It's not exactly 'cheating', but I wouldn't call playing KSP exclusively on MJ 'playing' either. It's inciteful to see it performing the more complicated maneuvers, and it's infinitely more accurate when docking/landing than I ever will. However, using it to get to everywhere; launch, rendezvous and landing, just never gets that sense of satisfaction of 'I did it' that you can with sheer manual control. It's probably better off learning how to drive manual before automatic (yes, like a car =P), in the case that MJ goes nuts (which it inevitably will), so you can correct the ridiculous spin that RoboJeb made and make sure that poor flesh and bone Jeb doesn't fly straight into the nearest solar orbit. I love MechJeb. It can dock and launch my mega-rockets all day, but in the end it's still a crutch. Does that make it cheating? No. But it isn't good sportsmanship to use it for everything that you can do yourself.