10 Creative Ways Video Games Fought Cheaters
1. The Old Money Cheat Gets You A High-Interest Loan Instead - SimCity 2000
1989's SimCity memorably allowed players to receive an instant loan of $10,000 by holding shift and typing "FUND," albeit with the caveat that getting greedy and entering the cheat three times in a single game year would trigger an earthquake.
For sequel SimCity 2000, Maxis decided to have a little fun with players simply expecting to use the money cheat again. This time, typing "FUND" would give players a bond with an excruciating 25% interest rate. Yikes.
It was a clever subversion of player expectations, for sure, albeit one which unintentionally, hilariously backfired for Maxis, given that players soon discovered a way to exploit it for their own material gain.
Basically, if you take out two 25% cheat bonds in a row and then issue a real bond with a 0% interest rate, your total interest rate will be negative, meaning that the bank basically ends up paying you a $1.5 million stipend every game year. Amazing.