10 Creative Ways Video Games Fought Cheaters

8. The Receptionist Shames You Over The PA System - Theme Hospital

team fortress 2
Bullfrog

On the decidedly less-punitive end of the spectrum, we have the utterly delightful Theme Hospital, which rather than threaten the integrity of your save file rather gently shamed you for using cheats.

Now to be clear, Bullfrog's legendary hospital sim has in-built cheat functionality - allowing you to enrich yourself, gain equipment, skip forward in time, and even cause an emergency - so the team clearly wasn't seriously bothered about you using cheats.

Yet as a cheeky admonishment for cheaters, they'll be called out by the hospital's receptionist, who will loudly and enthusiastically announce over the building's PA system, "The hospital administrator is cheating!"

Granted, within the context of the game world itself, you have to wonder what the hell that would even mean to anyone who hears the announcement.

All the same, a small price to pay for being able to increase your bank balance by $10,000 with a single button press.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.