Having custom Vanity Items is cheating?

I recently had an argument about this, but I want to see what you guys think about the matter.
If I wanted to mod in an item, say, the N7 Hoodie from Mass Effect 3, and it gave me no additional buffs and was purely a Vanity item, would I be cheating?

Also, sorry if this belongs in the modding section. I couldn't decide whether to post it there or here.

 

I'd say it belongs into the modding section, but apart from that I do not think it is cheating. Well, I personally think it is not.
Like you said it yourself, it has no additional buffs etc. but then again, I am not the one to decide this.
I just felt like writing my opinion to this matter.

best wishes,
Shin

 

Cheating's defined by acquiring an unfair advantage through outside means. So unless the hoodie glows or buffs or whatever, I can't imagine how it'd be construed as cheating.

But that said, there's no real way for server admins to know that hoodie isn't buffing you, so they'd probably define it as cheating as a preventative measure.

 

This depends entirely on how cheating is being defined. If "cheating" means doing something to gain an unfair advantage, you aren't cheating. If cheating means modifying something to gain something, you are cheating.

Remember, though, that this is a sandbox game with an extremely open and moddable code structure, which is designed to be modified. And in almost all cases, when playing single player, nothing specific is "cheating" as you're playing the game you want to play. Good luck.

 

If you only had the modded file on your end is there even a way for anyone else to know?

 

Does the server owner allow it? Yes? Doesn't matter if it is or not.

 

Developers gave a set of coding that would allow modding easier to do so anything that is considered a mod couldn't be cheating.

 

This isn't regarding a server. In fact, with the internet I've got I don't plan on joining any servers any time soon. My question was whether or not this was cheating in the literal meaning of the word.

 

If you're playing singleplayer with no server set rules then the only cheating would be if you feel like you're starting to cheat yourself out of enjoyment by giving yourself unfair boosts. Vanity items though would have no such effect in my eyes.

 

No.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheat

 

It's cheating in the same way as it is for using a Charmander toy as a monopoly piece.
Which is to say, not at all.

 

Yea, I imagine a lot of admins would have a problem with because it looks strange and thus could be a sign of cheating. But, it's not cheating by any classical definition.

 

Custom vanity items aren't going to work in multiplayer anyway. The other clients won't have the vanity item graphics so they aren't going to see the mass effect helm, bunny ears, ect. I'm not sure how a client will react while attempting to display an item for which it has no grapic... you could end up wearing the ugly gold helmet, no helmet, a giant pink INVALID box, or have no head at all. I'm curious about what happens there...

 

The long answer: Modding in vanity items is not considered cheating by any means if it serves no purpose other than looks.

The short answer: No.

 

At best, it could have been construed as simply cheating yourself out of whatever effort and sense of gain it would've taken to get an item through ordinary means, but for a custom vanity item that wouldn't otherwise even be available in the game either way, there's just no way it could be considered cheating. Especially as the game's framework gives everyone equal opportunities to add their own, so even in a multiplayer environment, pretty much all anyone could say is that they're too lazy to utilize the means available to them to get their own, skills notwithstanding. Obviously, unfair advantages aside, putting the time and effort to work towards gaining something isn't cheating by any means in and of itself, even if the game wasn't as mod-friendly as it is.

 

Just browsing the MODs (which ive decided not to use until closer to release) I saw a MyLittle Pony mod and a Halo gun mod along with thing like legendary weapon mods. I can't fathom how a stat-less item would be considered cheating in any form. You sure the person arguing with you wasn't arguing copyright claims? I just can't wrap my head around having an argument over making a vanity item and it be considered cheating. There is simply nothing to argue. Of the 3 examples I gave above, 2 would be copyright issues (potentially) and one would be considered a cheat. All 3 are in these forums and have been up for some time.

 

Yes, I'm sure. His argument was that I had an advantage over him because I "Looked better" and that I was cheating because I had to mess with the files/add some code to do so.

 

Your friend is an idiot, plain and simple.

 

Well, you can't win an argument with morons like that. He's obviously not using the same definition of cheating that the rest of us here in reality use, so I'm guessing this thread will prove fairly fruitless. It's not cheating since vanity items confer no advantages.

 

Oh, I get where he's coming from. I think he's jelly of your threads. He's saying that you should have to earn appearance armor that looks awesome instead of just modding stuff to make it look awesome, if that makes sense.