Inviting Low Ranks

[Metsfanmax]

So if my RL friend hasn't added me I can't invite him? Not sure that's a good solution either but ok...
I know most of my RL friends don't vermin have me on their list cuz thry spend very little time I site / caring, just enough time to accept the invites and play a quick turn

It doesn't take much time to add you as a friend. The only reason they don't have you on there now is that there's no incentive. There would be now.

[IcePack]

So if my RL friend hasn't added me I can't invite him? Not sure that's a good solution either but ok...
I know most of my RL friends don't vermin have me on their list cuz thry spend very little time I site / caring, just enough time to accept the invites and play a quick turn

It doesn't take much time to add you as a friend. The only reason they don't have you on there now is that there's no incentive. There would be now.

The problem with that is when medal hunting there are groups that post to get more games etc. there's no way I'd be adding 100's of names to my friend list just so they can invite me. Same with casual players, a lot of people I'd gladly accept games from that I wouldn't want to clutter my friend list with.

The solution needs to deal with the abuse without making one of the premium perks a huge pain or totally useless

[Metsfanmax]

So if my RL friend hasn't added me I can't invite him? Not sure that's a good solution either but ok...
I know most of my RL friends don't vermin have me on their list cuz thry spend very little time I site / caring, just enough time to accept the invites and play a quick turn

It doesn't take much time to add you as a friend. The only reason they don't have you on there now is that there's no incentive. There would be now.

The problem with that is when medal hunting there are groups that post to get more games etc. there's no way I'd be adding 100's of names to my friend list just so they can invite me. Same with casual players, a lot of people I'd gladly accept games from that I wouldn't want to clutter my friend list with.

We could make this an opt-out scheme, where when people sign up they automatically can't receive invites from people ranked too much higher than them, but if they uncheck that box in their control panel, they can receive invites from anyone.

[Iron Butterfly]

Or make a rank difference restriction for opposition invites.

We pay to be able to invite people. While I play competitively (clans and tournaments) I also play pick up games with RL friends who are not as heavily into / serious and lower ranked. The solution shouldn't restrict people's abilities to play w RL friends on a feature we pay to have.

So paying to abuse a system is okay?

What if there was a rank restriction but having a player on your friend list disregarded said restriction?

This has been going on since I first joined and is nothing new. The names change and so do the tactics. I still remember Clobber farming cooks on the Circus Maximus map. Anyone who complained or challenged him he Foed. It's a game and life goes on. It's why School of Cooks was created.

[wrestler1ump]

You could always just limit invites to private games, that way you can tell if someone is attempting to farm the lower ranks.

Damn man, that is the smartest thing seen in this forum for a long time. Limit 1vs1 games to private.

Then people can set a password and send the password to the low-ranked players they wish to play. It doesn't solve the issue.

[deathcomesrippin]

You could always just limit invites to private games, that way you can tell if someone is attempting to farm the lower ranks.

Damn man, that is the smartest thing seen in this forum for a long time. Limit 1vs1 games to private.

Then people can set a password and send the password to the low-ranked players they wish to play. It doesn't solve the issue.

Nothing will totally fix the problem, really. What CC needs to do is look at some way to mitigate any damage done to the scoreboard or to other users' fun with the game.

From my personal (non-C&A mod) standpoint, I really don't feel there should be a limitation on inviting players of any rank to play games; most users have no problems controlling their possible inclinations to "ranch" lower ranked individuals. A select few tend to ruin a lot for everyone else, but that happens in every online gaming community I have ever been a part of, whether it is FPS, MMOs, or turn based strategy games. It is not the inviting of lower ranks that is an issue, it is inviting anyone to exceptional settings in which they have little to no chance of winning. If you invite a bunch of lower ranked players to a classic standard flat rate game, their chance of winning as a general rule is far higher than say, inviting people to a 1v1 freestyle on City Mogul. Pulled that example off the top of my head.

From my C&A standpoint, it is tough to prove that a user is systematically going through lower ranked players, and as it stands right now there is no set "rule" about this. It took us a long time and a lot of effort to bust one of the major abusers a little while ago, and his was out in the open for all to see. Because players ranks almost never show their true skill level, you never know what you are walking into. Some players like to play bad settings and lose at them often, but are actually quite skilled at other settings; some players (such as myself) artificially inflate their points by playing on a specific map they somehow do well on.

I think that a good way to dissuade users from doing this is to simply lower the amount of points you get from winning when you beat someone far lower than yourself. At the moment, if someone with 3000 points beats a player with 800 points, they get 5. Lower that to 1, but leave the high end as is at 100; That way, one of two things happen: 1) the "rancher" decides it isn't worth it to do this, or 2) the gain will never (hopefully) make it to the point where it will affect the score of the player before something can be done about it.

Re-reading that, I don't know if it makes as much sense written out as it did in my head, but I am hung over after doing a set last night, so that's all you get.

[Donelladan]

Can anyone provide a solid argument as to why this isn't classified as farming?

Inviting low ranks to a lot of game is classified as farming.
Farming is either joining only game with low rank, or creating only the game that new recruit can join ( but this is the most difficult to prove and is discutable) and inviting low rank ( being the easiest to prove).

I think you can make your case.

I think that a good way to dissuade users from doing this is to simply lower the amount of points you get from winning when you beat someone far lower than yourself. At the moment, if someone with 3000 points beats a player with 800 points, they get 5. Lower that to 1, but leave the high end as is at 100; That way, one of two things happen: 1) the "rancher" decides it isn't worth it to do this, or 2) the gain will never (hopefully) make it to the point where it will affect the score of the player before something can be done about it.

Don't do that. It is already hard enough to keep playing 1vs1 speed game when you are brig. Or give us the points-free game.

[BoganGod]

How about we just boooo ranchers? No one takes them seriously anyway.

Betsy? Betsy, betsy...... Really darling, is that what you think? Do you think that people play for the serious acclaim of other's. Taking ranchers humorously or seriously is still devoting to much of your time to what others are doing. A bit like christians caring what other people do with their genitals behind closed doors.
I stopped to explain to my cousin one day how much I enjoyed CC. After I had given him a yawn worthy yarn about the joys of CC, he just said "Mate sounds like you have not discovered wanking yet."