Mouse And Keyboard Adapter For Consoles - Is That Cheating?

2023 Author: Sheila Hailey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 04:29

Most console games do not support mouse and keyboard by default. However, if you still want to play with a mouse and keyboard, you need an adapter. More and more gamers are therefore turning to adapters such as Xim4, Xim Apex and Co. to avoid having to play with controllers on the console. Is that actually cheating?

Sony PlayStation

Facts

genres: consoles, VR glasses

First of all: I will only relate the cheat topic to healthy players. People with disabilities are excluded from the debate. If such adapters increase accessibility and gamers no longer have physical barriers when playing: Go for it!

I myself and many of my PSN friends play with the XIM4 or Xim Apex adapter on the console. I've always thought that this could actually be called cheating, and so did many of my friends. The other half of the friend list says "No", this is not cheating. Especially in the first person shooter area and in games like Overwatch, Rainbox Six Siege, Destiny 2 and Apex Legends, mouse and keyboard are increasingly used on the console. So I thought I'd get to the bottom of it.

First, let's define the meaning of cheating. In the Oxford Dictionary "to cheat" is described as follows: "Act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage." In the Cambridge Dictionary it looks similar: "to behave in a dishonest way in order to get what you want". Basically, it can be reduced to making a person dishonest to get an advantage.

In video games, however, we have to break it down a little further. This is a measure that manipulates the game in the intended course of the game, be it through external programs or scripts. The use of a cheat therefore interferes with the gameplay, since basic game mechanics are overridden or changed. Of course, this not only applies to single-player games, but also to multiplayer.

Aim bots, wallhacks, lag switching and many other cheats are undoubtedly included, but does this also include the use of adapters for the mouse and keyboard on the console?

Before we can answer that, we first have to explain what such an adapter actually does. Such adapters cannot create the PC feeling on the console, they are basically emulators. An emulator is a device that simulates the behavior of another. The functionality of the original hardware, in this case the controller, is therefore imitated. Such adapters “only act as if they are a controller and the console itself thinks that the input commands come from the controller and not from the mouse and keyboard.

Mouse and keyboard settings cannot be used like on a PC. As an example, the DPI setting of the mouse is not as important as on the PC. With such adapters certain DPI values should be used so that the software from the adapter works better, but it has no influence as on the PC. A direct implementation like on the PC is not achieved. So again the question: is it cheating?

Technically speaking, it is not cheating because the gameplay is not changed by external programs or scripts, such as with Aim-Bots. Basic mechanics and gameplay of the game are neither overridden nor manipulated by such adapters. Only the personal input device and feel changes.

As long as players are open and honest with their use of such adapters, it is also not cheating, according to the Oxford and Cambridge Dictionary. Because an adapter does not automatically bring an advantage. Neither mouse and keyboard automatically make you a shooter god. The input device changes, but the required skills must still be done by the player. Every player has their preferred input device. Many gamers are better in shooters with controllers than others with mouse and keyboard.

Morally speaking, it is still in a gray area. It also depends on your personal attitude towards the topic. For example: If someone uses an arcade fighting stick in fighting games, is this cheating for you? Or if someone uses a steering wheel in racing games, is cheating for you? If you answer these questions with “yes”, then you will also call mouse and keyboard adapters in shooters cheating. But there are also many players who answer the questions with a "No" and do not consider it cheating.

Start photo gallery (21 photos)

Sony, for example, doesn't seem to see it as cheating, otherwise they wouldn't have released their own licensed adapter with the TAC Pro. Or they just see the profit of the market and do not care about the moral implications, this could of course be. What do you think about the topic? Would you call such adapters cheating? Let us know your opinion in the comments, we are interested!