95 replies to this topic

[HlynkaCG]

joelmuzz, on 23 January 2015 - 04:11 PM, said:

Remember, two valueless smurf accounts can be used, a primary account doesn't need to expose itself to detection and bans. IP monitoring never happens, doesn't work because of proxies.

Those "smurf" accounts would still be tied to a "real" unit. And getting your unit's tag taken off a planet would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise.

pwnface, on 23 January 2015 - 04:18 PM, said:

Hypothetically, assuming the players can actually win matches they can play their real accounts and win a match while still throwing a match using their smurf accounts. Throwing a match against bad opponents works just as well as winning a match against no opponents.

Not really because the "smurf" account would still be loosing to some other group, letting other units to put points on the board just as fast making that particular "cycle" a wash.

[pwnface]

HlynkaCG, on 23 January 2015 - 04:35 PM, said:

Not really because the "smurf" account would still be loosing to some other group, letting other units to put points on the board just as fast making that particular "cycle" a wash.

Yes, this is true if the other group that your smurf accounts faced was a full 12-man of the same unit. In any case, you are still getting 2 attack tokens on the same planet for your faction in very little time.

[Tesunie]

Flash Frame, on 23 January 2015 - 03:37 PM, said:

ok, you guys win.

There is no problem, there will never be a problem. MWO will always be fine. Go team!

Never said that it would have no possibility of becoming a problem. It may, down the road, become a problem. However, I'd be willing to guess that it'd be an easy to find issue, and once reported to PGI, I suspect that they could put two and two together and then bans would be served. Most likely, I suspect that all parties (the fake accounts and their main ones they are gaining profit with) would be detected as "fighting each other too often" and it would result in losses on all accounts/units.

Depending upon the "damage done", I suspect PGI may even reverse the wins if possible.


As far as the suggested "track IPs for shared addresses", what about those who play on a network? My brother and I play on the same network. Students in college who use the college network would all share the same IP address as well (from my understanding).


Maybe I'm being naive here, but with IGP out of the picture I've been seeing a lot better progress from PGI. I trust that if this became a real problem that they would find and implement some way to stop it. (Or you can just call me crazy.)

[HARDKOR]

You don't need IP's at all.

Once reported, it would just require looking back over the results of their matches. The pattern would be obvious.

[Gas Guzzler]

I'm not worried

[pwnface]

HARDKOR, on 23 January 2015 - 05:14 PM, said:

You don't need IP's at all.

Once reported, it would just require looking back over the results of their matches. The pattern would be obvious.

How would you know to report them though? Assuming they are using their real accounts to fight their own smurf accounts, if they missed a sync and actually got real opponents they could have a normal match and the opponents would be none the wiser.

[Tesunie]

pwnface, on 23 January 2015 - 05:19 PM, said:

How would you know to report them though? Assuming they are using their real accounts to fight their own smurf accounts, if they missed a sync and actually got real opponents they could have a normal match and the opponents would be none the wiser.

What about the "smurf" accounts though? They drop with each team, their real and their alts. The two get separated. Their alts are pilotless, and thus easy to spot. Their mains continue to fight the good fight. People report the alts for being what they are. PGI looks into it, and notices x group of people "almost always fought" the immobile team (without reporting them before hand). Connect the dots, and boom. Each of them get slammed for the actions they did.

Of course, this is all theory crafting, till it happens. For now, we seem to be having a possible discussion on something that may or may not happen, and going round and round in circles about how or why it may or may not happen.

[HARDKOR]

pwnface, on 23 January 2015 - 05:19 PM, said:

How would you know to report them though? Assuming they are using their real accounts to fight their own smurf accounts, if they missed a sync and actually got real opponents they could have a normal match and the opponents would be none the wiser.

They would have one normal match and one where there's stock mechs and noone at the controls. The smurfs would get reported and then PGI could check and see that those accounts have been losing to the ****** unit for weeks.

Also, it wouldn't be very hard to write a script to scan the DB every few weeks for patterns where one team keeps beating the same team 48-0 or something similar.

[Aresye]

joelmuzz, on 23 January 2015 - 04:11 PM, said:

CW matchmaking needs to be designed so that the odds of two chosen teams fighting is low. The current planet queue system is vulnerable. It is beta, identify and change.

Here's the meat and potatoes on why this thread (and other similar threads about fear mongering issues) is damaging. PGI has neither the resources, nor the time, to devote focused attention on solving issues that weren't even issues to begin with.

Even if there was proof (still haven't seen any) that certain units were partaking in this relatively pointless and risky endeavor, the forums wouldn't be the place to post about it. You take your proof, and send an email with it to support. They're pretty good (even while backlogged) at taking care of potentially serious issues like this.

All this thread serves to do is:
1. Potentially waste PGI's time.
2. Inspire people to actually begin doing this.
3. Waste PGI's time because of #2.
4. Get people hysterical over a non-existent issue.

[HARDKOR]

*slow clap*

I woulda said that too but I was bored at work and enjoy antagonizing chicken little neckbeard types.

I'm a bad person, I know

[Angel Devereaux]

Seems a bit far fetched, way easier to just put up a bunch of numbers on a planet instead of going to all the effort of setting up other accounts and a whole new unit

[RG Notch]

It's amazing to me that even with the faux boogiemen we already have, some one is wasting time worrying about a totally theoretical boogie man that has almost no chance of occurring. Of well the tinfoil companies are not going to sell that wonderful magical protective film all by themselves. Do you need to put the shiney side out for more protection or in?
I'm still awaiting the practical way PGI is going to stop alt accounts, remember practical.

[HARDKOR]

In all honesty, I promise you that you will have the most enjoyable gaming experience if you assume the best about everyone.

All this outgrouping by calling people elites, pugs, snobs, tryhards, exploiters, and whatnot is really a turn off.

Just play the game and worry about yourself and you'll tons more fun.

[Joseph Mallan]

HARDKOR, on 24 January 2015 - 10:32 AM, said:

In all honesty, I promise you that you will have the most enjoyable gaming experience if you assume the best about everyone.

All this outgrouping by calling people elites, pugs, snobs, tryhards, exploiters, and whatnot is really a turn off.

Just play the game and worry about yourself and you'll tons more fun.

[LordSkippy]

Have some tacos

[MarineTech]

What? Another one?

Have some cake and don't forget your pants...

Wait...

I'll save you some time.

Have some cake OF pants.