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In many video games of the 1980s and 1990s, after a level is beaten and/or when all continues are used, the game displays a password that when entered allows the player to either restart from the last level reached or restore the game to the state when the password was received.[1] Overlapping in many ways with cheat codes, players distinguish passwords from codes by having received them from the game outright rather than finding them hidden within the game code. Using them is not considered cheating.[1] They are rarely used today, having been largely supplanted by saved games.
Rationale and history[edit]
Passwords were used when storage was either impossible or expensive. On early ROM cartridges, games could not be saved without an additional memory card being integrated into the game, significantly increasing (often doubling) the manufacturing cost. By using passwords, nothing needed to be written on the cartridge, as the password itself contained all the information needed to continue the game, and thus a memory card was not necessary, lowering costs. These costs were particularly a concern on low volume titles by smaller third-party developers.
With the advent of optical based media at the tail end of the 16-bit era, data could not be stored on the game media, and a saved game required the introduction of non-volatile memory to the console either in the form of internal memory or memory cards (both of which were introduced with the Sega CD) which stored game data once the system was powered off; passwords avoided the need for this.
In the fifth generation of video game consoles, passwords retained practical use in conserving memory blocks. Platform and puzzle games often required no data to be preserved other than the level achieved – which was easily encoded in a simple password – and thus using one of the limited blocks for this data was seen as wasteful. More importantly, some consoles of the time, such as the PlayStation and Jaguar CD, had no memory available for saves out of the box, and the need to purchase separately sold memory cards could be a deterrent to purchasing a game.
Some modern video games still use passwords as a homage to the early days of gaming, or for some other advantage, but they are now rare.
Passwords, as with saved games, have been primarily used for home systems, but have found some use in arcades, as in Gauntlet Legends, which uses passwords to record player statistics/abilities and progress.
Non-alphanumerical[edit]
Non-alphanumerical password systems are very possible. Instead of a string of letters and numbers, grid-based systems achieved some popularity in 1980s, which often took the form of a table of colored dots or other icons. One relatively recent game that uses a 3x3 grid-based password for each level is Chunsoft's Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, released in 2012. While aesthetic, these usually used fewer symbols, even as few as two, and were therefore relatively inefficient.
Password length[edit]
If player progress consists only of one variable, such as the stage number, then a short password such as a single word suffices.
Algorithms can compress, encrypt, and otherwise manipulate save data containing many large variables. The less the algorithm encrypts, the more easily players may notice patterns, such as an increment by one every level. They can then exploit these patterns to cheat or even beat the game. With a little luck, even a long password can be discovered by chance, as was the case for the infamous JUSTIN BAILEY code from Metroid.
While any save information is convertible into password form, it is practical only for game progress consisting of fewer or smaller variables. Overlong passwords needed by games such as RPGs with many large variables eventually cancels out the usability benefits from generating a password.
Combinatorial linguistics[edit]
Since a player works with a password one character unit at a time, one way to simplify a password for a player's use would be to shorten it, to minimize the password length and maximize the pool of available symbols, making it informationally denser.
Languages with more graphemes can more readily exploit this. Enix's 1986 and 1987 Japanese Famicom releases of its highly successful first two Dragon Quest RPGs used passwords composed from a set of 64 hiragana. However, the 1988 third game in the series and Nintendo's international releases of the first two for the NES in 1989 and 1990 used battery-backed saves.
This may be partly explained using Anglo-Japanese comparative symbology:
- English • 62 symbols if using all of (not including punctuation):
- numerals • 10 digits
- alphabet • 26 letters (or 52 with both cases)
- Japanese • 228 symbols if using all of (not including punctuation or kanji):
- numerals • 10 digits
- hiragana and katakana • 46 to 83 each (92 to 166 combined)
- 46 basic kana (or 48 with rarely used ゐ and ゑ)
- 9 or 10 small kana, 'ぁぃぅぇぉっゃゅょ' and the rarely used 'ゎ'
- 25 voiced kana, such as 'が' and 'ぱ'
- romaji • 26 letters (or 52 with both cases)
The 1995 platformer Stargate for Mega Drive used hieroglyphs for passwords, which stored the stage number.
Modern use[edit]
The use of passwords for saving progress has been generally replaced by saves, while passwords have taken on the distinct role of adding in extra characters, vehicles, or weapons. For example, in Animal Crossing, passwords are used for giving items to friends; players could trade in an item for a password, and their friend could enter in the password to receive that same item. A handful of games, such as the PC-Engine version of Ys I & II contained a password feature in addition to the conventional game save. In Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, every demon that the player can own has a unique password of thirty-two characters that can be used to summon that demon from the Compendium even if the player has never encountered it. If a demon created through fusion has different skills from its normal version, a different password will be stored in the Compendium along with the original password, allowing players to store custom demons.[2]
Many arcade games, such as the Initial D arcade game, use hashes to allow people to submit their fastest lap times to online score tables (though Initial D uses a proprietary magnetic card to save user data). The hash is used to stop people forging lap times. The password can then be entered on a website to have the time added online. An alternative to this is for the arcade consoles to be networked (internet-connected), as via Konami's e-Amusement system.
