I was watching my nephew play Counter Terrorist Strike Force. Teams of commandos scramble about fighting each other in a first-person shooter realistic setting. There is strategy but a lot hinges on quickness.

Could one tack on a macro that runs on your computer alongside the game, enhancing your reflexes? This macro buddy can be turned off and on and would execute an action (one of the ones the player can execute) on perceiving a change. For example, it would fire the gun if one of a range of colors appeared on the screen. This would allow you to shoot thru the crack of a door at the very moment an opponent ran by on the other side. Other maneuvers which require split second timing might also become more possible.

The macro could be used for various games. You would teach it first. For example, teach it what command fires the gun. Teach it the command that makes the player crouch. A given color appearing on the screen is a thing common to many games. Teach it which colors to watch for. Then set up what you want it to do during your game.

Is it cheating to have a macro buddy help you fight unaugmented opponents? Is it cheating for your human body to be in good physical shape and so more capable of sustained focus? I say if the game itself is unmodified, any thing the player does to help him/her win is fair.
-- bungston, Dec 06 2016

Counter Terrorist strike force https://www.youtube...watch?v=_FFxPyAYrxY
Looks Quakeish to me. [bungston, Dec 06 2016]

//is it cheating//

yes, yes it is.
-- Voice, Dec 07 2016


Scripts and macros that modify controller input to a game are widely known and considered cheating by game hosts. In a game designed to be played by humans I can't see how this would not be considered cheating. Also having played games against people who use these kinds of cheats, I can say they are invariably immature and antisocial. The "game itself" being unmodified is a false distinction, as game and cheat code is to the computer just blobs of binary in memory.

For some of the bigger online games, like WoW, there are bot programs that you can set up to play the game for you. These are not addons the game itself but separate programs that stream input commands to the game. They are still detectible by behaviourial observation and will get you banned from games like WoW. Really, the question is if you need a bot to play the game for you, perhaps you should find a game that you find fun.
-- the porpoise, Dec 08 2016


I knew a fellow who wrote a program to keep his character fishing while he was AFK. The game was Star Wars Galaxy, or something like that.

He included a mode to respond to anybody testing him to see if he was really there.

Sometimes people enjoy hacking the game more than they do playing it apparently. I'm pretty sure the basic principle behind this idea is WKTE.
-- normzone, Dec 08 2016


/if you need a bot to play the game for you, perhaps you should find a game that you find fun/

Fun comes in many flavors, including immature and antisocial. The immature flavor can actually be very tasty.
-- bungston, Dec 08 2016



random, halfbakery