• Re: i was on scrabble/2 ladder,but View
    by Flossie_SAfrica on June 22, 2002 at 13:43:18 PDT
  
  COMBAT!!! (you big_drunkard!!!!). Plllleeeeaaase come back and play with me again! I miss you, your sense of humour and the challenge!!! As you can see by all my losses (always out in the freezing cold!) I definitely dont cheat and those that do cant find it very rewarding winning!
  Pretty please!!!!
  Lots of Love (ooops regards! cos I seem to remember a big_drunkard wondering what love was! lol).
  Flossie
  

• Re: i was on scrabble/2 ladder,but View
    by Sandy037 on June 21, 2002 at 19:32:42 PDT
  
  : i left for many reasons
  : HH hit on some nerves as to why,
  : here it is hard to tell who is cheating..
  : and yes there are many programs that can help
  : cheaters get an edge..
  : i was combat325 and my record of 41 wins 450 losses can clearly show that i never cheated..
  : hh members that don't read the forum, also do not read ladder rules.
  : i recall being in the lobby, there was 18 people
  : in the lobby,16 were in games that were in progress..
  : 1 other player was listed as looking,
  : this player was in the top ten,
  : i asked for a game(a valid challenge)
  : and this player responded by saying
  : ''oh i'm looking for a -up- game''then stated the players(all top 5 players) that they wanted to play..
  : so this player sat there as did i for 5-10 minutes till one of the top 5 came in.
  : then started a game with this player..
  : READ LADDER RULES--on challenges,ect..
  : ''it is illegal to descriminate a player because of rank''or deny a player a game because of rank..
  : it also states FIRST COME FIRST SERVE
  : you could read on, and see what this player did was wrong...
  : so i made a complaint, and the player was warned..
  : WARNED! other ladders i've been on i've seen people get a week in the penalty box for that..
  : email me and i will tell you the players name..
  : there are other reasons as well why i withdrew from this ladder..
  : but just to let you know , there are players on other ladders that read this message forum..
  : in risk- there are cheat programs also,
  : but there are alot of ops in that game, even some ladder op managers are regular players..
  : but where there is a cheat program there is a cheat program detector, i m not sure how that works.
  : but ladder ops use it, usualy come in as new players or use another name, and they have caught a few people..
  : but of the higher ranked people you are a very nice person as well is flossie...
  : but i can not find any reason to return to this ladder, if i want a game with someone that is cheating, i can go to the standard scrabble/2 room for this..
  : and i don't realy like being treated rudely by these types of people..
  : i could name lots of names, but i 'm not going to do that..
  : but any way thank you and flossie for many great games, that were played out very well..
  : combat325 //not realy a big drunkard lol

  
  I do understand your frustration combat..believe me. I do know in playing you however you gave up way too early. I use to do that also. I tried to help you in many ways. I am far from an expert in this game but I do know that I have learned so much by playing on here which is why I offered to help you as much as I could. I believe that some people on here tend to accuse people of cheating when their games dont produce anything but rack after rack of vowels. I even tried to talk myself into believing that if I became a gold member or platinum member that I would get to #1 in a heartbeat. I may be a bit naive about the goings on here..but as I have said to a couple of different players here..the type of play and the excellence of play here is a far cry from sitting around the table with my mom and my brother. Since I have been playing on here..they dont sit around that table too often with me anymore telling me that I am not playing right..lol. Just my two cents...I hope you change your mind and come back!!! Sandy
  
  

I do believe that cheating and accusations of cheating, WHICH ARE NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE DISCUSSED IN THE FORUM, can engender bitter feelings. However, I think that the people who do complain about cheating here do so because we have never had a LadderOp who would enforce the rules against it. I know of at least two cases where evidence, albeit circumstantial, overwhelmingly points to the use of a search engine or other word finding device and, although these two people were exposed, they still play here and still win an extraordinary number of games, which some people find objectionable to the point where they would rather not play here.

If there is a solution, I do not know what it is. It saddens me, though, to see this venue so underused. I've met a number of "cool" fellow Scrabblers at this site and I hope to meet even more in the future, assuming it [the site] survives.

I'll encourage newcomers and I'll play whomever, whenever....and keep my fingers crossed.

