[XxBLUBB3RGOATxX](http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=165601552) used a classic: setting a bonus to a large income.
Too bad we didn't see it, too bad those players play WL...

[Game link](http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer.aspx?GameID=2103013)

Didn't even try to hide it. No excuse for not catching that.

"read the settings next time mate"

Yoshi, yes, he should have read the settings, but thats no excuse for what BluBB did. Thats blatent cheating, padding your stats, and just unsportsmanlike.BluBB should be banned from Warlight for at least 3 weeks for that.

No, no he shouldn't. It is perfectly within the rules. Underhanded and devious, yes. But there are not stated rules against doing what he did nor are there rules in place requiring honorable play or good sportsmanship.

I think devious tricks in the game setup phase are a bit too metagaming for my taste. You can't write a set of rules that sensibly prohibits them; but as far as I'm concerned the backstabbing and treachery starts once everyone's on an even footing at the start of the game. The player who picks the game setup is not on an even footing and so should not act to their personal advantage.

[Justas](http://warlight.net/Profile.aspx?p=156234510) used the same "cheat" in [this game](http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer.aspx?GameID=2103997)

well it happens people should post forums not to blacklist but to beware of them (maybe they should be a beware list you it shows people who betrayed you before,been a bad teammate and tried to hide bonus so when u play them u are ready for their tricks hmmm)

also cheating is different to different people

Underhanded...yes, Cheating... definitely not

its so simple to avoid if you just look at the settings first! why cry about it when its your mistake for not reading the settings

i really dont understand why so many people dont read the settings. to me its just so obvious when bonuses are loaded when you look at the settings page.

HAHAHA! In the chat you can see that someone finally notices the pumped up bonus on turn five. One of the players asks, "What is with the 30 armies per turn in small harbour?"

And Blubb answers, "Must be a screen glitch." Brilliant. And then it takes them another 5 turns to figure out he's lying. Hilarious.

Of course he should be banned, but this won't stop other people from doing it. So, yes, it is advised to always read the settings. Blacklist and report those who do it, and then move on to another game.

Darkruler, what rule has he broken that he should be banned for..?
customizing the settings as you see fit is a part of playing a fully customizable game.. banning you for customizing your games in a customizable game seems to be a backwards aspect..

these people target newer players that don't know that it's possible to abuse the settings like this.

Hopefully after being fooled once, these newbies will look in the settings in the future.. Or just quit the game in desperation, not knowing they could check the bonuses in the settings beforehand anyhow.

Perhaps making it more obvious for newbies that these sorts of things happen is the answer.

They wont read the forums, so other than getting the chap blacklisted from real games it's useless.

But anyhow, yes, I wouldn't want to play with somebody who acts like that, so I blacklisted him.

I woulnd't make such a fuss about XxBLUBB3RGOATxX's 'joke' as I would call it..
Look at the guy's stats.. He doesnt improve them by such deception.. He just wanted to make some fun about people who dont read setting.

I dont understand how such person can be banned?
I would say he was the only one who adjusted to the 'rules' which are always shown in the settings and upon which everybody had agreed.

Next time try to beat the guy instead of being slaughtered and complaining later on.

Same with booting. How anyone can complain about being booted when he or she simply didnt adjust to the time frames:O?
The person who exeeds time limits breaks the rules, not the one who boot.

Similar situation here.

I don't see why in theory the rules cannot permit customisation of settings without prohibiting unreasonable changes, without explicitly defining the latter. Real law is full of "a reasonable person would believe", because often the edges of grey areas are hard to define. In practice I suspect it is worth no-one's time to police it.

An approach where players publicly score-down the game creator doesn't work because they will inevitably score them down for all kinds of random things which have nothing to do with weasel settings.

I do feel the game might usefully display prominently the number of non-default settings and explicitly flag up some specific conditions (for example "Sanctions card has a multiplier > 1.0", "a bonus has more than twice its default value", "a bonus has had its sign changed").

|> Yoshi, yes, he should have read the settings, but thats no excuse for what BluBB did. Thats blatent cheating, padding your stats, and just unsportsmanlike.BluBB should be banned from Warlight for at least 3 weeks for that.

Cheating: no, it isn't. Cheating is breaking the rules. Modifying settings is *choosing* the rules; by definition you can't be breaking them. When a politician suggests changing a law (for example, lowering the legal drinking age) you don't complain he wants people to break the law ("he's advocating underage drinking!!!111"), right?

Unsportsmanlike: while there's some room for argument, yes, it probably is.

Just out of curiosity, out of which crystal bowl did you pull those 3 weeks? In other words, why not 2 weeks or 4 weeks?

|> I do feel the game might usefully display prominently the number of non-default settings and explicitly flag up some specific conditions (for example "Sanctions card has a multiplier > 1.0", "a bonus has more than twice its default value", "a bonus has had its sign changed").

Ehm, it already does...? Check the lower right-hand corner of the settings window. Sure, it could be further improved by bold-facing (or making the font red or something) any especially fishy settings. But in this case, there was exactly *one* bonus with a changed value (see next paragraph for further explanation) and still the other players failed to notice it. I'm gonna guess they didn't even look, and no amount of flashing neon signs will help against people who don't even *try to look*.

Regarding that single changed bonus, there have been cases (on maps with dozens of bonuses) of game creators tweaking all bonuses; a +1 here, -2 there, maybe another +1, oh yes, and that single +300), swamping out the "changed bonuses" list with changes that seem innocuous. In *that* case, pointing out especially large changes makes sense. But this was not such a game.