The Ethics of Overclocking

[Sniper]

I think that the cheating scandals and the "tricks" are definitely hurting the sport in general terms. This is discouraging the entry level guys from participating at high levels.

If you spend a bunch of time researching, working your butt off at a job, then buying the parts necessary, assembling and tweaking tweaking tweaking all for this benchmark...very satisfying to make a fast run that places high in the rankings.

Now, after all of this you may feel a little disappointed that you didn't place that high, then one day you stumble upon the fact that people are modifying the benchmark, using different browsers, (simply renaming them), different programs for all sort of programs the benchmark calls upon, to inflate scores. The people you are competing with arent even running the benchmark anymore. they are running a modified version.

Then there are ramdisk programs, and ways of using them and hiding the fact that they are doing so. So they copy/paste files while different subsets are being ran to mask the fact that they are using the ramdisk, while also reaping the benefits of the cheat in other tasks.
The bad thing is this is just a short list of some of these methods used to inflate pcm05 scores. Hell this isnt even scratching the surface.

People using illegal methods, and illegal hardware, yet submitting and getting points on the Bot.

Along comes the FNG who says "golly gee mister, how do you score so high?" while the guys "in the know" are fully aware of what is going on. This FNG is in awe of these supreme "benchers".

So, in the end, when people realize this is going on , in their mind it boils down to "whats the point?"

What IS the point?

Why even submit scores if you have to engage in cheating at various levels to even place in the running. Its not skill that is getting these results. Well yes, i guess it is skill. Skill at cheating.
Hell, people have to join teams etc just to figure out the cheats so they can hang with the cheaters.

Hell i only submit PCMV because there are no HWBot points involved, the very fact that there aren't points at stake in it lessens the amount of outright cheating going on. But that is fast changing, i assure you of that.

It is pointless. It discourages the real growth of the sport. The cheating is so widespread, over so many different benchmarks, that it makes the whole endeavor pointless, and many many guys just quit playing the game once they see the truth. It is definitely bad overall for the sport, period.

It stifles growth and creates an inner network of people who engage in the activities, until you can go and look at the submissions on the bot and just SEE the cheating is so rampant it is ridiculous.

How to fix it? Gah, i have no idea! Just filling you in on my personal experience, and the experiences of many many people i have come across in this hobby.

I think the "system" involved is so out of control right now that it is really unfixable at this stage. It would take an entire reinvention of the system to even begin to rein this in. I know guys on both sides of this, the newbies with no idea, and members of these 'inner circles', and there is no end in sight to this stuff.

The situation unearthed with Andre just shows you the arrogance of these guys who are in these cliques, they are so used to playing by their own rules, and so used to not being caught, that this is nothing. just the tip o' the iceberg.

If it has already devolved into a game of cheating anyway, why not up the ante and sell/buy/share results, hardware, cheats?

Best post I'v seen in years.

Tweaks is essentially another word for "legal cheats". Its a shame that 01 is the bench that most of todays top benchers started with, because in 01 you dont get far without tweaks.

[M.Beier]

Yes ! It is for profit .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_organization

Summed down; Even if staff gets wage, it can still be NPO...

Definition anyway;
Non-profit distinction

Ownership is the quantitative difference between for- and not-for-profit organizations. For-profit organizations can be privately owned and may re-distribute taxable wealth to employees and shareholders. By contrast, not-for-profit organizations do not have owners. They have controlling members or boards, but these people cannot sell their shares to others or personally benefit in any taxable way.

How did the NPO come into picture anyway??? It isnt stated on hwbot.org atleast not in "About HWBOT", nor does it say who is the owner, if there is any...
- It states how it was founded, nothing about ownership....

And why does it matter anyway???? Hwbot is great for the communities of overclocking, and the staff does a great job.

[mike]

Thanks so much for everyones input here. So many good points have been made, many without having gotten the credit they deserved. I have made sure to read all the posts carefully.

The in-ability to enforce rules has gotten us here, and it's so easy to blame this and that. For example I myself cannot blame Andre alone for his actions .
I blame the entire system.

Maybe we just have to come to the conclusion that overclocking is not a sport, and should not be treated as such.

But I will attempt to discuss these matters with the XS staff as well as with community leaders from here as well from other forums and continue to try to find a solution.

Thread closed