Great, thanks!
I never use followers, unless required by a quest and there is no way to avoid it.
I don't like followers. They just get in my way, attack when I don't want them to, make inappropriate comments at inappropriate times, etc.
No and not because it is cheating but because they are a liability.
I always have followers along with me, though none of them are what one might call.. "default". They're heavily tweaked through follower mods, and carrying scripted items of my own making. They never seem to do those annoying things that people mention, except the random repetitive comments thing.
I hate followers and NO I don't think it's cheating. I'd really like to use one for some company but they get me killed every ... single ... time. They rush up starting chaos before I'm ready or even want to. Or they stand in your way or you hit them with arrows/magic on accident. The list goes on and on. I tried a DiD game thinking a follower might be handy to have because I was attempting a squishy mage. Yep, follower got me killed by taking on a bunch of bandits that I didn't want to wake up.
The only follower I ever used with success was Vilja in Oblivion. Never got to try her in Skyrim because that game was on xbox.
How is using a naturally implemented gameplay mechanic considered "cheating"? Having the extra help can come in handy through the 20-30 levels. The downside is you have to babysit followers through dungeon traps in the regular game, so it balances out in a way. I hardly consider that cheating. If you have more than one humanoid follower (not including missions) using mods, then maybe, but not "cheating" IMO otherwise. Even so, if one cheats in their single player game, it's up to them; their game. I do use AFO, but unfortunately turning off the options to avoid traps or to disable the combat boosters doesn't seem to be working. it is an older mod that hasn't been updated since the newer official patches
It seems that when I sidestep, my follower sidesteps right along with me. I've even had Lydia move right when I do, then immediately move left when I try that way. It's almost as if she wants to die
I tend to send them ahead as a diversion while I either sneak around or pick enemies off from a distance.
Great point!
If I do run an unmodded Dragonborn character, I always take Lydia with me to High Hrothgar. She does make a nice meat sponge and helps raise my restoration skill