Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-15277159-20130909225523/@comment-98.209.209.239-20130910145126

Runamuk78 wrote: I am not a fan of itsme5712. I just want to say this. In my opinion this situation is no different than an athlete taking steroids to gain an unfair advantage. Can every athlete take them? Yes they can but they don't and it's highly unethical. Maybe it can be equated to her being a smart shopper in most peoples minds but the fact is that she used a product that is unethical to gain an unfair advantage over normal paying players following the rules set forth by Mobage. In my opinion that is the equivalent to cheating but not fraud. The question of how many purchases she made is irrelevant to the fact that any purchase made gave her an unfair advantage over another player.

With that being said she was not officially banned for using the site. She was banned for violating Mobage TOS. That is plain and simple and she clearly admitted to it. Case closed and no room for arguing. She doesn't need a lawyer because she gave up her legal ground when she violated the TOS. That is why they are there. Does this mean that every player who willing admits to handing out there password to anyone should be banned? Yes it does. Does it mean that a hacked account should be banned. No it doesn't. If you can prove the intrusion was not authorized then you have a case. Allowing your friend to play while you sleep is unethical and falls under the same unfair advantage as what itsme did.

Defend her or hate her, doesn't matter. Don't ignore the facts or attempt to bend them to fit your argument. 50% Itune gift cards give a player an unfair advantage. Yes they do and I really don't feel that an honest player should use them in competing. Can you regulate it? No. They do not violate the TOS so that player should not be banned but if they admit to using them they should expect to be met with upset players and criticism.

More personal opinion but very few people can afford to spend what she spent on this game. It isn't realistic and I have doubts that her purchases were all legitimate. She bragged that one event she spent 100,000 coins to get good cards. That's $1,000 in real money but only $500 in addgolds cash. I believe she spent way more than that using 3rd party sites to get the scores she got each event. This is the first normal event she hasn't competed in and 1 and 2 have been going at it unlike her events where she was double the score of #2. That is a common sense view that something is wrong with that situation. Calling people sore losers is a bit much. Many of the people calling her out are beaten by 1-2,000 other players each event and have never called them names or such. They are just speaking the truth and calling her out on what she was. I don't feel they were being sore losers or else it would be happening weekly when they didn't win. Many of them post congrats to the top winners and thank them for their support in seeding whales.

Again, these are just my personal opinions and I am glad to see the game back in a fair competitive pace again. Agree with all of this.

The "sore loser" accusations are funny. I typically finish anywhere from 2,000 to 20,000 depending on my interest level. Yeah, I'm so upset that she bumped me down one spot.

The arguments that she "still paid real money" are equally hollow. If two players each spend a dollar and one gets 100 coins while another gets 1000 are you guys seriously arguing that that isn't an unfair advantage? Both players spent real money.

It is astounding that someone can be so cocky about buying and cheating their way to the top. Most dominant player ever? You're actually bragging about winning Covert Operations without knowing how to evolve a single card?