Quest Cheaters

[LisaInNc]

You know I really wish that people that do players quests would remember that this is something that we are doing on our own. The time we spend putting a quest together and the prizes come from us not VMK, we get nothing for it except the fun of running a quest.

I would like to see less complaining and less cheating.

I have done a few of them. Last night I did a new quest and I specifically said that I would stop it if I saw cheating. I said that if I saw unusually fast times I would consider that cheating and stop the entire quest.

So of course that is exactly what happened. So I stopped it about half way through the 3 hour time limit. No one got anything. I wished there was a way that I could have sent a message to all the people that did the quest or were doing it.

Sigh, I think that I am going to have to get over it because with the low level of personal integrity I have seen demonstrated by so many players in this game I can't expect everyone to abide by the rules. It isn't going to happen.

 

[VMK_KrazyLuke]

nobody has done this with my quest yet and i would do the same thing if people were cheating on it. I am really disappointed at Staff's Quest because people will do the new quest then get their other character on and get a time like 1 min. which i think is not even fair at all to the people they actually played fair and tried. But What Is Most Sad To Me Is That Community Leaders Are Doing This!!! And They Are Really The Ones That Should Be Spreading The Word Not To Do IT!!!! I Am Going To Talk With Staff About This And If They Ask Who It Was I Will Tell Them Because I Think It Is Horrible For Them To Do That.

Yeah So Anyways... lol i think you made the right decision by closing it
i also wish they had a feature that you could see who is currently doing the quest.

 

[laxplaya1346]

i made my quest so you cant cheat on it, Only 2 people have won and it is a total of 40 quests so i have seen no guests come in

 

[macntosh]

I was thinking by creating a quest and only awarding the first five players, then there is not enough time for someone to go and get a mule to do it again. By giving 15-50 prizes, you give someone the opportunity to finish and then get some help. My other thought was to place time limits that are slightly over the amount of time it takes to complete this quest. Someone could get through it once, but not twice. However this could effect late starters as well. jm2c.

 

[DaffyPluto]

Well there are two ways you can fight back against the cheating that seems to have beome a part of this questing, well maybe three, hmm, maybe four. I will try to detail them out here for you.

1.) If you have the quest set for the fastest time is the winner you can put the better prizes in in randomly so the fastest times dont necessesarily get the better prizes. That way no matter what their time is the prizes are awarded in a random fashion.

2.) You can make it a race by setting the machine so the first person to cross the finish line is the winner. So the people win the prizes in the order they finish the quest and not the best time. I did this by fencing off the machine and then filling the room then taking the fences down.

3.) You can also set up some sort of prerequisate for people to play the quest. What I did is people have to play a game first and the winner of the game is then given access to the quest machine through a teleport. The machine is in a locked room so they cant get there any other way but through that teleport I provide the winner in the game room. That way if they want to play the quest they have to win the game.

4.) You can make the quest room friends only. This may not stop the cheating, but will reduce it to almost tolerable levels. If your like me though, most of your friends dont need the prizes your giving out and it cuts out the kids that really do need them and are just out for fun and a prize they could use.

Its a shame that people feel the need to cheat other people in these quests. I stopped by Yavn's room and looked at the times in his quest machine. the times were down to just over a minute. Now you cant tell me that these were first timers going through it.

No matter what you do you will have people cheating on these things, so it is up to the quest owner to fight back against them.

If anyone has found another solution to fight against the rampant cheating please post here for all to see. Maybe we can make it tough enough to at least slow these people down.

 

[Adventuredaz]

I think we should be allowed to set controls on there quests, I may have been one of the first people to own a machine, but I won't use it under the current conditions.

Here is my thought - when the owner tests the quest he/she knows the quest in and out and runs though it in a hurry to get it set. That time should be a base time that the owner can set a control or rule stating that if that time is beat by more then X minutes then the quest ends.

Also a rule allowing randomization of item placement would make this more difficult to cheat on however it would be hard to give a hint or picture. Another method used to cheat is short cuts, we should be allowed to set multiple parts to the task if you want them to go somewhere to do something, right now you have to make it two tasks when even in the staff quests often they say something like go to the spell room and make yourself dance with fire" all you have to do is dance no matter where you are.
I will give this some more thought as to improvements that they might be able to add and would appreciate themselves, I think. I am ready to give up on the staff quests.

(Note I know some people are extremely good at these things and it is not to take anything away from them but it is a known fact people are cheating to win personal and staff quests to the point that it is now perpetual)

(another tHought is put the good prizes at the end-like the last 5 get prizes,that way it is harder to hit lol)

 

[pokemon_master]

I really hate quest cheaters, and what is worse is that they ask CL's to help them cheat! I have been asked 50 million times to help ____ on a quest as they are stuck. I mean, I know I am supposed to help, but to cheat?

