Ethics of Online Cheating: From Chess to Esports and Back

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
In chess, cheating is mostly done through third-party programs that calculate optimal moves under time pressure, reflecting a game of strategy without physical challenge.See it on page 1
02
In League of Legends, the most common cheating methods are distributed denial-of-service attacks against opponents' connections and code manipulation through hacks and scripts, reflecting the game's real-time, team-based, kinesthetic demands.See it on page 1
03
Both games share false accounts and intentional losing, which the authors attribute to their common use of Elo-based ranking systems.See it on page 1
04
Across both communities cheating is widely seen as unethical, but chess discussions frame cheaters as dishonest while League of Legends discussions frame them as unskilled.See it on page 2
05
Organized communities in both games pursue not only winning but also building programs designed to be unbeatable, which the authors describe as an effort to beat the system itself.See it on page 2
06
The study is comparative and qualitative, drawing on Chess.com administrators and players and League of Legends discussion boards and communities rather than a broad population survey.See it on page 1

Summary

This paper offers a comparative analysis of cheating in two competitive online games, chess and League of Legends, examining both the technical methods used to cheat and the ethical attitudes and motivations of players. The authors argue that the demands of each game shape its dominant forms of cheating. In chess, a game of strategy without physical challenge, cheating occurs largely through third-party programs that assist with calculating optimal moves under time constraints. In League of Legends, a real-time team-based game requiring strategic, kinesthetic, and social skill, the most common methods are distributed denial-of-service attacks against opponents' connections and code manipulation through hacks and scripts. The two games also share certain practices, namely false accounts and intentional losing, which the authors attribute to both using Elo-based ranking systems.

The ethical analysis draws on empirical material gathered from the administrators and players of Chess.com and from League of Legends discussion boards and player communities. Across both communities, cheating is widely regarded as unethical, but the framing differs. Chess discussions centre on cheaters being dishonest, while League of Legends discussions focus on cheaters being unskilled. In both games, cheating is identifiable through solitary players as well as organized communities that pursue not only victory over others but also the development of programs designed to be unbeatable, which the authors describe as an effort to beat the system itself.

The study is situated within existing scholarship on game cheating, drawing on work by Consalvo, Sicart, Kücklich, and others, and on research into chess cheating detection and online game social networks. Its scope is comparative and qualitative in orientation, combining an analysis of cheating technologies with a study of player attitudes across two specific communities rather than a broad population survey.