I got a TNT warning for asking a key quest question?!?!

[wunderwoman]

So I was playing Key Quest all day and at one point got a message from a girl warning me that skipping your turn to avoid lint ball or pant devil is against the rules and reportable. After searching through the key quest pages and faq I went to the kq chat board to ask about it as it was the first time I had heard anything about it. All I said was that I had gotten a warning from this girl about it but I had never heard about it being against the rules as plenty of people had done it to me and I couldnt find it written anywhere, and I wanted some kind of confirmation/clarification. A few people linked me to some random editorials where tnt states its against the rules and I thanked them all for their help. My board was soon deleted and I received a warning from tnt:

"Predetermining wins, skipping turns in KeyQuest to avoid power-ups played on you, or quitting games to avoid losing IS considered cheating and against the rules. If you are caught cheating in any way your account can be frozen."

So I am not allowed to ask questions anymore on the chatboards?! I am just supposed to magically find games rules in the editorial instead of the faqs or about section?!? Seriously tnt, how stupid is it possible to be?!

Should I be worried? What the heck did I do wrong?

[Emily]

I wouldn't be too worried. It's likely just an automatic warning. With all the board traffic, it's impossible for mods to be everywhere at once. It's extremely likely that the filters catch certain strings of words and automatically send the warning without anyone checking the context in which they were said. It's certainly not the most practical, just like the way completely innocent words are filtered.

 

It may not have been an official warning, but TNT answering the question. Did the subject of the NM indicate if it was an official warning? If so, you could submit a ticket refuting it, but if not, it's nothing to worry about. Even if it is, as long as you're not actually breaking any rules, you don't need to worry.

[Lamppost]

And yes, TNT often uses the editorials to clarify rules. If you have a question, you can search through editorials by using fan sites. For example, SunnyNeo has a good database here: http://www.sunnyneo.com/NTeditorial.php

[siniri]

There's usually a board on the KQ board that people bump, where someone has summarized all the "secret" rules pertaining to KQ. Basically, it comes down to not trying to work around the way the game is set up to be played. Don't exploit glitches in mini-games, don't skip turns on purpose, etc.

 

If it was an official warning, you probably got the warning for breaking the rule (you confessed to it on the board, and I suspect someone reported you, either on the board or the girl who neomailed you), and not actually writing the board. At least it was just a warning. And now you know. Sad you had to get a warning to clarify it.

[D305]

I've never plated KQ, but what's the point of having the possibility of skipping your turn if it's against the rules to do it? And the fact they don't state it in the rules or faq is ridiculous.

[kris10ly]

There's no explicit "skip turn" button, D305, it's an automatic thing that happens if you're idle onscreen for so many seconds (15 I think); it's designed to keep the game going and not penalize one player by making them wait if the other is distracted by something happening irl.

[D305]

Well how can anyone prove you intentionally idled to have your turn skipped? Other than the person admitting it of course. Don't see how they could ever enforce that rule to be honest.

[dummydumpty]

Don't worry about it. I once got a message I typed deleted, and I received a message from them regarding a rule. I posted a message about getting that "warning", and I received a message from TNT clarifying that it wasn't an official warning (and thus, doesn't count as one)!

 

Unless I am wrong, warnings will have a red exclamation mark... that's when you should panic a little! Well, don't panic, it's not that bad: warnings will generally be reset after a certain time.

 

Well how can anyone prove you intentionally idled to have your turn skipped? Other than the person admitting it of course. Don't see how they could ever enforce that rule to be honest.

 

I think if you have a history of skipping turns all the time, that's when TNT will know that you've been cheating (I think in that case, they'd have to have several reports regarding you). I can understand if you have to suddenly go AFK once and it turned out to be when you get a bad power up or event, but that can be used as an excuse to do it, which isn't really fair.

 

That being said, if you do play against hardcore (?!) KQ players, some of them are quite report-happy, so they won't care much about your explanation if you decide to neomail them.

[siniri]

D305, if someone has been consistently taking their turns on time, and the one single turn they skip is one on which they're not allowed to collect any keys (and not skipping would involve them passing a key they need, having to go back around the board to get it)... it's really obvious that they skipped it "on purpose." KQ logs everything that happens, so TNT can go back and look at the game log and see. I've had someone miss a turn, but them NM that they got called away from the computer -- I give them the benefit of the doubt, because it *could* happen. But TNT will warn if someone admits it or if they're reported. TNT can look at the logs and decide if it's a pattern; if someone continued to only be skipped when it's to their advantage after a warning, I think TNT would have a right to freeze them. But sure, turns sometimes are accidentally skipped. TNT can see if there's a clear pattern of advantage-skipping vs. random-skipping (which tends to hurt you, but might occasionally benefit you).

 

I tend to only report someone if it changes the outcome of the game (and if that's the only time they skipped their turn, and they seem like a "veteran"); otherwise, I give them the benefit of the doubt (especially if they have an obviously slow connection and have come close to being skipped on other turns) and let them know about the rule via NM (not accusing them of skipping on purpose, since that's reportable, too, since it's considered harassment -- I always phrase it as an "in case you didn't know, this is against the rules, just FYI" and leave it at that).

 

I actually had someone come onto my Neoboard once, totally unrelated to KQ, accusing me of quitting a KQ game "just before they were about to win." Which I've never done -- I had played KQ earlier that day, but it was glitchy, and I had lots of skipped turns before the game completely disconnected -- this happened a few times before I gave up. I never even got a single key, and the other person never got more than one or two. I've never deliberately quit (I'd rather get my NP and key if I've wasted my time playing), so I was pretty upset at the accusation, but I just reported them. They were silenced and their posts deleted from my topic, and then they came on their side, starting a new topic in the same (wrong) Neoboard complaining about them getting silenced for "calling out KQ cheaters." I reported that (as did others, actually), and their side was silenced too -- and that entire topic deleted.

 

KQ accusations can get out of hand, so TNT has asked repeatedly that you just report and let them try to figure it out. But I use my best judgment and only report if I'm reasonably confident the person cheated and I feel they should have known better.

 

In the past, I've seen TNT leave boards up for rule clarifications, unless it turns into arguing, flaming, harassing, etc. My guess is someone reported the board, and if there were too many controversial messages, they deleted the whole thing. It's a pity they don't have a better rules section for KQ; I think that's why TNT starts with warnings. Just follow the rules from now on and you'll be fine (and make sure you don't get into arguments or accusations, on the Neoboards or even by NM -- I've even heard of people getting silenced for NM'ing "Why did you quit?" because it's accusatory and assumes the person did it on purpose, when maybe their ISP dropped them).

[TotallyPommy]

Thanks for the heads up on this rule. I am glad to know about it now. Of course anytime i play KQ is with a friend and that way both of us win without getting reported. Plus my internet sucks and sometimes i lose internet conncetion and so get kicked out of the game. So I find it best to play with a friend who wont report you because they know youre situation.