I love Magic: Online. I love that I always have access to a competitive game. I love that I get paid to playtest. I love that I am in the greatest clan on Magic: Online. [This point is open to debate. — Craig (Go Clan RnR!)]

However, I do have a huge problem with rules enforcement on Magic: Online with regards to bribery. Most players are not even aware that there is a problem with bribery on Magic: Online. The bigger problem is that the good people at Wizards do not seem to have any idea what bribery is, either. Sometimes activities that loosely resemble it are punished, other times confirmed acts of bribery go unpunished, and other times it takes a day's worth of prodding to have the mysterious fellows at “Magic Conduct” do anything about bribery.

I plan to talk about three general issues with Magic: Online and bribery today. First, the seeming randomness with which bribery is punished online. Next, the amount of work Magic Conduct requires of the average Magic: Online citizen to report bribery before they will take action. Finally, I will look at the vast disparity between how bribery is dealt with online and in the “paper” world.

A huge step in the right direction towards addressing these problems is for Magic Online to have an actual, real life, judge to review bribery accusations. “But Armor_Thrull,” you say “Magic: Online is like having the highest-level tournament judge watch over every game!”* The problem is that this judge has multiple personality disorder. He sometimes thinks that everything a person does that involves the exchange of packs is bribery and must be punished and, at other times, thinks that bribery is a make-believe term used only by the nefarious to have another person's account get banned. Magic: Online needs a real person, who has training playing Magic (and understands the Magic: Online community), to make actual judgment calls about whether or not bribery has occurred.

Before I get into some examples, we should review the extent of guidance that Magic Online provides for us with regards to bribery. There is, of course, the Code of Conduct (or CoC (but not really, saying this abbreviation too much in-game could get you the same punishment as a blatant briber!)), which is referenced in, and incorporated into, the Terms of Service (or ToS) we agree to every time we go online.** Paragraph 13 pertains to bribery and provides:

“Do not attempt to artificially alter the outcome of a Magic: Online league, sanctioned event, or game. This includes, but is not limited to:

Bribing or offering any compensation in order to change the outcome.
Stalling, spamming, harassing, or behaving in any other unsportsmanlike manner that affects the game.”

So we know that Magic: Online does not like bribery. The CoC even claims that bribery could cause your account to be terminated and your cards to be forfeited. We also know that bribery is “taken very seriously.” Just ask any adept and he or she will tell you:

“Adept_Kyuubi: If you witness bribery, please report it to http://wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=433. We take bribes very seriously, and we appreciate you taking the time to report it.”

In practice, however, the employees at Magic Conduct are just like the rest of us. If they can get through their day doing less work or more work, they will choose less work and situations like the following arise.

About two weeks ago, I was watching a Premier Event. In the last round a person with two losses and poor tiebreakers - we will call him “Wizard Genius” for now - could not make the Top 8, but was paired against a person with one loss and one draw - we will call him “Captain Sneaky.” Captain Sneaky could make Top 8 with a win. Wizard Genius won game 1, then during game 2, asked in the tournament room if he could make Top 8. A few people replied that he could not because his tiebreakers were awful. A few seconds later, Wizard Genius lost the match. I watched the replay of game 2 and Wizard Genius had the game pretty much locked up when the scoop occurred. I asked Wizard Genius, in the tournament chat room, how much he got for the scoop and he replied “3 packs.”

Being the upstanding Magic: Online citizen that I am, and knowing how “seriously” bribery is taken, I followed the adept's advice and submitted the game ID number, names of the two players involved, tournament ID number, and a screenshot of what happened in the tournament chat room to Magic Conduct. I quickly received their auto reply: “We will investigate the incident and take appropriate action. Bear in mind that per our privacy policy we do not discuss disciplinary action taken on other players. Depending on the circumstances and results of the investigation a player may receive a warning, a suspension or termination if warranted.”

Nothing happened to either player. No “*DISQUALIFIED*” was posted next to their names on Magic: Online. They were online days and weeks later, so I assume they were not suspended or banned. Magic Conduct has the capacity to review trade files and view trade activity between players. They could have easily reviewed the trade file between these two players to corroborate the admission of the player in open chat, yet it seems they did nothing. This is the virtual equivalent of a judge at a paper event witnessing bribery and saying “Man, I will have to fill out all that paperwork and argue with these two players... just do whatever you want.”

