Subject: [ISSUE] What HAS to be done about cheating.
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 12:28:05 -0500
From: "Speener, Mark" <mspeener@stratagemnet.com>
To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" <fkusumot@ix.netcom.com>

To all.

It seems like every major Magic event has at least one blatant incident
of cheating. For 2-3 weeks after said event, the Dojo is overrun with
players shouting at the top of their lungs, WHY CAN'T THE DCI DO
SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!!!! The DCI has shown over and over again that
they wont. So what can be done?

1. Brian Chew from Neutral Ground SF has a great suggestion. The local
TO's can make up their own rules. Since the DCI floor rules are more
like a guideline, as long the local TO's meet or exceed the rules, they
should be OK. This should be done at all NG locations. Neutral Ground
wants to be a leader in gaming establishments, they should take the lead
here. Take it an extra step. Write up some penalty guidelines and
enforce them. The computing world changed when the cloners stopped
waiting for IBM. If TO's and players stop waiting for change from the
DCI, they may have to play catchup.

2. The MTPA should be screaming bloody murder over this! How many of
your members have been screwed by a cheater? A large boycott of the next
PT event by the name players would send a message that WotC and the DCI
can't ignore. If they won't punish name players because of their status,
what happens if some of their stars stopped playing and publicized why?

3. It's been said before but I'll repeat it. Assume anything that looks
like cheating is. Standardize penalties. Assign points to penalties and
work it just like points on your drivers license. Once you hit X points
your DCI card is suspended for 6 months. Do it again, it's 12 months.

Right now the money train starts at WotC. Nobody, and I mean nobody,
wants to give up their shot at it. They'd rather play the cheaters and
bitch later, then do it all over again. Would you rather play in a dirty
$25,000 tourney or a clean $5,000 one?

Say, for example, Neutral Ground set up the NGI points system with their
own floor rules and penalties then allowed other establishments to run
NGI tourneys for a small administrative fee. How would this affect the
DCI & Pro tour? If the top 20 gaming centers in the USA switched to the
NGI system, and the players preferred to play in it, what would happen?
Food for thought.

The Internet and the Dojo are major force in Magic right now. I'd say a
large percentage of the players WotC markets to have access to the 'Net
and read the Dojo. What's it gonna look like when someone cheats and
wins a PT event, it gets reported on the Dojo that so-and-so cheated and
only got warnings, then gets hailed as some PT hero in the next Duelist?

Also, Hacker was being sarcastic. Don't lynch him. It's completely
ironic though if you think about. Hacker can scream at the top of his
lungs that, from here on out, he's gonna cheat like a dog. I honestly
believe he could win more and make more money if he did it and face no
consequences for his actions even though everyone knows he said he was
going to cheat. That's absolutely the saddest part about this whole
thing.

Mark Speener
mspeener@stratagemnet.com