "Beautiful and Funny" He said, She was never called those 2 adjectives before, Much less by an attrac...Arcedies cupped her hands over her ears and violently shook her head, She needed to stop thinking about making friends, Especially ones that she would have a imminent relationship with if she continued with this thought process, But it seemed it couldn't be helped, Arcedies frantically changed the subject, Ignoring his effort to learn her name all together. "You're the man who decided to do the finishing blow on the 1st floor, Correct?" She was shifting uncontrollably, Her Nervous state being blatantly obvious, She prayed he didn't notice, but the probability was slim.

Molock took his sheath in his empty hand and with both arms starting fully extended put his sword away. If he didn't have his arms starting fully extended he wouldn't have been able to put away his sword from the size of it. "Yeah, that was me. You were there too right? One of the primary attackers if I remember right." Most people thought that battle was a good learning experience, but Molock thought it was a disaster losing even one person.

Through this Molock did his best to not take notice of the girl's nervousness, or at least not make it obvious he noticed. He didn't think it would be something she would want the whole world to see. And he was happy to play along at the very least.

"Of course, I find it quite interesting that you noticed" Arcedies was quite pleased that she successfully managed to avert from the subject, The subject about talking about how "cute" she is. It was quite a long day, and talking isn't contributing to solving the problem, Arcedies decided to just walk away all together, "It's been a long day, and I rather go to sleep", See you around. Arcedies walked into the direction of the town, Telling herself that he shouldn't follow, But secretly wishing he did.

Molock starts to follow but then stops himself. "Take care," Molock waved as the girl walked off, still having never got her name. "I need to work hard to help people like her get out of here. I won't let this go on longer than it has to." Molock thought to himself as he watch the beautiful girl walk off. With his new determination Molock went back to training a bit more before deciding to head to the village to get some sleep as well.


Two Years Later

After so long the Frontliners, now many of whom have joined guilds, have only made it to floor 47. Even though it wasn't as far as they would have hoped they are making progress. Even Molock has made progress. Now he uses his sword completely one-handed, and his other hand has a gauntlet on it to allow for more varied attack. On the side with his sword he now has an elbow blade which is the newest item he gained. Even so Molock has learned some combos he finds fun. In the last boss fight Molock was considered one of the few MVPs since he did so much damage. He even started getting called Sure Strike Molock since he rarely misses when he goes in for an attack. The last time someone saw him miss a hit was when he dueled another player that focused on dodging with his character. Even then most of his hits landed.

"I wonder how that girl is doing?" Molock thought as he started to think of the first few people he had actualy talked to in the game. "I have really only seen her in the floor boss fights lately."

Two Years Later
Particles

Arcedies was quite happy, After gaining a new spear from a drop from the 43 floor boss, The spear being named «Vindicator», She tried it out right away, This specific spear gave her a stat boost in Power and Speed, And giving her a few more points in acrobatics, The skill itself being the first thing she finished, With her Acrobatics being 1251 points, Making her seem untouchable, Her jump was quite high too, Going as high as 15 stories with a skill obtained at 900 points, «Fairy Leap». She made quite the name for herself too, People around her calling her, Fairy Queen Arcedies, because of her delicate face, and untouchable battle style.

After a brief rest, She decided to train again, After all, She couldn't get left behind. After training in fields containing level 45 mobs, She decided to move up a level, Going in a field with mobs that reach level 50, Arcedies wasn't that scared of monsters in fields, As her Acrobatics enable her to jump away from any danger when it comes to it. After killing a few mobs, Arcedies felt a chill down her spine, Becoming face to face with a large mob, «Chain Warden Alcatraz » it read, It's Red eyes were standing right into her's, Arcedies wasn't as scared as she should be, Activating «Backdrift» She quickly moved back, But being stopped by a large chain on her ankle, she stood face to face with the monster, The monster raising a large whip, Her eyes filled with dread, It looks like no one was going to help her, Or at least, no one in her sight radius.

Alright, I'm doing an experiment, I'm going to see how large I can make my average words on my account, SO I put the definition of Cheating, Which is what I'm doing right now.