If this were the only bribery story I had ever heard, I could simply pass it off as there simply being an incredibly high threshold for bribery on Magic: Online. However, I have seen situations where activities that sort of resemble bribery are punished summarily and immediately. By way of background, I need to discuss the 5-4-2-2 Constructed queues. These queues offer a “prize split” option in the last round of the queue, but anyone that has ever used it was probably shocked to discover that Magic Online deals with a 5-4 split by eating a pack and giving each player 4 packs. Constructed players devised a way to still prize split without losing the pack. A pack on Magic Online is worth roughly four event tickets, so the players would “split” that last pack by having one player get two tickets and the other player getting the extra pack. This plan was typically carried out by Player A giving Player B two tickets, Player B would then concede the match to effect the split of the packs. This became fairly common practice in the Constructed queues because the expected value of that last round was the lowest of the three rounds (and theoretically the hardest round), and people running these queues are doing it with the primary intent of making tickets.***

I am sure there are those of your pounding your chest in moral indignation that this is bribery. I am also sure that you are completely wrong. It is a prize split. Magic Online allows prize splits, it is just that the official route to a prize split in this situation causes a loss of a pack into the system. This behavior does fit a definition in Paragraph 13 of the CoC, as it is “artificially altering the outcome of a match,” because the match ends with one party scooping instead of as an “intentional draw” or “prize split.” However, until Magic Online addresses this splitting issue, the only method of “prize splitting” involves losing a pack.

Regardless of the “legality” of such splits, there was a time at which it was the common practice in the Constructed queues. Wizards was asked to fix this “prize split,” they have declined to even comment on it. Wizards was asked (on their own community boards) their stance on such splits. They did not comment on this. Against this backdrop, the following situation occurred (The following is in the words of Scott Tucker, the owner of the account Little_Shaves):

About five months ago, in the finals of a 5-4-2-2 Standard Constructed queue, I was paired against a cool dude named IAmTheUberSlice. With a name like that, how could this assumption be incorrect? As it was the finals of a queue, and I was anxious to get in another and/or go to bed (I can't really recall.).

I private messaged him, asking him whether he'd be willing to split. He replied with “?” prompting me to explain to him how splitting procedures work. I give him two tix and he concedes the match, or vice versa. I give my opponents the choice of which choice to take, to make them trust me that I am not going to take their two tix and run.

Six to eight minutes elapse at this point and I’m wondering what the holdup is. A quick check in the Moderators and Support Staff room (MaSS) reveals that he is questioning an adept on how to report bribery.

I message at this point that I don't really care if he reports me. Wizards knows that splitting occurs, and has opted not to deal with it, or even acknowledge the problem. I mean, I even made a thread about three weeks ago at that point addressing this very issue!

He states that he's only reporting me because someone had reported him and gotten him banned before. Golden Rule indeed.

I beat him in two of three games. Near the end of game three, the Intentional Draw window pops up, something that low-lifes will use to deny you a pack if they are particularly angry about getting beaten.

The next day, I tried to log onto Magic: Online in the early afternoon. I get the window “Bad Username or Password.” I type it again. And again. Oh my god my account has been hacked. I immediately go to the Magic: Online store to change my password and have it mailed to my account. I go to the account registered with the account, and there is also a letter from Magic Conduct:

‘The Magic Online player account connected to this email has been reported for:

Bribery in a sanctioned event/league

This is an official warning to stop this type of behavior immediately. This behavior is a violation of the Terms of Service and the Code of Conduct for Magic Online.

This account has been disabled for:
Thirty (30) days pending acknowledgement of this warning

The account will not be reactivated, nor will the suspension period begin, until an acknowledgement has been received and ownership of the account is confirmed. To confirm ownership you must provide:

Magic Online User Name:
First Name registered with the account:
Last Name registered with the account:
Billing Address registered with the account:
Phone Number registered with the account:

Any further incidents of this nature may result in the loss of all Magic Online accounts including any product contained therein.

I appreciate your cooperation. Magic Online is a place for everyone to have fun and we strive to provide an enjoyable environment.'

My first reaction was outrage. The only evidence that they had of anything being offered was this guy's word and a screenshot of a private message. Even more ridiculous, I'd asked their stance on the issue just weeks before, with no discussion in-game, in the thread, or on the site.

After several heated emails being exchanged, I apologized and promised not to ever, ever cross-my-heart-hope-to-die split again. It turns out that the tin-can company had found a heart in the meantime and reduced my absurd suspension from 30 to 15 days.

During the 15 days, I used other accounts of mine to report obvious bribes in Premier Events, either in the finals or otherwise. (You might call this hypocritical on my part, but I justify it with differing motives: Mine being to get the issue dealt with, while the person who got me suspended just did it to get even with someone for what had happened to him.) I got all the automatically-generated messages that they would look into it, but not a single person got suspended or disqualified from what I could tell, despite the fact that these were matches whose replays were available and where trades happened (and for which trade numbers therefore existed), and one even had the split-negotiation occur in the game window itself!

After calling to see what the problem was with the evidence I submitted, I was dismissed without explanation as to why my case was different from the ones I had submitted, or why they do not make a stance one way or the other on the issue.”

(Now back to me as the author.)

Nothing was said in the game chat and no trade ever occurred, since UberSlice opted not to split, so the extent of UberSlice's evidence was his word and likely a screenshot of their private conversation. Little_Shaves received notice that his account was suspended for 30 days, on this evidence, for bribery. One player, of innumerable Constructed players doing the exact same thing, randomly gets a 30-day suspension.

There is a huge problem here. Little_Shaves, at worst, artificially altered the outcome of a match based on a single screenshot and was banned almost immediately for 30 days. Wizard Genius clearly took a 3-pack bribe to scoop a person into the Top 8 of a Premier Event, by his own admission and likely backed up by trade records, and received no punishment.

