Please Read: Welcome to the C-IV GOTM

[AlanH]

As Dianthus says the submission script renames your file to ensure that it's unique and traceable to the game and the player. The script reports back to you with both the file name you submitted and the name it's been given internally. Now that the submission script is working correctly you should also receive an email acknowledging your submission and giving a summary of the data you supplied.

For future games we shall switch on more automated file processing. You will then not need to enter so much information, as scores, dates, victory conditions and the game identity will all be extracted from your save. I also expect to eliminate the need for the Replay file to be uploaded, as we should have the capability to extract all that information from your saved game file.

 

[DaviddesJ]

I know you won't want to divulge how you detect this type of cheating, but if a game crash is going to invalidate my entry, I'm not sure whether playing Game of the month is worth the risk.

What "risk"? What do you have to lose? If your game doesn't count, you still had just as much fun playing the game as if it did count.

In Civ3 GOTM, sometimes I submitted my game, and sometimes I didn't, for various reasons (not cheating---mostly, just not finishing on time). It isn't more or less fun when you submit than when you don't. It's good to submit primarily because the community as a whole benefits from the collection of games by different players. It wouldn't really work if no one submitted. But whether any one particular game counts, or doesn't count, just doesn't matter.

 

[DaviddesJ]

How are we supposed to know at what point in the game we can open the first spoiler thread, without opening the thread to find out?

 

[ainwood]

How are we supposed to know at what point in the game we can open the first spoiler thread, without opening the thread to find out?

Its always safe to read teh first post - read that and find out

 

[LauriL]

This might be a stupid question, but this is my first gotm and I don't know the rules so well. Can I start the game whenever I want and then just submit the needed files for example on the last day? For example can I start playing on the last day and then submit the files? I'm just asking this because of those spoiler threads. Now that I've seen a little bit of the map and know where the Greeks are, it gives me some advantage. I really would like to play but haven't had the time yet...

 

[AlanH]

You are not supposed to read the spoilers until you have reached the qualifications to do so. That's why they are called 'spoilers', and the qualifications to read them are spelt out in the first post of the spoiler threads.

If you have already read the spoiler thread before you have started, or learned the same knowledge as the posters in that thread, then you have an unfair advantage over other players, and you have disqualified yourself from competing in the current game.

If you want to play in future you are welcome to play at any time of the month and to submit right up to the deadline. The countdown on the submission page tells you the remaining time to the nearest hour, and you can refresh it by refreshing your browser page. Just don't read any spoilers before you play.

 

[LauriL]

I think I'm not the only one that has peeked that thread before starting to play. What I did was wrong but I didn't know that it's considered cheating. How can you even make sure that nobody will check first the spoiler threads and then start playing?

I'm just being honest to tell what a horrible, horrible crime I did . So I'm gonna submit my files anyway. And since I told it at this phase, not when the whole map is showed, you should have mercy on me until someone invents a way to prevent such "cheating".

Anyway, thanks for making that clear.

 

[AlanH]

I'm sorry, I must be missing something. Simple common sense, plus a quick read of the rules specified in the spoiler opening post, should tell you that reading spoilers before playing is wrong. How can it possibly be justified to take advantage of an earlier player's discoveries to beat that player's score?

The GOTM relies on people playing to the rules, and most of this depends on player honesty. In order to try to level the playing field the staff have a duty to honest players to eliminate entries that we know to be unfairly played, but we don't try to fool anyone that we can eliminate cheating if there are those determined to do it.

There are no prizes to be won here, only the satisfaction of having played a good game and beaten your own or other players' performances .. fairly. If you cheat and we don't detect it, what is your achievement? You have no way to tell whether your result is valid compared with others. What are you going to tell everyone you 'beat'? That you are a smarter cheat than them? I don't think that's a competition I would want to win or even take part in.

And if I believed that there were a significant number of people doing it then I wouldn't help organise it either.

[/rant]

 

[LauriL]

Ok. I just missed the first post somehow. Only things I learned was the location of the iron source and the position of the enemy in that continent. However, I sincerely believe that information didn't help me much. I forgot the exact location of the iron source and would have found the enemy anyway. But I admit, I cheated.

Is there gonna be a list of results of all players in the end? Please include my results there, too! You can add a cheater tag next to my name if you want.

 

[Methos]

You must realize that typically the spoiler thread is opend by one of the GOTM Staff. Since this is CivIV we have a lot of new players who are unfamiliar with the GOTM game. In the spoiler thread Ainwood went back and editied the first post so that as soon as you started the first post you knew what was required to read on.

Realize that even if you have not met the requirements technically you are allowed to read the first post to see what the requirements are. If you haven't met the requirements simply leave the thread and come back when you have met those requirements.

For those of you who believe by posting late compared to everyone else don't feel this makes your post less looked at. In CivIII many of the really experienced players often didn't post their spoiler until either late in the game or after the games alloted time was over.

 

[Renata]

@ LauriL -- You can compare your results to the final tabulation yourself if you wish, but your game will not be accepted based on what you have told us here.

See you next month, and next time, remember to read the rules!

 

[LauriL]

Yeah, well it's ok. It's good that I told this. Clear conscience.

 

[Abegweit]

It does seem to me that this was a minor transgression. There has been a fair amount of confusion around this game and it seems to be unfair to single out LauriL. It is difficult to see how he could gain anything but a minor advantage from it. IMO, Aussie_Lurker's posting of the thread was an even more serious violation of the rules, yet it was accepted. I forget whether his pre-Ainwood post contained any info about qualifications. In this vein. Ainwood needs to shoulder of the blame for this too. He should not have accepted AL's thread. Instead, per the rules, he should have opened his own. Perhaps LL would have followed the rules if the staff had?

