For as long as there are rules to follow, there will always be someone who will try to go around them, or even break them. In that respect the game world isn't that much different from the real world. In a recent article, CNN takes a closer look at cheating in MMORPGs via the new book "Exploiting Online Games" by Gary McGraw and Greg Hoglund.

They observe that some online game companies seem to have accepted that cheating is an inevitable part gaming so instead of tightening security they just observe game play and look for anything suspicious. Some companies really crack down on cheating though.

Nexon America Inc., for instance, apply patches to remove every method of cheating they discover in their games. Others just actively boot cheaters from the game. The problem with this though is that most of the time they can just return with another identity.

One idea from Intel sounds promising. To prevent cheat commands coming in from a player's computer to the game's server, a chip will be embedded unto the PC itself. The chip will monitor if the PC sends commands that don't coincide with the rules of the game, like if a single mouse click sends a "fire 100 shots" command.

Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa on the other hand, says they've done all they can do to prevent cheating in the game. Starr Long, producer of Tabula Rasa, comments on cheating in MMORPGs:

In the old days we didn't really think through what would happen once we started letting people play together. Every single piece of content we put in the game, the first thing we say is 'Here's what we want this thing to do.' And the second thing we say is, 'OK, how are players going to try to exploit this?

Developers certainly don't benefit from cheating. What about the players? Hubert Thiebolt, who leads one of the largest teams in World of Warcraft says that cheating degrades the experience for everyone else. Perhaps measures for preventing cheating should start with the only ones who benefit from cheating.