CASES 101 INSTALLMENT 4.
Final Exam
For those of you who have completed Cases 101 (Posts 10/20/02)
we know that a good knowledge of the Cases rules is necessary,
as well as the ability to shrewdly use these rules. We have had
plenty of time to learn the rules and study Pip-Room weaselry.
But how well do you know these rules?
Here is a scenario that could take place in the Pip room.
See if you can determine who is at fault and what penalties
should be administered:
Player Rank-1 accepts a challenge from Rank-5. Rank-1 is winning
all the rounds and is in crawford round. After the opening rolls
in the crawford round, Rank-1 announces "I have to go grocery
shopping. I gotta leave now, so I will report a loss."
Rank-1 leaves, and reports a loss. Player Rank-5 now becomes Rank-3.
Player Rank-3 is now sitting at the table looking at the empty chair,
he sees his watcher friend Rank-11 and asks him:
"Hey, why don't you jump in and finish this match?"
Friend Rank-11 says "Cool", then leaves the watcher area and jumps
in the game in place of Player Rank-1 to finish his crawford round.
Player Rank-11 gets a series of doubles and wins the final round.
Player rank-3 then reports the loss to player Rank-11, who now becomes
Rank-7. Another watcher takes screenshots and starts whining about
cheating and conspiracies. Then they all leave WorldPlay and go to
read the forum to see if there are any accusations of cheating.
What players are at fault? What penalties do they face?
Answer:
This kind of activity is covered in the Cases rules under the
"Playing a Match" section called "Failure to Finish Match".
No players have violated any rules. There are no penalties.
However, Watcher Rank-9 has violated an abuse rule (which could
result in a warning or penalty) by making false accusations against
the players in the game. Even if the accusations were true, he is
wrong to make them in the chat window. The Cases rules state
that he should report the suspicious activity to the Support Link.
Also, keep in mind that ladder manipulation is prohibited. If proof* can
be shown that any of the players had planned the wins or loss before-hand,
then they would be penalized for ladder manipulation.
* (Proof is a screenshot of them actually typing plans or making agreements
with other players to manipulate the ladder rankings).
So how did you score? Do you have what it takes to climb this
ladder while shrewdly following the Cases rules?