Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 20:12:26 03/15/99
Go up one level in this thread
On March 15, 1999 at 19:36:42, Mark Young wrote: >On March 15, 1999 at 19:05:34, Albert Silver wrote: > >>On March 15, 1999 at 18:02:54, Mark Young wrote: >> >>>On March 15, 1999 at 17:57:31, Peter McKenzie wrote: >>> >>>>On March 15, 1999 at 17:29:00, Mark Young wrote: >>>> >>>>>Hiarcs 7 has been banned from playing the other programs on the chess server >>>>>Chess4You. I joined this chess server under the name DoomsDayMachine. After only >>>>>11 games and a 11-0 score and a 2900+ rating. I was told by an admin that Hiarcs >>>>>7 is too *strong* to play on the Chess4You server, and that Hiarcs 7's games >>>>>would be resigned to bring Hiarcs 7's ratings back into line to what it should >>>>>be, and Hiarcs 7 could no longer play the other programs.:) >>>> >>>> >>>>Come on over to ICC where you'll get fierce competition and no silly rules. >>> >>>I am on the other chess server, and I have never had this happend before. BTW >>>There is no rule on chess4You like this.:) until now. Here is the logic of the >>>new rule. You can have a computer account, but if the program you are using wins >>>to much, you can no longer use that program....... >>>> >>>>Peter >>>> >>>><snip> >> >>Perhaps one should e-mail them asking beforehand. "Excuse me I'm running Fritz 5 >>on a PII-400. Is that too much or should I turn off the Turbo button? I do have >>a version of Sargon III running on an Alpha 766Mhz but don't know how it fits >>in. Please advise." >> >>Imagine what will happen if they get some strong GM blitz player. "Oh so sorry. >>You have just won 20 straight games which is contrary to our special Victory >>policy. Please restrain yourself in the future or take your winning ways >>elsewhere." >> >> Albert Silver > >I did write the owner of the server after the fact, and remember this is a pay >to play server which allows computer acounts. > >My E-mail to chess4you >------------- >Hello, > >My account name is Doomsdaymachine. I am not sure what kind of chess server >you are trying to run, but I have never seen such a mess in my life as your >server. Here is my problem, I joined your server and started playing games. >I was >playing Redbaron and Bulldozer. After about 11 games I get a message from >'Checkonedo' your admin, saying I can no longer play those computer accounts >because I am winning to much and messing up the ratings, and he will be >resetting my rating back down to where it should be. When I tried to talk to >'Checkonedo', he will not respond to me except by saying "stop playing the >Chess4You computer accounts". I complained to the other admins online and >they said they see no problem with me playing who ever I want, and "Winning >is not a crime" Then when I start playing Bulldozer again, I see >'Checkonedo' >start observing my game, then a few seconds later my game resigns itself at >move 10!!!!. I don't know what the problem is, but I will be sure to let >everyone know to stay far away from your Chess server. > >Mark Young My only question would be this: if you beat some program (or programs) 11 games in a row, what would be the point in continuing to play them? It deflates their rating, which means it will deflate anyone's rating that plays them. So I'm not sure of the 'point' of doing that, and I can see why an admin would be 'interested' in that the rating pool certainly gets zapped. Assuming the program you played had actually 'earned' its rating by playing the players on that server. If you beat it 11 games in a row, you probably depress its rating at least 200 points. which means that (assuming it is now 2200 when it was 2400) now anybody playing it is playing a 2400 player with a 2200 rating, and _their_ rating is going to take a beating. Causing that kind of problem is _not_ what computer operators ought to want. Because it is only going to lead to computers being banned one day. IE go try to enter your program in a USCF event in the US. And find a tournament without an (NC) limitation. We are "tolerated" on the servers, because we provide entertainment for a lot of GM players (and others that watch the games.) But if we start generating a lot of complaints (hey that 2200 program is killing 2500 players and sucking their ratings down) then we won't be around very long. And the danger there is greater than any gain made by beating some program 11 times. We want to be quite, unobtrusive, and continue our debugging/testing. It won't take much to wreck that. It's already happened in tournament chess. It could easily happen in server chess as well. Just an opinion... as many servers already are considering (or already have implemented) restrictions on what computers can do, to stop the computer vs computer stuff (or at least slow it down.)
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