Is cheating a human function? The roles of presence, state hostility, and enjoyment in an unfair video game

In sports and board games, when an opponent cheats, the other players typically greet it with disdain, anger, and disengagement. However, work has yet to fully address the role of the computer cheating in video games. In this study, participants played either a cheating or a non-cheating version of a modified open-source tower-defense game. Results indicate that when a computer competitor cheats, players perceive the opponent as being more human. Cheating also increases player aggravation and presence, but does not affect enjoyment of the experience. Additionally, players that firmly believed that their opponent was controlled by the computer exhibited significantly less state hostility compared to players that were less certain of the nature of their competitor. Game designers can integrate subtle levels of cheating into computer opponents without any real negative responses from the players. The results indicate that minor levels of cheating might also increase player engagement with video games.

► Analyzing the psychological effects of an unfair video game.
► Experiment conducted, comparing players in unfair/fair groups.
► Players perceive a cheating opponent as being more human.
► Playing an unfair game increased aggravation and presence, but did not affect enjoyment.
► Believing the competitor was controlled by the AI decreased state hostility.