A Guild of Honesty

[waddles]

So in just the few short weeks that I've been playing the game, I have already become hooked on not only the mechanics of the arena portion of the game, but the social aspect as well. Unfortunately, the entire idea of the persistent ghost battles was marred when I found out about the lag exploits that were being used by almost everyone on the World Leaderboard ranking. Now that the board is populated by ludicrous scores earned by players who embrace cheating as a strategy, it seems to bring less of a purpose to pushing for a legitimate high score.

That being said, as of today I have launched the Guild of Calamitous Intent (a Venture Brothers reference), the first in-game guild for Aurora Feint 2. The basis for this guild is to bring players together who embrace the legitimate practices of the game. If you are frustrated by the fact that people are cheating in order to boost their scores on the leaderboards, simply add (GoCI) to the front of your name, like so:

(GoCI) Waddles

Wearing this will be like a badge of honesty, showing that you are refusing to use exploits and are earning your score through your own developed skills and strategies. Already just from today there have been at least a dozen people who have joined up and added the tag to their name.

This isn't just about honesty, of course. It's also a way to bring the community closer together as a whole. The chat function already creates a really good level of communication between players, so the establishment of clans and guilds seemed like a good compliment to the system. This way people can be connected as friends and rivals.

Now, granted that there is no official guild system in place for the game, so there is no way to moderate who "joins" or if they abide by the ethical conduct that this guild embraces, but I just wanted to throw down the idea here to see if other people feel the same way I do about the cheaters in-game. It's always bothered me whenever I come across players in online games who exploit glitches to better their own standings. If someone wants to cheat in a single-player game, that's their own choice; but the moment you take it online and into MY game, it takes out so much of the fun for me.

So yes, if you want to join up, just add the (GoCI) tag in front of your name. If the leaderboards ever get reset to take down the exploited ghost scores, hopefully we can get some good legitimate representation from the truly skilled and honest players in the game.

-Waddles


P.S. I'm aware of the strangeness behind an honest guild being named "Calamitous Intent." Really I named it that simply because I love Venture Brothers, hehe.

[theconfuzed1]

Sounds good to me. I'm in.

[burtosis]

We have talked in chat, waddles, but here is where I disagree with the universality of your honesty guild.

When I started playing AF I loved the game. I thought it was great, having gone off playing tetris attack, and many aspects of this game are unique and better IMO.

I started practicing to get good, and spent alot of time without doing any 'cheating' or exploits of any kind with the exception of the illusion sorcerer combo which I told everyone I could once it came out. But I noticed that several people had base scores that were 'fishy'. They were much higher than was reasonably possible. The lag hacks were known to only a couple of people at that time, myself NOT included.

I kept asking what the exploit was and kept getting the reply that there was none. That the scores were honest, despite being so drastically different from thousands of other players. I knew some kind of lag exploit must have been at work, but did not have any evidence, or even know what it was. So I spent a fair amount of time trying to find the cheat. I found probably the easiest and most effective lag hack, the audiohack, and promptly quintipled my score because that leveled the playing field.

The main difference is within 24 hrs of discovering the exploit I told everyone, devs and players alike. So there could be no plausible denyability. People were already using the safari, one button audio and other lag hacks at the time so keeping a secret would not really help - and someone else would have uncovered it within a short time IMO. I could have kept a secret as long as I could, and just beaten the #1 spot by 10pts and denied I was cheating.

It isn't just the wlb players that have used lag exploits it is a huge percentage of everyone, from 50 pt ghosts to 50,000 and up. Asking people not to cheat is like putting $100 bills on the sidewalk and asking people not to take them - or having slot machines with a 'you win' button on the side but with a sign saying 'please don't it isn't fair'. Not gonna work at all for many people obviously.

What I want is timestamps added so that lag expliots are no longer possible. Then I know with a higher degree of certanity that others aren't cheating and it becomes worthwile to invest the time to get a good score properly, rather than just watch someone cheat into the lead.