Cheating is the getting of a reward for ability by dishonest means or finding an easy way out of an unpleasant situation. It is generally used for the breaking of rules to gain unfair advantage in a competitive situation. This broad definition will necessarily include acts of bribery, cronyism, sleaze, nepotism and any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate criteria.[1] The rules infringed may be explicit, or they may be from an unwritten code of conduct based on morality, ethics or custom, making the identification of cheating a subjective process. Cheating can refer specifically to marital infidelity. Someone who is known for cheating is referred to as a cheat in British English, and a cheater in American English. A "cheat" does not have to cheat all the time, but once faced with a challenge that they do actually want to win, they will go back to their cheating strategies.[2]

A small cheat sheet can be used to cheat during an academic examination.
There is enough evidence to conclude that academic cheating is an extremely common occurrence in high schools and colleges in the United States. 70% of public high school students admit to serious test cheating. 60% say they have plagiarized papers. Only 50% of private school students, however, admit to this. The report was made in June 2005 by Rutgers University professor Donald McCabe for The Center for Academic Integrity. The findings were corroborated in part by a Gallup survey.[citation needed] In McCabe's 2001 of 4500 high school students, "74% said they cheated on a test, 72% cheated on a written work, and 97% reported to at least had copied someone's homework or peeked at someone's test. 1/3 reported to have repeatedly cheated."[3] The new revolution in high-tech digital info contributes enormously to the new wave in cheating: online term-paper mills sell formatted reports on practically any topic; services exist to prepare any kind of homework or take online tests for students, despite the fact that this phenomenon, and these websites, are well known to educators,[4] and camera phones are used to send pictures of tests; MP3 players can hold digitalized notes; graphing calculators store formulas to solve math problems.[5] Increased competition for college admissions in recent years may also be to blame. It is often justified by "Homework help", "group work" or "little more practice".

Personal relationships[edit]
Main articles: Infidelity, Emotional affair and Adultery
Cheating can occur in various forms: physical, emotional, or online. Online infidelity is one way to cheat on a significant other.[6] The definition of the constitution of cheating varies among cultures. When people are in a committed relationship, the definition of cheating is based on both parties' opinions, and both parties may redefine their understanding to match the party at an either lower or higher extreme of this definition.[citation needed]

Sport, games and gambling[edit]
Sports[edit]
Cheating in sports is the intentional breaking of rules in order to obtain an advantage over the other teams or players. Sports are governed by both customs and explicit rules regarding acts which are permitted and forbidden at the event and away from it. Forbidden acts frequently include performance-enhancing drug taking (known as "doping"), using equipment that does not conform to the rules or altering the condition of equipment during play, and deliberate harassment or injury to competitors.

High profile examples of alleged doping cheating include Lance Armstrong's use of steroids in professional cycling - particularly controversial as it is widely suspected that a high percentage of professional cyclists are using prohibited substances - Ben Johnson's disqualification following the 100 metres final at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and admissions of steroid use by former professional baseball players after they have retired, such as José Canseco[7] and Ken Caminiti.[8] A famous sporting scandal involving cheating via harassment and injury occurred in 1994 in figure skating when Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt, hired Shane Stant to break Nancy Kerrigan's leg to remove her from the year's competitions and prevent her from competing with Harding. One of the most famous instances of cheating involving a prohibited player action occurred during the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final, when Diego Maradona used his hand to punch the ball into the goal of England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.[9] Using the hand or arm by anyone other than a goalkeeper is illegal according to the rules of association football.

Illegally altering the condition of playing equipment is frequently seen in bat sports such as baseball and cricket, which are heavily dependent on equipment condition. For example in baseball, a pitcher using a doctored baseball (e.g. putting graphite or Vaseline on the baseball), or a batter using a corked bat are some examples of this. Tennis and golf are also no strangers to equipment cheating, with players being accused of using rackets of illegal string tension, or golf clubs of illegal weight, size, or make. Equipment cheating can also occur via the use of external aids in situations where equipment is prohibited - such as in American football via the use of stickum on the hands of receivers, making the ball easier to catch. An example of this is Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, who admitted to regularly & illegally using "stickum" throughout his career, calling into question the integrity of his receiving records.[10][11][12]

Athletic cheating is a widespread problem. For example, in professional bodybuilding, cheating is now estimated to be so universal that it is now considered impossible to engage in professional competition without cheating and the use of supposedly banned substances; bodybuilders who refuse to take banned substances now compete in natural bodybuilding leagues.

