Creative Uses of Software Errors: Glitches and Cheats

Abstract

Video games constitute a major sector of computing with distinctive social implications. Analysis of video game programming errors, design limitations, and rule ambiguities suggests a range of positive functions that glitches and cheats may perform. Glitches are software errors, either programming bugs or design flaws. Cheats are tricks for mastering games by circumventing the official rules for play. This article is based on the study of 751 glitches in 155 popular video games plus examination of web sites that disseminate cheats. It compares the standard computer science response to errors, which is to eliminate them, with a common video gamer response, which is to exploit them. The theoretical analysis contrasts games (in which victory is achieving set goals by following given rules) with metagames (in which victory is having the power to define the nature and rules of the game). Several related theoretical concepts are used to describe the complex subculture of video game players, for whom glitches and cheats are socially significant.