Keep unscrupulous hosts out of the top ten (at the very least)

[C64 nostalgia]

akire1 is currently 2 wins away from the top ten.
uschi is 10 wins away from the top ten.

Planet MULE needs to draw the line somewhere. Unethical hosts should never be allowed into the top ranks. I hear new players comment on how the above players must be good because of their ranks... This is not good ambassadorship. Dishonorable hosts need penalties. Hosts such as the above disgrace something wonderful, namely, Planet MULE and a classic game from the 80's. Almost all, if not all, of the best players deem akire1 and uschi as despicable. Very little ambiguity exists about them. Something needs to be done now.

I've heard the reason nothing has been done is because of the coming new central host server. However, based on its very early beta status. The new host server is a long ways away...

Something needs to be done about unscrupulous hosts. Planet MULE needs a cure.

[Death_Mule17]

  Hows bout kicking uschi out of the weekly top ten too, that way underdogs have a better chance?

[leahcim99]

We need a posting system that shows in the lobby a way so that players can post a notice of a poor host - the game can be noted and other players could check for themselves and decide or vote to isolate that particular host.

The bad or poor host could still play in others games, but they would not be able to host if no one joins their games.

We could have a similar post of those players that quit - we note he name and game and then other players can decide if they want to play with them - those that quit for no good reason we isolate.

The vets here at planet mule know who the bad apples are real quick - the posting system would help keep the noobs from joining the games of poor hosts further isolating them and also allow hosts to decide if they want have a quitter in their game.

Mule - A game a day, keeps you sane.....

[data2008]

We are fully aware of the issues, and as most of you following the threads here know, the problem is two-fold:

1) Change the code from host to server, so no one can abuse an unfair "host-advantage" anymore and
2) change the ranking system to a much more sophisticated system, that does account for ranking of the last round, number of humans finished and overall colony score.

We are working right now on these features, and also many of the most wanted wishes/complaints like fixing auction system, etc., but then no. 1) called for a major rewrite of the underlying code, so it takes some time to do this right.

So the good news is, that we announced having a new working prototype done, that has almost all features on board (minus A.I.). This is not beta yet, as it still needs much testing, tweaking and finetuning. So we are making big progress on the current issues and will look into how we honor those players (with a special badge) that have fought hard AND HONEST under the current ranking system, when we replace the current one with the new one.

So if we look at our progress and our decision to put all available resources into the next major PM update, we are very positive to win back those MULE fans who wait for some fix, to satisfy the current ones playing and even to attract new ones.

The "good" players will be rewarded, and it will likely turn out all well with the update.

[Makelith]

**Lots of good stuff**

This isn't the praise/kudos area, so I can't really say anything else.

Except maybe... you need more testers?

[leahcim99]

However the developers change the game, we will have those who are happy and those who are not so happy.

I believe that the most important thing to remember is that these developers have provided us all with many hours of good clean fun and commraderie.

Thank You all for your time and effort in revieving this most excellent game.
Thank You all for your time and effort in maintaining this most excellent game.\
Thank You all for your time and effort in making the game better and more exciting.

MOST IMPORTANT - THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS FOR FREE (Although it has cost you guys many, many hours of donated time.

YOU DA MEN......

[C64 nostalgia]

Hmm... This thread became strange.

First, I greatly appreciate Turborilla for bringing back a greatly loved game from my childhood. But, most importantly, they made it so we can play with real people online. Introducing MULE to the internet is a wonderful thing... Thank you.

However, my original post's intent was simply to note the cheaters are making it to the top. Many threads have already been created regarding the cheaters. Regular discussion about the cheaters is made in the lobby, in games, and among players. I haven't heard or read anything good about the cheaters (other than, maybe, comic value). So, I see two main problems... One, proving no penalties, the cheaters encourage others to cheat. Two, the much greater problem, the cheaters demean and abuse newcomers. Newcomers who don't know any better. Newcomers who see a high rank and assume that must mean a good player.

In my mind, easy simple penalties (within the current ranking system) could be removing an account, resetting an account, or resetting the wins for an account. Since they have won almost all of their games, no major negative repercussions should occur. The cheaters have been clearly singled out. The ambiguity is almost nil. This isn't a witch hunt -- clear prove has been logged...

[data2008]

C64 nostalgia:

I can relate to your thinking and we do understand the urging feel to scratch that itch and take action NOW, however we are not able to target the root cause but merely the symptoms and don't know for sure how the reaction might be.

It's maybe comparable to spammers: Once you try to counterstrike, some are giving in and some really begin to start "waging a war" then, causing you much more concern...

I agree that a quick measure sounds rather easy in this case, but then our gut feel is that we let this be "as is" a little more and meanwhile work on the "big fix", including a penalty of the faulty players while starting with the new system in place, it will be much harder for anyone to simply continue or start a new cheat account just to annoy (new) players.

A solution that would affect all players may be to not count ANY games where only 1 human finished.

Of course we can always reset any account now and it would probably feel like "some sort of justice is done" over those individual players, but maybe it wouldn't make them go away or we might be faced with the dilemma to decide in "not so sure cases" thereafter also.

Please consider that PM is not even a year old and our current goal is to get all major issues fixed before it's first birthday! So please see any progress in this context and timeframe, where we all waited 25+ years for the original game to make a comeback and all our motivation now is the same as yours: 100% dedication to improve on our first version to make it a blast for old and new players alike.

[C64 nostalgia]

Please consider that PM is not even a year old and our current goal is to get all major issues fixed before it's first birthday! So please see any progress in this context and timeframe, where we all waited 25+ years for the original game to make a comeback and all our motivation now is the same as yours: 100% dedication to improve on our first version to make it a blast for old and new players alike.

Thank you for your extended reply.

Wow, not even a year old... I still remember those early versions -- the freezes, the smithore money-making miracle... It seems so long ago.

I've had seven months (strangely, to the day) with Planet MULE. I've played some great games, met some new friends, and connected with an old dear friend. I've enjoyed Planet MULE's infancy, and I eagerly await its first birthday. Thank you again for resurrecting a classic.

[Mt-Wampus]

Who cares about the rankings! they are a joke anyway! Keep unscrupulous hosts from playing at planet MULE ! warning first time and banned the 2nd! Dont care if a host is ranked 1 or 1000! get them out of the place!

[maskdbandt]

i've been away for months and it's unfortunate that this is still a problem with numerous people... i know megabyte was always a problem even though he claimed he had problems but it always happened when he wasn't winning and he wouldn't let anyone else host... it was always fun playing with people as respectable as c64

[data2008]

we are updating to a possible solution... shortly to be announced and explained officially ... just watch and notice some updates we are doing in the back...