Cheats, Mods & Bans Glossary

By Treesz · Updated Oct 12, 2026

Cheating, modding and punishment share a vocabulary, and the same word can describe something harmless in one game and a bannable offence in another. Walking through walls with a console command in a single-player game hurts nobody. Doing the same thing in an online match breaks the rules for everyone else.

This glossary explains four terms in detail (no-clip, save editors, teleport hacks and trade bans) and summarises two more (soft bans and mod menus). It is written for players who want to understand what a term means, tell lag from cheating and stay on the right side of a game's rules. It does not explain how to cheat.

The central question for every entry is the same: who is affected, and does the game allow it?

Term	What it is	Single-player, offline	Online play
No-clip	Passing through walls and objects	Usually a built-in debug or cheat command	Cheating
Save editor	A tool that edits the saved game file	Generally harmless, with a risk of corrupting the save	Can lead to a ban if the edited save is used online
Teleport hack	Moving instantly using altered position data	Not applicable	Cheating, detected by the server
Trade ban	A restriction on trading items or currency	Not applicable	A penalty or a security hold
Soft ban	A temporary, limited restriction	Rare	A warning-level penalty
Mod menu	A menu added by a mod	Often a legitimate settings panel	If it gives an edge, cheating

No-clip

No-clip (noclip) is a mode in which your character ignores collision: you can pass through walls, floors and other solid objects, usually while flying. The name comes from "clipping", the term for the game checking whether objects overlap. In a no-clip mode that check is switched off for the player.

It began as a developer tool. Level designers need to move quickly through unfinished maps and see them from outside, so games from the early days of 3D shooters included commands for it. In the original Doom, the no-clipping cheat code is idspispopd, and Doom II uses idclip; the first is a joke on a Usenet phrase about "smashing pumpkins". Quake and games built on the later Source engine use a noclip console command, which in Source games only works when cheats are enabled on the server. The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games have a console command for toggling collision (tcl).

How it is used:

Exploration and screenshots in single-player games: looking at hidden areas, viewing a level from outside, composing images.
Testing and debugging: developers, testers and mod authors use it to check parts of a level quickly.
Speedrunning research: runners study how a level fits together. Records are normally set in categories that forbid console cheats, though categories for glitches exist.
Cultural reference: "noclipping out of reality" is the central idea of the Backrooms, an internet horror story that began in a 4chan thread in 2019.

In multiplayer the rules change. A server that is in charge of movement does not let a client pass through walls: the game checks your position and corrects or rejects impossible moves. An "online no-clip" is therefore a hack that fakes the position data, and it is treated as cheating.

Practical points: in a single-player game that offers a no-clip console, using it is your choice, but it can break quests or put you somewhere you cannot leave, so save first. In an online game, do not use it at all.

Save editor

A save editor is a program that opens a game's save file and lets you change values in it: character level, items, currency, progress flags. Players use them to fix a bug that blocked progress, to skip a repetitive section, to test a build or to play with a changed set of rules.

How they work: a save file is data in a defined format. A save editor reads it, shows the fields in a readable form and writes the changes back. Some games make this easy; others protect their saves with a checksum or encryption so that a changed file is rejected as corrupt.

Risks:

Corruption. A wrong value can make the save unreadable or the game crash. Always keep a copy of the original before you change anything. See save slots.
Spoiled progress. If the game is built around scarcity or challenge, items you add can drain the point of it.
Cloud sync. If the game syncs saves to the cloud, an edited file can overwrite a good one on your other devices.
Online risk. This is the important one. If a game stores your character on the publisher's servers, a save editor cannot touch it. If the game keeps the character on your device and also has online features, a modified save used online can be detected and can lead to a ban or a separated online mode. In Diablo II, for example, offline characters are kept separate from the closed Battle.net realm for this reason.

The usual rule: edit saves only in single-player games, keep a backup and play the edited file only offline. For games that mix both, read the publisher's policy before you try.

