Opponent constantly dropping w/ Network Connection errors = cheating?

[0graham0]

Hi all,

I just played a 5-point match with an opponent who shall rename nameless for the time being (in the spirit of "innocent until proven guilty"). Throughout the match they dropped consistently before rolling (maybe 20-60 times). The 3dfibs terminal displayed something like "network connection error" each time they dropped. Interestingly every time I would invite them back to the saved game it felt like they rolled doubles, or the necessary roll to hit me. I know the dice can feel awfully unfair when you are losing at backgammon, but is there any possibility they were messing with the connection to manipulate the rolls? I tried to kibitz and chat with them to see if they were having network problems but they never responded to any messages.

From my knowledge of telnet and the fibs server the ability to rig up a cheating system seems like it would be a lot more trouble than it's worth but I just wanted to check if there has ever been any problems with cheaters.

Oh, and I ended up winning the match (in a highly unlikely fashion). Maybe this is the largest piece of evidence that that they weren't cheating?

[diane]

You were almost certainly playing a mobile player from your description.  The not responding to chat being classic mobile phone user behaviour.

No, the dropping does not influence what they roll next - that is just your perception, being human and all. With only 36 rolls to choose from - they all come up a lot, and if 5 or 6 of the possible 36 are excellent - you will see a good roll for them more often than not...if you follow the drift  

If you don't want to play interrupted matches like that, avoid anyone with the suffix 'PhoneUser.MayBeFlakey', or the client OdesysMobile.

[ah_clem]

What diane says.

My understanding is that whenever the phone user gets an incoming call they have to disconnect from FIBS to take it.  Since these people sometimes get 30 phone call an hour, they'll disconnect *alot*.

Don't play phone users.  Use repbot to check reputation before agreeing to a match.  You'l have much better results that way.

[0graham0]

I imagined the cheating hypothesis was fairly far fetched. I had played several players before who used odesys and never had such a horrible problem. The user in question had no information available on what client they are using, do you all happen to know what this would imply? Direct telnet access?

thanks for the quick replies!

[diane]

The user in question had no information available on what client they are using, do you all happen to know what this would imply? Direct telnet access?
thanks for the quick replies!

Maybe an iPhone user - that has an app to play bg at fibs - although I think it requires a concious effort to download and use the app...sounds like a mobile user still though.
The older version of this software, running on an older mobile maybe... When the mobile users first arrived, they had generally less idea about what they were involved in - they couldnt see shouts, or shout - they had limited kibitzing and reading kibitzes, so they played in a vaccuum.  I think if the phone is primitive enough, they think they are playing a program. 

Maybe someone got someone elses second hand phone...and is just playing with a program they found on it....who knows 

[0graham0]

Thanks for all the info