Falsifying your identity is a serious crime. Not only does it get serious attention in the media and pop culture, but it is also a crime that can land you in prison for years.
The ability to disguise yourself in video games has been around for a while. Initially, this was limited to choosing a character skin tone or choosing whether or not to use a mask.
As video games have developed, so has the ability to disguise yourself. Games like Overwatch and Fortnite even feature different costumes that you can use to change your appearance.
Disguising yourself in video games is not illegal, but can you legally do it in real life? Is it legal to disguise yourself in order to avoid being identified? Does it amount to perjury or the committing of another crime? This article will answer these questions.
It’s not my fault
The most common defense for criminal Skyrim players is that it’s not their fault. It’s the game’s fault for making certain actions too tempting to resist.
It’s the Bethesda developers’ fault for not putting enough safeguards in place to prevent crime. It’s the society’s fault for fostering a climate where crime is acceptable.
While all of these may be true, they are also excuses that do not help you stop crimeing. You have to start with admitting there is a problem, and that problem is you!
Bethesda developers probably did not intend for you to become so wealthy by stealing, nor did they intend for you to gain so much power by murdering people and taking their stuff.
I am a good person
This is the most common excuse for poor behavior. People blame everything from their upbringing to the weather when they are accused of wrongdoing.
But as many a philosopher has pointed out, you are who you act. If you act like a jerk, then you’re probably a jerk. If you act kindly, then you’re probably kind. It’s that simple.
And if you act like a murderer, then you’re probably a murderer inside. Or at least close enough that it doesn’t bother you much.
Psychologists call this mental habituation, and it explains why people get used to things—including things that hurt them or hurt others.
I didn’t mean to
It’s easy to get carried away in Skyrim. You’re given a near-unlimited supply of money, freedom, and opportunity to commit crimes. You can steal every last thing from every last person with a few clicks, and you can almost always justify it somehow.
You can pickpocket anyone without their permission, you can steal any owned item off of someone or out of their house, and you can even murder people with almost no repercussions.
Many players ignore the moral implications of these actions and just have fun committing them, but they still add up. They contribute to a culture that legitimizes violence and diminishes the value of human life.
You may not have meant to commit these crimes, but you committed them nonetheless.
It wasn’t me
In the world of The Elder Scrolls, your character can do some pretty crazy things. You can pickpocket people, steal from shops and houses, and even murder people.
However, there’s one crime that almost every player has committed: horse theft.
Almost every player has had a experience where they’ve lost their faithful steed due to a bug or circumstance out of their control. Most players know that if this happens, you should run away as fast as you can before the game decides to take your horse away.
But one YouTuber tried to fight the law and win. He decided to try and take possession of a dragon in Skyrim, so he went into the city to find some horses for his battle-ready party.
There were mitigating circumstances
In the case of many cheaters, they were not forced to confront their crimes until a massive patch changed everything. When Bethesda released the special edition version of Skyrim, it came with an update that massively changed the way gameplay worked.
In the original game, you could easily make unlimited amounts of gold and not spend any resources by harvesting Nirnroot plants. This allowed for an unlimited amount of opportunities to buy things and make the game too easy.
Unfortunately, this also made it very easy to cheat your way through the game by selling infinite Nirnroots for infinite gold. Many people fell into this trap and were caught due to its widespread use.
For those who did not cheat, their character progression was hindered by lack of money and access to certain items or areas. This ultimately led to frustration and ended up being revenge motive for these hackers.
I am remorseful for my actions
Despite all the fun you can have in Skyrim, there’s a point where you realize that you’re just going around committing crimes against the game.
You loot people’s possessions, you kill anyone who gets in your way, and you steal everything that isn’t nailed down. It seems like everyone around you is a target and it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t hate your guts.
But is it really that bad? Are all these crimes really that serious? Do the people of Skyrim really have reason to hate and fear you? We’re about to find out!
We asked our resident historian, Dave Bolter, if stealing things was a big deal back in the day. Turns out it wasn’t: “In Anglo-Saxon England (and probably elsewhere), theft was defined as taking somebody else’s property with the intent to deprive them of it permanently.
I want to make amends with the people I harmed
This is a very good point to make. Many people who have been banned from a game have no idea how much harm they’ve done to other players.
Many games have re-spawn points or areas where new players can start again. This means that as long as new players start at the same place, they will eventually reach the point where you were banned.
There are some games, however, that do not have re-spawn points. In these games, there is no way for a player to return to the game unless another player starts over again.
By making players aware of how many people you’ve affected with your actions, it may help with your defense. It shows that you wanted to help more people by giving them a chance to start over.
