Can cheating be a good thing sometimes?
I play Words With Friends. Have about 10 people I play consistently. Two of them use a cheat. One is 75+ years old, so that’s cool. It’s cool that she’s even on this electronic venue.
The other, however, is a cousin of Rick’s, Tracy. She’s my age. Reasonably intelligent. She was one of the first ones I ever played. At one point I asked her sister, Tanna, who I also play, where Tracy came up with those insane words! Tanna told me Tracy cheats. She said she’s called her on it, but Tracy denies cheating. I mean, come on! Words like THYRSES?! Consistently? And consistently using ALL of your tiles? No doubt, she cheats.
Anyway, I tried to quit playing her because it’s really no fun to get your butt kicked by 200+ points every single game. But she kept coming back and coming back. Finally I said, to myself, “Fine. But let’s level this playing field!” So I use a cheat when I play her, and only against her.
It seems to me, though, that my regular, non-cheating games have improved since I started using that cheat against Tracy. So am I learning from the cheat board? Can cheating be a good thing sometimes?
PS It’s a LOT more exciting coming up with your own 100+ point words out of your own head. It’s a rush. Cheating is no fun….but it IS interesting.
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I’m a stickler for game rules, otherwise it’s a false win.
I’m a Scrabble fan and I am very picky about cheating. Too bad you drew 4 “i’s” play the letters you’re dealt.
I played with someone once that tried to count already used score spots, they would move a letter and say ” Oooh, and that’s a triple letter score.”
Uh nooo….you can’t freaking count a score slot that has already been used. haha
If you are both playing by the same rules it isn’t really cheating is it?
I have a daughter who is famous for cheating. Especially at Monopoly. She will rob the bank and steal properties. It’s become a family joke. She even cheats when playing with her own kids!
Some people are predisposed to cheating due to a weakness in their persona which forces them to win at all costs. It is a self-esteem issue. They actually feel physical pain and anguish from losing at “Parcheesi.”
So ask yourself this, “Do you need to win so badly you would let them feel pain at a loss, or do you really even care if someone you love has a need to win at all costs?”
Perhaps you can point out when you catch them cheating that you know and it’s only a game but do be extremely gentle as this person has a fragile psyche.
No, it’s not cheating @Judi, but it IS a case of a computer playing a computer. Gee. How fun is that?
I’ll cheat sometimes when I’m face to face with some one, but I make it obvious. I do it to get a laugh.
I understand her motivation @Dan_Lyons. I have a sister like that…has to ALWAYS be the smartest person in the room, and will go to great lengths, including lies and spin thinking she’s convincing people that she is.
@Dan_Lyons I say hit their fragile psyches over the head with the damn Parcheesi board. Really give ‘em something to cry about. lol
I don’t think inconsequential cheating like this really matters. Cheating on a test in school is bad. Cheating on a spouse is bad. Cheating on some smartphone game? Annoying, maybe, but it’s really of no consequence. I don’t play games on my phone, but I suck at Scrabble so I can’t say I wouldn’t cheat if given the opportunity.
As for it being beneficial in this case, sure. You’re being exposed to words you may not use on a regular basis, so you may remember it more easily when the opportunity presents itself.
@livelaughlove21 Haha…well, it’s hard to cheat at Scrabble, you have to be able to spell first and foremost of all.
Scrabble is one part strong vocabulary/spelling and massive word knowledge, one part strategy and one part luck of the draw.
@Coloma Spelling I’m good at. And ending sentences in prepositions, as you can see. It’s the massive word knowledge I’m lacking. I never saw the the need to know words I’d have to define for others every time I use them. I live in South Carolina and my vocabulary is larger than most people I’m around without even trying – my husband thought I made up the word “nostalgic” and that it wasn’t really a thing. Folk like to keep it simple ‘round these parts.
One of the things I notice about playing Scrabble and other word games online is that there are people out there who do use words like THYRSES. I have no idea whether they are cheating when they come up with words like this.
However… once someone has played the word THYRSES in a game against me, now I know that this is a word, and it’s fair game for me to use it, is it not? I mean, what kind of masochist would I be to deliberately refuse to use words that I know are words?
So maybe this is what happened to the person who played THYRSES against me; maybe they weren’t cheating at all.
I hate when people cheat playing words with friends. I don’t even understand why people do it. What’s the fun in cheating? They win by over 100 points, every word is some crazy 5+ letter word. It is so obvious. Words with friends you already can lay a word down you are unsure of and see if it is real or not with no penalty like real life scrabble. Both people are able to do that, so the playing field is fair. I don’t even do that too much. mostly scrabble is strategy, not the words, unless you actually are cheating for big mega words you would have to study the dictionary to know. One or two words like that ok, but every word? Cheater!
I have played with two people who very obviously were cheating. One all of a sudden stopped cheating, I don’t know why. Maybe someone called him out on it? I never said anything to either person.
Meanwhile, how come you haven’t played words with friends with me? :)
(I’m Hearkat on Words with Friends, if anyone’s interested. I play Hanging with Friends, also.)
FYI ya’ll..you don’t have to know how to spell when you play online Scrabble. It tells you if you’re spelling it wrong. It won’t accept the word. The furthest I go as far as “cheating” is, if it won’t take a word the way I spell it, I spell it out in Word, see what suggestions it makes.
Yeah, Dan. It’s a word. So is QI and QIS and QAT. So is QUARE and KEX and LEX and SH. There are a bunch of words out that that you would never know of unless you start throwing letters around desperately. Or…use a cheat.
OK, @hearkat and @JLeslie! Yer on! Wait…I can’t find either of you in my WWF “invite” list…so you invite me.
Oh, and someone up there asked “how” one would cheat. It took me a while to find out what some people were doing, but here. Yeah. You just plug in the words as they’re played, plug in the letters you have to work with, “search” and it gives you the absolute BEST possible word to play. No brain power needed.
I play on my mobile – it’s not linked to my Facebook, did you search by username?
Someone I knew once called the game: ‘Is it a Word?’ with Friends, because many words played are often guesses.
Yeah. I was so so stuck just now so I threw OES out there. Worked. For all of 9 points. I was so happy to find something that I just played it…then realized I set her up for a TW. Bleh!
I have you as Kat Hearkat on fb…? But I can’t find you in my WWF list. :(
Sorry. Username: Hearkat. I only add the Kat when a site requires first and last names.
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