I wouldn't necessarily call the compass a true cheat, but it is very hand-holdy. It defeats the purpose of playing a game in which the player might sometimes actually want to get lost.

I cover my compass with electrical tape. Problem solved.

Very good point.

Like Glargg, I use fast travel when I am going back over the route I have been over. Been there, done that, nothing left for me to see or do there. I only have so much time in a day that I can devote to gaming, so I do not want to waste them when I know I am not going to discover anything new, and nothing is going to happen.

I think of Fast Travel as more like a cut scene in a film or TV show. Sort of like this:

Steve: "Hey Jamie. Wanna go grab a bite to eat?"
Jamie: "Sure. How about [restaurant]?"
Steve: "Sounds good to me. Let's go."
*fade out as Steve and Jamie leave*
*fade in as Steve and Jamie arrive at restaurant*

You don't actually see Steve and Jamie travel to the restaurant, but it doesn't detract from the viewing experience. In the same way, fast travel doesn't detract from the gaming experience (for me, anyway). Even so, I don't use it unless I'm pressed for time IRL.

You obviously have a future career as a television or film writer, hahahahah...

looool

No, I don't see it as cheating. My personal preference to to shun it. I'm neither proud nor embarrassed to say that I have not yet fast-traveled once during my current 1.8k hour play-through. I doubt I'm even consciously aware it's in the game much of the time.

-Decrepit-

1.8k hours on one character?!?!

*takes off sunglasses*

sweet baby Jesus

I only use it if Ive lost my horse, and even then I'll just fast travel to the nearest map marker just so my horse appears again.

I can picture this reaction. The most I ever did was about 1500 hours before the A bomb.

The A bomb?! You've made me very nervous now. What's this A bomb?

Fast travel is definitely not cheating. Not at all.

It isn't even "magical teleportation" as some people incorrectly claim. It is a simulation of walking.

That said, I recommend against using it frequently. Because it seems to me that the game is more enjoyable if you actually walk, run or ride, and experience/explore Cyrodiil.

It's a nickname for "Animation bug." It tends to hit at about 250 hours on PC, and 400 to 500 on Xbox 360/PS3. It effects all secondary animations: doors, magic spells, fire, etc. Animations freeze enitrely or animate very slowly.

::EDIT:: Here are two videos illustrating the problem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_-PD8sNng0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygbp-fmyZzU

Yeah, don't freak out too much. At 1500 hours on a 360, I kinda was expecting it around the corner. I've only experienced this once. Another about a 1000 hour character a couple of years ago retired, and never had the problem .

Keeping with the a-bomb theme, I'll point out to new PC-Oblivion players that modders solved this bug long ago. There are a couple of stand-alone utilities that correct it, plus a fix is built into Wrye Bash. What I do these days is check my most current save periodically with Wrye Bash. When Wrye reports a save at around 80% progression toward the next attack I go ahead and reset the a-bomb counter. It harms nothing to apply the fix early, and there is a theory that some longer play-throughs (which mine is) with certain mods can reduce the occurrence interval.

-Decrepit-

Yup. A magical teleportation would be instantaneous. Fast-travel in TES games on the other hand makes time go by, during which it's assumed the PC is walking on his/her own feet (or running?)

Wow you′re heavier than me, Decrepit. I thought I was badass with my 1650+ hr character

I don't see it as cheating, although i don't like to use it. But its handy when you get pissed. I remember at a certain stage in the warrior's guild quest you had to travel from one end of the continent to the other (travelling between towns), and i got pissed walking the same path thrice in about one hour or something.

I think a common complaint about Morrowind was that it often involved endless trekking through wilderness, Although fast transport was available between the major cities, much of the game required travel to non-city locations. And that travel was slow. Perhaps Beth created the more flexible system of fast travel in Oblivion to answer those complaints?

So far I have only used fast travel twice. Once just to see what it was like. And a second time when I had to escort someone who was unusually slow. That second time might have been a cheat.

In general, though, I think good reasons exist for fast travel. I am not using it because gathering ingredients is a major concern of my character. But I think Oblivion allowing us to decide whether to use it or not is a good thing. Flexibility in game play....awesome!

It's not cheating because it's using a feature of the game in the way it was meant to be used.

I dislike it though - especially the universal and overgenerous way it was implemented. I never ever fast travel in Oblivion. The terrain is almost written on my heart by now.

Sometimes when you fast travel you go to places you did not intend.

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh539/tmodel/Baa2012-02-18-01.jpg

Cool, she got to Limbo!

I don't think cheat is very clearly defined for games. In general, if it's truly debatable whether a certain feature is a cheat or not, it probably isn't. Cheating is usually pretty clear. I don't personally use fast travel because, in my opinion, it lessens the experience. There are a lot of interesting things that can happen when you make the long trek back. For those who find it to be drudgery it's best to use the fast travel feature. It's your game, play like you're comfortable playing it and forget what other people think of you for doing so.