Teleport hack

A teleport hack is a cheat that makes a player appear in a new location instantly, without travelling there. It works by sending the server false position data, or by changing the position in memory. In shooters it is used to reach objectives or escape fights; in games with a persistent economy it is used to reach resources or loot before others.

Teleporting is not always a hack. Many games have teleport abilities by design (a mage's blink, a fast-travel point, a portal), and lag can also make players appear to jump. Telling the three apart is useful:

What you see	Likely cause
A player blinks forward after using a visible ability or a portal	A legitimate teleport
Everything around freezes, then players snap to new positions together	Lag or packet loss; see online play terms
One player repeatedly appears far from where they were a moment earlier, with no ability, and without the rubber-banding you would expect	A possible hack

How games detect it: in a well-designed online game the server is in charge of positions, so it knows how fast a character can move and can reject an impossible jump. This is called server-side validation. Anti-cheat programs on the player's machine, such as Easy Anti-Cheat, BattlEye and Riot's Vanguard, add a second line of defence by looking for cheat software. Developers also use player reports, and often ban in groups, in so-called ban waves.

What to do if you suspect a teleporter:

Do not accuse anyone in public chat. You may be wrong, and it can get you penalised.
Record a clip if the game or your system allows it.
Use the in-game report function and give a short description with the time.
Do not copy their behaviour to "even the score"; that gets you banned too.

Trade ban

A trade ban (or trade restriction, trade hold) stops an account from trading items or currency with other players. There are two quite different kinds, and it helps to know which one you have.

1. A security hold. To protect accounts from theft, platforms delay trades after something changes. On Steam, for example, the official support pages describe a hold of up to 15 days for trades created after a new device logs in, after the mobile authenticator is removed, or before the authenticator has been active for the required time. A security hold is not a punishment: it usually ends by itself, and the way to avoid it is to keep two-factor authentication on from the start and not to change devices or security settings just before trading.

2. A penalty. A publisher can remove trading from an account that broke the rules. Reasons include scams and fraud, exploiting a bug, use of unauthorised software or compromised-account activity. These can be temporary or permanent, and the account may keep the right to play while losing access to markets and auction houses. Many publishers have an appeal route.

What to do:

Read the message. It normally says whether the restriction is a hold with an end date, or a penalty with a reason.
Check your security first. If it is a hold, make sure two-factor authentication is on and that nobody else is using the account.
Appeal through official support only. Services that promise to "remove" a hold or ban are either scams or rule-breaking themselves.
Never share login codes with anyone offering a "trade". See black markets.

Soft ban

A soft ban is a limited, usually temporary restriction short of a full ban: reduced rewards, blocked features, a cooldown or limited access to matchmaking. It acts as a warning or a cooldown. A well-known example is Pokémon GO, where moving between distant locations faster than is plausible (for instance after location spoofing) can trigger a temporary restriction in which the game stops letting you catch Pokémon; repeated offences risk a harder penalty.

The full article is Soft ban in games. If you receive one, read the message, find the rule you broke and wait it out. Contact support through official channels if you think it is a mistake.

The term mod menu is used for two different things.

1. A legitimate settings menu added by mods. In single-player games with large modding communities, such as the Elder Scrolls games, mods often include a settings screen (a mod configuration menu) where you change how a mod behaves. These are normal and allowed.

2. A cheat menu. In multiplayer games, a "mod menu" usually means a program injected into the game that offers cheats such as money, teleporting or invincibility. This is cheating, and it is a common cause of bans; it also tends to spoil the game for others in shared sessions.

Mods in general are a different thing from cheats. They are changes made by the community, and many publishers support them through official channels such as Steam Workshop. The difference is whether the game's rules, and other players, allow it. Check the developer's policy, download only from trusted sources (malware is a real risk) and keep mods out of online modes unless they are officially approved.

The full article is Mod menu in gaming.

How to stay safe

Read the terms for your game. They state what is allowed online.
Keep single-player and online apart. Many games have an offline mode for mods and tinkering.
Use only approved mod sources.
Back up your saves before editing or installing anything.
Report, do not retaliate. Use the game's reporting tool.
Protect your account with two-factor authentication and do not trade login details.