Spymaster: Cheat or Stealth?

By the way, he also tweets that the Directorate says this is not cheating but good gameplay.

If that's true, I may have just lost interest in this game.

I hope you find a workaround because it is clever but it circumvents the intent of the game. One of the risks of the game is that when you attack someone, that person can attack you back.

I think that most people realize this is a game and want to have fun. It stops being fun when someone does this and then throws it in the game designers' faces. His tweets are meant to humiliate them, to "keep the staff on their toes".

I've got no problem with the risks of the game, the clans etc. The only reason I'm writing about it is because I want to keep enjoying it, win or lose.

Lock-in the twitter username they sign-up with. That would be good.

I have to agree with brntbeer...it's being stealthy and conniving but it's part of the spy game. You can't lock-in one's username, it's their privilege to change it or retain it. My stand on the matter is just keep enjoying the game until you're tired of it. Good time man.

This goes beyond changing names or clan alliances. They're gaming the system by striking then disappearing and reappearing as someone else. They're able to strike as many times as they like. The three strike loss of the element of surprise no longer applies to them. That's a rule for a reason. So is the idea that when you attack someone there is the chance that person will try to retaliate. The percentages in the game account for this and keep it interesting. The person who strikes then changes screen name momentarily to thwart revenge is introducing something akin to teleportation to the game. Since this is espionage and not sci-fi, I would think this would fall well outside the parameters of this game.

If you cannot control it or insist on calling it stealthy game play or just the accidental consequence of changing names, which by the way, you say is verboten, then the Directorate has lost control of this game. These cheaters will destroy the profit model on which you have built this game. They will rob iList of the success of its creation.

I can't fight this kind of cheating. Kathcom will remain in stasis unless and until you work this out.

this should be a non-issue if you use profile links and stop using copy-paste. screen names may change, and twitter is not likely to change or audit this functionality. fortunately for you, you can navigate to your aggressor's profile and click the nice big assassinate user button we provide for you.

^what choi said, use SM profiles, figure out their SM # and use that to find em.

That's good advice but it only works if the cheater is not picking on players that are too weak to fight back. Of course, that's exactly what they do, for experience points, to wipe someone out, just for kicks.

I was able to track down someone doing this before. But I gave up because knowing doesn't help. If this is something the Directorate can't fix, then fine. Just say that. But don't pretend it's good gameplay.

The gamers who bully players with this loophole are not doing you any favors. Perhaps when gamers complain to you about them, you could do something about it, sanction them or post their multiple names in the blog. If your response is "oh well, it's an opportunity for you to play detective" that's okay, too. But it's b.s., in my opinion.

Maybe there will be players who never figure out that this is how they're getting bombarded by hits. They may quit without explanation. But the people who take the time to write to you about this are frustrated and asking for help. Please just be honest: is there no help you can provide?

I was/am part of a clan and did get help but once I went elite I was really of no use to anyone. I couldn't offer help any longer.

I enjoyed being part of a clan. It made the game much more fun. It encouraged camaraderie even with opposing clan members. Clans are the best way to control people using this crappy tactic but only if you have a powerful clan that can strike and win. It's not much use to the little guy.

By the way, I've been meaning to ask, is the relative strength of each spymaster in your ring factored into your assassination attempts of just the # of masters?