This seems unfair.

I'd rather say this seems unfair. ;)

Do you think maybe ? HOTGIRL is trying to boost her rating ?

What's unfair about playing with yourself? ;)

Robin is just jealous that he isn't invited to Hotgirls little party, hehehe :-)

high rating will not make her really playing better…

Imagine that every player had registered 10 different names. Then LG would have to manage games played by 68120 players, who are actually only 6812 REAL people. Also, you may end up playing with coldman1, coldman2, etc. who are the same player. Do you prefer to play with the same player 5 games or do you prefer to play with different players? Finally, the accuracy of ratings will decrease.

In fact, any activities that deviate from playing for fun, for fair competition, and for stimulation of our intelligence are unethical, and should be discouraged or even prohibited. :)

sorry to be too serious. Perhaps you are just being sarcastic.

Tim,

You're right about the value of cheating. But only a minority will do this - and after some time continuously cheating is is simply boring for Yourself. (We made this experience as children and most of us learned from it.)

So taking this behaviour too serious will only be a reinforcement. So I was not sarcastic - I really laugh about it. The Reversi-Community has a bigger problem with cheaters, who use computer programs. This should really be blamed.

puh-leese, i never cheated when i was a child :D

but in any case, Hotgirl and the likes are not getting much satisfaction from this type of fabricating rank position for long, so time will solve it.

in any case, Hotgirl is eventually going to lose her remaining games badly.

Well, I got hotgirl 3 and 4 in a tournament and she/he resigned after the first 2 moves….

FC, playing at LG is not like face-to-face tournament, nor is it like a closed-book exam, why can't one use computer programs? :)

For me, improving my skill precedes the priority of having fun. So, frankly, I really do not mind playing with computer programs, or playing with players who actually are aided by computer programs.

I used to play against Amazons computer programs, and I found that my skill improved faster than when I played with real people.

Playing Reversi (Othello) on LG against an opponent who uses a computer program (e.g., WZebra) is truly a waste of time. Anyone who wants to play against it can just download it on their own hard disk and play until the cows come home. Here on LG we like to test our skills as human players. Several tournaments, including championships, have been ruined by computer aided players.

See, my own opinion is really not important. It is the majority players' opinions/feelings that are. :)

If many (or most) of the LG players feel that using computer programs to play is bad, then why don't we state so clearly in the rules or/and in a category called etiquette? There are 3 major possibly unethical behaviors that I have observed at LG:

\* using computer programs to play tournament games

(I myself really do not mind, but, hey, if many do,

then consider it of bad taste)

\* playing too many games at the same time, and hence

too slowly (I myself do mind this behavior) (but I do

not mind playing with those who are slow, but are playing

only a few games, or with those who play many games, but

fast) (as I said in the past, at the dinner table, you

can eat as much as you want, as long as you do not

make other guests to have to wait for you)

\* do not resign when the game is really over.

Why don't we create a category underneath FAQ in the main menu, and list all the unethical behaviors that the majority deem unethical? :)

If we could get all members to give their opinion on what is accepted behaviour and what is not, that would be fine. But I would really like these things to be stated as RULES, and I would think that Richard should have the final word in what the rules might be.

I, for one, disagree about playing slowly or not resigning being unethical. Although I'm surprised when Iceman insist on playing hex-games until the very last move, I think he is in his right to do so.

When it comes to computer AI, the rules should state very clearly what is allowed and what is not. From what I've seen in the forums about this so far, the following seems to be the “standards” now:

\* The player should state clearly that it is an AI (eg use a separate account)

\* AIs should not enter the Champoinships, and should try to enter MC and RT as the first player, so athers may choose not to play against it

\* In Othello (and probably chess), using AIs is extremely unfair, as these are very good, and better than most (all?) human players. In Hex, Go, Dvonn, Soccer etc, AIs are not that superior

But these are by no means “rules”. This is just my interpretation of what seems to be the general opinion, from what I've been reading in the forums.

Having several accounts AS A MEAN TO INCREAS ONES RATING, should, in my personal opinion, not be tolerated. But the only thing they gain, is the possibility to play in 1st league - once (from beeing on top10 rating list). Apart from that, it will give no-one any benefit, but will reduce the value of the rating system

Well, that was my two cents, anyway! :-)

I to have Hotgirl and hotgirl 1, 2, 3, 4 and the only one left in the tournament is hotgirl. she resigned all the other games.

I'm not so sure it's entirely positive to prohibit the use of several id's in order to boost the rating.

As long as people go about it like hotgirl does, we can discover it, and avoid playing them. If, on the other hand, this was prohibited, she (?) might have registered hotgirl, coolguy, theone, nicelady, and badboy instead, and played a couple of moves with each before resigning.

Not so easy to detect, more so if they use really creative names…

My point? I'm afraid that cheaters will always find a way around the rules, so we might as well focus on shaming them into good behaviour as anything else…

Right?

I'm with you guys on cheaters. Personally I'd rather lose a fair game than win an unfair game. I want my stats and ratings to be equal to my playing skills, at least I hope they are close to…

From watching Hotgirl as this topic is about, she actually had a few very well made wins. Hope she quits playing herself and shows us all what she's good for, if she's a good player….

Have a nice day all of ya :-)

Yes, a few very well played games: two wins against a champion (who was highest rated until October) and one against the currently third ranked. IMHO, hotgirl rocks!

Besides, hotgirl is not the only one who has used several accounts to boost its rating; it has been done before, in reversi10, this very month. Maybe players should be allowed to state their rating at the time they open an account at this site; this feature currently only exists for the game of go (up to 1. kyu = 1950 Elo), but would also be useful for chess (where at some time it seems to have been in existence), reversi, etc.

I have reasons to suspect that “hotgirl” is the brainchild of some Dutch and/or German players who met at the last Othello championship, an insider joke so to speak.

Perhaps, hotgirl is not a cheater. However he/she claims in his/her profile to be a CHEATER! Perhaps he/she is so good a player that he/she would have won all the others and would have climbed up to the top anyway! Perhaps he/she is doing this not to affect all our ratings!

Thank you hotgirl !

Minimal it is the reason to think about the debug of LG-software to prevent such situation.

What do you think about Rio?:)

That would be a good joke!