Abusing the Load

by TitoPaul

RPGs have multiple save slots so a) different people can play the same game without erasing one another’s saves, b) you can bookmark a cool part of the game to replay again, or c) when you screw up, instead of holding the course, you can erase your display of poor gaming and triumph anew?

If you were waiting for choice d) as much as I might want to, I do not have the time, built up store of food/sleep, luxury of being unemployed/out of school or monstrous dedication, to play a rpg entirely in one sitting, you can start reading something else now. It’s clear that you do not abuse the load feature in a game; you do not continuously reload a Civilization save so as to get the best result from exploring a villager’s hut, reroll your character’s stats again and again to try to get the highest values (or have imagined a load option in reality to undo the sound card you just tried to install, the at-bat you recently flubbed, or the embarrassing remark you tripped yourself up on).

But of everyone else I ask, do you feel like you are cheating? Loading a saved game after you have screwed up, either by fighting poorly, selling/buying the wrong equipment, regretting a path you have chosen or whatever other decision might cause remorse, allows the player the luxury of a safety net. This safety net is not so much different than an infinite lives code, because it allows a player to retry again and again without having to worry about the permanency of decisions. Further still, loading allows players access to unlimited potential funds as they can buy weapons or identify unique items, then go back to their character’s previous state of ignorance and wealth (having themselves absorbed the much more valuable knowledge).

If you are still not convinced loading constitutes cheating, imagine if loading were allowed in a MMORPG. Or in a real-world setting, the next time you are playing a game of chess, try to convince your opponent it is acceptable to load a previous state of the game’s progress- to increase the difficulty of such a maneuver, convince him right after he has declared “checkmate.”

Speaking of which, loading upon death in an rpg does not fall under the sphere of cheating, as it can be seen as a continue, and while such activity cheapens life in rpgs it is a necessary tradeoff since the alternative is either using death to advance the game (Planescape Torment) or having the player restart the game all over again (Breath of Fire so far being the only game with the courage to foist this punishment upon the player).

Part of the appeal of rpgs is the safety net of the load, not only in allowing a seemingly flawless game to be played out, but also because it slows the pace of the game. The rpgamer does not need to succumb to the frantic run of the fps, or the stressful resource management of a rts, or even a turn-based strategy game (though these other genres of games also allow for loading). Rpgs can always be beaten, because of the load, regardless of a player’s skill. I do not want to get into an argument over whether the “average” rpg is more or less difficult that the average game of any other genre or requires any less perseverance to perfect. But I do wish to point out that as cheating allows games to be beaten more easily, loading in rpgs makes the game easier as well. I would go so far as to ask can rpgs be unbeatable, can you ever make a mistake so grievous that winning becomes impossible? The only times I can think of are due to gamers selling the wrong item or performing an action so far out of order that the developers, having never realized someone would do such a thing, never made an allowance for them to do it without destroying the flow of the game. In which case the game, and not the player, is always considered the faulty party.

Let me stop short from this digression, because at the end of the day, so long as you are not competing against anyone (besides yourself) cheating is a victimless crime. And by no means is loading a game automatically, and only, an attempt to better your previous outing. If you enjoy a game more by loading over your mistakes, rather than playing through them and perhaps even ultimately being defeated by your errors, then that is the final aim of games. Just do not crusade against the use of cheating, codes, or hint guides because then that foozle we know as hypocrisy has triumphed.