Subject: Can you remedy Nate's examples of cheating?
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 15:52:59 -0500
From: "Kauffman, Troye" <troye@uillinois.edu>
To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" <fkusumot@ix.netcom.com>

I think that a lot has been said about the ethics of Nate's examples of
cheating, however only a little has been said about the practical
aspects of them.  How is such cheating defined in DCI rules for the use
of a judge to detect and assess a penalty for it?  For example, in the
case where a creature is buried but shouldn't have because of a
protection ability, what if it was a mistake on the part of BOTH
players?  How can a judge or anyone else tell if the player that
benefits from the error doesn't realize that it was a mistake or was
knowingly exploiting it?

Suppose a rule was created such that if a mistake is made and the
benefactor of the mistake doesn't catch it, the benefactor is punished.
I'm sure that it wouldn't take long before those players with larceny in
their hearts devised a scheme where they comitted a subtle error that
benefitted their opponent, and then later reported it to a judge in
order to damage their opponent with a penalty.  As if the complex rules
in Magic aren't enough to drive away the scrubs...

I realize that there already are some rules on the books that penalize
people even when they might be making an honest mistake (such as
underpaying mana), however the difference between this and the above is
that the penalty is given for making a mistake (and probably a blatant
one), rather than being given a penalty for the other player making the
mistake.

I think that it would be a very difficult rule to impose, detect, and
punish - I don't think that it would be practical, and couldn't be
considered cheating in a purely legalistic sense.

On the other hand, I think that many of the things that pass for legal
or acceptable in our society are not at all ethical or "right".  O.J.
may be a free and innocent man by the determination of the law, however
most people have judged him as a killer.  However, O.J. has lost
something that most of us treasure, and that is the respect and
admiration of those who know him.

I know that the money in Pro Magic is important, but I don't think that
the people who make it there do it mostly for the money - they could get
a job at McDonalds and make more money in the number of hours that they
put into it.  They do it for the bragging rights - the esteem that
others have for them.

Unfortunately for them, that's exactly what they lose when they resort
to cheating and bad sportsmanship.  They can post as many messages as
they like about how they didn't break any rules, or haven't been caught
doing anything.  But like O.J., being convicted isn't always necessary
to lose the respect of one's peers.