If that is done, I would be the first to applaud a wlb reset. For all I know you cheat all the time and are just lying like I expect some others have done. I have no way of knowing. Perhaps you don't and really are honest - again how do I know? What if I spent the time and get a honest high score and people accuse me of cheating because they can't score that well? Why should I have to put up with that? Any game with a scoring system like this needs the exploits patched or it isn't worth the effort of trying to find out who is cheating and who isn't.

[Aristata]

I think its a great idea not to cheat, but I have to say, I have seen a few people join in that guild while they were asking about cheating and how to do it, as well as others that I know have cheated. It's a great idea, and hopefully it will push the devs to realize how fed up some of us are.

I hope you guys stick to your guns!

[waddles]

I've never heard anyone try so exhaustively to defend and justify their own ill practices. You've used the same arguments and examples in the game chat as you just did here.

Seriously, all you are doing here is trying to make yourself feel better about your own cheating. Your claim that "if it's possible to cheat, everyone will do it"? That just is not true. You try to blindly label me a cheater as well, as if passing the flame off to other people will make yourself burn less. You even claim that people with 50-point ghosts are just as likely to be cheating as those with a 50K ghost. Really? Really?

There is no justification for using exploits to further your score. Your supposedly "honorable" intentions of leveling the playing field by telling everyone? That doesn't make it RIGHT. That only EXPANDED the problem by making more people aware of it, and further destroyed the integrity of the World Leaderboards. Can't you see what is wrong with this whole situation?

I have seen so many players who are new to the game asking for help in the chat. People give tips and tricks using the methods supplied with the game. No one says "Oh if you just use [hacking method], you can slow the game down and get crazy scores!" People want to learn how to play the game the way it was meant to played. They don't actively seek out cheating methods in order to better their position while telling themselves "everyone does it, so it must be okay." That, my friend, is all you.

This is basically a long-winded way of saying that no amount of reasoning or justification on your part can make cheating an acceptable way of playing an online game. If you want to cheat in your own time in the single-player portion, then hey, that's your choice. But the moment you take the game online and your inflated scores impact MY game, then it's wrong. That's all that can be said, sir.



I will admit, though, you and I do agree on one thing: we both want the game to be played on a level field between all players. Where we differ is just in our proposed plan of action. I feel it is better to breed honest players, whereas you want to spread the cheating as widespread as possible to make yourself feel better about using it. You don't choose NOT to cheat: you just want everyone else to do it too, so that you can justify doing it yourself. The ultimate goal is to have the exploits patched and the WLB flushed, and once that happens, you'll see which of us had the longer-lasting choice. Your side of the room will be forced to play legitimately and change their tactics, whereas mine won't have to change a thing.

[waddles]

Aristata: I can't be on 24 hours, so I haven't seen the cheat-talk myself, but I know Howler joined up and had a ghost on the WLB that had used a hack. He immediately deleted the ghost upon joining up with the cause and has played purely legitimate since then (to my knowledge). I dunno about anyone else, since there's no way to look up people who have added the tag to their name. I would hope people would understand the purpose and meaning behind it, though.

All I can ask for is honesty from the people who decide to join in the cause. My abilities don't reach any further than that.

[burtosis]

Geez waddles, you seem angry.

I did not call you a cheater, but how do I know if you do or not? Others have probably lied about thier cheating, saying they didnt and hiding behind the cover of most people not knowing the cheats existed.

I have also had people with 500pt ghosts admit they used a hack to get the score, so yes - really! Not liking cheating shouldn't be reserved for those who only score highly with it.

Also, where did I say it was right? I never did. I am saying I won't bother trying to post a real ghost until the hax are removed. Until then, I'm choosing to beat them at thier own game, and every hax I find I am telling anyone who will listen. I was ticked when the exploits were kept secret from me, so that is why I am doing that. And I wont stop until they are fixed.

