Cheating has always been an important part of playing video games. Back in the day, they were often required just to beat the game, but, as games have gotten easier and more streamlined, they've become a way to just kick back and have a different sort of fun.
Still, some developers don't like the idea of their players cheating. In fact, many have actively discouraged the very idea by punishing the player for using cheats. And, may we say, many of these are absolutely hilarious. These are ten games that punish the player for using cheats.
10 Bovine Defense Force Initiative
You would never expect something called the Bovine Defense Force to be found in a game, but you'd be wrong. There was an exploit in The Witcher 3 that allowed players to quickly gain crowns. You could kill cows and loot their hides, meditate and wait for them to respawn, and then do it all again.
An infinite amount of cowhides essentially meant an infinite amount of money. That is, until CD Projekt released patch 1.05, which caused a Chort to spawn when the player killed seven cows. Hence, Bovine Defense Force.
9 Grunty's Code Vengeance
Rare are some real heartless... well, we won't say what. Just know that they are heartless! Located in Treasure Trove Cove is the Sandcastle, a.k.a. the area where all the cheats are entered. However, there also exists "illegal" cheats, and the game is very strict in limiting the player to two illegal cheats.
If you enter a third, Bottles will appear and tell you that your saved game data will be deleted. When you save and quit, lose all your lives, or turn off the console, your saved data will, in fact, be erased, leaving you staring at an empty save space when you boot the game up again.
8 Lara Explodes
In the first Tomb Raider, players could earn all weapons and refill their ammo through a simple cheat—walk one step forward, one step backward, turn in a circle three times and do a backflip. Naturally, people wanted to try this in the sequel, but were met with a particularly grisly sight if they did so.
If they input that exact cheat in Tomb Raider II, Lara Croft would literally explode into pieces, forcing you to restart the game. Of course, this became a really fun cheat in itself as people just wanted to watch Lara explode.
7 Exploding Ship
Tomb Raider II isn't the only game to punish players for cheating with a game-ending explosion. No, it could also be found in Gradius III when players attempted to enter the famous Konami code. This was a very well-known code back in the day—up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A—and if you entered it while paused in Gradius III, your ship would instantly explode upon resuming the game. However, if you substituted left and right with the L and R triggers, you would in fact earn all the powerups in the game.
6 Public Apology
Cheating was a widespread issue in H1Z1, and creator John Smedley had had enough. One day, a mass banning took place that saw up to 24,000 people banned from playing the game. Many began e-mailing Smedley and expressing remorse and a wish to be un-banned, and Smedley offered them a deal—film yourself issuing an apology on YouTube and e-mail the link to him. Then and only then would he consider un-banning them.
However, this was just a ploy to raise awareness about the consequences of cheating, as Smedley had no intention of actually reinstating their accounts.
5 A Broken Game
The Gameshark was a popular piece of technology that allowed players to partake in cheats and exploits that the developer never intended. However, Rare remained one step ahead of their cheating player base, and cheats were met with a literally unplayable game if they attempted to use the Gameshark with Donkey Kong 64.
Donkey Kong would move in erratic ways, players couldn't pick up items, and enemies could kill you in one hit. It was virtually unplayable, but then again, isn't that what you get for cheating?
4 Dhuum
Like H1Z1, the developers of Guild Wars have a very short attention span for cheaters and aren't afraid to make public fools out of them. If you're caught cheating in any way while playing Guild Wars, the Grim Reaper-esque Dhuum will rise from the ground and kill the offending player in front of everyone else.
Not only does it permanently boot the cheater from the game forever, but everyone witnessing the event is sure to have a good laugh at the cheaters' expense. It's embarrassing and harsh! In short, it's the perfect punishment for cheaters!
3 Mr. Resetti
Mr. Resetti can be found in the Animal Crossing games, and he is easily one of the most annoying preventative measures in any game, like, ever. Resetti usually shows up when players forget to save their game before exiting the program, and he will obnoxiously remind the player to save their progress before quitting. If you're caught trying to manipulate the game's checkpoint system, he will give you a long lecture on resetting and may even make you type in an apology to continue the game.
2 Dirty Hacker
If you've ever wanted to be called a "dirty hacker" by a video game, all you need to do is play Undertale! Toby Fox truly did think of every possible outcome, and that includes players hacking and cheating their way through the game.
If you manage to hack your way through the game, you will be met by Sans the Skeleton, who questions how you got there. Once he is done with the questioning, he drops the charade and calls you out for being a dirty hacker. So take that!
1 The Serious Room
The Stanley Parable is another meta video game that is fully prepared for cheaters. If you type sv_cheats1 into the console, you will be transported to The Serious Room, which is simply a small room with a table. Here, the narrator will go on a lengthy tirade about the seriousness of cheating. You are then stuck in The Serious Room and are forced to either quit the game entirely or start from the beginning. Either way, there is no escaping The Serious Room. It's serious stuff.