WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.240 Thanks for watching TechWiz. Click the subscribe button, then enable 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:09.640 notifications with the bell icon, so you won't miss any future videos. Ever since 00:00:07.840 --> 00:00:13.280 human beings coalesced into actual societies that came up with systems for 00:00:11.520 --> 00:00:18.400 handling their affairs, people have found ways to cheat them. From taxes to 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:22.360 sports to that show where Joey Greco got shanked by a philandering lover, trying 00:00:20.520 --> 00:00:26.120 to gain an unfair advantage is nothing new. And so it is with video games. Just 00:00:24.680 --> 00:00:32.240 like there are plenty of shortcuts you can take that would land you in trouble with the IRS, the history of cheating in 00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:35.920 video games is long and varied. In fact, cheating goes all the way back to the 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:40.080 earliest days of gaming when developers started putting cheat codes into their 00:00:38.120 --> 00:00:43.400 games to allow them to skip levels in order to test their functionality more 00:00:41.800 --> 00:00:47.520 quickly. And although many of these codes weren't intended to be disclosed 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:51.880 publicly, some early gamers were still quite interested in examining the 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:55.320 underlying code of many games in detail, meaning it wasn't long before they 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:59.160 started finding exploits. Some of these were even used to try and fix underlying 00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:03.960 problems, such as an early retail trainer program for Castle Wolfenstein, 00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:09.040 released in the mid-1980s that promised to fix crashes and other bugs, but also 00:01:07.160 --> 00:01:13.160 gave players access to additional items and level skips. But other times, gamers 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:16.520 just discovered these debugging codes on their own instead of relying on 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:20.400 commercially available trainers for additional functionality, as the 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:23.880 developers usually didn't bother to take these out before the games were 00:01:21.360 --> 00:01:27.880 released. The famous Konami Code, which is now an Easter egg on many popular 00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:31.280 websites, is a notable example of this. Before long, developers took notice of 00:01:29.960 --> 00:01:36.640 the fact that cheat codes made their games more appealing and started actively putting them into games with 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:40.680 the intent that players would use them. Back in the '80s and '90s, chasing down 00:01:38.520 --> 00:01:44.680 the almighty high score was the holy grail of many a gamer, meaning codes for 00:01:42.880 --> 00:01:48.080 things like infinite lives could help them reach scores that were previously 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:51.840 unattainable. And even if players didn't care about maxing out their scores, 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:55.600 cheats provided a new way to experience titles that a gamer had already beaten. 00:01:53.600 --> 00:01:59.240 For example, Mortal Kombat featured a code that wasn't really a cheat, but 00:01:57.800 --> 00:02:03.040 enabled gore in the game, which was default by default, because some 00:02:01.080 --> 00:02:07.040 politicians in the US thought a little bit of 2D pixelated blood was far too 00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:11.360 much for the masses to handle responsibly. So by the mid-1990s, cheat 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:14.840 codes were wildly popular, and the demand for them was so high that gamers 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:19.240 didn't want to be restricted to just what was built in by a developer. So 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:23.520 products like the Game Genie, Game Shark, and Action Replay hit the market. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:27.240 Cartridges that actually manipulated the code of whatever game was inserted into 00:02:25.480 --> 00:02:31.240 them. In this way, players could discover their own cheats, even in games 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:35.640 that didn't have any built in, and share them with other gamers. And even though 00:02:32.880 --> 00:02:38.520 some developers, notably Nintendo, did not appreciate this and tried to 00:02:36.920 --> 00:02:42.400 litigate cheat cartridges out of existence by saying that they were 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:46.520 infringing upon copyrights, courts disagreed, and the devices remained 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:50.800 popular well into the late 1990s and early 2000s. But in the mid-2000s, the 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:55.160 popularity of cheat codes plummeted rapidly. But why? Did gamers just 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:58.760 suddenly have a change of heart? Well, sort of. Back when cheat codes were the 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:03.240 height of cool, they were typically found primarily by reading gaming 00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:07.520 magazines or simply by word of mouth, making gamers that had them they were 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:11.320 part of some super rad secret society. But internet search engines came along 00:03:09.040 --> 00:03:15.720 and blew up that entire paradigm, since now anyone could look up a code in a 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:19.520 matter of seconds. But what really killed off the traditional cheat code 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:22.800 was the achievement system that was introduced around the same time that 00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:27.200 online play became a key feature of first PC and later console gaming. 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:29.960 Gamers now chase down achievement points like they did the high scores of 00:03:28.440 --> 00:03:33.680 yesteryear. But since you can now instantly compare your achievements with 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:37.520 those of others from around the world, instead of just playing for personal 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:41.520 satisfaction, using cheat codes or other exploits to rack up achievements became 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:45.440 frowned upon, as it undermined those who poured tons of time and effort into 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:48.960 acquiring them honestly. And for those who care more about online multiplayer 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:53.800 than single-player achievements, online game services like Xbox Live and EA 00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:57.520 Origin started aggressively banning cheaters in order to provide a level 00:03:55.600 --> 00:04:00.760 playing field for the millions of gamers who log onto their servers. Of course, 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:05.200 this doesn't mean that cheats don't still exist. While cheat codes are much 00:04:03.440 --> 00:04:08.720 rarer in games than they used to be, many games still contain secrets or 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:13.040 Easter eggs that can be discovered in ways other than entering codes. And 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:17.280 exploits are still used by speedrunners to beat games in record time, Taren, 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:21.640 making it sort of a twist on the concept of a high score. And you can learn more 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:25.560 about that right up here. But of course, actual modern-day cheating, in the sense 00:04:23.840 --> 00:04:30.120 of gaining an unfair advantage, is the most common on online multiplayer 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:34.240 servers. So, let us know if you'd like to see a follow-up episode on the arms 00:04:31.960 --> 00:04:38.280 race between game studios and players of ill repute as we explore modern-day 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:43.200 cheating techniques. But you know what's the exact opposite of something of ill 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:44.920 repute? Private internet access, a VPN. 00:04:43.200 --> 00:04:49.240 Not only does PIA work on up to five devices at once by hiding your true IP 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:52.600 address and allowing you to bypass geo-restrictions and censorship by 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:56.040 making you appear that you're connecting from somewhere else, it also blocks 00:04:54.640 --> 00:05:00.360 unwanted connections to help prevent attacks, auto blocks all traffic if the 00:04:58.080 --> 00:05:03.640 VPN disconnects, keeping your data out of the hands of advertisers and other 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:07.880 snoops who are tracking your activity, prevents DNS leaks, and even includes 00:05:05.520 --> 00:05:12.240 Mace, PIA's built-in malware blocker. PIA supports multiple VPN protocols and 00:05:10.280 --> 00:05:16.520 encryption levels, allowing you to dial in the exact level of protection you 00:05:13.880 --> 00:05:20.600 need. They have apps for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, and a Chrome 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:25.960 extension with support for more platforms coming soon. And PIA has over 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:30.680 3,000 servers in 28 countries and does not log user activity. So, what are you 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:34.560 waiting for? Check them out today at the link below. 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:37.560 So guys, thank you very much for watching. Let us know in the comments if 00:05:36.200 --> 00:05:42.600 you'd like to see a follow-up video on cheating. Make sure to like the video, 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:45.960 dislike, comment, get subscribed, and 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:45.960 you know, we'll see you on the next one.