Msn zone backgammon Cheat

Hi,

I received a email from the zone mater stating tha servers will be changed this summer and that it will fix the problem.

   HIP HIP HOORAY

If it were only true.  

I don't play for ratings but for the fun of it and to relax. Cheaters spoil it for everyone.  There are so many nice people out there that a few have to put so many good people on edge. 

Please post a copy of your letter. I know we would all love to see it. Maybe then Microsoft would feel compelled  to back up their word and truly install a new server that should solve the problem.  I must say I am honestly surprised at the total of number of responses the problem.   So many with the same issue. 

Keep up the good work of reporting and writing and maybe they will keep their word and fix the problem.

Please, please post the letter.

Thanks

All we can do is persist and report CHEATERS until we escape the oppression of sociopath trolls, the tyranny of buggy software exploited Ad nauseam, and the mediocrity of management who simply ignore a nagging problem that undermines the security and reliability of Microsoft and MSN software and service. 

I really didn't want to insert all this. It has been reported and reported. I gave up years ago. All I ever got was automated responses. Fact is 50.000 players online and 255 Backgammon players as now. MSN will ignore it and the few who will complain are nothing more than a gnats bite, being adressed at their FB page to the tune of: "Multiplayer games are down. We are aware of the problem". The ability of not been able to run a proper Backgammon bot is not undermining MSN. Automated responses will take no time at all and no human resources are wasted. The number of people that are upset is negligible. Cheaters and all other problems concerning the programming have never been adressed. I'm not saying one shouldn't persist, but I think it's rather futile.

A server change doesn't change any of the programming faults.

Not all players at higher ratings are cheaters and I had very good matches even coming in with a lot lower rating. I feel that many posters are too much concerned about their rating. I really don't care that much, but I will be annoyed when time is wasted by abuse and stalling. I have reported stallers and abusers. It doesn't stop. As far as I know nobody ever gets banned. The only thing that happens is that the rating stays intact but the player has to choose a new nic and to what use it that. Fact is the risk of been timed out is very high if e.g. 2000 versus 2300 and thousand of matches.

support options are here: http://zone.msn.com/en/support/article/support3500.htm

I have done this several times. Followed the steps as described. Funny, never received

anything back from  Zmaster. No questions, no we have resolved, nothing.  I have however

run into the same abusive people over and over again.

I would like to have the job of one of the guys who are supposed to be resolving the issues.

Seems they have a light load.

I have documented the "move/undo stall/time out exploit" and submitted to zmaster@... (see above link ) hundreds of times for many years.  I provide multiple screen captures, game logs, and a detailed letter stating that it is important to moderate cheaters by banning their handle.  Although this does not in any way stop the cheater from playing under infinite handles, it does ruin the handle rating and game tally.  Therefore, the 15,000 games played and 2349 player rating totally disappear.  If we nuke every one of those long standing cheater tallies, then it takes away their narcissistic sociopath legacy and reduces their incentive to keep pumping up the tally.  It takes a long long time to cheat above 2200 because anyone at that level or above is 75% a cheat, therefore they must play folks below 2000, which means only a point is gained in the defeat, and 200 matches will be required to cheat from 2100 to 2300 if they avoid other cheaters.  This makes them easy to spot, compared to authentically highly rated players, if you consider their game count versus rating ratio.  

The real problem lies in the fact that Zmaster is in fact any one of hundreds of various support personnel and there is complete inconsistency in their training, experience, and response to my reporting of these facts.  For over a year I would receive no acknowledgement or response whatsoever.  so then I began accumulating other msn and microsoft abuse email addresses, including the occasional auto reply that was generated by a zmaster moderator who was on vacation or sick.  I had gathered about 6 individual microsoft employee addresses from vacation auto responders and out of frustration i cc'ed each and every one of these folks, including hotmail and microsoft forum abuse notification addresses each and every time I reported a disruptive player.  

FINALLY, after many months of this shenanigans I received a terse, but very much appreciated reply which was a FAIR WARNING from the zmaster that if I did not immediately stop SPAMMING corporate that I would be banned.

AHA!  A human does exist!  Thank God there is someone breathing and alive that has acknowledged my efforts!  I explained that I just wanted to be sure that my submissions were received.  I was assured that they are received and processed eventually, but that it was against policy for moderators to respond to complainant so not to become a device of petty feuds between members.  By not informing me of their response, they don't encourage my continued complaints as a means of enacting administrative wrath on other members.  And there is the rub:  on the one hand MSN Zmaster may in fact ban cheaters that are reported, but at the same time, they are not allowed to single out individual members due to privacy concerns.  I am an individual member who no longer has privacy if I interact regularly with certain zmasters.  When a new zmaster receives a disruptive player report from me they are not aware of the history of communication that has been established.  Its not that they can't access it its just that it carries no weight whatsoever since all of us are anonymous private individuals on MSN. 

Ironically, as we now see in the new emphasis on reputation on the Community Participation Center, on Microsoft Support and Knowledge Boards in General, that value is lost in complete anonymity, if not complete privacy.  So if our privacy can be assured while our reputation as participants carries some weight, perhaps there may be some pay off to these seemingly futile efforts.  They have bigger fish to fry, but I just approach this like Tim Robbin's character in the Shawshank Redemption who writes hundreds of unanswered letters to the department of corrections requesting a change to the monolithic institutional refusal of financial support for library material.  Its a hopeless endeavor, but that does not mean he won't keep asking.  And after a while, they will do anything to make the letters just stop.  SO WE MUST ALL REPORT DISRUPTIVE PLAYERS TO THE MSN "ZMASTER" IN ORDER TO EFFECT CHANGE.  I can do this all day but it will take a great deal of us to get MEANINGFUL RESULTS.  Like for instance, FIX THE SOFTWARE.

EVENTUALLY there will be a cost analysis of how many customer support man hours are wasted on fielding all of our reports and complaints of the "Move/Undo/Stall/Time Out Exploit" until FINALLY a person of authority will realize that it would be simpler TO JUST DEBUG THE DANG SOFTWARE (even though they bought it "as is" from a third party vendor and would really prefer not to mess with it or pay to have it revised, perhaps). 

Even a monolithic corporate institution with other important priorities will eventually respond IF ENOUGH PEOPLE REPORT CODE OF CONDUCT VIOLATIONS ACCORDING TO THE RULES OUTLINED AT http://zone.msn.com/en/support/article/support3500.htm This is where contact information for the Zone Master can be obtained, with other details about Code of Conduct.

Remember, do not violate member privacy, or spam other Microsoft employees in your frustration.  Just think of it like a life sentence in a prison run by a corrupt warden and sadistic prison guards.  All we can do is persist and report CHEATERS until we escape the oppression of sociopath trolls, the tyranny of buggy software exploited Ad nauseam, and the mediocrity of management who simply ignore a nagging problem that undermines the security and reliability of Microsoft and MSN software and service. 

There may be bigger priorities, but after a while it becomes clear that if the little problems can't be fixed after YEARS AND YEARS then there are systemic failures.  They become BIG vulnerabilities that are an Achilles heel of any organization.  So, as Sisyphus spends eternity rolling the boulder up the  hill, only to watch it fall again, MSN must acknowledge the futility of ignoring this blemish on the MSN user experience, and the reputation of Microsoft Solutions in general.

That's my two cents.