Cheating on Yahoo Games
Ilan Vardi
with the ID mw1969cn. His idea is that Yahoo Go does not allow one to
pass after a dispute, so one is forced to play inside one's territory.
In preparation for this cheat, he set up 7 eyes inside his territory.
He then proceeded to repeatedly play inside my large territory, allowing
me at the end to have only 4 eyes (but 55 prisoners). Therefore, I lose.
I have made a screen capture and you can see it on my website
http://cf.geocities.com/ilanpi/go1.gif
The guy was rated 1500, which is pretty good for Yahoo Go.
-ilan
JVT
"Ilan Vardi" wrote:
> As I type this message, I am being cheated on Yahoo Go by someone
> with the ID mw1969cn. His idea is that Yahoo Go does not allow one to
> pass after a dispute, so one is forced to play inside one's territory.
> In preparation for this cheat, he set up 7 eyes inside his territory.
> He then proceeded to repeatedly play inside my large territory, allowing
> me at the end to have only 4 eyes (but 55 prisoners). Therefore, I lose.
> I have made a screen capture and you can see it on my website
> http://cf.geocities.com/ilanpi/go1.gif
How does the server manage to <mis>calculate the score? In the picture you
have:
White
territory: 3
prisoners: 55
Black
territory: 7
prisoners: 1
You should win by 50 + komi.
Just curious.
--
JVT
Bantari
Plenty of such cheaters on Yahoo.
Might as well get used to it and enjoy beating them. :)
As for Yahoo's elo-like ratings (elo-like because I cannot really
tell if the actual elo algorithm is used or just something that looks
similar) - its a joke. Not that there is something wrong with using
some modified elo for go ratings, but because for all I know the ratings
on Yahoo do not make special provision for handicap stones. Which makes
the whole thing, if not worthless, then at least highly inaccurate.
In addition to the problem of some people inflating their ratings
through such easy cheating, the system is not to be taken seriously.
Just use Yahoo for learning and fun and do not worry about the
ratings too much. ;)
On 5 May 2003 08:01:54 -0700 Ilan Vardi (il...@tonyaharding.org) says...
--
__________________________________
- Bantari
kapr...@yahoo.com
Bantari
The server does not miscalculate the score. Were the score
calculated at this point, White would win as you say.
The problem is that the silly server allows one player (Black in
this case) to prevent the game from ending by passing and then putting
the position in dispute. What happens then is that the White player has
to make a move (I.e. is not allowed to pass). Since the only move he
can make is to fill his own eyes, eventually he will lose all his
stones. Or, even more vicious, the Black will not kill all White stones
but will force White to move when there is no valid move left. In such
case White will either have to resign or lose by default if he does not
move (which is impossible) after 10 minutes.
The trick to such cheating is to have more single-point eyes than
your opponent, so he runs out of moves before you do.
This is one of the most stupid features a Go server can have. And
Yahoo has it. :)
Hope this helps you understand the idiocy of the situation.
. . .
wrote:
Well.. a simple solution. Don't play in YahooGames. It's not a very
good server. IGS and KGS are both much better (I prefer KGS) with
working ranking systems and friendlier players.
http://kgs.kiseido.com
http://panda-igs.joyjoy.net/English/contents.html
joshual000
> with the ID mw1969cn. His idea is that Yahoo Go does not allow one to
> pass after a dispute, so one is forced to play inside one's territory.
Simple Answer: Don't play go on Yahoo!
> In preparation for this cheat, he set up 7 eyes inside his territory.
> He then proceeded to repeatedly play inside my large territory, allowing
> me at the end to have only 4 eyes (but 55 prisoners). Therefore, I lose.
> I have made a screen capture and you can see it on my website
> http://cf.geocities.com/ilanpi/go1.gif
>
> The guy was rated 1500, which is pretty good for Yahoo Go.
>
> -ilan
This issue has been around with Yahoo's applet for quite a while.
-Josh
Ilan Vardi
practice for 9x9 Go. On Yahoo, there are a lot of players who know 9x9
pretty well, not so much on KGS.
Unfortunately, I had to leave the house, but I did start using the guy's
strategy, letting my group get killed and then moving inside my territory
at 9 minutes per move. Since the number of moves is quadratic with respect
to the territory (that is, filling, capture, move in empty spaces, etc)
that would have meant about 100 moves at 10 minutes a move, I would have
made him use up a lot of time.
However, my conclusion from all of this is that Go is actually a co-operative
game in which there must be a minimum of trust between the opponents,
even with strict rules.
-ilan
. . . <x...@x.com> wrote in message news:<qo4dbvk965gi1rp29...@4ax.com>...
Ilan Vardi
once again against a 1500 player, I was cheated in the same way. I guess
that's it for me, Yahoo Go wise. I can't see how anyone can play there.
It is interesting that there are actually very few game cheats on Yahoo
Dots, which also has bugs which allow cheating.
-ilan
il...@tonyaharding.org (Ilan Vardi) wrote in message news:<6c8faec2.03050...@posting.google.com>...
Ralph
> Well, I decided to give Yahoo Go another try, and the first game I played,
> once again against a 1500 player, I was cheated in the same way. I guess
> that's it for me, Yahoo Go wise. I can't see how anyone can play there.
> -ilan
...
> > The guy was rated 1500, which is pretty good for Yahoo Go.
> >
> > -ilan
There is no Go server where there isn't some cheating going on, and
plenty
of rank sand bagging. It seems to me that a game of Go isn't one of
those life encompassing events where getting a win by any means
necessary is better than losing with dignity, but for some people it's
obvious Go isn't just a game for them. There aren't any more or less
cheaters on any particuler Go server. The whole internet Go thing just
can't be taken seriously, but it's nice when you do get good games
with people you enjoy playing.
Jack
Try kgs.kiseido.com
It's a go-only server with a lot of nice people. The client is good too.
Jack