Dreamcast Online at OnlineConsoles.com

Remember the age old arguement whether or not cheating on Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online really affected it's demise? An interesting article recently cought my attention. Over at cnet news, staff writer David Becker explains how "...griefers, a small but seemingly irradicable set of players who want nothing more than to murder, loot and otherwise frustrate the heck out of everyone else..." can have a negative impact on massively multiplayer online games. For years many dreamcast gamers have pin-pointed cheating as the primary cause for decreasing player counts, and the eventual termination of the US servers. Pro-cheat gamers have said otherwise, pointing out people got bored with PSO and just stopped playing.

David brings up many points to prove that yes, cheating can affect an online game environment and the company that runs it, in a very very big way. "They can hurt game companies' bottom line by driving away customers and burning up support lines."

You can basically ignore the section on, "Dissecting griefer dysfunction". Which tries to disect the psyche of the common griefer, and is once again another futile effort to understand something that is really at the core of all human life. Insecurity.

For the full article, and an interesting read:
PC users Click Here for the high-fi version.
Dreamcast users Click Here for the lo-fi version.

This post is food for thought. Meaning this thread is locked. No comments will be permitted, and anyone attempting to take this topic and creating a, "In regards to..." topic in another forum will face consequences. You're either for or against cheating, and trying to convince the otherside to see it your way, is like beating that same dead horse over and over again. Once again, this is food for thought. Read, contemplate, move on.