[Brian McIlmoyle]

As a game Host I see a lot of payers engaging in this activity from the position of a Third Party Observer.

And I have observed over the past years a general Degradation of Civility between players.

Players are just as apt to flip their opponents the bird when hit as to call out a hearty "nice Shot!"

Instead of thinking the best of people they think the worst.

No one seems to give anyone the benefit of the doubt.

If they seem to not take what looks like a good hit.. they are a "asshole cheater"

We engage in a game that has at it's root the concept of honestly and fair play , but it seems that most people believe that they are the only "honest Player" at the game and everyone else is out to cheat.

I hate to see people calling other people "cheaters"

But it's worse to see people doing nothing about it but whining.

As players we all have a duty to protect the integrity of this game.

We have only 2 things that we can do to meet this goal.

1. give your friend the benefit of the doubt ( and there is lots of room for doubt that any shot will hit or that any shot will be felt )

2. take action when we witness the underpinnings of our game compromised.


It is utterly useless to complain about "cheating" at games in the after action report.. If you honestly believe that people were cheating and you did nothing about it. You are more to blame than the so called "cheater"
if you don't take action you condone it, if you condone it then you likely do it.

So at the end of the day to whine about Cheaters but do nothing about them means that you are the cheater and you are just whining so no one suspects you.

If you want a better game.. it starts with you. Giving your friends the benefit of the doubt and in the face of no doubt , taking action.

So what do you do if you suspect cheating.

1. Call OUT on yourself.. ( you can't resolve this in game)
2. Walk over to the offending player and introduce yourself and ask them their name.
3. ASK them if they felt the hit suspected
4. Tell them what you saw

In most cases the person will apologize and say they legitimately did not feel the hit and concede that they are hit and walk off with you.

In some cases the person will disagree in which case you must escalate this to game control. Both of you should go to game control and let them sort this issue out.

If the person refuses to go to game control. Record the person's name. and you go to game control to make a formal complaint.

Also, treat every player with respect and as a person who is your friend.. name-calling and being a jerk just makes things worse.

Assholes eventually get squeezed out of this game.. but it's getting harder to tell who they are when everyone is all acting so badly.