Posted by wronoj on 12/17/2020 1:58:00 PM (view original):
I am in the same world as a couple of people I know in real life (down to 2 from 6-7 at one time). If we shared scouting info by email, that would be far more damaging than me having two teams in the same world, but far from each other. And it would be 100% untrackable. There are probably 50 other ways we could collude, if we wanted to, that WiS couldn't track.
It's impossible to stop cheating on here, if people want to do it.
Yes & No...
1st) No one cares if 6-7 friends are helping each other game plan, and vying for a championship. You guys are investing more than you're taking out, and there's no real money to be made by you all investing $12.95 a season to potentially get a $25 gift card for Amazon IF you win a championship... Sure, it's still cheating and I frown upon that level of bending of the rules, but it's less crippling to the game. This happens naturally when vets make super conferences anyways. They may not be sharing information, but they're all bouncing off each other, and soaking recruits up in a large area. The knowledge, skill and level of experience makes it impossible for new players to succeed regardless of collusion or not.
2nd) Its much more of a problem, when people are creating duplicate accounts, getting discounts on seasons (or using free seasons) to stack the odds in their favor.... Team jumping, scouting for their main team...etc is more crippling to the game, because it effects everyone over the course of the game, and not the same group of friends who took over recruiting in an area of the map.
3rd) There are ways to track it... We all saw (or most of us) saw Sportsbulls get a warning for signing a bunch of crappy players on purpose to screw with AB90. They went in and could tell to what level the recruits were recruited to, and felt it went against the fair play guidelines. If people saw the same 6-7 people on recruits, and sensed something fishy, it could be reported and looked into....
4th) There will always be cheaters... The answer isn't just "Forget it, if people want to do it, they will"... The idea should be making this game as fair as possible and ensuring the integrity of the game is preserved. Thats the goal...
The real solution, could be as simple as removing the incentive for people to cheat... Stop giving so many credits for teams that don't win. Discourage random team jumping, and encourage guys stick around and build championship caliber teams... No one is spending $12.95 on 2-3 accounts to maybe win $25 in Amazon Giftcards lol.... For those that don't recognize this, there are several players that play ONLY for the chance at Reward Points to get Gift Cards... It's the main monetary incentive for people cheating, and abusing the system.
Again -- We have new people in charge here... Adam has been more vocal than any other admin I've ever seen in 17 years on this site. Perhaps they'll take charge, and make a long lasting impact. I can tell you that I've been largely impressed with his responses and efforts to bring this game back from near extinction, but I still need to see actions before I get ahead of myself. If we're all theory crafting here, then I'm going to provide 2 cents to the theory craft. If we start seeing more active admins, and actual differences being made that impose penalties and enforce rules consistently and effectively, maybe nothing needs to be done at alll... Time will tell.
12/17/2020 2:37 PM (edited)