As Paul Harvey would say, Now the rest of the story Options

[Druid]

There have been several people ask why {MOB} was dropped down the ladder to rung #21. I previously posted this information but the post was lost along with a week worth of topics do to a drive crash at our web-host. I had no intention of reposting this information, but there have been continuing comments, questions and rumors started by other teams as to what really happened and why. So I think it’s best to address it again.
As I said last time, I strongly feel it would be in the best interest of everyone playing on OGL if the disputes were made public after the final ruling. Making the disputes public would serve two purposes. If teams had the ability to view previous disputes it would help everyone to understand what are valid and not so valid reasons to dispute. Also there are some teams who will try to dispute anything or everything or at least on matches they lose. If the teams who are dispute happy knew the final dispute would be made public they may possibly think twice about starting frivolous disputes. In my opinion anything done to help limit the number of disputes on OGL, would not only be good for the ladder admins but also all the teams playing on the ladder.

On August 30th {MOB} had a match with 2nd Rangers. The match ended in a dispute initiated by the 2nd Rangers.
The dispute filed by the 2nd Rangers consisted of 5 separate issues.

1) “I never did receive Mayhem's shots.”
The screenshots were sent but bounced do to size. It was humorous they would even bring this up because 2 of their members didn’t even try to send their screenshots until the next day.When BDTAY and Glassman did send them. They sent them as uncompressed TGA files, a dozen plus files at 2.3 MB apiece. The only reason we were able to receive them, is we have a 100MB email account setup on mobclan.com just for screenshots.
Ruled in our favor

2) "little old man's screenshots were all cut off and blacked out near the middle, so there is no way of knowing what files he had during the match."
This was caused by a random but well known problem having to do with ATI cards. Even after I posted links to topics on the OGL forum where people had discussed this exact thing. 2ndRnagers replied back that it didn’t matter.
Ruled in our favor

3) “Big Dick Daddy had 7 illegal .exe files in his C:\.”
This I consider to be a great example of how people can try to bring anything and everything into a dispute on the hopes it will turn a loss into a win. Do the 2nd Rangers honestly think any .exe files outside of the MOHAA directory are illegal? If that’s the case, I would like to know how they expect their computer to run. When Matchwatch scans up the Mohaa directory list it’s looking for only one thing, open-GL hacks. The “7 illegal .exe files” they complained about were not open-GL related so I don’t know why they even bothered to mention them.
Ruled in our favor

4) "Nixon was missing the standard Pak6.pk3 which is very suspicious, and only proves the game was altered."
This one takes some explaining. A few days prior to this match we were helping BlackBart test his newest anti-cheat program called Reverend. One of the things Reverend does prior to letting you join a server is remove the pak6.pk3 file. The reasoning is, there are no files in the pak6.pk3 used in multiplayer aspect of MOHAA. So by removing the file it’s one less place for people to try and hide cheats. Normally after quitting the pak6.pke file is replaced along with any other non-stock files ( maps, crosshairs, ect. ) that are removed prior to joining the server. For whatever reason the pak6.pk3 file wasn’t replaced. OGL has very specific rules about the game being stock and for good reason.

NOTE: If it is proven that a team has modified or customized any of the games STOCK files, including the addition of NON STOCK files, that team will be subject to OGL’s standard rules against cheating and may be suspended, deleted, and or banned from the OGL.

Any files added or changed could easily allow someone to cheat. The simple fact is, the file in question has absolutely no effect on the multiplayer aspect of MOHAA. This would be the same as ruling against someone for deleting the EA-Games movie intro to save a little disk space. Yes it may be a technical violation of how the OGL rules read, but the real question is did someone cheat. A missing pak6.pk3 allows no one to cheat any more than a missing EA-Games intro movie would. In a way I guess we should be proud, shortly after this dispute the rules were changed and this was added as an example of a reason to dispute.

• Player A: In review of this player’s screenshots it was found that he is missing the PAK6.PK3 in his MOHAA\Main folder, which is one of the files that comes with the game in it’s stock or “out of the box” state, this is a direct violation of OGL Rules for match play.

The Rules also say “Disciplinary action will be left to the discretion of the ladder Admin for any/all infractions”. A great example concerns a question asked in the OLG forum about an extra file placed in the MOHAA directory by anyone running DMW2. An admin responded and said since the file isn’t an extension that's executable/usable by anything other the DMW2, OGL admins wouldn’t rule against someone over the presence of the file.
http://www.worldogl.com/forum/showthread.p...&threadid=19352
I completely agree with the logic, if a file can’t be used by MOHAA for cheating it’s not a violation of the OGL rules to protect teams from cheaters. It’s unfortunate for {MOB} the same logic couldn’t be apllied to a missing pak6.pk3, which also has no effect on the game nor could be used for cheating.
Ruled against us as a non-stock game.

