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Molly · 10-27-2004, 05:47 PM

Cheating is a subject that pops up at regular intervals. We all know that certain players cheat or abuse bugs. There may be some disagreement about how big that percentage is of the entire player-base, but I think we all agree that some players do it, when given half a chance. And we all have our different methods of discouraging it or minimising it. I bet we’d all like a method to stop it completely, but as far as I know there isn’t any.

We may take all the precautions we can think of to prevent cheating and bug-abusing, we may check and double-check every new piece of code, every quest script and every new zone that gets added to the game. But some things will still slip past the controls, and when they do, sooner or later someone is going to find out and abuse them. We may call ourselves ‘immortals’, but the sad fact is that we are only human. Mistakes happen. Almost every system can be abused. And nothing, whatever we do, can ever stop the ‘blabbing’, the sharing of knowledge between players.

Anyhow, this thread is not really about cheating, it is about ALLEGED cheating. I guess you are all familiar with the situation of one player (or group of players) accusing another (single player or group) of cheating. And they in turn of course throw the accusations right back. There are times when you strongly suspect that the allegations are true. For instance when one player solves a pretty hard quest that only few have completed in a long time, and a week later half the members of his/her Clan has the Quest item too. Or when one player is pointed out by several independent sources. Or when the player who is pointed out has been caught with their fingers in the jam-pot before.

But still, you have no proof. No solid proof. Just accusations, which could just as well be malicious lies, or part of the power-play between rivalling groups, or – in some cases – a genuine misunderstanding. It’s basically often one player’s word against another’s.

So what do you do? Do you believe the player that you trust and like over the one that you think is a total jerk? Do you try to verify the allegations, and if so, with what methods? Or do you just shrug it off, and tell the informers not to bother you with accusations, unless they have rock solid proof?

I have a pretty recent example in my Mud, where a known jerk accused our most trusted and hardworking imm of creating a low level mob with beefed up exp points, and then loading this mob for their mort to level on. He claims that he killed the mob himself in two hits, after having killed the imm’s mort, and that it gave him 8000K exp. Cute.

Luckily this case was easy for me to write off as pure BS. What he said happened could not have happened. Years ago we got tired of having to check every mob in a new zone thoroughly, just because a few immature and dishonest builders thought it was a good idea to try the above scam. So we now have a code where the vital stats of the mob, (like hitpoints, mana, gold and exp) all are set by the code, based on the level and tier of the mob. You can set any amount you like in the OLC, it may even look as if the amount you wrote in is there when you stat the mob, but once it is in the game, (whether it was loaded or changed on line) the code kicks in, and overrides whatever number you put there. I understand it is a pretty simple code precaution to make, and I strongly recommend it to any developing mud that has a set of inexperienced or in other ways unpredictable builders. It is good for the general balance too. Builders should not be able to set values at a whim.

But back to the situation in hand. I took the time to explain to the player, in detail, why and how the situation he described could never have occurred, since the code effectively prevents it.

In that situation most players would back off and apologise. But not this particular jerk. He says; ‘Since when?’ Implying, I guess, that the Coder - or perhaps myself – made the code change after the event, just to protect our imm. At that stage I admit to losing my temper and putting Coventry on him. Usually I’m pretty patient even with jerks in the name of free speech, but there are limits. I am not going to accept some moron spreading malicious lies about a valued staff member.

Still, this situation is not representative. Usually you are left with a suspicion or just a nagging uncertainty in your mind. There have been times in the past when I have defended a staff member against an accusation from a jerk player, and then later found out that the jerk was right – the imm in question really WAS a bad egg. The solution was easy in these cases too. Cheating players you may have to live with. Cheating imms are totally unacceptable. They don’t even get a warning. One offence and they are history.

But then again, that means one PROVEN offence. And that still leaves the original question. How do you guys handle the situations when you are not sure? When you have tried to investigate the accusations, and there still is nothing to go by but word against word?