Cheating may also be seen in coaching. One of the most common forms of this is the use of bribery and kickbacks in the player recruitment process. Such practices are widespread all across athletics, and are particularly visible in college sports recruitment. Another common form of cheating in coaching is profiteering in association with gamblers and match fixing (see also the section below on cheating in the gambling industry). The most famous coach of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels basketball team, Jerry Tarkanian, was accused of both recruitment fraud and gambling fraud over the course of his career and was the subject of intense NCAA scrutiny. Another form of this involves a team coach or other manager undertaking corporate espionage or another form of prohibited spying in order to obtain details about other teams' strategies and tactics. The 2007 National Football League videotaping controversy, in which the New England Patriots were found to have video taped an opposing team from an unapproved location while trying to obtain defensive signals, as was pretty standard practice in the league at the time and NOT a rules violation, was a famous misinterpretation of this. As was the Pittsburgh Steelers use of, at the time legal, performance enhancers. However, there was cheating proven by the Denver Broncos during their back to back titles in the late 90's to circumvent the league's salary cap and obtain and retain players that they would otherwise not have been able to. There were also allegations of the Indianapolis Colts during the 2000s led by Peyton Manning that the team's officials both artificially increased the crowd noise in their stadium and changed the temperatures to give them an advantage over opponents. Additionally, the team ensured to have rules changed by the league through the influence of their general manager at the time, Bill Polian, who was on the NFL competition committee at the time in order to have the game played in a way to suit the strengths of their team at the time, which was heavily based on passing on offense.

Circumvention of rules governing conduct and procedures of a sport can also be considered cheating. During the 2007 Formula One Season, driver Fernando Alonso was labelled a "cheat" for exchanging confidential information between the teams of Scuderia Ferrari and Mclaren,[13] a form of collusion. Another example is widely believed to have occurred in 2002 in Olympic figure skating, when the Russian team was awarded a gold medal over the Canadian team despite a technical error by the Russians; the Canadian team was eventually awarded a "second gold medal" but the Russians' gold medal was not disqualified.

Video games[edit]
Main article: Cheating in video games
In video games, cheating can take the form of secret access codes in single-player games (such as the Konami code) which unlock a bonus for the player when entered, hacks and exploits which give players an unfair advantage in online multiplayer games and single-player modes, or unfair collusion between players in online games (such as a player who spectates a match, removing limitations such as "fog of war", and reports on enemy positions to game partners).

Attitudes towards cheating vary. Using exploits in single-player modes is usually considered to be simply another form of exploring the game's content unless the player's accomplishments are to be submitted competitively, and is common in single-player games with a high difficulty level; however, cheating in multiplayer modes is considered immoral and harshly condemned by fair players and developers alike. On one hand, cheating allows casual players to complete games at much-accelerated speed, which can be helpful in some cinematic or one-player games, which can take a subjectively long time to finish, as is typical of the Role-Playing Game (RPG) genre. While this may be seen as a hasty advantage causing no damage to anyone, in a multi-player game such as MMORPGs the repercussions of cheating are much more damaging, breaking the risk/reward curve of the game and causing fair players to lose online matches and/or character development. Cheating in those types of games is generally prohibited - though often widespread anyway. In many circles, the purchasing of items or currency from sources outside the game is also considered to be cheating. The Terms of Service from many games where this is possible, directly prohibits this activity.[citation needed] One area where there is little consensus as of yet involves modern Free-to-play business models which support and are supported by the exchange of real-world money for in-game services, items, and advantages. Games that grant excessive advantages only available to paying customers may be criticised as being 'Pay to win'[14] - sometimes considered a form of "cheating" that is actually legitimatized by the system - whilst games that limit real-money purchases to cosmetic changes are generally accepted as fair.

Another form of video game cheating is when a player does things to interact with game objects that are unforeseen by the programmers and break the intended function or reward system of the object. This can involve the way enemies are encountered, objectives met, items used, or any other game object that contains a software bug. One common example is the exploitation of errors in an enemy's pathfinding; if a player can cause an enemy to become "stuck" in a given terrain feature, that player can then usually dispatch the enemy from a distance without risk, even if much stronger, and achieve greater rewards than the player is intended to be able to at that level of progression. Another example was common in early first-person shooter games and involved skipping a weapon's reload timer by quickly switching weapons back and forth without actually reloading the weapons; resulting in what was effectively instant reloading. It also can be accomplished through means of altered game files are substituted for the normal files, or image graphics changed to permit greater visibility of the targets, etc. - for example, replacing the colors on a dark-colored enemy intended to blend in with the background with a bright color permitting instant visibility and targeting. Generally speaking, there is often some concern that this is not truly cheating, as it is the fault of the programmers that such an exploit exists in the first place. However, technically, as with live sports, it is cheating if the player is not playing the game in a formally approved manner, breaking unwritten rules. In some cases, this behavior is directly prohibited by the Terms of Service of the game.[15]

