In the pantheon of video game tropes, few are as universally understood as the Zombie Rush. Whether you are defending a barricade in Left 4 Dead , farming materials in 7 Days to Die , or surviving the late-game waves in Call of Duty: Zombies , the formula is simple: endless hordes, limited ammo, and the primal panic of being overrun.

Human reflexes can only handle so much. After wave 30, the human hand begins to cramp. The eyes blur. You miss a reload by half a second, and it’s game over.

Similarly, in survival crafting games like Project Zomboid (which has a massive scripting/modding scene), players use "Rush Scripts" to herd zombies. The script doesn't kill the zombies; it just plays a specific frequency of footsteps to guide the horde away from your base. It turns the zombie AI against itself. Perhaps the most fascinating evolution is the "Spectator Script." In many zombie games, if a player dies, they become a ghost or a spectator. Savvy players have begun running scripts on secondary accounts that do nothing but watch the game’s memory.

But when you install a script, that fear vanishes. You don't panic when the horde breaks through the window, because your script already swapped to your pistol and landed three headshots before you consciously registered the glass breaking.

But is using a script to manage a tedious mechanic really cheating?