I doubt my voice will change much but I say that all these picadillos should be forgiven for this particular game. Ainwood, and all the GOTM staff, have done a fine job in setting up an enjoyable game in a difficult environment. Kudos to them. Given the confusion though, minor transgressions on the part of the players, especially newbs, should be forgiven - once.

In fact, I would argue that minor transgressions should always be tolerated for newbs, except that they cannot qualify for medals. When a hendrikszoon comes out of nowhere to win, he'd better follow the rules. I'm not suggesting that he has ever done otherwise, just that a bit more tolerance should be given to Regent newbs than to champions.

As for the spoiler itself, I have played well into the game but have not yet qualified for it (no off-continent contacts). I am perfectly sure that there is no information I could gain by reading it, other than the progress of the other players. But then, this is a danger of any spoiler and the information will be almost as useful for me when I do qualify as would be is now.

There are, however, some interesting hints in the opening post which are clearly based on information gleaned from overseas. That is spoilerish too, even for those who have qualified for the thread.

 

[Methos]

It does seem to me that this was a minor transgression.

True, but if this little transgression is allowed who's to say another transgression is also considered minor and therefore should be allowed? It's like the whole play at least an hour. If one individual only plays 59 minutes and the GOTM Staff decide to let that slide, than what about the person who only played 58 minutes? Besides, how can you let the 59 slide but not the 58? And it continues on from there.

IMO I don't believe these minor transgressions should be allowed just due to this being the 1st GOTM. Rules were posted or could have been learned if people just took the time to read them.

Besides, if you allow them to slide this time will those players who made minor transgressions learn from their mistake? Possibly, but just as possibly they won't. A person tends to learn from their mistakes more when confronted with them, rather than allowing them to slide just this once.

 

[Shillen]

1) Pre-knowledge of the map is a substantial advantage, IMO.
2) Aussie_Lurkers thread said it was a spoiler in the title and him posting that thread did not give him any advantage in his game.
3) Reading a spoiler thread before starting to play should have been an obvious no-no even if you hadn't read the rules, but it also stated that right in the thread in the first post.
4) How would it be fair to let his game count when the rest of us played without the advantage he did? This is a competition.

I'm in complete agreement with how the GOTM staff handled everything.

 

[Mmmm Butter]

I've got a couple of noob questions before I start my first gotm. This is gonna sound pretty stupid, a lot of the things I say sound pretty stupid, but is there any way to change the default name your copy of civ gives to your leader? What I mean is, when I start a new game, I always change the leader's name, because the default it uses is the name of my pc, "JONNYSPC". Which leads me to my second question. I downloaded the start save, and that's when I realized that my leader's name would be "JONNYSPC". So I just left the game, no moves, no save, just exited to desktop. Is my downloading the start save again going to raise any flags as cheating, because I didn't see anything beyond what I saw in the starting screenie posted here. I hope you can take a noob at his word, it's true.

 

[Abegweit]

if this little transgression is allowed who's to say another transgression is also considered minor and therefore should be allowed?

I did say that things like this should not be tolerated from people like you and I who have been around. We have no excuse for breaking the rules. As for who will decide, obviously the GOTM staff will. I am perfectly happy with whatever decision they make. As I said, I do think that newbs should be a cut a bit of slack in general - and especially in this particular game. JMO - and it would appear that I am in the minority around here. Oh well. Won't be the first time.

It's like the whole play at least an hour. If one individual only plays 59 minutes and the GOTM Staff decide to let that slide, than what about the person who only played 58 minutes? Besides, how can you let the 59 slide but not the 58? And it continues on from there.

Hmmm. I thought that rule was a half-hour? In fact I'm sure it was. Did it change? Incidently, the Welcome thread says nothing about this. Nor does it say that there are any rules about opening spoilers. The same is true of the Civ3 Code of Conduct page. Nothing about session length and very little about spoilers.

As I said, there has been a lot of confusion around this game. It's perfectly normal and I have every confidence that our fine staff will eventually get things running as smoothly as they have for Civ3. In the meantime, let's keep things loose.

 

[AlanH]

I believe the leader name can be changed, as I've seen different names in the submitted saves. As I don't have the game, you'll have to wait for someone else to tell you how to do it.

Your initial start file load and quit will not cause any problems as long as you didn't do anything..

 

[Methos]

Hmmm. I thought that rule was a half-hour? In fact I'm sure it was. Did it change?

Is it only 30 minutes? Didn't realize that as I'm also not entirely sure. I've been playing in hour intervals. One nice thing about CivIV is the alarm clock. Setting it for 60 minutes to make sure is nice.

Have to check on the time limit, as I've never been too sure on that. 30 minutes would be nicer as I don't always have an hour straight I can play.

@GOTM Staff: Can you clarify the time limit please.

I did say that things like this should not be tolerated from people like you and I who have been around. We have no excuse for breaking the rules.

Missed where you stated about us old CivIII C/GOTM players. My mistake.

 

[AlanH]

There isn't a rule on session times, only guidance.

If you only play one or two turns per session then it's kinda difficult to distinguish your playing style from that of a serial reloader.

30-60 minutes means you play a reasonable number of turns per session, and we aren't bugging you about the number of sessions you have taken to complete the game.