Every so often, members will “cheat” in FF. Usually this is by illegally having more than one stable, though this can occur in other ways as well.
(Note: This hopefully won’t happen very much in the future, since my joining script does perform some checks against this, but it is possible to get around them, sadly…computers aren’t perfect )
Usually when I discover this, I just delete the extra stables, and leave the original stable intact…however, unless the newer stables have some very nice horses, this doesn’t really affect the cheating member very much.
So…what do you guys think is a fair punishment for having more than one stable illegally?
In other games I’ve been in… if a member is caught cheating by having 2 accounts… to gain more horses & or money… they are usually kicked out of the game… and not allowed to return…
Well, I feel that banning a person who is caught cheating would be fair. In my opinion, this game does not need people who are dishonest or are trying to undermine this great game in any way. If I were you Shanthi, I’d take a firm stance on this, just to make it clear that you will not tolerate any cheating whatsoever. But, whatever you decide, I’m sure everyone will stand behind your decision.
I think I agree with that, but maybe not for life, maybe a few months for penalty and you can take some horses/money away. If there is a second offence (some people are that dumb) you can ban them for good maybe. I just think that even if someone is cheating, which is wrong, the person should be given one more chance to come back and play it right, though not without penalities and a hurting bank account.
I do think that, for the most part, people should be given a chance to redeem themselves. So, yeah, ban them the first time for 3 to 6 months, and then if they just come back to try the same thing, ban them permanently. That seems pretty lenient to me. The game seems to be getting a lot of interest anyway, so with the limited membership I feel we really only should allow people who are honest and general good sports about things.
Well, what I think is maybe you could ban them for like 2 months. Then you could take all of their horses away. Lastly you could either do one of the following things with their bank account.
If they have over the starting amount of money you could reset them back to it.
If they’re under the limit then you could fine them like 10k for 1st offence 30k for second.
I’m inclined to ban them for a predetermined amount of time, as this will give them time to actually read the rules, understand the gravity of their offense, and possibly mature (because I’d like to think they’ll achieve the understanding that this is a game, and if you go bankrupt Shanthi is not going to be knocking on your door). If they want to return after a set time period, as a complete newbie (much like Jason–new stable, new name, new budget, newbie starter horses), that would be acceptable.
I think there needs to be a protocall set down to ensure that people who use the same computer (parent/child, siblings, Cat/Goldfish, etc.) aren’t penalized, but there should be some checks to make sure that the stables are functioning independently of each other, even if the IP address is the same.
Delete both stables and disperse horses if applicable, give them a month off, and then allow them to return( or join the waiting list) , and start from scratch again with a brand new stable.
This might seem harsh but cheating affects everyone. Every horse a duplicate stable has, could have gone to another stable, possibly a new stable that needed it.
If you have a nice horse in either stable, then the risk of cheating is hopefully higher than the rush/pleasure you get from it.
My mom and I use the same computers (our household is electronic freaks, so theres more than 1 lol) She doesn’t check her stable nearly as often as I do, but I hope we don’t get penalized for being in the same household. :?
No…I did think about setting things up so that you needed separate computers to play, but that’s not overly realistic. Provided I know about the situation, and it doesn’t seem to be an obvious lie, I’m not going to penalize anyone - though I will keep an eye on both stables to make sure that they aren’t “bending the rules”, so to speak (i.e. selling horses ONLY to each other, handing each other free stuff left and right, basically giving each other perks that they wouldn’t ordinarily do for other members…a few because you know each other is one thing, but if it gets to the point of trading a MSW back and forth every 6 months so that each stable can boost their bank account, that’s a bit much.)
Luckily, the true cheaters make it pretty obvious - members who have 2 stables and are NOT mother/daughter, sibling/sibling, etc, and have just been one person playing 2 stables usually aren’t smart enough to pick new passwords or e-mail addresses to join, so it’s fairly obvious that it’s one person running 2 barns, not 2 separate people.)
I am leaning towards:
Delete both stables
Ban the person for 3-6 months, depending on how “severe” the cheating was
Let them start as a completely new stable after the ban is over
I agree , the other games i belong to follow along the same lines, if you cheat you pay. most are like MSF said delete them disperse the horses and ban them, either for a set amount of time or permanantly.
We join this to have fun and to live vicariously through our fake horses (those of us that cant have real ones) and to have some one ruin it because they cheat is just plain wrong. No two ways about it!!!
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The game seems to be getting a lot of interest anyway, so with the limited membership I feel we really only should allow people who are honest and general good sports about things.