Is using a Strategy Guide Cheating

I am definitely an active gamer and I have been playing all kinds of video games since I was a kid,and I have always loved video games,and they have always been one of my favorite past times,I personally think using a strategy guide or a walkthrough for a game is not cheating because it just tells you how to get somewhere it does not do it for you,like cheat codes do,and if I get stuck on a game,then I will usually go to gamefaqs.com and look up a guide to help me with whatever part of whatever game I am on.

I don't consider using a guide cheating. I mean, if there are any "can't miss" items that you can't get later on in the game, a guide is nice to have. You beat the game with your own ability, right? Now if you're using cheat codes or a game genie/shark, that would be considered cheating.

Good question. It really depends on how you use it. It gives a lot of satisfaction if you finish the game all by yourself. But when it comes to guides, just an estimate, around 95% of the time you won't be able to figure out everything within the game when you play it for the first time. I try to finish it first and just look at some guides afterward for things that I may have missed. If it's that interesting, I'd have another go at the game. Well, reading walkthroughs is much like asking a friend how to get past a part or some parts in the game. Only different means. I've been with Gamefaqs as well for well over 8 years and I've used and created some walkthroughs. Cheat codes, on the other hand, are really plain cheats.

All I can say is that if you're a really hardcore start-to-finish-all-me gamer, then that is cheating. But for me using strategy guides is not cheating, rather it is a kind of get-help guide. When you cheat you actually do something that is pretty impossible to achieve in a game, such as using a game shark to level 99 your characters. Using a game guide is like asking your friend "Hey, what am I going to do with this" and then he says "you have to do this and that". Using game guides, you still need to do the stuff, like when you have to beat a boss, the game guide just teaches you how to, you still need your skills and gut feeling to beat it. Cheating lets you beat the guy without breaking a sweat. There. Have a nice day and enjoy gaming. Sad, I've never played WoW, simply can't because of crappy computer and geographic location.