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Cheating in social network games

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New Media & Society

Published online on

Abstract

Although we know how and why players cheat in videogames released on consoles or via PC, we know less about perceptions and practices surrounding cheating in social networks games. Such games offer players a style of gameplay—often without an ending and with a free-to-play model—that is quite different from other types of games. In addition, new audiences and demographics are being exposed to this type of games and are playing them. How do players decided what is fair and unfair in such games? How do they cheat? This study begins the process of answering those questions by examining how the definition of cheating and its practices have evolved with the rise in popularity of Facebook games. The answers indicate that players often dismiss the seriousness of social network games, and thus cheating was either not needed or not a part of gameplay expectations.