I am conflicted: Should I help them because it's my "job" to do so, or should I tell them to buzz off?

 

[Maleficent2]

I really hate quest cheaters, and what is worse is that they ask CL's to help them cheat! I have been asked 50 million times to help ____ on a quest as they are stuck. I mean, I know I am supposed to help, but to cheat?

I am conflicted: Should I help them because it's my "job" to do so, or should I tell them to buzz off?

Someone asking for help is not cheating! Neither is your helping someone who has asked.

I have not done any personal quests I started one and the room would not load so finally gave up.

I think that personally calling people cheaters is a very strong term. I think that maybe it is being used a little too loosely.

I do not want to get another debate started on Cheaters vs non Cheaters.
I would rather these discussions lean towards how to make your Quests the best they can be than pointing fingers at fellow board members or other players and calling them cheaters.

Is it cheating.....

to trade with another player and get more that what an item is really worth?
to have someone help you get to the next level of pirates?
to play against you in HM so you can catch more ghosts?
to make other characters because you enjoy playing more than one personality?

When calling someone a cheater, what exactly are you referring too? Does your quests say can not be completed by multiple characters of the same person?? Like I said I am not really up to par on how these quests work since I have not completed one nor have I made one.


Again Instead lets all try and promote each other and help one another make our quests the best they
can be...if there are things that others players do when playing your quests try to figure out a way to stop it.

Can we all have fun and PLAY the game we LOVE and promote the VMK DIS community.

Thanks

Mal

 

[Carrieberry]

I think the only way to handle this is either to give out the good prizes randomly to say, 5th, 10th, 15th etc places, and to give the 25 credit pins out in between or something like that, OR to not give prizes at all and make it more for fun, say the quest ends in a really cool game room or guest room where people can hang out. Block the entrance so only people doing the quest can get into that room via teleporter. I dont think there is really anything else that can be done. I also was one of the first to have the machine, and still have not set it up just because it seems like more trouble than its worth right now!


Lets be honest, people that bring on a clone to do the quest, so they can then bring on their main character to do it faster, are not the same as people asking for help. I give help everytime someone asks me and i dont consider it cheating.
No matter what the event, quest, contest etc is going on there will always be people to figure out a way around it. Such is life. It does not make eeryone a cheater and I prefer to think that none of these people are here on the DIS! ROFL Hey I can live in my happy dream world if I want to!

Just want to say that the quests I have done so far from people here on DIS have been excellent, even if I have not won a single prize and I come in almost last on every one of them!

 

[aensming]

I really liked the way the staff quest last night had multiple quests to choose from. It looked to me like most people were doing the one that had inferno as a prize. Therefore, both my son and I decided to do different ones and we actually won a prize! My son even came in first on the main street quest and I can tell you that he didn't cheat at all - only played the quest once. He was really good at glancing at the clue/picture and knowing where to go almost instantly. I have to say that I was impressed.

By having the multiple quests with varying levels of prizes, it gave more people a chance to win something. I really appreciated that.

 

[NJ Mike]

Well, so far if you dont want a friends only quest, the only way i have found to combat people bringing the mule trains in is to:

a: randomize prizes (although they can still hold off on the last task to get a prize they want)

by the way, vmk could easily solve that by making the prizes NOT VISIBLE to players at any time. "a quest is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get" lol

and

B: put a few mini-games in your quest. yes it may be a pain to some, but if somebody is going to bring a mule in to do the quest again in 1/2 the time, then they're gonna have to sit a through a game of fireworks, and jungle cruise, and mansion, and pirates, to get there.

personally, the option I like best is "have players earn a certain amount of credits" Most mules, by nature, dont have much to sell, so by requiring players to earn, say, 2000 credits before the next clue, most cheaters would quit the quest right there and not waste the time.

 

[Iris]

I also think that random prizes help to solve some of the problem. Put some great prizes throughout the list rather than up at the top.

I did someone's quest (I think it was Ranch's) that at the end you had to give a thumb's up or something but you only had so much time to do it. So if somebody were trying to wait for a certain prize, they would lose out because they had to do that last task before the time ran out.

These are all great ideas which I will try to use in the quest that I am making. I think a lot of it is trial and error. You have to see what works and what does not.

 

[MaliaMichelle]

When I did my quest, I alternated quest then regular then quest, etc so that even if someone uses a mule, they still take a chance on getting a regular prize.

I also believe that if you end a quest early, that the prizes still go out. They go to the current fastest winners. Reason I say that, is I had to end a quest early the other night, and the prizes didn't go back into my inventory so I assume they got them. I was glad for that though, I wanted the people who played to be rewarded. I ended early because the end time was after VMK closed and I wanted the winners to get their prizes before close.

