Urgent. Host Cheating: Problem and Solution.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Gotcha there: All you have to do: Start a copy of the game: Turn it into a PBEM game as the copy, then force the hosting with the command line or the timer.

No, you can't force host with the copy, either, since the game was created with "Force Host Disabled".

JO:
Not that it is any of my concern with whom you want to play, but why would you play with a known cheater. I would avoid them like the plague.

So I can beat him=)

PhilD:
Only if both are known cheater. And it should only be a concern to known cheaters. If you absolutely must play with a cheater, and aren't one, you can host.

Well... as Jasper said, "accusations of cheating arise easily -- simply because cheating is easy, and regardless of whether the accusation is true.

For me the solution is easy -- I just don't host. But _somebody_ has to host, and who really wants to open themselves up to such a potential headache? "

and a bit of Coffeedragon's "Yes, but this doesn´t cover the really serious case -what if no one is a cheater, but if all my friends are paranoid, and so am I, who should now host?"

Cheaters, after all, are paranoid - you can't say "Let me host, as I am more trustworthy than you."

Maybe it's more of a logic puzzle than anything, like the question of how to get the cannibals and the missionary across the river with only one 3-person boat. And you could say, "Don't go to the Amazon rainforest in the first place", and while that's a good answer, it is not very helpful to missionaries.

Having a way for a host to be beyond suspicion is, IMO, necessary.

-Cherry

[mivayan]

to "Force host" means to host without all players submitting turn files?

[Xavier]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Ahhh I wondered what that was. (probably in the docs somwhere but never got around to looking for it). Oh but now I have to bug them to see if its included as a command-line switch.

--masterpass password

It's in command_line_switches.txt in the doc folder. I noticed it when I saw that the 2.06 patch modified that *.txt file.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by mivayan:
to "Force host" means to host without all players submitting turn files?

Yes.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
No, you can't force host with the copy, either, since the game was created with "Force Host Disabled".

Sure you can. Just set it to host on a schedule, so that it will host at time X, where X is 2 seconds from now.

Maybe it's more of a logic puzzle than anything, like the question of how to get the cannibals and the missionary across the river with only one 3-person boat. And you could say, "Don't go to the Amazon rainforest in the first place", and while that's a good answer, it is not very helpful to missionaries.

It's more like the two doors guarded by two guards: One door leads to a great treasure, the other leads to certain doom. The two guards are politicians. One tells half-truths, the other dodges questions. What do you ask them?

Having a way for a host to be beyond suspicion is, IMO, necessary.

So find a third-party host. If you can think of a method to secure a host locally, I can think of a suspicion.

[ January 26, 2004, 04:22: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Norfleet:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
No, you can't force host with the copy, either, since the game was created with "Force Host Disabled".

Sure you can. Just set it to host on a schedule, so that it will host at time X, where X is 2 seconds from now.

---

Ahhh... I see. Essentially, the game would have to be locked as "Quickhost Only" (when all turns are in) or "Autohost Only" (at a specified time) when the game is created. Hmmm... for Autohost Only, the only cheating mechanism would be to play with the computer clock, which is a lot of work and can cause problems, unless you dedicate a computer for Dominions cheating and avoiding time-limited software demos. But "Quickhost Only" should work flawlessly... for net games.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
Ahhh... I see. Essentially, the game would have to be locked as "Quickhost Only" (when all turns are in) or "Autohost Only" (at a specified time) when the game is created. Hmmm... for Autohost Only, the only cheating mechanism would be to play with the computer clock, which is a lot of work and can cause problems, unless you dedicate a computer for Dominions cheating and avoiding time-limited software demos. But "Quickhost Only" should work flawlessly... for net games.

Now you're opening the opposite problem. Your game is now potentially COMPLETELY SOL if somebody goes AWOL: No master password, due to fear of host cheating, means this player cannot be AI'd. No force host means you can't simply skip him: If you lose one player, your game is FUBAR.

Now you've expanded the potential to ruin the game from the host deliberately attempting to cheat, to anyone, deliberate or not. This is almost, but not entirely, like cutting off your nose to spite your face.