Conquer Club

I have never seen a site with so much cheating going on. I think this is a direct result of the weak punishments handed out.

Multi's can re-gain membership by paying again, and can do so as many times as they like.
Players engaging in secret alliances are punished (if you can call it that) by being blocked from playing with each other. Whoopy doo!!!
What they can do is create new logons and continue to aid each other with the secondary or multi logons.

If people cheat to gain an advantage then they should be punished properly.

It should be made clear that a multi has one chance only to rejoin. If they repeat an offense then they should be banned permanently. IP numbers (and mac addresses) should be logged and anyone found to have joined after a second offense should have their account deleted if they re-join.

Secret alliances should be punished with a block and score reset. Any repeat offense results in the above punishment.

I play on a multitude of game sites and several have a no tolerance policy and ban at the first offense. So CC has a long way to go.

thank you.

PS. On one site it was found that most of those who were against such strong actions were later to found to have been cheating themselves.

yeah and...why are the points not returned after the cheat has been busted?

Well lookie here! Higher ranked people bitching... There's a shock!

Redfelt wrote:yeah and...why are the points not returned after the cheat has been busted?

it screws with the database.

that adjustment would alter the points gained/lost by everyone who played the people in that game. then it would alter the points gained/lost by all the people who played all the people who played the people in that game. then it would alter the points gained /lost by all the people who played all the people who played .........

you see, it screws with the database.

Anarkistsdream wrote:Well lookie here! Higher ranked people bitching... There's a shock!

but they hav a point, im low ranked (really low ranked) but i agree, ppl who cheat should be banned b/c all they r doing is sucking the fun out of everything

Anarkistsdream wrote:Well lookie here! Higher ranked people bitching... There's a shock!

A major is high ranked??

What does it matter what rank a player is? If anything high ranked premium players have the greatest reason to complain because they pay money and work hard to maintain their rank (assuming they themselves do not cheat).

Since everything is *already* in a database, it would be really simple to write a few database tools that would enable the owners of this site to proactively identify the guys that are most likely cheating -- instead of waiting for people to come forward with reports. I know that they run checks on IP's and catch a great number of multis each month, but judging from the many reports of prolonged abuse that I've seen in this forum, I have to say that that their non-IP checks are woefully inadequate.

An ad-hoc group should be formed to address these cheating issues.

As I said at the start its not the number that are caught, the mods are doinf a good job with that, but the punishments handed out. I see no reason why anyone caught with their hand in the cookie jar should not get more serve punishments.

Some have got on the forums after being busted and openly boasted that they will continue cheating.

It's not just a problem with this site. I also play chess and anyone cheating or abusing someone or breaking the terms and conditions is instantly banned. If they start another account and it is found they are banned again.

And as for higher rank players complaining!!!! What does it matter who complains a cheat is cheat

My thanks to buddha00man and Greenoaks avatar's for making this thread readable.

delboy01 wrote:Secret alliances should be punished with a block and score reset. Any repeat offense results in the above punishment.

what if theyre a cook with a score of 1 - then they would be able to be a private without doing any thing apart from cheat - that could encourage cheating for the thick people

TheTrust wrote:I agree with the issues with cheating however your solution really makes it tough for players who play from caffees/libraries/other shared areas.

me and a friend play in a library - i want him to get into CC but the only way for him to get into it is if i force him lol - but i play at home and in the library

oh yes, delboy, there are lots of problems with catching the cheaters. File a few cheating reports & you will see what I mean. The people that are doing so are becoming disenchanted with the situation here. And when you find the cheaters & realize how much they have gotten away with before someone files a report, one just has to wonder what steps the owner of this company is doing to safeguard this playing environment, aside from running IP checks.

It is a company & it seems to be making a healthy profit. Based on the Scoreboard, I'm guesstimating that there are about 10,000 active premium players, who pay $25 per year. That's a cool $250,000. Then add in those that join up, but then drop out - maybe 20% (2,000 more premiums), which would bring in another $50,000. So, with about $300,000 coming in each year, and little overhead, I guess the goal has become to keep people playing.

And, so long as there's not a huge outcry to hand out stiffer punishments, I guess it just makes more business sense to hand out light punishments in order to keep people playing & renewing their memberships.

delboy01 wrote:I have never seen a site with so much cheating going on.
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PS. On one site it was found that most of those who were against such strong actions were later to found to have been cheating themselves.

Wait a second......

BaldAdonis wrote:

delboy01 wrote:I have never seen a site with so much cheating going on.
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.
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PS. On one site it was found that most of those who were against such strong actions were later to found to have been cheating themselves.

Wait a second......

Why'd you have to go and point out the albatross?

Redfelt wrote:yeah and...why are the points not returned after the cheat has been busted?

Its because it would be like small claims court, and would take a million man hours to sort through where points should be allocated, which were cheated, which werent, etc.

If you cant have fun playing this game, and occasionally lose a few points to a few punks looking to have some fun, you may want to broaden your view of fun. There will always be cheaters. In every aspect of life. There is no stopping all of them. Never. Its as simple as that.

The problem with enforcing cheating on this particular game, is that many of the instances of cheating, are simply hard to prove. Any secret alliance, except in the extreme case, is always subject to a benefit of doubt. Most can reasonably assume which cases are bona-fide alliances, but still, it is just not able to be proven, which is why punishments for those cannot be too strict. Its much better to let a few cheats have their way, than punish one innocent player for just having fun, and playing a fair game.