Also, it seems as if you are new in the last month, lots of people ask about the exploits - probably after they see the impossible scores. I always give them out too and tell everybody I did cheat.

I won't have to change a thing if the wlb is reset. I am very confident I will be on the wlb and stay there the minute the hax are removed. Just like I was before I found out about the exploits.

If people didn't make the cheating obvious, and beat you by just a little, would that be OK? I think that the way to drive MY game to be fair is to show how bad the exploits are and how much it can add to your score to cheat.

In the world of computers it is common curtesy to post exploits so people know about them and patches are made. This lets people know, in AF, that people are cheating, and how. I prefer everyone to know how to cheat than let that fall to a few select people who deny doing it.

So why not complain and say you want a hack free game? I did. and I hope I get it.

[Aristata]

If I ever cheated my ghost would be a LOT better than 7200!

[burtosis]

Not everyone is that good. Some cheat without much experience.

[waddles]

Hehe, I'm not upset, dude. It's just a minor frustration more than anything else. I've had online games ruined for me in the past by people who would use exploits to gain an edge over other players, and it absolutely kills the fun for me.

I enjoy this game so much that I couldn't stand to see it go that route. Regardless, as soon as the remaining glitches are patched and the Leaderboards reset (if they do it, I hope), I'm definitely going to be working towards a spot on the list. Chances are I'll see you there.

[theconfuzed1]

I used the exploits on the previous WLB, and I sought them out, and reported them in beta testing, but my current ghost is legit.

That hasn't stopped people from accusing me of cheating though. No one seems to believe me.

Oh well. I will be very happy when the exploits are all killed, but I've chosen not to use them in the meantime.

I was considering giving in to the temptation, and getting myself to the top of the WLB again. After discussing it with Waddles last night, I decided not to.

[gociraveslave]

Haha hey waddles...I don't know if im gonna be able to come back on to Aurora Feint im having some problem where it says there having a problem with my idevice and i need to try later but i have had no luck so far but if it does work...I'll Talk to you later

[firekiller]

I agree, there should me a timestamp.
I hacked my 26k ghost. Audiohack, full through the summon.
Unfortunately, most of the top 15 players used these hacks. MOST.

Fortunately, the new pause if you try the button hack is running. But a timestamp will eliminate ALL lag hacks. >2 sec devience from 1:30 = ghost invalid & cant upload it.

Who would hack with zero experience? Smart ones. A 500 ghost with a hack is just SAD...

tl;dr GET A TIMESTAMP

PS: i only hack when summoning. Its so much worse to hack a duel...xP




ARWEN!!! WE NEED TO PRACTICE!!!

[theconfuzed1]

I had to change my name back, in order to receive the Rabbit upgrade when my contacts enter my name.

I wanted to keep it simple, rather than have them worry about getting all of the extra characters correctly.

Perhaps there should be the option to add a little caption beside our handle.

[arwen]

Apr 27, 2009 21:00:27 GMT -5 firekiller said:

I agree, there should me a timestamp.
I hacked my 26k ghost. Audiohack, full through the summon.
Unfortunately, most of the top 15 players used these hacks. MOST.

Fortunately, the new pause if you try the button hack is running. But a timestamp will eliminate ALL lag hacks. >2 sec devience from 1:30 = ghost invalid & cant upload it.

Who would hack with zero experience? Smart ones. A 500 ghost with a hack is just SAD...

tl;dr GET A TIMESTAMP

PS: i only hack when summoning. Its so much worse to hack a duel...xP




ARWEN!!! WE NEED TO PRACTICE!!!

hahaha true my friend! ;D yesterday I summoned a 14k ghost while cooking (tacos ;D) so maybe if I find time only to summon (i have too many things to do.. sigh ) I'll summon a better one^^.. maybe 2morrow we can talk about how to summon a good ghost on pal...

ps: Pro-Atheist has summoned fair or unfair? I TOUGHT PLUS/BURTOSIS WAS THE BEST..