This topic came to me out of the blue and I wondered how many of you, if any, thought or was going through something similar.

When you have priviledged knowledge of cheating staff or admin, how do you cope as a player? Do you cheat along, do you complain? Do you relocate? Do you silently watch?

I myself have witnessed admin of a game cheat, rampantly at that - no finesse to it, no guile. And unfortunately, I went along for the ride, which is not the noble path, but it was the path I took at the time, not sure why in hindsight, but bleh.

How would you...or have you handled a similar situation?

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any staff that abuses his or her powers should be removed from the game itself and if its the owner's that abuse that power then i would leave the mud completely. I have no respect for people that cheat or abuse there powers in a mud.

I go along the lines of, you do what you think is best, bet its all you can do in the long run. Dont play, relocate, do whatever, but whatever you do, dont let it traumatize you a moment longer than it has to. MHO *shrugs*

If an admin (not owner) cheats, I think the answer is simple. You report them to the owner. It is difficult to do because it may alienate a friend or even get yourself removed from the mud (if the cheating is more widespread). But when it comes down to it, all you have are your own personal values and ethics.

I have also been in a situation in a game that I no longer play where an immortal loaded some gold for my character and gave it to me. Now at the time, I was unaware that it was cheating to give me this gold. However, in retrospect, I think I should have reported them. They were caught anyways a week or two later.

Cheating is not an easy situation to deal with but it is a reality in every single mud out there and will have to be dealt with by the controlling powers of the mud at some point. It is not acceptable for the staff nor for the players and I firmly believe the staff sets the example for the players and if they cheat, they are basically saying to the playerbase to go ahead and cheat.

Situations where cheating is suspected are oftentimes not easy to judge. Eventually, the owners will have to deal with it and the way that they do deal with it reveals a ton about their personal character and for me whether I would want to remain on the game.

Ytrewtsu

TopMudSites.

As an owner, I can say that the only way to deal with cheating Immortals is to terminate them. Sadly, many owners cheat themselves, and so either perpetuate hypocrisy or so skew the line of ethical actions that there is no benefit to playing their game.

If you're a player and find a cheating Imm, there should be some solitude in knowing that if you report them they will be terminated or reprimanded. Would that this were a law instead of a hope....

If the staff cheats, complain. Complain long and hard, and if nothing is done, relocate to a new mud.

You have nothing to gain by watching someone cheat: only your own fun is at stake, and isn't that what the game is for?

Me? Eh..depends. I'd report if they weren't caught first...but I'd try to be anonymous. If I'm not able to be anonymous then I'd probably delay for a while. But eventually I /would/ report, unless it were the owner. Then I'd either hope they came to their senses and stopped cheating or I'd leave.

If it's the owner cheating then I'd probably end up leaving a mud if I was a player. There's not a lot you can do if it's the owner, since they have the most pull.

Any other immortal I'd report, unless they're dating or sleeping with the owner. I'd hope the owner doesn't tolerate cheating, and if he does tolerate it I'd leave. If the imm is involved with the owner, it's going to be very hard to get the owner to fire them or force them to stop.

That is just too sad. If you think the owner is corrupt and cheesy enough to accept cheating from his girlfriend exclusively, or if you think you'd be punished for reporting a cheating imm - why would you even play a mud like that?

Why play a mud with a cheating owner/so or be afraid to report? You've been there a long time, you have many friends that are there, and you've just them found out there's people cheating. Personally I'd probably pack up and leave at that point, but not everyone is willing to give up what they worked for,especially if it's the first mud they played on and they'r really attached.

As for me, if they were dating or sleeping with the owner, I'd try to find out if they were cheating, and then leave if they were. I don't try to get owners to see another point of view when emotions or sex is involved.