what do you do about cheaters?
Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:02 am
Check out the scores and win total for the Whack a Ghost challenge that just ended at 2 PM NST, 4 wins with the highest posted score of 167? It seems pretty darn obvious that the person was either sending from 2 computers and accounts, or conspiring with the friend who posted scores of 10, 11, 9, etc and gave him/her every win.
Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:25 am
If it is one person logging in on two different accounts on the same computer, TNT will freeze them quickly.
Unfortunately group efforts in WC, while a bit unethical, is almost impossible to prove / enforce those who only do so casually. There are even people who are 'official losers' for thier friends or guilds. Most suspicious activities are noted, and abusers of the system have been frozen. People who appear to get payments for such activities are also frozen, but TNT are only human and cannot catch everything.
Many people see no ethical problems with 'bumping' a WC to make the player count above 5 for the hour or 'fluffing' thier friends score up a notch with a low score. I personally see nothing wrong with requesting a game bump from friends or on the boards.
The best solution on a personal level is to note the patterns of abusers and take the low score match ups for yourself.
Unfortunately group efforts in WC, while a bit unethical, is almost impossible to prove / enforce those who only do so casually. There are even people who are 'official losers' for thier friends or guilds. Most suspicious activities are noted, and abusers of the system have been frozen. People who appear to get payments for such activities are also frozen, but TNT are only human and cannot catch everything.
Many people see no ethical problems with 'bumping' a WC to make the player count above 5 for the hour or 'fluffing' thier friends score up a notch with a low score. I personally see nothing wrong with requesting a game bump from friends or on the boards.
The best solution on a personal level is to note the patterns of abusers and take the low score match ups for yourself.
Last edited by stampsyne on Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:27 am
As far as I know, that is not considered cheating - a little unfair but not cheating.
Myself and many others advertise on the boards for more players, most will send small scores so you can win.
Also I don't think it is possible to play on 2 accounts and get both of those scores matched up.
I have done that myself - some 'offical losers' may send in over 20 low scores, these carry over into the next hour and are easy wins for anyone quick enough to notice this.
Myself and many others advertise on the boards for more players, most will send small scores so you can win.
Also I don't think it is possible to play on 2 accounts and get both of those scores matched up.
The best solution on a personal level is to note the patterns of abusers and take the low score match ups for yourself.
I have done that myself - some 'offical losers' may send in over 20 low scores, these carry over into the next hour and are easy wins for anyone quick enough to notice this.
Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:32 am
Yes, scores sent on different accounts with the same ISP will not match up with each other.
Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:47 am
I just spent over an hour playing my best WC game (it takes that long to reach the highest score that won't trigger a review) and had it closed down by an IE error screen. Yaaaaaargh!! Anyway, there's a message on each WC world page that sort of addresses this topic:
"A limited set of the most popular games in this world and a random game for the day (if there is one) are available. This prevents teams from ganging up on unpopular games to get the incredibly valuable prizes from this contest with no effort."
I thought that there were minimum score requirements to discourage this sort of thing but it seems that in the case of Whack a Ghost the minimum is too low or nonexistent.
"A limited set of the most popular games in this world and a random game for the day (if there is one) are available. This prevents teams from ganging up on unpopular games to get the incredibly valuable prizes from this contest with no effort."
I thought that there were minimum score requirements to discourage this sort of thing but it seems that in the case of Whack a Ghost the minimum is too low or nonexistent.
Sun Feb 11, 2007 4:46 pm
I can't send in a low score for my best WC game. On the times I've tried, I get a red-text box saying the score is too low for the WC. And it's not really a "low" score, there is almost always a score or 2 lower than that on the WC board. I think they must set the minimum different for each player.
Anyone else see this? Sometimes I sure would like to add a 5th player to the list at x:50 so I can play the next hour on a clean board.
Anyone else see this? Sometimes I sure would like to add a 5th player to the list at x:50 so I can play the next hour on a clean board.