Although now that I've suggested that I realize it could make the problem worse as people would them be able to keep creating new potential winners while continuing to stall all their losses. They've got to take the hit eventually though. But I guess that would unkindly open the door for excess winning streaks unless the people they're beating counter stall them and return the favor. Hmm... tricky problem I guess. I don't like the idea of rushing people. I think part of the problem is simply that the rating system rewards it. If that were fixed then it wouldn't be as much of an issue at least. Maybe if the thing sees you're consistently stalling games it force lowers your games so you don't get any new ones until you finish your current ones? Not sure that solves it, but it atleast prevents you from then taking another game slot on someone else and stalling that one too or trying to use your non-stalled slots to continue a win streak.

and if the membership here were monthly, i'd cancel right now. this is cheating, plain and simple. sure, it's just a game, but it's a game i paid $30 to play, and your "strategy" is to cheat me out of the value of my $30 so you can get a slightly higher number next to your name.

Unethical?... I've stat/rank whored in an unethical fashion before, but that's not how I'd classify what I'm doing now. I don't think it's unethical to play slowly when you're losing. Not like you're cheating or doing any real exploitation. Just playing the system a bit. If you really want more ladder games I think there should probably be a way for you to have them. And if all you want is a game then you can just create a non-ladder one anytime with whomever you want. So it's not like it's keeping you from playing the game, just limiting your ladder play. It's pretty tricky when you have a ladder for a game where the games can take many weeks.

i didn't drag out my games to get the highest score i could, and neither did anyone else. if you'd rather not call it cheating, that's fine - but it's unethical, and you're the only one doing it. and you know it's unethical, which is why you said "sorry" to me when i asked you about it.

i get it. you want to set the record for the highest rank achieved. but i don't expect anyone to have any respect for the number you're going to have next to your name if you cheated to get it, so you're really just making me and a bunch of other people wait so you can get a number that will only be meaningful to you.

i think the answer is to get rid of the "highest rank achieved" field. the only reason you're cheating in multiple games is to try to get that number up there. i understand why that's a goal. my name doesn't say that i was #1 in the overall rankings for a while, and had a 2000 something score for a while, and i haven't whined about it. so let's just get rid of the number, and remove your motivation to do whatever it is that you're saying isn't unethical but simultaneously apologizing for and saying that we should find ways to fix the loophole for.

Clearly public shaming is the answer here.

You're right, caring about rank and rating is silly! Point proved!

"And if all you want is a game then you can just create a non-ladder one anytime with whomever you want. So it's not like it's keeping you from playing the game, just limiting your ladder play."

i'm sorry if it seems like i'm being overly harsh, but i paid money to become a member so i could play on the ladder, and you're saying, go do the stuff that non-members do, because i want to invalidate the ladder, keep you from playing it, and encourage others to do the same.

Apparently paid membership made Warlight serious business.

I'm the best, no one can touch this!

I think most of us can agree that what Doushibag is doing is not in the spirit of the ladder. The idea (in my opinion) should be to find the best players, not the very good players who are willing to stall out their losses as long as possible.

Clearly, he's not cheating, as he's not breaking any rules. But I'm sure there are a lot of us who would like to see something implemented to curb this type of behavior. I certainly stand in that camp.

We could try asking nicely...

thats a start

Usually I only ask nicely if all other avenues have been exhausted.

Im with Ruthless! and if he isnt doing it to you then why bitch unless you are just as concerned as he is in scores!

Who is saying they don't care about ratings? Not me. I care about their integrity and accuracy. Lets not forget that this affects other people's ratings as well. People that have lost to Doushibag are not losing as much rating as they should be, because his rating is artificially inflated to some degree. Likewise, when he does take his first loss, the opponent will gain more than they should.

I am soooo going down on the ladder now -- Teddy and SHogun have me on the ropes in both their games. Losing those two should drop me back to around 1900. Oh well. I didn't do anythign to climb from 5th to 2nd accept not finish a game for a few days.

wouldnt leaving the ladder to get better affect the accuracy? Im not happy with my score at all but i think its fair and the more games i play the more it confirms this.All Im saying is if it doesnt directly affect you why complain? And if it does then like Ruthless said why not try asking nice to start.

Doushi are you just trying to get a great high score and then leveling out and playing fair? or are you intending to continue holding out on losses? I dont really care but there it is it has been asked nicely.I only say fair because it is a valid point that if everyone did this it wouldnt be good

I'd never be able to stall games. I go nuts waiting for my opponents to make their moves as it is. Especially when I see you making like 10 different forum posts in the two days I've been waiting for you to make your move -_O

If you mean me. I make forum posts when I'm stalling about making a move. Right now I have to move in 5 games that I'm stalling on. I should just surrender them all and wipe the slate clean. Yank off the bandage as it were. Sometimes I do that and no one will accept the surrender -- those stalls are only half my fault :)

I didn't mean anyone in particular. Sorta ^_^

What Doushi is doing is perfectly legal. It's not cheating. It's entirely done by following the rules of the system in place. You can't really label it as unethical either, because again he is simply following the rules of the game he is playing. However, what it does do is highlight a flaw in the current system. One player is capable of temporarily dominating the ladder by cleverly manipulating the boot timers.

Here are some potential solutions: Change the ELO system. A 10-0 player who just exited the provisional phase is going to have a high rating, but they aren't going to be number 1. They are going to have to earn that through winning more games, because 10 wins simply isn't enough points to get to the 2100 or whatever rating the top player is going to have in that system. This limits the effectiveness of the "stall your losses" plan because the way to the top is by winning more games, not losing less. The current ELO system rewards low total number of losses, and doesn't really care how many games you win. Being undefeated means the system doesn't know where to place you, and it can only assume you're the best. Playing less games means you have less chances to lose to much lower ranked players by the natural variance present in Warlight due to the random nature of starting spots and luck.

Another solution is to change the booting system. One idea would be to use banking boot times. I don't like this idea for the reason Waya suggested. Some players move quickly during the week but take off for the weekend and this hurts them because they have to fear a weekend boot. Another would be to use something like "decaying" boot times, where if you consistently stall a game to the maximum limit you will eventually get less and less time to make each move.