Save scumming

Save scumming is an exploit which occurs in games that let the user save the game for later play. It is more common in games that feature permadeath, and nearly all Roguelike games do.

By creating a copy of a saved game, the player creates a state to which they can return to at any time. This will let the player try something potentially dangerous with no risk. The player may try this potentially dangerous action repeatedly, until chance favors them. For example, a player may repeatedly try to attack a high-level opponent until they land 5 critical hits in a row, and the opponent misses each time.

Counter-measures

• Do not let the player have control of the saved games (have the player connect to a games server, for example)

• Unless you require the player to play on a server you control, it is pretty much impossible to prevent save file abuse, so it is widely considered a waste of time to spend much effort on technological solutions. There is, however, a less coercive alternative: persuasion. A good, clear explanation of why you actually die when killed in the game ought to be in the basic game manual. Instead of trying to prevent a replacement savefile from being used, why not just detect it and issue a warning that doing so for reasons other than a game crash/power failure is cheating? If someone wants to cheat, you aren't going to stop him, but you can try to make him actually think about and decide if he really wants to.