Bethel, if they have broadband there could very well be 2 or more playing at the same time. From different computers, me and my brother play tag team on corps from my home. Because we both are in the same home we can communicate what we are doing to each other faster. It also helps that we both are wired for sound and use it to get what we need communicated, saves a lot of extra typing!

So if you think the people involved are duping, then get ahold of them and ask, it couldn't hurt! And if there is proof they aren't duping then you can post it in game and let the others know on the game they are legit.

But two of the three with the same PW, does sound shady. Sometmes my brother and I use the same PW's too, it comes in handy for some games for corping, but not always, you gotta trust the persons you corp with. But ask and ask for proof. Also good luck and let us know what the status is!

Vulcan

I have 3 computers in my home thru a router. I never play more than one char in a game. are you saying that with my set up I could play a char from each puter and not have it detected?

No each character will be detected and all coming from the same external IP address. The point is that it is hard to distinguish the difference from duping and multiple users on the connection. The only way is to ask and get verification, but even that can be hard, because the people can work around that too. But usually the verification can slowly weed out the bad ones.

Now days Roberts and I happen to now live within a few blocks of each other. Both of us have Comcast. Guess how close our external IP's were to each other last time we both happened to check? Good thing he's retired, because if I were a sysop, and I saw 2 people playing in the same corp and their IP's were only 1 off from each other, that would raise my su****ions. (<--- stupid, stupid filter [:D]) It's also a problem for people who play from work and people who play from dorms. But it gets worse. Four members of The Cabal all lived within a few miles of each other. We'd often get together at Pretender's house to better coordinate our turns and play at decent speeds. (He had a T1 pulled to his house for work...heh That was back when dsl was first coming out, and 95% of the world was still on dialup.) But we always, always let the sysop know beforehand.

[dupe rant]
Reputable players usually know when there will be a problem, and contact the Sysop before the game even starts. My feeling is if you are a sysop, and you have a no-duping rule, you should pull the plug (disable, not delete) on them first and ask questions later. If they complain, tell them to contact you BEFORE they sign up. If they didn't know, they will for sure know the next time.

Duping is a new problem. In the BBS days, you usually had to pay for each account, so it was pretty rare for someone to have more than one. And as all BBS'ers will tell you...even if it's the same name on 2 checks for 2 different accounts, you're gonna take the money and keep your mouth shut. Even when the players did know someone was duping, they at least knew the duper was paying extra for it. Then it became extra fun to gang up on them. And believe me, we did. "So, how's that extra 10 bucks a month working out for ya?" [:D]

The problem with duping now days is that the OTHER players don't know it's happening. So, while they have been scrambling to build a corp, arrange times for their reds and blues to be on so they can cash, call each other up and figure out tactics, resolve disagreements, deal with having one less player because they are sick or out of town, etc... The duper has a full corp that's ALWAYS ready, seamlessly coordinated, and never bickers. In my opinion, this gives the duper an unfair advantage. Some people argue that when the duper sleeps his whole corp is sleeping, so there is balance...well, I think that's total BS. The ONLY way to make it balanced in my opinion is if 1) Everyone in the game KNOWS there is a duper, and knows it from the very beginning. And 2) Each of the other players can run and play their corpies turns just like the duper can. This gives the advantage back to the multi-player corp, where it should be. A group of players should always be stronger than an individual player, all else being equal. That's why people started corping in the first place. That's why duping is bad. It kills the fundamental social aspects of the game. That's why I can't stand dupers and go out of my way to kill and report them.
[/dupe rant]

Now, you take a game like Dupe Chess. That's fine. No problemo. Because you know it going in. If a player approached me before a game and said, "Traitor, I know you are thinking of playing in that next game. I want to play against your corp, but I'm having problems filling up my slots. Do you guys mind if I play a dupe?" I'd be MUCH more open to working out some kind of arrangement with them and the Sysop and my corpies. But that NEVER FREAKING HAPPENS. So they must die Die DIE!!!

Traitor,

I agree with you on this and about the dupe chess, that is why I had a dupe corp tourney, called Pod Paranoia, so some can have fun duping, and make some cash to boot, I may keep the game around for another tourney later, will have to see how the funds go to have another prize game. But the tourney will be kept for play when others are ready for it again, and Gemini won the last tourney. I hope to get that tourney to grow soon.


Vulcan

So what im reading is haveing more than one player account
in a game (and not son,wife) is concidered a NO NO.
and it looks like it been going on for a real long time.
SO how is ALL this going to stop it? looks to me like
realy nothing anyone can do about it, short of haveing
to register for every game, and do a background check!

There are IP filters built into the TWGS that can block IP's from the server, but I prefer to contact the player(s) in question first and see what's really going on first before I resort to banning, I know there are some dishonest players out there that say they are one of a couple or few that play from an IP address, I try to be as thourough as I can, and get as much verification as possible, if I am satisfied then the player(s) get to still play, if I am not satisfied, then give the offending player a warning and maybe a temporary ban, and if that doesn't work then a permanent ban, so far I haven't had to resort to setting the server to allow only one IP connection per IP address yet. I hope it never has to come to that!

Vulcan

How about adding into a new version of TWGS a way to have to put in an e-mail addy for verification? So the SysOps can contact their players.

quote:Originally posted by ghoury

your whole town uses one connection? hmmm, do you live in a trailer park?
That was just too funny, I had to reiterate it !!! [:D]

The way I see it dupes are like cotton candy, sure they look all big and strong on at first site, but upon closer examination they are unfulfilling and easy to crush!! [:O]

Seriously though dupping is actually a non-issue as it is relevent to corporate games, really when was the last time a single player creamed a 5-man or whatever sized corporation? If there ever was one, they must have been the five worst players in the history of TW. The real issue is mothing dupes, those are the players the cause issues for corporations, (the act of using fake players to moth on a another players planets via having them join their corporation, after-which giving them assets, and then disbanning them and then having them podded after each invation until the fake player is SD'ed; this act is repeated until the corporation's assests either run out or the other players planets are successfully invaded.)