Fibs Cheats?

[kevins_back]

Well howdy fibsters,

I was just listening to a shout by some of the locals and the phrase "fibs cheat" came up. I have also heard other shouts talking about how on other bg systems like MSN(i think) for ex. there are dice cheats.

My questions are: 1. Are there actual verifiable 'cheaters' on fibs?
                          2. Is there technically a method of cheating on fibs? (don't spell it out either)

I know I have cetainly felt like the victim of dice manipulation on at least three beatings myself but I just sucked it up and said oh fibs dice(until the last one). you know, the kind of beating where your brain starts to itch cause of the defiance of the laws of probability being displayed in front of you.

But I'm a newbie and not technically attuned to the foibles of the fibs programming.
I also havn't played enough to get an 'aged' view of the dice rolling here.

And I'm not talking about manipulation of the system by hitting on the newbies to score easy vouches or stuff like that, thats another soon to be started thread.

I mean dice cheats.

Educate me.

Thank you for your time.

[alef]

Can you cheat on FIBS by knowing or affecting the dice? No. Can you overly inflate your rating through unsportly behaviour? Yes.

Firstly on the dice issue. People regularly become convinced they see "non-random" dice rolls on various servers and also in live games. This might be due to remembering unusual sequences more than other patterns or lack of patterns, and of course random doesn't mean they're always different rolls and not unusual events.

Also, sharp players often look more lucky since they're carefully playing the odds and ensuring that most dice rolls are good for them. Duplication and diversification are essential strategies for winning at backgammon. Duplication means playing so your opponent's good numbers are repeated in places, for example a 6 when coming in from the bar may be forced so avoid leaving them good 6s elsewere when hitting, and duplication means playing so that all your own numbers have use, for example 5s are often awkward early on so think about how to make them more useful if you're chosing between otherwise fairly equal plays.

If you're really convinced the dice are fixed then try playing a bot, such as gnubg, locally on your computer. You'll probably also feel that it's similarly cheating at the dice. Then change its settings so that you can enter dice manually and play more matches while rolling out the dice yourself. If you repeat this a few times you should then see that the bot is actually a rather strong player regardless of who controls the dice.

As for overly inflating your rating through unsportly means... well, this might turn into a long thread. The main tactics I'm aware of are dropping matches just before losing (especially against bots), playing very new players who clearly have less than 1500 ability so give good equity, tricking your opponent into resigning, and focusing on just 1-2pt matches with weaker players since the FIBS rating equation appears a bit flawed there.

How do you find out who to play and who to avoid on FIBS? It's not perfect but RepBot can help.

(By the way, I realise I've answered more than you asked, kevin_back, and that you're not saying you're convinced the dice cheat. I'm just trying to sketch out a first draft here for the new FAQ for "Surely the dice are fixed?")

[klic]

(Thanks alef, heard the remark

Well, just for the records, saturday and sunday I was playing players sitting on the same table with me... Saturday I won my games, even though my opponent *always* (well, it was probably not that often) entered even against a 5 point board with his first roll, and I danced regularly on his two point board... Sunday was even worse! I guess, it's still some kind of selective vision by me, and we used the dice we always use that normally don't show "uncommon" behavior So, with these games on FIBS/against a BOT/whatever there would definitely be room for complaint against cheating dice
Yes. At times it just happens. That's backgammon, and the dice are there for a reason: they make it challenging

Klaus

[diane]

Yup - familiar with that one - hang around - theres plenty more where that came from!!

The only thing i have to say - is whilst fibs dice often suck - they suck equally - and we all get unfeasibly lucky and we all get days when nothing works!!

If im feeling the wrong way out - been known to resign on first game - cos you can tell the dice have it in for you today - and nothing you try is gonna work!

Or - maybe i need to read more books... - hey whatever  - that is the hook - if it were easy id have got bored and moved on a long time ago!!

[PortWine]

I have lost games that I "should" have won due to the dice.  I have also won games I "should" have lost due to dice.  I don't think Fibs knows who I am so I don't think it would know who to give an advantage to.

[kevins_back]

Thanks for the replies folks.

Of course, i didn't expect any cheats to come out and say 'hi'. hehe.

So whats all this blah blah blah about cheats? here or elswhere?  

dont answer...... its just blah, blah, blah i know...........


Alef thanks for the strategy tips. if i ever play again i'll try to use 'em.

Time for a new post....... ranking system manipulation i think will be the topic....yah that should get some attention...