From: ian (i.) gorlick (igorlick@nortel.ca)
Date: Mon 22 Jul 1996 - 23:26:00 EEST
Okay, We've seen a lot of suggestions on how to vengefully destroy the
characters of those who cheat and drive them out of the game. That's great if
you really feel that punishment and exile are the correct responses to violation
of social rules. However it is unlikely to lead to reform. In fact, if the
player gets the feeling that they are being unfairly picked on then this may
just encourage them to cheat more outrageously.
If the cheater is an unreformable teenage power-gamer then maybe driving them
out of the game is the appropriate response. However, not all cheaters fit that
category. Some of them are reasonably good role-players and decent people, they
are merely weak enough to succumb to temptation. They deserve a better break
than this.
I'm not entirely unbiased in this. Not only do I have at least one reformed
cheater in my game, but (confession time!) I have myself been weak and have lied
about my die-rolls.
What can be done to reform cheaters?
First, remember that we are dealing with a social problem. Most such problems
are best addressed by communication. Try approaching the violator and talking
about the issue. This is difficult and painful, nobody enjoys confrontation and
you are certainly risking one if you accuse someone of cheating. You can try to
cushion the blow by not making a direct accusation. For example, "Some of the
players and I have been commenting on the really remarkable luck you seem to
have. It is so unusual that a couple people are even suggesting that it might
not be just luck. To ease their suspicions may I suggest that you change your
style of die-rolling to prevent any possibility of dishonesty."
To make die rolling more honest, try providing a couple of trays for people to
roll their dice upon. Just say that it prevents the dice from denting your
coffee table and also stops them from rolling onto the floor. If everybody is
tossing their dice onto a common tray out in clear view then the cheater will be
under social pressure to do the same. You can also suggest that all percentile
rolls should be made with real percentile dice, the kind where one of the dice
is marked in multiples of 10, this prevents changing one's mind about which is
the tens die.
Also examine your style of game. Does it actually encourage cheating by only
rewarding good die-rolling? For example, suppose a gamer deduces exactly where
the hidden object must be and specifically goes over there and looks for it. Do
you still insist that he make a Search roll in order to find it? If you do then
you are rewarding good die-rolling not good playing. Or suppose the player
figures out what the correct approach to an NPC might be and then role-plays a
good speech to persuade that NPC. Do you still insist that she must succeed in
an Oratory roll to get through? If you do then you are rewarding good
die-rolling not good role-playing. My approach is that the player is either
given an automatic success or if a roll still seems indicated then success
occurs on anything but a Fumble. At the very least give him or her a massive
bonus on the roll.
One of the things that drives people to cheat is feeling that they have no
control over their fate. If you can give them a feeling of control through their
role-playing decisions then they won't feel the need to take control through
cheating on their die-rolls.
Further, try to emphasize the role-playing possibilities presented by failure.
If some-one is about to go down then encourage heroic last words and other
gestures. Try anything to make the actual result of the roll less important than
the possibilities opened up by whatever the roll may be. Sure, this is a tall
order. It won't succeed without the cooperation of the gaming group. But if you
can get people moving in this direction then the cheater will follow. And the
whole game will benefit.
Perhaps a general discussion with your group about the need for more
role-playing and less emphasis on succeeding in the specific mission will help
generate the right atmosphere. It will avoid confrontation with any individuals
and get the cheater thinking about how he defines success.
------------------------------
End of Glorantha Digest V3 #59
******************************
RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill, and Glorantha is a trademark
of Chaosium. With the exception of previously copyrighted material,
unless specified otherwise all text in this digest is copyright by the
author or authors, with rights granted to copy for personal use, to
excerpt in reviews and replies, and to archive unchanged for
electronic retrieval.
Send electronic mail to Majordomo@hops.wharton.upenn.edu with "help"
in the body of the message for subscription information on this and
other mailing lists.
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Fri 13 Jun 2003 - 16:51:40 EEST