RE: computer-go: prevent cheating

[Thomas Johnson <tjohnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 20-Oct-99 Sai To Wang wrote:
> 
>> Thomas Johnson wrote:
>> for the chief competitors once a year?  You can play placement
> competitions
>> throughout the year on IGS or whatever which don't receive awards, the
> best
>> "x" players plus a few admin people then get free transport to an annual
> 
> How can we arrange a IGS internet-Go competition that prevent cheat?


What's the incentive to cheat?  So what if someone does?  With the plan I laid
out, noone wins any money by placing well in the IGS part of the competition
- they just win a free trip to the annual convention (we could make it a
non-resort type of place if you like).  At which point, if they don't come
through with a decent go player, they'll be ridiculed and never trusted again. 
Not to mention you could even add a clause in the bylaws or whatever that
states that anyone who doesn't come through with a valid go player will become
liable for the costs of airfare, room, and food for the convention that they
originally got free.  Even if they refuse to pay, you're only out a couple
thousand at most.  If you can successfully scrounge up $2 million, that's not
much to lose on a cheater.  And they're not even getting the hard cash - just a
free trip.

The point is that you can't get your hands on any real money until you've
publicly demonstrated your go player on a certified system and you've released
copies of your source code and a full description to be validated by other go
programmers.  That'll pretty much eliminate all thoughts of cheating.

-Tom

---
Thomas P. Johnson
Strategic Forecasting                       ph:  (607) 266-7636
Box 1034 Langmuir Lab                       fax: (607) 257-4279
95 Brown Rd.                  tjohnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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