Gambling[edit]

Cheater with the Ace of Diamonds, by Georges de La Tour
The wagering of money on an event extends the motivation for cheating beyond directly participating competitors. As in sport and games, cheating in gambling is generally related to directly breaking rules or laws, or misrepresenting the event being wagered on, or interfering in the outcome. A boxer who takes a dive, a casino which plays with secretly loaded dice, a rigged roulette wheel or slot machine, or a doctored deck of cards, are generally regarded as cheating, because it has misrepresented the likelihood of the game's outcomes beyond what is reasonable to expect a bettor to protect himself against. However, for a bookmaker to flatter a horse in order to sell bets on it at shorter odds may be regarded as salesmanship rather than cheating, since bettors can counter this by informing themselves and by exercising skepticism. Doping a horse is a clear example of cheating by interfering with the instruments of the event under wager. Again, not all interference is cheating; spending money to support the health and well-being of a horse one has wagered on is not in itself generally regarded as cheating, nor is improving the morale of a sportsman one has backed by cheering for them. Generally, interference is more likely to be regarded as cheating if it diminishes the standard of a sporting competition, damages a participant, or modifies the apparatus of the event or game.[16]

In the world of gambling, knowing a secret which is not priced into the odds gives a significant advantage, which may give rise to a perception of cheating. However, legal systems do not regard secretly making use of knowledge in this way as criminal deception in itself. This is in contrast to the financial world, where people with certain categories of relationship to a company are restricted from transacting, which would constitute the crime of insider trading. This may be because of a stronger presumption of equality between investors, or it may be because a company employee who also trades in the company's stock has a conflict of interest, and has thus misrepresented himself the company. An advantage player typically uses mental, observational or technical skills to choose when and how much to bet, and neither interferes with the instruments of the game nor breaks any of its rules. Representatives of the casino industry have claimed that all advantage play is cheating, but this point of view is reflected neither among societies in general nor in legislation. As of 2010, the only example anywhere of a type of advantage play being unlawful is for an advantage player to use an auxiliary device in the U.S. State of Nevada, whose legislation is uniquely influenced by large casino corporations. Nonetheless it remains a widely held principle that the law should not impose any restraint over the method by which a player arrives at a playing or betting decision from information held by him lawfully and which he is not debarred from under the rules of the game. However, in a 1992 article, Dr. Jeff Gorbski argued that card counting can be barred from the casino because the customer is playing a different game than the casino, i.e., a game that allows card counting (which the casino cannot lawfully do).[17] In "hole carding", a casino player tries to catch sight of the front of cards which are dealt face-down according to the rules. Hole carding is also susceptible to the charge of cheating, since the rules may explicitly forbid the player from knowing the card in question. One way of cheating and profiting through gambling is to bet against yourself and then intentionally lose. This is known as throwing a game or taking a dive. Illegal gamblers will at times pay sports players to lose so that they may profit from the otherwise unexpected loss. An especially notorious case is the Black Sox Scandal, when eight players of the 1919 Chicago White Sox took payment from gamblers and intentionally played poorly. Another happened in boxing when Jake LaMotta famously took a dive against Billy Fox in order to obtain his entry to a championship match against Marcel Cerdan, a deal offered by the mobsters who controlled professional boxing.

Cheating is the getting of a reward for ability by dishonest means or finding an easy way out of an unpleasant situation. It is generally used for the breaking of rules to gain unfair advantage in a competitive situation. This broad definition will necessarily include acts of bribery, cronyism, sleaze, nepotism and any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate criteria.[1] The rules infringed may be explicit, or they may be from an unwritten code of conduct based on morality, ethics or custom, making the identification of cheating a subjective process. Cheating can refer specifically to marital infidelity. Someone who is known for cheating is referred to as a cheat in British English, and a cheater in American English. A "cheat" does not have to cheat all the time, but once faced with a challenge that they do actually want to win, they will go back to their cheating strategies.[2]

Contents [hide]
1 Academic
2 Personal relationships
3 Sport, games and gambling
3.1 Sports
3.2 Video games
3.3 Gambling
4 Strength training
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Academic[edit]
Main article: Academic dishonesty