10-27-2004, 05:47 PM	#1
Molly Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Sweden Home MUD: 4 Dimensions Posts: 574	Cheating is a subject that pops up at regular intervals. We all know that certain players cheat or abuse bugs. There may be some disagreement about how big that percentage is of the entire player-base, but I think we all agree that some players do it, when given half a chance. And we all have our different methods of discouraging it or minimising it. I bet we’d all like a method to stop it completely, but as far as I know there isn’t any. We may take all the precautions we can think of to prevent cheating and bug-abusing, we may check and double-check every new piece of code, every quest script and every new zone that gets added to the game. But some things will still slip past the controls, and when they do, sooner or later someone is going to find out and abuse them. We may call ourselves ‘immortals’, but the sad fact is that we are only human. Mistakes happen. Almost every system can be abused. And nothing, whatever we do, can ever stop the ‘blabbing’, the sharing of knowledge between players. Anyhow, this thread is not really about cheating, it is about ALLEGED cheating. I guess you are all familiar with the situation of one player (or group of players) accusing another (single player or group) of cheating. And they in turn of course throw the accusations right back. There are times when you strongly suspect that the allegations are true. For instance when one player solves a pretty hard quest that only few have completed in a long time, and a week later half the members of his/her Clan has the Quest item too. Or when one player is pointed out by several independent sources. Or when the player who is pointed out has been caught with their fingers in the jam-pot before. But still, you have no proof. No solid proof. Just accusations, which could just as well be malicious lies, or part of the power-play between rivalling groups, or – in some cases – a genuine misunderstanding. It’s basically often one player’s word against another’s. So what do you do? Do you believe the player that you trust and like over the one that you think is a total jerk? Do you try to verify the allegations, and if so, with what methods? Or do you just shrug it off, and tell the informers not to bother you with accusations, unless they have rock solid proof? I have a pretty recent example in my Mud, where a known jerk accused our most trusted and hardworking imm of creating a low level mob with beefed up exp points, and then loading this mob for their mort to level on. He claims that he killed the mob himself in two hits, after having killed the imm’s mort, and that it gave him 8000K exp. Cute. Luckily this case was easy for me to write off as pure BS. What he said happened could not have happened. Years ago we got tired of having to check every mob in a new zone thoroughly, just because a few immature and dishonest builders thought it was a good idea to try the above scam. So we now have a code where the vital stats of the mob, (like hitpoints, mana, gold and exp) all are set by the code, based on the level and tier of the mob. You can set any amount you like in the OLC, it may even look as if the amount you wrote in is there when you stat the mob, but once it is in the game, (whether it was loaded or changed on line) the code kicks in, and overrides whatever number you put there. I understand it is a pretty simple code precaution to make, and I strongly recommend it to any developing mud that has a set of inexperienced or in other ways unpredictable builders. It is good for the general balance too. Builders should not be able to set values at a whim. But back to the situation in hand. I took the time to explain to the player, in detail, why and how the situation he described could never have occurred, since the code effectively prevents it. In that situation most players would back off and apologise. But not this particular jerk. He says; ‘Since when?’ Implying, I guess, that the Coder - or perhaps myself – made the code change after the event, just to protect our imm. At that stage I admit to losing my temper and putting Coventry on him. Usually I’m pretty patient even with jerks in the name of free speech, but there are limits. I am not going to accept some moron spreading malicious lies about a valued staff member. Still, this situation is not representative. Usually you are left with a suspicion or just a nagging uncertainty in your mind. There have been times in the past when I have defended a staff member against an accusation from a jerk player, and then later found out that the jerk was right – the imm in question really WAS a bad egg. The solution was easy in these cases too. Cheating players you may have to live with. Cheating imms are totally unacceptable. They don’t even get a warning. One offence and they are history. But then again, that means one PROVEN offence. And that still leaves the original question. How do you guys handle the situations when you are not sure? When you have tried to investigate the accusations, and there still is nothing to go by but word against word?