Cheaters never prosper

But sometimes in games, they do.

What, to you, defines cheating in a game (can be singleplayer and/or multiplayer)? Do you have strong 'ethics' when it comes to gaming and find that it lessens the challenge or experience, or do you not mind inserting the occasional cheat code/exploiting bugs to make your game a bit more enjoyable sometimes?

I don't like to cheat myself. It feels cheap and doesn't give the satisfaction of beating a game. Cheating is giving yourself invincibility, more funds or instant production.

Depends on the game, I only found cheating moreso on the Sims, just because of the money lmao, but generally, I don't cheat on games.

I think cheating can be fun, if used appropriately and sparingly. I don't like cheating to gain an edge over other players in a multiplayer game, that's just unfair. If I am to cheat, i usually play the game the whole way through without cheats, then have another very fun cheating playthrough.
On my pokemon platinum version the only cheat I put on it was 999x of every berry so I could have fun making high quality poffins :)

My definition of cheating: purposefully altering the game to gain an advantage. I don't think taking advantage of glitches (e.g the mew glitch in the original pokemon games) is really cheating.

Cheating, to me, is anything that would give you a definite in-game advantage. For that reason I am very, very much against it in multiplayer games. Well, maybe not so much if someone on the same team as me were doing it (let's be honest, lol), but I would still not be very comfortable with it happening, and forget trying to get me in on it as well. I will not oblige.

In a single-player game though? I find myself not being able to care nearly as much. If a person wants to cheat in a game like that, that's on them. I wouldn't myself, just because I'd rather play the game how it's meant to be play, although...

It is kind of fun to mess with things at times. :p But maybe after I'm done playing it normally.

It is very upsetting when people cheat online. But cheating in story mode/campaign/single player/whatever you want to call it is totally fine. The only game I've actually ever cheated in was GTA and I only do that in the postgame bc cheating is cheating. The only cheats I actually ever use is for extra weapons because sometimes the games have hidden sets. Like 3 and SA both had multiple sets that I could never get around to finding so I would put in cheats so I could run around with my chainsaw or katana because that's much more fun than guns or a knife.

Nobody likes cheaters in multiplayer modes. When it comes to singleplayer experience, I'm ok with this. Especially after playing through a game multiple times, I feel it is a really good way to enhance the game, if used wisely.

I still remember having a lot of fun trying out tons of console codes in Gothic.

In singleplayer it's whatever, just do what you like if you're having fun, even if it's not necessarily how the game is meant to be played, who cares? You're having fun right? Harmless.

Multiplayer is where it's wrong though. Cheating really does negatively impact the experience of other players so it's like ok that's not cool

I usually cheat in games for own personal things, but never in an online game with other people, because that ruins the fun for everyone.

My ethics code in regards to cheats/expoits/the like is but a sentence long:

"Play in any way that's fun to you, so long as that fun doesn't come from infringing on the enjoyment of others."

That's pretty much it. At the end of the day, I don't care how someone plays a game or if they use cheats or whatever, because fun is at the core of the matter. As long as that fun doesn't come from diminishing the fun of others (since they paid for this stuff, it's a moral crime to do so), anything's good.

Echoing the others: cheating in multiplayer is a big no-no.

As for single-player games, I don't really mind others doing it. And I do 'cheat' infrequently, myself. Though never with a new game, only with things I've played through "normally" before. That would ruin the experience.
Fallout: NV and The Sims, for example. Plenty of my mods would be considered cheating - like the OP weapons because I wanted a deathclaw gauntlet immediately, which came with a bazillion doctor's bags but they're too heavy to bother stocking up in ridiculous amounts anyway - but they're still used sparingly enough that it doesn't take away from the challenge. I wouldn't play through it again if there wasn't some challenge to keep my interest.