No replies in a few days... Is this thread dead? Hope not as I wanted to join in the argument!
There seems to be a strong, but often hypocritical, holier-than-thou mentality by many of us regarding the circumstances by which the game is played. My thoughts:
1.) With the exception of competition and bragging rights in the hall of fame, it is of no concern to anyone how anyone else played the game. The discussion is about a form of entertainment, and anyone who paid the exhorbitant amount of cash for the game should be able to enjoy it in the manner that pleases them without public scrutiny.
2.) As hinted to throughout the article, cheating occurs more in terms of degree rather than the presence or absense of it. World-Building an extra worker in, hammering Gandhi with Praets, starting with better resources, or even maximizing the advantages of stronger civs are all manipulations that make victory easier. The vast majority of the strategies listed throughout the forums are methods of exploitation; the level that a player can dominate correlates directly to how much the player manipulates the settings.
Although I wouldn't personally consider using codes to cheat, I have no problem admitting that I manipulate the settings. I save at 4000 BC and scout out to ensure that the resources I need to enjoy the game are present. This is in direct response to my first Prince attempt in which, as Genghis, my borders met quickly with Tokugawa, Alexander and Caesar and both horses and iron were on the other side of the border. After spending a few days in a meticulous defensive stance, I found it to simply not be fun.
One of the points that seems to be lost regarding cheating and "lucky starts" is that one immortal game's victory is met with (often extreme) difference in diffulty than anothers. That being said, I would LOVE for an addition to be made in the Hall of Fame where we could see screenshots (or preferably download saves) from various points in the campaign. Even looking at the civs starting location would give a great idea of how glorious the win was.
During one of my first attempts at Prince difficulty, I became so enthralled when my army of infantry marched against a city of archers. Then I looked at my capital, with its 4 ivory and a pig resource, and realized this was the only reason I was able to do so.