MS Internet Backgammon cheaters

Anonymous
2011-02-19T18:20:49+00:00

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?

Windows for home | Other | Gaming

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Anonymous
2012-01-01T04:51:23+00:00

I agree, it seems like there are people cheating.  That is why I looked up "Is cheating on internet backgammon possible."  

On the other hand, I am not one of the smart ones (I play because I can't sleep) and I probably couldn't figure out how to cheat if I tried, but I have still gotten rolls that make it impossible for the other player to have a fair chance.  That is too bad too because I love a good game to the end, win or lose.  It seems like a conundrum. I wonder how much is the computer changing up the odds.  Sometimes I wonder if I am even playing real people.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-04-11T17:30:32+00:00

    maybe your just **** at gammon?

    if you believe that you are probably one of the players who manipulate the dice

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-05-05T21:04:56+00:00

    agree!!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-05-11T12:12:35+00:00

    I found this article about the MS Backgammon dice and odds:

    http://zone.msn.com/en/backgammon/article/bckgrandomness.htm

    The article suggests that the number of players online playing at any time is what creates the seemingly skewed odds.

    To me, it sounds more like the odds are tied to a central Random Numbers Generator which produces the rolls for all the active games which means that the odds of "lucky" rolls appearing changes based on the number of players online at a given time. Surely these MS rocket scientists can figure out a way to program an algorithm and/or affix the RNG to each individual game being played irrespective of the total number of players playing online at any time.

    From the article:

    ~~  However, over a 40-turn game of Backgammon, there will be about 76 runs of four rolls. So statistically speaking, you’ll see four sequential double-sixes in one game out of every 22,100. There might be 4,500 games of Backgammon going on at once in the evening on MSN Games. If each game takes approximately 10 minutes, that means 27,000 games an hour. In other words, it’s likely that on any given night, there will be five to ten games of Backgammon in which both players roll double-sixes twice in a row. ~~

    This seems like selective logic: one could program an algorithm for the population at large playing OR one could program that algorithm to "believe" that only one set of players is playing at any one time. This is why it sounds like a central RNG producing rolls for ALL the MS Games at any given time. No wonder each game comes out whack.  I think that this is what is known as "idiotic".

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-06-27T02:26:28+00:00

    I would agree with you all, BUT I often get good rolls which makes the othe player seem like I am cheating, which I don't.  Can the other player also control my dice rolls?  I don't believe so.  For example in my last game we both rolled 6-4, 4-6, five times in a row combined.  I rolled three times and the other player twice.  Unless the other player is cheating and he can also control my rolls, it just seems statistically impossible.  My conclusion, maybe the Dice Rolling algorithm is not as good aas MS thinks it is.  I also work with computers and I have seen some haywire programming.

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