A small cheat sheet can be used to cheat during an academic examination.
There is enough evidence to conclude that academic cheating is an extremely common occurrence in high schools and colleges in the United States. 70% of public high school students admit to serious test cheating. 60% say they have plagiarized papers. Only 50% of private school students, however, admit to this. The report was made in June 2005 by Rutgers University professor Donald McCabe for The Center for Academic Integrity. The findings were corroborated in part by a Gallup survey.[citation needed] In McCabe's 2001 of 4500 high school students, "74% said they cheated on a test, 72% cheated on a written work, and 97% reported to at least had copied someone's homework or peeked at someone's test. 1/3 reported to have repeatedly cheated."[3] The new revolution in high-tech digital info contributes enormously to the new wave in cheating: online term-paper mills sell formatted reports on practically any topic; services exist to prepare any kind of homework or take online tests for students, despite the fact that this phenomenon, and these websites, are well known to educators,[4] and camera phones are used to send pictures of tests; MP3 players can hold digitalized notes; graphing calculators store formulas to solve math problems.[5] Increased competition for college admissions in recent years may also be to blame. It is often justified by "Homework help", "group work" or "little more practice".

Personal relationships[edit]
Main articles: Infidelity, Emotional affair and Adultery
Cheating can occur in various forms: physical, emotional, or online. Online infidelity is one way to cheat on a significant other.[6] The definition of the constitution of cheating varies among cultures. When people are in a committed relationship, the definition of cheating is based on both parties' opinions, and both parties may redefine their understanding to match the party at an either lower or higher extreme of this definition.[citation needed]

Sport, games and gambling[edit]
Sports[edit]
Cheating in sports is the intentional breaking of rules in order to obtain an advantage over the other teams or players. Sports are governed by both customs and explicit rules regarding acts which are permitted and forbidden at the event and away from it. Forbidden acts frequently include performance-enhancing drug taking (known as "doping"), using equipment that does not conform to the rules or altering the condition of equipment during play, and deliberate harassment or injury to competitors.

High profile examples of alleged doping cheating include Lance Armstrong's use of steroids in professional cycling - particularly controversial as it is widely suspected that a high percentage of professional cyclists are using prohibited substances - Ben Johnson's disqualification following the 100 metres final at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and admissions of steroid use by former professional baseball players after they have retired, such as José Canseco[7] and Ken Caminiti.[8] A famous sporting scandal involving cheating via harassment and injury occurred in 1994 in figure skating when Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt, hired Shane Stant to break Nancy Kerrigan's leg to remove her from the year's competitions and prevent her from competing with Harding. One of the most famous instances of cheating involving a prohibited player action occurred during the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final, when Diego Maradona used his hand to punch the ball into the goal of England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.[9] Using the hand or arm by anyone other than a goalkeeper is illegal according to the rules of association football.

Illegally altering the condition of playing equipment is frequently seen in bat sports such as baseball and cricket, which are heavily dependent on equipment condition. For example in baseball, a pitcher using a doctored baseball (e.g. putting graphite or Vaseline on the baseball), or a batter using a corked bat are some examples of this. Tennis and golf are also no strangers to equipment cheating, with players being accused of using rackets of illegal string tension, or golf clubs of illegal weight, size, or make. Equipment cheating can also occur via the use of external aids in situations where equipment is prohibited - such as in American football via the use of stickum on the hands of receivers, making the ball easier to catch. An example of this is Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, who admitted to regularly & illegally using "stickum" throughout his career, calling into question the integrity of his receiving records.[10][11][12]

Athletic cheating is a widespread problem. For example, in professional bodybuilding, cheating is now estimated to be so universal that it is now considered impossible to engage in professional competition without cheating and the use of supposedly banned substances; bodybuilders who refuse to take banned substances now compete in natural bodybuilding leagues.

