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1

The main question is why do people cheat?
And the answer is quite banal and simple. They do it for the rating. Rating is the scourge of all games. Rating destroys the principle of sportiness. People go to any tricks for the sake of an imaginary indicator of their abilities in a particular game.
Ideally, on all sites where games of chess, checkers and so on are played, the player's rating should be absent. You either play for the sake of the game, or find out who is smarter and more brainy.
For those who like to measure the strength of their intellect, it is enough to get a rating only for participating in tournaments. Thus, if you use the ranking system only in tournaments, then a lot of problems with the usual types of games in the lobby will disappear.

1

Do not forget why the rating system was introduced at all. It was made to hold fairer tournaments, to avoid the strong players meeting the weak ones. Let the rating remain only in tournament games.

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Ratings are definitely part of the problem but I think is far away more than that.

The cheating is a problem is born in the society itself. It begins with self esteem issues. It is sometimes born with bullying problems that affect the confidence of the person and find the way to fill somewhere no matter what and that is of course very dangeours. In phycological terms cheating is pretty related to violence. A person that cheats is somehow a potential thief or even a potential killer.

Prizes are in fact another matter. Unfortunately a website like Playstrategy is pretty atractive to cheaters since they are here incredibly generous.

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I don't know that I'd call it an imaginary indicator; if they're cheating, their rating being astronomically high is still giving a pretty accurate indication of their likelihood of winning.

More seriously, I admit that I like ratings, and for self-serving reasons. I get a dopamine hit when mine goes up. I like using it as a measure of how I'm improving as a player. It's relative to the pool of players and their own improvement, of course, but it's something demonstrable nonetheless, and it makes the improvement tangible, semi-quantifiable, and more rewarding. It encourages me to play, and encourages me to try to improve.

I play games for the enjoyment of playing games, certainly, but I do also like the little rewards, the story of my board travels told through my record and my rating. Perhaps I'm romanticizing things, but enjoyment of art, math, socializing, and the anthropological story is arguably why we even play any of these games for the sake of playing them. Between playing games either for the enjoyment of the game itself or as an intellectual battle, I do it for both and more. They're far from exclusive. Perhaps ideally everyone would play motivated solely by the game experience itself, but I'm just a brain in a neurotransmitter soup doing my best.

The point made the cheating is often done due to some issues with self-esteem and a desire to prove something to compensate for it is, I think, fairly pretty accurate, but I think drawing a lineage to thievery and killing is a bit much. It's related to violence, sure, in that the fulfillment of one's needs becomes pathological and is done in ways that hurt others, and in that it's not a good mindset, but there are definitely levels to it. Cheating may be the limit of it, or the comparatively harmless outlet they've found, rather than an indicator of something deeper. I'm not saying the point is wrong, just that it's not particularly useful.

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this. I don't hate cheaters, exactly, but I do hate cheating. I just feel like excluding ratings from correspondence is throwing the baby out with the bath water.

21

Great @Evernia!

I know I am probably crusing the line comparing a Cheater with a Thief or a Killer.

Of course im not saying that if someone cheats is going to be a thief or a killer. Im talking in deeper terms! As long as they live in society that keep them "under control" they just will keep harming themselfs when they cheat and not the rest like a thief or a killer do. But then if you put these kind of people into a extreme situation, they will probably stab you in the back!

But this is going to be my last word about it. Enjoy the games!!! Lord of the Flies!

Cheers!

Remember you can always report any instances that you suspect of cheating using the tools available. We do look and review each case and have served some punishments where it is clear that foul play has occurred.

The player Synvi used computer software to beat me several times and now his account was banned. However, I lost many points because of losing to him. I want to ask, can I get back the points?

If a player is banned due to engine usage, you will be refunded ratings points automatically if this is appropriate. You will receive a notification to inform you of this.