• Re: Help! View
    by CyberWolf_001 on June 20, 2002 at 12:38:49 PDT
  
  You are right that most players throughout the gaming sites in general that belong to ladders don't even bother with the forums.

  I also do not agree with outright accusations of cheating just because someone plays a word others don't know. With some of the obscurity of the words the only thing we can say (unless someone admits they had help) is that they may or may not be cheating.

  As far as other rules infractions go, even ladder ops have a difficult time enforcing them. Being a former & first ladder op this ladder had
  I can personally attest to that. To penalize anyone you have to document it and keep doing that. There are others above the ladder ops who can and will overturn decisions especially if the player penalized complains loud enough, especially through the phone number they have for support. Other people who constantly do what they wish just quit the ladder and come back as another persona and start the process over again.

  Just to emphasize I don't even think its the amount of suspected cheating that goes on here that keeps the players away. Just take a look at version 1 for the proof there.they have had these same problems for years but still get 40-50 players in their ladder room every night.

  While the exclusion of the DA, VIN, VON etc list were in the right direction here they goofed with this version. Personally I feel maven is lopsided too often with tile distribution than the creators of the game are willing to admit. HOw many gamnes have you seen where one player has and 8-2 advantage over the other with power tiles? Another glitch noticable to many is the double tiles drawn. I can't tell you how mnay times in a single game I would end up with DDRRTTO and continue through the game with similar racks. The end game tile glitch is still here and we will never be able to hold our breath to get that fixed. I am sure I am missing quite a few more problems I have seen with the game but we also need to remember the amount of disconnects this version has from a game. I think the people who disconnect are in the minority still but have sene many arguments brew in the lobby from the mutual disconnections that happen and each player blaming the other.

  : You may be right, Flossie, but I don't think the Forum comments are driving away players, because most of the people who play tell me they NEVER read the Forum.

  : I do believe that cheating and accusations of cheating, WHICH ARE NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE DISCUSSED IN THE FORUM, can engender bitter feelings. However, I think that the people who do complain about cheating here do so because we have never had a LadderOp who would enforce the rules against it. I know of at least two cases where evidence, albeit circumstantial, overwhelmingly points to the use of a search engine or other word finding device and, although these two people were exposed, they still play here and still win an extraordinary number of games, which some people find objectionable to the point where they would rather not play here.

  : If there is a solution, I do not know what it is. It saddens me, though, to see this venue so underused. I've met a number of "cool" fellow Scrabblers at this site and I hope to meet even more in the future, assuming it [the site] survives.

  : I'll encourage newcomers and I'll play whomever, whenever....and keep my fingers crossed.

  
  

  • Re: Help! View
      by Flossie_SAfrica on June 20, 2002 at 14:18:51 PDT
    
    
    Ive never played in V1 so Im very curious to know why there are 40-50 players there and very few in V2. Im continuously trying to recruit from basic, but when we do get the one or two people to come into the room there is no one to help them along with joining. Its really sad...maybe its time to get the V1 CD!
    And Heavenly yes, there are great people that Ive played with in V2...but still lots of bickering!

    
    

    • Re: Help! View
        by CyberWolf_001 on June 20, 2002 at 17:50:42 PDT
      
      Myself, I simply play there just because of the ease of getting games. Most there have tried version 2 and are so used to version 1 they had trouble or just didn't want to make the change. Another reason they have more players there is because when the old Mplayer site shut, most of them migrated to version 1 since it did not require buying a new disk. Many from both sites are starting to visit andother site that is based in another country. Those (including myself) like that site and have seen it grown over the lasy year with an influx of tournament players. The appeal there is choice of dictionary, no cd needed, some fairly strong bots to play against and if your sadistic, you can actually examine your previous 10 games and analyze them or anyone elses previous games for that matter. You can here too but only your own games that are saved in your data files and you have to have vuggy's reader program for that to work.

      :
      : Ive never played in V1 so Im very curious to know why there are 40-50 players there and very few in V2. Im continuously trying to recruit from basic, but when we do get the one or two people to come into the room there is no one to help them along with joining. Its really sad...maybe its time to get the V1 CD!
      : And Heavenly yes, there are great people that Ive played with in V2...but still lots of bickering!

      
      

      • Thanks! View
          by Flossie_SAfrica on June 29, 2002 at 08:20:15 PDT
        
        Wow Cyberwolf...what a wonderful site...thanks!