 

[Kingsfoil]

Well, lets just say i have a way with design.

I had plans for a multi-level themed questing event.
Now i spent 20 thousand credits which by no means is a drop in the bucket.
Credits spent on myself?
No, not likely because that defeats the purpose
of a questing engine doesn't it?
And I had planed to give out some great prizes.

So what happens? Test phase version 1.0
Three prizes, test phase mind you.
So i put some narnia items in, trial run.

First stage: well thought out location, vagueish clue but not impossible,
And as i had mentioned, a themed multi-level questing event. So each clue tells and hinges upon each other creating another big clue, since it is somewhat story based for the grand finale. Solve each clue. Add clues together to solve a greater clue. Some what like a jig-saw puzzle.

So what happens?
A quest is not following me around and watching where i set the stage.

1st prize winner top time 30 sec. Prize narnia throne
2nd prize winner time 1 minute 45 sec. Prize narnia lampost
3rd prize winner time 2 minute 40 sec. Prize narni poster.

Now what would have happened if i had put in the real prizes?

Carrieberry says: "No matter what the event, quest, contest etc is going on there will always be people to figure out a way around it. Such is life."

Such is questing.

Now it really doesnt bother me with using clones/mules or asking for help.
I can consider that as part of questing without too much of a problem.
As an example. It wasn't to much of a stretch to create a task that requires teamwork. As a real quest would.

Or a task that stops a mule for that matter wouldnt they be surprised?
*heh* *heh*

But to sit and watch me create it? Sorry folks, that is not questing.
It is a waste of my time and yours. And just plain wrong . . .

Kings-

 

[LisaInNc]

i made my quest so you cant cheat on it, Only 2 people have won and it is a total of 40 quests so i have seen no guests come in

How have you done it so people can't cheat?

 

[macntosh]

personally, the option I like best is "have players earn a certain amount of credits" Most mules, by nature, dont have much to sell, so by requiring players to earn, say, 2000 credits before the next clue, most cheaters would quit the quest right there and not waste the time.

All good ideas, but this one struck me as strange, why would anyone want to sell all the things they would need to sell in order to get that many credits, just to win and item they could maybe buy for 200 credits. I know I like winning these quests, but that would be foolish, mule or not. jm2c

 

[LisaInNc]

I made this new quest today quest with the prizes mixed up. That should help. I want a quest the people can do but that they have to put a little effort into. Trivia questions are great for that but you can only say certian things in VMK so that makes it really difficult.

I don't see VMK allowing us to hide the prizes because then we would have people saying they are offering prizes they don't have. Just think of some of the room titles. If they allowed that we would see The Inferno Quest and the Green Flips quest only to have people really win Pink Doors.

If we do it friend only then we eliminate so many people and with the Dis and VMK being quite clickish I don't want to promote that. I have made some new friends through the quests and that makes it worth doing.

As far as cheaters being too harsh a word that is probably so. I am always one of those people that just say it. I did say in my question information that the quests were to be done alone, done once and to do it fairly. Someone that comes in and does a quest as fast as I can and I made the thing, well whatever word you want to assign to that is fine with me

I guess until you have really spent a lot of time working on a challenging quest, adding a lot of good prizes and then sitting in a room answering questions for three hours at a stretch it is impossible to know how the abuse of this fun game would get to you.

In the long run I have decided that I am going to run my quests and if people choose to "cheat" at it, they must need the prize more than I do and I am not going to get hung up on it. I really like the quest concept but with anything there is always going to be a hole somewhere.

It really is fun to do and my hope with topics like this is to educate so maybe someone would understand better and maybe think twice before crossing that line.

 

[Laurabearz]

How about setting up a quest with the top three prizes being good and mule it yourself....

SOmeone mentioned waiting to click the last clue in order to get a prize makes no sense to me... Other than the top 4 or 5 finishers you dont have any idea the other times (I have a scroll down option, but it doesnt ever work, does yours?) so holding off finishing seems to me to be pointless.


I finished 98th last night in the Frontierland quest... and won a purple Canoe!! 98th! Woot! Best finish before that was 261st! lol

 

[Maleficent2]

by the way, vmk could easily solve that by making the prizes NOT VISIBLE to players at any time. "a quest is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get" lol

I love that comparsion!

 

[NJ Mike]

SOmeone mentioned waiting to click the last clue in order to get a prize makes no sense to me... Other than the top 4 or 5 finishers you dont have any idea the other times (I have a scroll down option, but it doesnt ever work, does yours?) so holding off finishing seems to me to be pointless.

When running a quest, yes you can only see the top 5. But the people ON the quest can click quest info, and see the next place and prize to be awarded (on the non-timed quests), which is why timing the last task, at least, is a good suggestion, as someone pointed out.