The feedback is there to warn players of players that continually play suspicious.

As far as multies are concerned, those cases are easier to prove, but still impossible to prove every single case. Lack is a very easy going guy. He believes in an open atmosphere. He is not setting these policies up based on profit margin, but providing the most fun atmosphere for the greatest number of players. Ive been here a while, and I know this for a fact. View the policies from this point of view, and you may not be so harsh to judge.

Your percieved leniency that they may show, and I disagree is there, is not some business plan to generate cash flow, its a general approach to setting up a self regulated, open, community based game, with as little management interaction as possible. Its simply his wish, and the wish of the decision makers of the game to set it up this way. He and they do not want a corporate structure with unwavering policies, and no personal touch. Every decision and policy shows this.

There are some disadvantages for some. Some forum posts will offend some players, some cheaters will steal games, and other players will ruin games in countless ways, but overall, the atmosphere of the game, is an open community, which can have a blast playing some fun fair games, without much interference from a corporate faceless giant who only cares about profit.

Ive played thousands of these, and certainly have lost my number of games to cheaters, but the percentage of those games is so small, I simply wont concern myself with them too much. I notify everyone of possible cheating, and move on to play other fun players. Cheaters are already punished. They lack integrity, honesty, and character, to the point that they will circumvent rules in a game with little army numbers, and fake dice to add a few extra numbers next to their made up name, with a different symbol next to it. If they want to sell their soul and self respect for these things, thats fine with me, but Im not going to let it ruin my experience, and I will laugh at every one of them knowing full well, that they inherently are paying a price every time they do it.

My point is, dont blame the site, blame the cheaters. And this site works very hard, and puts in many hours to stop cheating. They hate that their players are robbed of fun every time a cheater steals some points. But I suggest that you report cheaters, and ignore the lost points, and join another game that will be fun, and will probably have some great people and players in it...

wow im not even gonna bother reading that up there^^^

Spin it as you like, but all I have seen is how company management has been discouraging the reporting of cheaters, unless the cheating occurs in one's personal game. If you present a cheat report of cheating not involved in your game, it gets ignored. For example, I filed a report a month ago on a multi that was clearly cheating, but that thread has been ignored. A second example: Ooga Booga caught a pair of cheaters, yet his thread was ignored for 3 weeks & 80 posts as the cheaters and their cohorts trashed him. A third example: Johnnyrocket filed a report that has been ignored for 3 weeks & 30 posts. Ignoring the reports shows that management is not all that concerned about stopping the cheating & is acting in a manner to discourage self-appointed hunters from continuing their efforts to root out the cheating.

Ooga's case is the most telling. Management initially tried to brush it off and cleared the cheaters, even though Ooga had presented 25 games in which they had been cheating. It wasn't until half-a-dozen people had taken up the fight to reverse that shocking ruling & several people were openly stating that it was a CC conspiracy, that they finally relented and instituted a block on the cheaters. Yet, Ooga's question of why they only got a block for committing more cheating than he did (while he got a score reset for his self-admitted cheating in another thread) has yet to be answered. Two weeks ago management said they would talk about about a possible reset, but it appears they have begun to ignore that thread again.

Limiting this judicial review to the people that experience cheating in their personal games hides the full scope of the cheating and lets the cheating, which can't be caught through IP checks, continue virtually unabated. The problem is that in our personal games, we are all like the 3 blind men & the elephant. We don't realize it is a cheating elephant because we don't have the perspective to see the 'big picture.' So, cheating here may be a common occurrence, but we will never know for certain, unless management does more to stop it.

Back in the Ooga thread, one of the mods showed his irritation and lashed out at Ooga for reporting on something that he wasn't involved in. I didn't understand the rationale for comment at the time. But I do now - Businesses are in business to make money & driving away the cheaters reduces profits. And so long as we are 'blind' in our personal games, we are all blind to the full extent of the cheating and remain happy customers. And by only getting blocked, in the unlikely that they are caught, the cheaters remain happy customers as well.

T.

Actually, catching cheaters is in the best interest of the site's finances. When someone gets busted they must pay the $25 to reactivate the account. If one of the accounts had previously been a premium member, they are not refunded any money. Thus, CC makes money for whatever the prorated value is on any premium accounts that are cheating.

Then why are so many cheating reports languishing unattended?

cheaters are being caught at a healthy rate. don't just look at the reports made, the multi hunters also check on their own and catch cheats.
but as the original poster said the punishments are way too lenient as for permitting a cheat to buy his way back in the game that's simply absurd.

multis should be banned on the spot with no chance of coming back. ever.

They run IP checks and have caught about 1500 multis since the beginning of the year. If they didn't run those checks, the place would be overrun with cheaters. But I ask you, how do you know that teams of cheaters are being caught at a healthy rate? (those that aren't the same person running multiple accounts from same computer) Johnnyrocket just had to bump his report up from 2nd page a 2nd time. I've already bumped mine from 2nd page twice.

Some cases take longer to investigate and some have to linger to build evidence. We want to be as sure as we possibly can before passing judgment to avoid mistakes. Just because it slipped to page 2 doesn't mean it has been forgotten.