Deadpoll: forum

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Potential for a malicious exploit. 

When a URL is displayed, the underlying URL should be validated (during thread creation/editing) to prevent redirection.

https://www.torn.com/profiles.php?XID=148747

Hovering will reveal the actual URL but may not be preventative enough.

https://www.torn.com/profiles.php?XID=148747

SOLD

Kodachi

Damage: 67.68

Accuracy: 61.22

Bonus: 22% Grace

Quality: 109.02%

Quite a bit of forum chatter about API keys and the terms of various services.

One big challenge with having API keys shared responsibly is the knowledge of the player wrt to API keys.

City jobs have a pass/fail interview, there are mission tutorials and green leaf status to ease players into responsible gameplay.

What about a quiz/tutorial you need to pass before you have the ability to share your API keys?

I am roster locked in my current faction during a RW and apparently also in my old faction doing OC 2.0:

14:41:54 - 17/03/25 Freudas increased your Chromatic Sloths money balance by $775,840 from $0 to $775,840 as your 16% cut for your role as Negotiator in Chromatic Sloths's Market Forces scenario [view]
https://www.torn.com/factions.php?step=your#/tab=crimes&crimeId=294516

14:42:04 - 17/03/25 Freudas increased your Chromatic Sloths money balance by $282,400 from $775,840 to $1,058,240 as your 20% cut for your role as Looter in Chromatic Sloths's Mob Mentality scenario [view]
https://www.torn.com/factions.php?step=your#/tab=crimes&crimeId=294312

14:42:31 - 17/03/25 Freudas increased your Chromatic Sloths money balance by $417,333 from $1,058,240 to $1,475,573 as your 26.67% cut for your role as Thief in Chromatic Sloths's Cash Me If You Can scenario [view]
https://www.torn.com/factions.php?step=your#/tab=crimes&crimeId=291875

Many times this war could have gone either way; and the war score plot reflects that.

Innovative tactics, effective leadership and battle execution from the other side.

The weapon known as Damage now has an even sharper edge.

Respect to all that played.

Link

21:57:05 - 13/08/26

You overdosed on some Xanax from Damage Inc's armory going to the hospital for 72h 30m and losing 0 energy, 0 nerve and 4,996 happiness

21:57:49 - 13/08/26

 Ambient_Dude successfully revived you from hospital recovering 1,532 life

21:58:40 - 13/08/26

You sent some Xanax to Ambient_Dude with the message: Thanks for the freevive

Made the Royal Flush once, in Vegas on a Video Poker machine killing time before a show.  Our friend was head of the crew for the Cirque Mystere show at the Treasure Island - watched from the control booth.  It was a free award trip from my company and they had given me a stack of gambling money.  Was a surreal day.

Based on this statement from a Dev:

"We don't want to remove the pleasure of reverse engineering the numbers from our more analytical players. "

It would appear that staff believe that there are analytical players that reverse engineer the numbers.

If a player reverse engineers an "exploit" and uses said "exploit" or copies another that is using it; are they guilty?

How it works; I don't know.

Everybody pays the tax - or else ...

I don't watch the show either.  I am not endorsing or asking anyone else to view it.

Since its inception the show has put participants into factions called "tribes" and they go to war as collectives and individuals for rewards that includes placing tribes and players into superior position (immunity) + other prizes.

The finale has historically been a vote that is used to rank the winner above the runner-up.

Orthogonal to RWs, look at the alliances and their rackets on the island through the lens of Mearsheimer's great power politics.

TLDR: Chaos can sometimes make thing even funner like they do on "TV".

Survivor is a  popular TV/streaming show. The show layers team and individual challenges, political intrigue and popularity contests, sort of "ranked warring".

I compare it to RW in part because as Carl von Clausewitz said war is a political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, carried on with other means.  You can write the thesis on where the comparison works and fails for yourselves.

Season 50 of the Survivor TV show - brought back veteran players but the producers introduced changes to the format.  The objective was to make it special and exciting.  Viewers/fans of the show suggested the changes.

Does that address your question?

In Freakonomics, authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner compared schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers to illustrate how people will cheat or manipulate data when faced with strong economic or career incentives.

Professional sumo wrestlers must achieve 8 wins out of 15 matches in a tournament to keep their rank or advance. Achieving this carries massive financial rewards and prestige. Data analysis revealed widespread corruption. A wrestler with a 7-6 record (needing one more win) had a heavily inflated win rate against an 8-6 wrestler (who has nothing to lose). The 8-6 wrestler frequently "threw" the match, knowing the favor would likely be returned in a future tournament when their roles were reversed.

Under the "No Child Left Behind" era's high-stakes testing, teachers and schools faced severe consequences—including job losses and school closures—if students failed to meet proficiency scores. To avoid these penalties, teachers in the Chicago Public School system manipulated testing data. A statistical algorithm detected patterns of cheating, such as identical unusual sequences of answers at the end of exams or sudden, drastic score drops in classes the following year when students were monitored by independent proctors.

With certainty of reward, as in Sumo; fights are "termed".  When penalties are likely, as in the case of the teachers, there is added incentive to game the system.

With RWs the rewards and consequences are understood and calculated.  Rational actors game the system (some term, some cheat, etc.)

Introduce uncertainty to the competition, a recent example demonstrating the impact of this is "Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans".

Introduce an option button available at enlistment.

Label: FAFO

Don't give any explanation.

I was laughing the whole time I was typing - still am lol

One way to create real ranked warring is to have an option at enlistment: Put faction ownership at stake.

No prizes - no rankings - zero sum game - winner take all - ultimate match making.

The co-leader of the winning faction gets the leadership spot and control/ownership of the the loser. Or in the case of smaller factions merged into the winner.

I don't lead/co-lead or have ownership in any faction.  An easy suggestion for me to make.

Who would actually do this?

Only those that truly want "real" ranked wars: the rush of the big bet; the ambition to conquer or die trying.

----

EDIT: Much easier to add -> delete losing faction <- button.

Not everyone likes options lol

"If you're using an ELO-like system, what are the coefficients you're using? How exactly does it work? etc

We don't want to remove the pleasure of reverse engineering the numbers from our more analytical players. Plus we are likely to be tweaking them over time."

The RW numbers have been analysed by the player base and have allowed the base to game the system for profit.  RW is transactional for many.

 Announce that you will be Introducing changes and inject some chaos.  This will infuriate some players and delight others.  Reputational penalties/faction debuffs post RW /time gated rewards - whatever.  Chaos will make terming RW risky/uncertain.  

Impacts can be subtle and indirect.  Your faction termed or in RW?  Companies owned by faction members might have lower revenues that week as customers want to avoid getting caught in potential cross fire.  Maybe the winning faction raids the armory of the loser for some choice kit.

Analysis paralysis is the enemy. If the player base hates a change you can revert to status quo.

Or change the name from Ranked War to Ranked Work - sign up and collect caches.

To get on the leaderboard: 00:26:39 - 01/05/26 You were awarded the honor: Leaderboard

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