Lichess has an excellent cheat-detection mechanism. However, it isn't perfect. And even when it positively identifies a cheater, it doesn't really eliminate the problem, because the user just keeps creating new accounts. Unfortunately, this is bad enough to ruin the chess experience of anyone like in the 2200+ rapid range, because MOST of the game adds that show up in the lobby are posted by cheaters.
The issue we have is that some users want to play with computer assistance and Lichess doesn't admit that. So they break the rules and do it hidden anyway. So the intelligent way to deal with this issue is NOT to fight them, but rather to accept and accommodate them. Yes, just like Portugal made to get rid of drug addiction. A compassionate solution. Obviously we need is to make sure their opponents are fully aware of the fact that computer assistance is being used.
So, today we have two types of account:
- human accounts, were only a human can play, without engine assistance
- BOT accounts, which must be played by engines without human assistance
And my suggestion is to create a third type of account, which is a mix of both. We can call them "computer assisted" accounts, "cyborg" accounts, or anything in those lines. We will still need the cheat detection, but then instead of just blocking the account, we may encourage the user to create computer assisted account. Or perhaps we should just convert the type of the account that has been flagged by cheat-detection.
Thoughts ?
The issue we have is that some users want to play with computer assistance and Lichess doesn't admit that. So they break the rules and do it hidden anyway. So the intelligent way to deal with this issue is NOT to fight them, but rather to accept and accommodate them. Yes, just like Portugal made to get rid of drug addiction. A compassionate solution. Obviously we need is to make sure their opponents are fully aware of the fact that computer assistance is being used.
So, today we have two types of account:
- human accounts, were only a human can play, without engine assistance
- BOT accounts, which must be played by engines without human assistance
And my suggestion is to create a third type of account, which is a mix of both. We can call them "computer assisted" accounts, "cyborg" accounts, or anything in those lines. We will still need the cheat detection, but then instead of just blocking the account, we may encourage the user to create computer assisted account. Or perhaps we should just convert the type of the account that has been flagged by cheat-detection.
Thoughts ?