It is also common in Warcraft 3 mods, where saving data between games is virtually impossible, but generating and reading passwords is not.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ ab'The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Password'. Next Generation. No. 15. March 1996. p. 38.
- ^Lark, Anthony (6 April 2010). 'Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Review'. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
External links[edit]
- IGN's review of GT Advance Championship Racing - a game which was seriously hurt by the removal of a game save in favor of a password system
Cheating in chess is a serious issue. The issue is magnified online, where there is no arbiter to physically observe play. Chess.com takes fair play and cheat-detection very seriously, and we have since our founding.
Are Passcodes In Games Considered Cheating Money
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We understand how frustrating cheating can be for our members. That's why we have invested so heavily in our system to catch cheaters. We draw a large crowd of players who want to cheat on the biggest stage. As the host of many online cash-prize events, we've improved our system even further to ensure quality, clean games by players to a level of accuracy making online play as safe from cheating as in-person chess.
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Though legal and practical considerations prevent Chess.com from revealing the full set of data, metrics, and tracking used to evaluate games in our fair-play tool, we can say that at the core of Chess.com's system is a statistical model that evaluates the probability of a human player matching an engine's top choices, and surpassing the confirmed clean playof some of the greatest chess players in history.
Below you will find testimonials by some of the world's most well-known grandmasters and online chess public figures. All those listed (as well as others not listed) were given a multi-hour course on Chess.com's fair-play system, and signed a non-disclosure agreement to protect the details of our cheat-detection methods.
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Even before becoming involved with Chess.com's cheat detection system, I was impressed by the site's dedication to upholding fair play. I can personally attest to the diligence and prowess of Roland and his team; they have spent countless hours innovating and fine-tuning their algorithms to categorically prevent misconduct, and have successfully implemented an objective system that reduces human speculation.
Chess.com has received hundreds of confessions, including from both premium members and titled players. Below you will find admissions (real names removed) of a few titled players whose accounts were closed for fair-play violations in both daily and live chess:
Anonymous GM:
I was afraid to confess initially, fearing that my name would be published with inaccurate allegations and my reputation would be irreversibly damaged. I was afraid that you would not fully believe the following account of my actual behavior....
I did use computer assistance after the opening, around move 17-18, until the end of the game. I did the same against him in the night event out of further frustration after move 15, where he repeated the same pattern, and again, did not use any kind of assistance whatsoever in my other games.
Anonymous IM:
I'm sorry I did well sometimes Hiarcs chess sets used for analysis in only three days game. I would love to have me FIDE TITLE back, I'm going to do no more sorry,
Please can you give me another chance.
Anonymous FM:
I used Stockfish, I was sure others were using it too. I'm very sorry, and I would love another chance.
Anonymous FM:
My name is ANONYMOUS. Long months ago my account banned from Chess.com because I open engine for Title Tuesday. I know this is not acceptable fashion. I made a very big wrong, and I get banned. Every day I missed Chess.com I'm playing chess other sites now ( ICC, Playchess, Chesscube ) but Chess.com really different. I'm apologize for my immaturity.
Have a good day.
Best regards from ANONYMOUS.
Anonymous NM:
I sadly have to confess I have used a cheating mechanism. When I play titled Tuesday I get so obsessed with playing and winning against strong players, that my morals and values escape me. I humbly apologize to all of Chess.com and promise that if I get my account back I will never cheat again. Please accept my apology.
Anonymous NM:
Dear chess community:
I sincerely apologize for my actions of cheating on Chess.com.
I succumbed to the pressures of being lazy and arrogant on a website that fosters good sportsmanship and fair play.
I admit my mistake and humbly asked to be reinstated to play chess on the best website in the world.
Anonymous NM:
Hi Chess.com staff,
Chess.com's fair-play team employs industry-leading statisticians, computer scientists and chess experts:
Are Passcodes In Games Considered Cheating Games
- Roland Walker | Director of Research
- Gerard Le-Marechal | Head of Cheat-Detection and Chief of Data Analysis and Statistics
- Richmond Holdren | Assistant of Cheat-Detection and Abuse Monitoring
- Shaun McCoy | Director of Member Support
- Erik Allebest | Chief Executive Officer
- International Master Daniel Rensch | Chief Chess Officer
- Grandmaster Robert Hess | Special Consultant and Professional Relations
- Numerous international and grandmaster chess consultants