Okay, I'm dragging out the dictionary for this one:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheat
transitive verb
1
: to deprive of something valuable by the use of deceit or fraud
(Nope, this one doesn't apply to the concept of "PRNG abuse.")
2
: to influence or lead by deceit, trick, or artifice
(This one doesn't seem to apply, either.)
3
: to elude or thwart by or as if by outwitting <
cheat death>
(Cheating the RNG, maybe? Well, you're not exactly avoiding the RNG; in fact, you're letting it do whatever it wants once it's setup to your desires. Wait, that sounds like outwitting it...)
intransitive verb
1 a
: to practice fraud or trickery
(This seems subjective. Perhaps you're deceiving the RNG?)
1 b
: to violate rules dishonestly <
cheat at cards> <
cheating on a test>
(This one's really subjective. Whether "PRNG abuse" is cheating on this level depends on your rule set or your perception of the game's rule set.)
2
: to be sexually unfaithful —usually used with
on<was
cheating on his wife>
(No way this one applies.)
3
: to position oneself defensively near a particular area in anticipation of a play in that area <the shortstop was
cheating toward second base>
(Not this one, either.)
Well, that doesn't clear anything up. You could still argue either way.
However, this premise makes the most sense to me:
To say that it's cheating is to say that you can do something and it's not cheating, but if you do the exact same thing except with knowledge of what you're doing, it suddenly is cheating. That doesn't seem like a consistent definition of cheating.
I'm trying to think of an instance where not knowing what you're doing is not cheating, but knowing what you're doing IS cheating--and I'm failing miserably...
Seriously, you manipulate the PRNG during normal gameplay without knowing exactly what you're doing and that's not cheating. However, when you manipulate the PRNG during "PRNG abuse" knowing exactly what you're doing, NOW it becomes cheating? How does that work?
'Oh, but both an Action Replay and the RNG Reporter do the majority of the work.'
You don't NEED the RNG Reporter. You ABSOLUTELY NEED the Action Replay. Without the Action Replay, there's no Action Replay abuse. Without the RNG Reporter, "PRNG abuse" CAN be done, but it would take a hell of a lot longer to do. Instead of a bunch of calculators in one handy program, you might need a bunch of calculators from several different programs; are they all external devices? Are the formulas they are calculating external devices? It's also possible, though impractical, to do it all by hand; is your brain an external device? Are the formulas you're doing by hand external devices?
Again, I fail to see how a bunch of formulas can be equated with specialized hardware in this manner.