Ladder ethics/guidelines.

[buzzkill]

I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, but it seems that a there's a lot of talk of customs patches and modified edit/text files being used. The nerfing of hound rarity and now the 20/20 patch comes to mind, but I know there are others floating around that elude me at the moment. It's just my opinion, but I feel that technically only pure unadulterated games should be posted to the ladder. At the very least one should make a effort to note such modifications when posting. I don't really know if this is a problem or not, but if anything can get posted on the ladder, then what good is it. Just my opinion, not overly thought out, your opinions welcome.

[Derakon]

Perhaps character dumps could include an MD5 hash of the executable + edit files. Anything that didn't match the standard setup could then be marked as nonstandard in the rankings.

[Sirridan]

I agree, even though I have the capability of starting a character as 20/20 (check the ladder) I would say as such, so they should be taken with a grain of salt.

The current dumps are also easily human editable, so I really think it's an honor system right now.

[Nick]

Mostly this sort of issue is dealt with by showing the birth options - with the expectation that any serious differences within the same version will be birth options. I assume that if 20/20 is included, it will be as a birth option.

Clearly the people using the hound patch are just cheating

[PowerDiver]

Clearly the people using the hound patch are just cheating

Unless they are playing the nightlies. I assume this means it was added 3 weeks ago.

[pav]

Yes, please, keep the ladder honest and state the mods you done in the dump comment. Kthx

[fizzix]

Yes, please, keep the ladder honest and state the mods you done in the dump comment. Kthx

I think this is the way to go. Feel free to post modified game files but mark it as such. I'd feel bad if a purposefully customizable game discourages actual customization. I've always considered the ladder as more of a 'share my experience' as opposed to a competition, so I guess I care less about cheating. I'd prefer that someone post a modified game's dump, and label it as modified, than not post it at all. I like reading character dumps, especially ones that have lots of edit comments in the history. I don't think many people know about this feature, it should be encouraged!

BTW, my dumps would fail the MD5 hash test because of my modified flavors.txt file.

[ramela]

I agree that people should be free to post dumps from modified games, but IMO they also should definitely mention the modifications they have made because it is only fair to the other people who want to compare dumps/characters.

Maybe at some point a "modified game"-checkbox could be added to the dump submission form and implemented into the ladder and dump sort/search.

[Ycombinator]

Perhaps character dumps could include an MD5 hash of the executable + edit files. Anything that didn't match the standard setup could then be marked as nonstandard in the rankings.

First, this is an open-source game and everyone is free to build it for themselves from unmodified sources. Produced binaries will be different nevertheless due to compiler/linker differences. And there is simply no other option for Linux users (both end-users and distribution makers) since there is no “official” binaries for Linux.
Second, this system is remarkably easy to foul, thus it would be waste of time and effort to implement it.
I think that any complicated technical system to prevent cheating on the ladder is useless and somewhat insulting. Put a remark about your modifications in the first comment, add a checkbox, this is it.

[Magnate]

Unless they are playing the nightlies. I assume this means it was added 3 weeks ago.

Indeed it was. Roll on 3.1.3!

[Djabanete]

Post your character and explain your modifications! The ladder isn't a competition... it's a place to share your experience with other enthusiasts. I'd sooner discourage people from posting characters with no comments than characters from modded variants.

I play a pretty seriously modified version of Entroband, and I appreciate that sometimes the best way to have fun with a game is to mess with it until it looks more like you want it. There's no reason why people should play variants straight out of the box. Just explain what it is that you do when you post a dump, because we're all curious to see what that is.