MS Internet Backgammon cheaters

I have found a method to PROVE that an opponent is manipulating the game. 

1. During the game with a 'suspect' opponent, when it is their turn, go to Game/Find New Opponent
2. With the Yes/No dialog box pop-up on screen select Yes, "EXACTLY" when your suspect opponent moves, not after, not before, but while the tile is in motion. This is easiest to achieve when they roll doubles. Timing is critical.
3. This will end the game with the suspect opponent and start a new game.
4. In the new game, as soon as your new opponent moves, you will see the tiles jump erratically and with invalid moves. This is very noticeable and obvious, not something you will miss.
5. When this happens, you have confirmation that the previous player is using some mechanism to manipulate the game. Or in other words, they are cheaters!

"Microsoft, please, with all due respect, fix your **** or discontinue its usage." Incidents such as this and other such manipulations of Microsoft code, can only serve to further demonstrate the lack of developmental support within the company and its products.

This malicious act left unresolved lays the path for such people to seek more malicious code hacking and eventually can result in a higher, more important product being compromised. It is in my opinion paving the road for the solicitation of destructive behavior.

As one of the worlds largest software developers, I believe that the Microsoft Corporation has a responsibility to insure that the software distributed is reasonably free of such vulnerabilities and exploitation. Turning the other way, so to speak, and disregarding the problem is irresponsible and puts, in my view, a negative mark on your branding. Of course, I understand that legally you have user agreements and so on and so on, but even so, just think of the impression and message that is being sent to the public. 

#!stephen

Maybe it's not possible to cheat at MS Backgammon, but after playing an opponent who rolled 14 doubles in the course of 1 game, and rolling 1-2 11 times in a row when the only points blocked were

1-2, it just makes me a teensy bit suspicious. I can accept bad luck, but there really is no point in playing the game when the dice are SO OBVIOUSLY being manipulated, either by the opponent, or MS themselves. Lame, beyond belief.

Windows 7.

Are you serious? It's a game, get on with your life. Some days you win and some days you don't. There is absolutely No Way Possible you can cheat while playing Internet Backgammon. If you can't handle losing then just don't play. It is only a game.

I have a Masters Degree in statistics (so I have a modicum of awareness regarding probabilities in rolling a pair of dice) and have been playing competitive backgammon since 1975. There is no doubt that the complaints presented under headings such as "internet backgammon cheaters" are accurate observations. I've been told there are also sites where a player can go to download the cheat program(s). When one is significantly ahead in a game and a double would intelligently be declined, but is accepted by the opponent, and that player then communicates "good luck" and subsequently rolls 5 or 6 doubles in a row, something is not right. I have also noted, after reading contributed complaints, that a player can, and does, move more pips than the number rolled on the dice. Many times, but not always, you see an indication of a cheater when chat has been turned off. They are so ignorant that they believe if they can't see your message "not again" or "it's your turn" it isn't sent. Either way, the isCERTAINLY A HIGH NUMBER OF CHEATERS. A "normal" game of backgammon just does not have 5 to 10 doubles rolled by the same player. That doesn't mean it never happens, but not with the regularity it occurs in MS Internet Backgammon. It used to be a pleasure for me to spend a few moments of free time playing. Now it's just aggrivating and not worth dealing with opponents who know they can't compete without cheating. Why not add a level of players to the current "Expert", "Intermediate" and "Beginner" ...  "Dummies" so the cheaters have a chance of winning legitimately? I don't know what the so called "cheat codes" do or how they work. Has Microsoft lost so much of it's technical edge they can't find a "fix". How about each time a player executes a fix (cheat) code, he/she gets bumped off the site with a note "You've been busted as a cheater". Too easy?

 

I agree with everything you say, but at the end of the day, who cares if people cheat ? Best thing to do is just not play it. We all know that MS Backgammon is a pile of cak.