Cheating may also be seen in coaching. One of the most common forms of this is the use of bribery and kickbacks in the player recruitment process. Such practices are widespread all across athletics, and are particularly visible in college sports recruitment. Another common form of cheating in coaching is profiteering in association with gamblers and match fixing (see also the section below on cheating in the gambling industry). The most famous coach of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels basketball team, Jerry Tarkanian, was accused of both recruitment fraud and gambling fraud over the course of his career and was the subject of intense NCAA scrutiny. Another form of this involves a team coach or other manager undertaking corporate espionage or another form of prohibited spying in order to obtain details about other teams' strategies and tactics. The 2007 National Football League videotaping controversy, in which the New England Patriots were found to have video taped an opposing team from an unapproved location while trying to obtain defensive signals, as was pretty standard practice in the league at the time and NOT a rules violation, was a famous misinterpretation of this. As was the Pittsburgh Steelers use of, at the time legal, performance enhancers. However, there was cheating proven by the Denver Broncos during their back to back titles in the late 90's to circumvent the league's salary cap and obtain and retain players that they would otherwise not have been able to. There were also allegations of the Indianapolis Colts during the 2000s led by Peyton Manning that the team's officials both artificially increased the crowd noise in their stadium and changed the temperatures to give them an advantage over opponents. Additionally, the team ensured to have rules changed by the league through the influence of their general manager at the time, Bill Polian, who was on the NFL competition committee at the time in order to have the game played in a way to suit the strengths of their team at the time, which was heavily based on passing on offense.

Circumvention of rules governing conduct and procedures of a sport can also be considered cheating. During the 2007 Formula One Season, driver Fernando Alonso was labelled a "cheat" for exchanging confidential information between the teams of Scuderia Ferrari and Mclaren,[13] a form of collusion. Another example is widely believed to have occurred in 2002 in Olympic figure skating, when the Russian team was awarded a gold medal over the Canadian team despite a technical error by the Russians; the Canadian team was eventually awarded a "second gold medal" but the Russians' gold medal was not disqualified.

Video games[edit]
Main article: Cheating in video games
In video games, cheating can take the form of secret access codes in single-player games (such as the Konami code) which unlock a bonus for the player when entered, hacks and exploits which give players an unfair advantage in online multiplayer games and single-player modes, or unfair collusion between players in online games (such as a player who spectates a match, removing limitations such as "fog of war", and reports on enemy positions to game partners).

Attitudes towards cheating vary. Using exploits in single-player modes is usually considered to be simply another form of exploring the game's content unless the player's accomplishments are to be submitted competitively, and is common in single-player games with a high difficulty level; however, cheating in multiplayer modes is considered immoral and harshly condemned by fair players and developers alike. On one hand, cheating allows casual players to complete games at much-accelerated speed, which can be helpful in some cinematic or one-player games, which can take a subjectively long time to finish, as is typical of the Role-Playing Game (RPG) genre. While this may be seen as a hasty advantage causing no damage to anyone, in a multi-player game such as MMORPGs the repercussions of cheating are much more damaging, breaking the risk/reward curve of the game and causing fair players to lose online matches and/or character development. Cheating in those types of games is generally prohibited - though often widespread anyway. In many circles, the purchasing of items or currency from sources outside the game is also considered to be cheating. The Terms of Service from many games where this is possible, directly prohibits this activity.[citation needed] One area where there is little consensus as of yet involves modern Free-to-play business models which support and are supported by the exchange of real-world money for in-game services, items, and advantages. Games that grant excessive advantages only available to paying customers may be criticised as being 'Pay to win'[14] - sometimes considered a form of "cheating" that is actually legitimatized by the system - whilst games that limit real-money purchases to cosmetic changes are generally accepted as fair.

Another form of video game cheating is when a player does things to interact with game objects that are unforeseen by the programmers and break the intended function or reward system of the object. This can involve the way enemies are encountered, objectives met, items used, or any other game object that contains a software bug. One common example is the exploitation of errors in an enemy's pathfinding; if a player can cause an enemy to become "stuck" in a given terrain feature, that player can then usually dispatch the enemy from a distance without risk, even if much stronger, and achieve greater rewards than the player is intended to be able to at that level of progression. Another example was common in early first-person shooter games and involved skipping a weapon's reload timer by quickly switching weapons back and forth without actually reloading the weapons; resulting in what was effectively instant reloading. It also can be accomplished through means of altered game files are substituted for the normal files, or image graphics changed to permit greater visibility of the targets, etc. - for example, replacing the colors on a dark-colored enemy intended to blend in with the background with a bright color permitting instant visibility and targeting. Generally speaking, there is often some concern that this is not truly cheating, as it is the fault of the programmers that such an exploit exists in the first place. However, technically, as with live sports, it is cheating if the player is not playing the game in a formally approved manner, breaking unwritten rules. In some cases, this behavior is directly prohibited by the Terms of Service of the game.[15]

Gambling[edit]

