Dealing with Player Cheating

[ender_wiggin]

Well, I think the potential solution to this problem might have a direct corrolation to the age of your troublesome player.

Not that I'm making any generalizations, but if the cheater is 12 years old, then you have your motive right there. You probably can't do much about it; in time, being the best is going to get boring, and hopefully, she will become a productive member of group. In this case talking to them is going to be useless

If the cheater is an adult, than I honestly can't help you, because there's going to be some other weird motive. Now in this case, talking to them outside of the game might really accomplish something.

How well you know the person is going to impact your course of action as well. If you know them well enough, then you'll probably know how they will respond to the various options. If you don't, then you might seek out someone who does and explain the problem to them.

 

[psyekl]

An excerpt from my little black book of "House Rules":

"Cheating

If a player is ever found to be purposefully cheating (“fudging” die rolls, loaded dice, lying about a character’s abilities, looking at the DM’s notes, etc.) he or she will be immediately and permanently expelled from this and any future games."

--Don't accept it, don't allow it, don't be a wuss. If they cheat they don't deserve to be in my game, they don't deserve to be in my home, and they don't deserve my friendship. Don't let the door hit them on the way out; and if it does, kick them when they're down.


(I really don't like cheaters)


Of course make sure they are cheating, and anyone who isn't has no problem showing you their dice rolls.

 

[ender_wiggin]

This is obviously not an acceptable immediate course of action for him. If it was he wouldn't be posting.

That being said, I generally agree with you, but have never had the problem. Even when I was at that young and immature age, the immaturity was generally reflected in my bad roleplaying and bad DMing.

 

[IronWolf]

A lot depends on the maturity of the person involved as to how to handle the issue. Talking about is probably best, get things out in the open and maybe you can tell why the person feels like they need to cheat. Some people don't like to lose or have their character do poorly. Certainly doesn't justify cheating, but perhaps it would give you some insight to the person.

You could just make a blanket rule that everyone roll in the open and the DM has to see the roll, but unless you talk to the person you suspect you may just alienate them. When really you might just be trying to get them to stop cheating without having the "talk".

Either way it can be a tough situation depending again on the maturity of the person in question. Good Luck!

 

[Stone Angel]

A lot of this depends on what you are prepared to if you are right or wrong. We had a player that would either cover his dice rolls or pick them up blaming it on an obscure hard to see die. I made everyone roll into a little chute that deposited the dice right in fron of me. At least for espicially important rolls. Another thing you can do to even it up is to cheat when it comes to the player.

But if you are seriously worried approach her away from the table. Talk to her about tell her it's not a big deal but it's not fair to the other players. If her character hits all the time and the fighter doesn't then the fighter has become obsolete, and will force the other players to think about cheating for success.

Good luck



The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[rushlight]

The solution to this problem can actually be quite simple. What you want to do is make her be the one to desire not to cheat. You have to appeal to her sense of self.

I'm going to make some assumptions. If any of these are wrong, just say so.

1) You want to stop the cheating, not ban the player.
2) Everyone else is aware that there might be a problem, and is willing to help fix it.

Given those two things, here's what I'd do. I'd call her over one day - alone. Inform her that you feel someone *else* (that's very important!) is cheating, but you don't want to say who. Ask her what she thinks about that. Is she opposed to cheating at the game table? Specifically ask her if she thinks it's wrong to cheat. If she says, "Sure, it's okay to cheat" then there will be no solution - she'll cheat forever.

If, however, she says something like, "No! Cheating during the game is really bad!" then you've likely solved the problem. At this point, cognative dissonance will take over. She's put into her own mind - *by herself* - that cheating is wrong. To continue to cheat will mean acting in a way that is opposite to the way she now views herself.

Finally, just to ice the cake, ask her to help you police the table for cheating - without revealing what she's doing. Since she'll be the one helping to "keep an eye out" then it's almost certain that she won't cheat herself. Ask her to suggest rolling on the table for everyone to see. When she presents the idea as her own, she'll also follow it. By investing her with your trust (and she'll clearly think you trust her) most normal people would feel very guilty abusing your trust blatently. That too will work in your favor.

Of course, if she still cheats, then clearly she cares little for you, the game, or the trust that you've explicitly given her. In that case, I'd just boot her out - she'll never respect you or your game.

You can also let everyone else in on what you're doing if you like. That way, they won't be upset if somehow she tells someone she's keeping an eye out for cheaters. Just ask them to play it cool for a few games, and after a while everything should settle down.

Good luck!

 

[Randal_Dundragon]

As one of the players in this group and i would just like to make sure that when a few of you have referred to the poster as he that you are you using it as a general term bacause the DM is Female.

 

[the Jester]

An interesting approach is, at the start of your next session, announce to the table that there have been recent concerns that 'someone at the table' is cheating. So from now on, everyone's rolls must be verified by the dm or they will fail- no reroll, no second chances. So if you pick that die up before the dm gets a good look, you miss.

 

[ARandomGod]

The solution to this problem can actually be quite simple. What you want to do is make her be the one to desire not to cheat. You have to appeal to her sense of self.

...

Given those two things, here's what I'd do. I'd call her over one day - alone. Inform her that you feel someone *else* (that's very important!) is cheating, but you don't want to say who. Ask her what she thinks about that.

...


Finally, just to ice the cake, ask her to help you police the table for cheating - without revealing what she's doing. Since she'll be the one helping to "keep an eye out" then it's almost certain that she won't cheat herself.

...

Ooh! The devious use of psychology. I LOVE it!

And here I was going to say that, in general I simply roll for all the players. That doesn't stop 'cheating', of course, but when the GM does it it's called "drama". Or something.

 

[Ellie_the_Elf]

Thanks all for the advice

It might have helped if I'd mentioned our group demographic a bit earlier-the plyer who I suspect of cheating is the youngest in the group, in her late teens. The other 4 players are all male, ranging from late teens to mid thirties. Then there's me, female, mid twenties. So maybe it's an age thing, or an only-girl-player thing that's making her do it. She was also dating one of the other players until recently so I strongly suspect that may be a factor too.

Two of the other players for definite know of my suspicisions- my boyfriend and his best friend and they've agreed to watch her rolls this week and I plan to enforce the leaving the dice alone till it's been checked thing that was mentioned (which I should have done in the first place of course). So I'll see how that goes before trying anything more complicated/sneaky!

Ellie