5) "Cypher had an extra .Cfg file which could be anything."
The .cfg file in question is something used to help admin the server. While it’s unfortunate Cypher didn’t remove this file prior to the match. Here are few reasons this should not been held against us.
1) Matchwatch checks for every possible cheat related custom c_vars. The fact matchwatch didn’t report any cheat c_vars shows this file was harmless.
2) Any commands inside a .cfg file can just as easily be executed by typing them in the console any time during the match. To hold someone at fault over this is the same as saying it’s against the rules for anyone to use their console during the match.
3) In reality, a rule about custom .cfg files would be impossible to enforce. Config files unlike pk3’s do not require the game to restart to take effect. Someone could just as easily add any config files to the MOHAA\main directory after matchwatch takes the Dir screenshots.
4) The exact same commands used in this .cfg file could be added to the newconfig.cfg. This only goes to show how incredibly silly of a reason this is to dispute a match. In fact as a perfect example, I also use the exact same .cfg while admining the server. I’ve now added the commands to the end of my newconfig.cfg. It makes no sense why the commands in a separate file would be reasons to lose a dispute but in another file they are fine. Of course the reason it doesn’t matter where the commands are, is because they are not cheat related. If the commands in the .cfg where cheat c_vars they would have been picked up by Matchwatch regardless of what file they were in.
5) A month or so ago, someone posted on the OGL forum about suspecting a team of cheating and posted a screenshot showing an extra .cfg file. Two different admins replied and neither thought it was reason to dispute.
From the most recent ACTF Faq it says “At this time, the OGL does not require the use of an Honesty Config for match play. One is provided with MatchWatch and is strongly recommended people use it, though there’s no specific requirement for it to be used at this time.”
” The following is a list of additional files, permitted by the OGL:

• custom.cfg (this would contain Honesty settings)
• newconfig.cfg (this would contain Video settings)

To me this means two things. The strick rules about “stock out of the box “ doesn’t really apply to .cfg files”. Or if we would of changed the name from rcon.cfg to custom.cfg we would have been fine. Just another example of how this dispute came down to nothing but triviality.
Ruled against us as a non-stock game.

I would of argued the ruling on the missing .pk3 file until I was blue in the face if I thought it would help. I’m sorry, but to me that one made absolutely no sense.
The ruling on the cfg file simply came down to a matter of splitting hairs. The admin interpreted the rules as he saw fit.
As I said before, the rules concerning the game setup exist for one reason only, to protect teams from cheating. Neither of these violations could of allowed someone to cheat. I think it’s worth noting; the dispute consisted of 4 post made over 3 days by the 2nd Rangers, not once did they ever mention cheating.

In the end what was a big win for MOB by a score of 393/266 turns into a win by technicality for the 2nd Rangers. Out of curiosity I reviewed some of the screenshots from previous matches. In 2 of the matches a member from the other team had a non-stock .cfg file. I guess this will be a useful tactic to keep in mind if we lose any future matches, just kidding. Unlike some teams, {MOB} doesn’t feel the need to try a turn a loss into a win by any means. You can view the match screenshots here
http://www.mobclan.com/photopost/showgalle...cat=517&thumb=1

[Druid]

Wow I'm surprised, I thought it would be a few days before the 1st Troll showed up to spout their wonderful insight.
To tell you the truth, I'm happy someone brought up our dispute with DMG.
The 3 big reasons the dispute was filed.
1) A concern of what showed up in their screenshots compared to matchwatch log.
2) An explanation by a 3rd party who I had asked about the inconsistencies between their screenshots and the matchwatch log.
3) The 24 hour time limit was quickly approaching, so we were forced to file to make sure our concerns about the inconsistencies could be addressed.

Over the next 24 hours, Ashe and I had an ongoing discussion in both the dispute manager and via emails. Never once did the discussion turn negative, or at least I didn't think so. All of our concerns were addressed, or to put it simply, I was wrong.
I apologized for tying them up in the dispute and reported our loss. All of this happened before an admin even had a chance to review it.
I think this was a great example of how a dispute should work.
For any clans who view this and have been involved in a dispute.
In your opinion, how many times have you been in a dispute where the other side wouldn't drop it because they were holding on to the chance the dispute would go their way regardless of the facts?
Just one more reason why I think disputes should be made public after they are done.