penalty for cheating

[Squire James]

CHEATING IS BAD. Period. It is a violation of trust. The person who cheats is not only hurting the feelings of others, he is also hurting himself. Loss of trust is one of the worst things that can happen to a relationship, whether that relationship happens to be marriage, love, friendship, business partnership, or gaming. So, yeah, cheating IS a big deal. About as bad as a non-criminal activity gets.

I personally would not game with anyone who broke my trust in such a blatant fashion. I'm also not particularly interested in gaming (ANY game!) with people with a casual attitude about cheating.

It isn't cheating if I tell the players I'm doing it and they accept it (essentially making it a House Rule), like I do when I "fudge" a die roll once in a great while. You see, they TRUST that I'm doing it for a good reason, and I don't betray that trust. Ever.

 

[Pielorinho]

Your sig line, Squire James -- that's talking about me, isn't it?

Daniel

 

[Artoomis]

When all is said and done the only thing you really have in life is your integrity.

He violated your trust. If it is the group's desire to keep playing with him, then you need to constantly check on him. All die rolls need to be witnessed. All die need to be verified.

This will NOT be fun, but he earned this treatment by his lack of personal integrity.

Your real goal should be to teach him that trust is everything, and it can only be earned with unquestionable personal integrity. He must learn that it is the act itself that was wrong, not getting caught.

If you feel he cannot learn this lesson, oust him. He is not worthy.

 

[yangnome]

First, talk to your other players and get a feel for their opinions on teh issue. Second address the issue in the way mentioned above where you tell him how disappointed you are and then how much you expect from him (build him back up.) Next, make him, in front of the group come up with his own punishment (he's bound to think of something better than you could, and he won't be able to claim that it is unfair.) Don't let him get away with "I won't do it again", make him come up with something that all the other players agree is fair (this is why you talk with them in advance to get a feel for what they want.) once he comes up with a punishment, make him stick with it. You probably want to encourage him to take something that doesn't take him out of the game, but rather makes him sit there with everyone...less chance for resentment and distancing himself from his action. Also, something that embarrasses him a bit might keep it from happening in the future. Try to stear his decision a bit to something that servbes that purpose. The important thing is that he feels like a part of the group...a part of the group that really let the rest of the group down.

 

[jmucchiello]

Trust Smrust! We have a player who cheats. We all know it. And we have decided as a group (behind his back) to let it be. If he finds that he isn't having enough fun without doctoring some of his rolls, well that's the fault of the collective DMs perhaps (One of whom is me). The guy lost his job a couple months ago. Who are we to dump on him when he's down?

Granted, he isn't the doctored die type. He's the roll the die and snatch it up so fast no one can read it type.

Besides it speeds up the game greatly when the first Search check is a 34.

 

[Particle_Man]

Assuming this is first offense, I'd be all for giving the player a second chance. Honestly, how many here can honestly say they've never cheated? Goddess knows I have. Ya'know how it is...you report a number to the DM that's a wee bit higher than what you actually rolled, or you purposefully roll the die over an uneven surface or near an obstruction so you can get a cocked die mulligan if it comes up with a result you don't like...

I have never done any of these things. I have not met anyone who claims to have done these things. I would not want to game with anyone who does any of these things. I can handle rules lawyers. I can handle power-gamers. I can handle theatrical ham actors. I can handle punsters (because I am one, mainly). I can even handle people that are truly clueless, and are destined to remain so for their entire misbegotten lives. But cheating is wrong.

 

[Gnarlo]

I've only had one player in a group that frequently (and badly) cheated. We took a "live and let live" philosophy about it. Then after a few weeks, we caught him slipping someone else's books into his backpack. He was a gaming acquaintance, not a long time friend, and we booted him on the spot (not that I believe any of the people I've been friends with years would ever steal from me, all of them know all they have to do is ask).

I have no tolerance for openly cheating in anything to get whatever advantage someone thinks they are getting. I'm with the group that says if I can't trust you to be honest on trivial things, how can I trust you on something important and why would I want to invite you into my house?

/gnarlo!

 

[BVB]

UPDATE:

After an e-mail exchange with the person in question, he explained that his actions were "a cry for help." It's all very complicated, and I don't want to get into it here. But I've checked with the rest of the gang; we've all agreed that we can meet with the player tonight to pray over the issue to seek guidance so we can come to a sense of forgiveness.

I think our group will be stronger for it in the long run.

Thanks for your feedback here.

(And please ignore my playful jab at Coik earlier. I know his dice are not crooked.)

 

[Tom Cashel]

You do know that God is a girl and her name is Eris, right?

 

[Mark]

UPDATE:

After an e-mail exchange with the person in question, he explained that his actions were "a cry for help." It's all very complicated, and I don't want to get into it here. But I've checked with the rest of the gang; we've all agreed that we can meet with the player tonight to pray over the issue to seek guidance so we can come to a sense of forgiveness.

I think our group will be stronger for it in the long run.

Thanks for your feedback here.

(And please ignore my playful jab at Coik earlier. I know his dice are not crooked.)

Might be fun for the whole group if the player who cheated smashes his own cheating dice with a hammer as a way of cleaning the slate and pledging in earnest to not do it again...