Cheater with the Ace of Diamonds, by Georges de La Tour
The wagering of money on an event extends the motivation for cheating beyond directly participating competitors. As in sport and games, cheating in gambling is generally related to directly breaking rules or laws, or misrepresenting the event being wagered on, or interfering in the outcome. A boxer who takes a dive, a casino which plays with secretly loaded dice, a rigged roulette wheel or slot machine, or a doctored deck of cards, are generally regarded as cheating, because it has misrepresented the likelihood of the game's outcomes beyond what is reasonable to expect a bettor to protect himself against. However, for a bookmaker to flatter a horse in order to sell bets on it at shorter odds may be regarded as salesmanship rather than cheating, since bettors can counter this by informing themselves and by exercising skepticism. Doping a horse is a clear example of cheating by interfering with the instruments of the event under wager. Again, not all interference is cheating; spending money to support the health and well-being of a horse one has wagered on is not in itself generally regarded as cheating, nor is improving the morale of a sportsman one has backed by cheering for them. Generally, interference is more likely to be regarded as cheating if it diminishes the standard of a sporting competition, damages a participant, or modifies the apparatus of the event or game.[16]

In the world of gambling, knowing a secret which is not priced into the odds gives a significant advantage, which may give rise to a perception of cheating. However, legal systems do not regard secretly making use of knowledge in this way as criminal deception in itself. This is in contrast to the financial world, where people with certain categories of relationship to a company are restricted from transacting, which would constitute the crime of insider trading. This may be because of a stronger presumption of equality between investors, or it may be because a company employee who also trades in the company's stock has a conflict of interest, and has thus misrepresented himself the company. An advantage player typically uses mental, observational or technical skills to choose when and how much to bet, and neither interferes with the instruments of the game nor breaks any of its rules. Representatives of the casino industry have claimed that all advantage play is cheating, but this point of view is reflected neither among societies in general nor in legislation. As of 2010, the only example anywhere of a type of advantage play being unlawful is for an advantage player to use an auxiliary device in the U.S. State of Nevada, whose legislation is uniquely influenced by large casino corporations. Nonetheless it remains a widely held principle that the law should not impose any restraint over the method by which a player arrives at a playing or betting decision from information held by him lawfully and which he is not debarred from under the rules of the game. However, in a 1992 article, Dr. Jeff Gorbski argued that card counting can be barred from the casino because the customer is playing a different game than the casino, i.e., a game that allows card counting (which the casino cannot lawfully do).[17] In "hole carding", a casino player tries to catch sight of the front of cards which are dealt face-down according to the rules. Hole carding is also susceptible to the charge of cheating, since the rules may explicitly forbid the player from knowing the card in question. One way of cheating and profiting through gambling is to bet against yourself and then intentionally lose. This is known as throwing a game or taking a dive. Illegal gamblers will at times pay sports players to lose so that they may profit from the otherwise unexpected loss. An especially notorious case is the Black Sox Scandal, when eight players of the 1919 Chicago White Sox took payment from gamblers and intentionally played poorly. Another happened in boxing when Jake LaMotta famously took a dive against Billy Fox in order to obtain his entry to a championship match against Marcel Cerdan, a deal offered by the mobsters who controlled professional boxing.

Experiment Fail, My average words remain unchanged, Well played roleplay gateway, Well played

Molock saw someone fighting one of the Chain monsters. He had faced them before and found they prevent you from going far from where you first engaged them. Annoying creatures, but nothing Molock couldn't handle these days. "Uh oh," Molock said to himself as he saw the girl in some trouble. Using his Speed Boost skill he obtained from getting such high speed Molock quickly made his way towards the Chain Warden Alcatraz. Even though he wasn't close enough to hit the creature normally he was close enough to hit it with a sword skill. "Death Strike Combo!" Molock yelled out as the system assisted him to close the distance and hit the chain mob several times in the blink of an eye. Even though it only looked like Molock struck four times his hit count showed thirty-two. It was his signature move that he saved as an emergency aggro taker. This skill he gained by having such high level in his three weapons; though even someone else using a similar style couldn't use some of his skills. This lead rumor to spread that he had a sword skill that was his own and no one else's.

Before the mob could recover Molock spun and hit him three more times. This ended up killing the chain mob easily, releasing the girl from her restraints. "You okay? These guys has a passive that stops you from getting too close to them." Molock looked towards the girl that he helped and smiled with realization. "Hey there, long time no see!" Molock put his sword on his hip which held there seemingly without a holster. Though since it was a game that wasn't unheard of, even with how much realism they added to the game.