Subject: how about a real penalty Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 03:51:31 -0700 From: "cable" To: There is a lot of debate about what to do about cheating at MTG. It's agreed that SOMETHING should be done. The big disgruntledment, as far as I can tell, is that if a player is caught cheating, he/she is usually just given a warning. A warning. So what? What does a warning meen if nobody ever really gets banned or kicked out for very long? I've seen posts about individuals getting several warnings during the same tournament. Warnings are a joke. They're just WORDS. They don't meen anything. Warnings NEED to have a sting if they're to be taken seriously. How about this- penalize the recipient of a warning by taking away life points- for the whole tournament. For example- one warning would be a handicap of 2 life points taken off. A second warning would be an additional 2. This meens that somebody with 2 warnings would be begining every game at 16 life. Tell me this wouldn't deter somebody from cheating. If the DCI or judges are afraid of dq'ing a player or banning them, this seems like a fair alternative to me. A person who is repetedly caught cheating can be given A PERMANANT handicap. Perhaps, 1 life point for every tournament that individual is caught cheating in. This penalty point could also act as warning for other players to keep their eyes open when they have to play that particular person. Branding may seem a little harsh, but fuck 'em, they're cheaters. At the end of the year the person could be given a cleen slate and hopefully a lesson was learned. Ted Karter