The Po Show

Cheating

I am at a total loss on this one.

Back in Sept. of 2006, Matthew went through a slew of tests ordered by the pediatric neurologist that the Bad Child Psychiatrist insisted we go to see (not that her wanting him to see a neurologist made her a Bad Child Psychiatrist--that became abundantly clear later). One thing he had to have was an MRI, which I knew was going to be horribly traumatic for him. He ended up doing fine, because he had to take THREE FULL Valium before he could calm down, so he mostly slept through the MRI. But anyway, as an incentive for cooperating during the MRI, he was promised a major prize.

He wanted an Action Replay, which is this device that you hook up to a video game player (in his case, his DS) and it lets you download cheat codes. Matthew loves cheat codes. He loves getting huge advantages like unlimited money or invincibility to certain enemies. Which should be antithical to game play, but hey, he's a 10 year old boy who really, really hates to lose. Playing video games is his special niche in the world, the area in which he's comfortable, the ONE thing in the whole world he believes he's exceptionally good at. It's the place he goes when the world is too much; it's his way of coming back down off the high voltage constant alert that engages every time he leaves the house (particularly at school). It's self-soothing. And having the assistance of cheat codes lets him get past parts of games that thwart him repeatedly, gives him access to "special areas" that are locked without the codes.

The problem was, the Action Replay sucked. It was a bad product. It worked for about a month, then it stopped working. It stopped recognizing the DS. Circuit City wouldn't take it back because it had been over a month, and the manufactuer was useless as far as offering information. Geez, we did everything to try and make the thing work, but it wouldn't.

Fast forward to about a month ago. Matthew decided to try the stupid thing again, and it worked. For about three days, then it stopped working again.

Since then, he has really wanted to buy a new one, but we haven't let him. It was a bad product, we told him over and over again. I talked to a guy at our local game shop, who used to be the manager of Game Stop at the mall, and he basically said they were a piece of crap and he hated to sell them.

Today Matthew found a different cheat code product, that works in a different way, directly inserted into the DS. I told him he could only buy it if he didn't make my life miserable if it didn't work. I told him he had to go into his room if he got upset over it, and he agreed. It worked fine, but it didn't have the cheats he'd been hoping for, and there is no way to upload new ones into it, as you theoretically can with the Action Replay. He got online and looked at the Action Replay website, and saw that the game he'd really wanted codes for is now uploaded onto the site.

He's been in his room for about 45 minutes now, sobbing hysterically. All over these damn cheat codes. But I can't tell him to suck it up and get over it, that it doesn't matter, that he's supposed to play the games on his own without cheats, that that's the whole POINT of playing games. That it's not fun if it's not challenging. That he PROMISED me he wouldn't make my life a living hell if this stupid new thing didn't work.

I want to tell him all these things, but I can't. I could tell Tessa in a comparable situation, but this is Matthew. He's as fragile as glass, and this has been a horrible month for him, and this IS the most important thing in the world to him. I can't tell him it doesn't matter.

I don't know what to do.