Newcastle U FC

Petition: Is this cheating? Sign if agree

Written 23 May 2017, 16:31

Cheating is bad and has no place in Virtual Manager, I think we all agree. However there seems some confusion, or call it a difference of opinion, about what cheating is, what should be permissible and what should not.

I am advocating that elite (i.e. top division) Players doing cosy private deals with each other (via VM Fora and Mail) is cheating and should be eliminated from VM. None of the 2 or 3 VM Crew or admin people I have discussed this with so far agree with me, which I have to say is both worrying (as they themselves are often financially benefitting from this "cheating" ) and disappointing, and so I urge you to sign this (I suppose) "petition" below if you agree with me that cheating should be kicked out of VM.

What is the practice?

Players in top divisions, sometimes openly through fora, sometimes secretly via mail, say to other players "would you like to swap leagues with me?". Then at season end instead of changing countries and dropping down the divisions and having to spend a number of weeks (not a huge burden let's face it!) working back up to the top flight via successive promotions, instead they get a "free pass" to replace the other Player in his vacated country league top division.

Why is this practice cheating?

Conventionally, how VM is designed, if you choose to swap countries then you are put in the new countries' league at the first open slot, usually a lower league (for example 4th to 6th tier). Thus you have to spend maybe 3-5 seasons in the new country working back up to the top flight, taking a hit on gate receipts at the same time (as lower division games will attract fewer supporters). This seems entirely appropriate.

By cheating (Players making private deals to swap top flight status with each other) then a number of things happen:

1. They do not forego any revenue (by avoiding playing in the lower tiers) so get away with making vast sums of money (maybe 5 million at an estimate) despite choosing to change leagues.

2. It is completely unfair to the other teams in the top flight, as no sooner has an elite club left the league, potentially giving another team there a chance to go for the title, than some elite new team is miraculously parachuted into their league from nowhere, which is unrealistic as well as very, very unfair, distorting the league completely.

3. You can get a perpetual churning of a dozen or so elite clubs repeatedly swapping leagues with each other and so denying other clubs the chance to win their leagues. Eventually more players will realise this and despair of succeeding, with some probably leaving the game having realised that VM league success is effectively a "closed shop", a game played by a handful of top clubs and denying league success to up and coming players.

It is hard enough for "up and coming" teams to get to the top in this game, but with top teams playing the system to look after their own selfish interests, (in private deals between each other), it makes a mockery of VM's efforts to keep the game straight and sends the clear signal to newbies that cheating in VM is perfectly fine if you are one of the "old boys".

Please sign below if you agree with me and maybe the VM administrators will get the message that it is wrong for the top players to distort the game to their own advantage and to the detriment of other players.

Thank you.

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