A real judge, that understands the Magic Online community, could look at this situation and see that there is quite a discrepancy here. A judge that understands the prize split option could also act as a liaison with Wizards to express the problem that players cannot split prizes in Constructed queues, since they apparently are still unaware of this problem.

Another problem becomes apparent when you compare this example with the example from the next section. In the case of Little_Shaves, a screenshot is sufficient to suspend an account. In the next case, a screenshot, game number, and trade file are insufficient to do anything at first.

This tale comes from the Wizards Magic: Online Community boards. In the last round of an “E3 Championship Qualifier” a 15 pointer and a 16 pointer were paired. I will just refer to each player by his point total. 15 Pointer could make top 8 with a draw and might miss it if he lost, while 16 Pointer was in the Top 8 regardless of the outcome of this match. Apparently 16 Pointer did not like his matchup if he drew, and the following conversation took place in the game chat window:

<16 pointer>: dont like my matchup w/ sorry
<15 pointer>: cmon{f}
<16 pointer>: sorry dude
<15 pointer>: keeps this hand.
<16 pointer>: some tix might change my mind

After that conversation, the match between 15 Pointer and 16 Pointer ended in a draw. The two players apparently tried to pass it off as a “joke” in the tournament room when they realized that everyone could watch the replay:

XXXX: you let the replay record your bribe?
XXXX: {y}
YYYY: no bribe
YYYY: it was a joke
XXXX: comments?
<15 pointer>: it was indeed a joke i would neither accept a bribe nor give 1
YYYY: he's in ffa [a clan on Magic: Online]
YYYY: lol
<16 pointer>: i didnt want to play but drawing lets me play him ithe latest round
<15 pointer>: would be a dishonour to both me and my clan

The incident was reported to Magic Conduct. Included in the report were the names of the two players, the tournament ID number, the game ID number, and a screenshot of the conversation. Magic Conduct first tried to deflect by saying that the game ID number was not readable from the screenshot (even though it was included in the email). After a frustrated telephone conversation, it was discovered that the game ID number reported was actually the replay ID number and magic conduct cannot watch replays using replay ID numbers.

As each game is completed in a Magic: Online Premier Event, it can be replayed until the end of the round. A number is displayed where the game ID number usually is during the replay. However, this is the replay ID number, not the game ID number. The game ID number is displayed in the list of completed games, though. I am willing to bet that this fact was largely unknown until a few weeks ago. Magic Conduct also claims to be unable watch the game using the replay ID number.

Yes, folks, that is right. Wizards cannot replay games using the replay ID number.

During the initial telephone conversation, wherein I was told that Magic Conduct cannot use replay ID numbers to replay games, I suggested that they at least still had the screenshot and the ability to look at trade activity. I was told that screenshots can be doctored and so they do not suffice as evidence of bribery. (Never mind the fact that they apparently were enough to ban Little_Shaves a few months ago, and screenshots are exactly what they tell you to make sure you include when you submit a bribery report.).

This conversation left me with the impression that bribery is unpunishable. Apparently, Magic Conduct requires the briber and bribee to report themselves, with their game number, and with screenshots of themselves negotiating the bribe. I decided that this was unacceptable, especially in light of the fact that the helpful customer service representative on the phone reiterated that “bribery is taken very seriously.” So I set out to see what is needed to actually get bribery punished.

A couple of emails explaining the time of the Premier Event and time of the bribe were sent to Magic Conduct. Standard form replies were sent back about their privacy policy and other equally useless information. Eventually they reiterated their inability to watch replays, and because of this there was nothing that could be done.

For anyone that has ever interacted with the Magic: Online employees via email, you will no doubt agree that it is nearly the most frustrating thing one can do. I finally decided to call them back and make something happen. I plowed my way through two customer service representatives and finally talked to a supervisor. I got the supervisor to admit that he could look up the Premier Event and simply go to the last round and replay the game. He did so. He also looked up the trade history while on the phone with me. Eventually, he told me that he had all the information he could get regarding this and that he would give it to Magic Conduct.

Shortly thereafter, Magic Conduct sent this email:

“We've reviewed the incident and we have reviewed the accounts and you will be contacted by Scott Larabee.”

I was never contacted by Scott Larabee, but he did make this post on the community boards:

“This situation has been resolved.”

If you go to tournament number 715134, the two individuals now have very large “*DISQUALIFIED*” tags next to their names.

So, apparently Magic Conduct takes bribery so seriously that in order for a person to report it, and have something done, that person needs to send no less than seven emails to Magic Conduct and place one 30-minute phone call and another 90-minute phone call to their customer service number. Furthermore, Magic Conduct needs to make it more obvious to the citizenry of Magic: Online that the “replay ID number” is useless for reporting in game conduct. Magic Conduct also needs to take a stance on screenshots: they cannot be irrelevant in one case and the ultimate piece of evidence in another.

This amount of work to help enforce the CoC of Magic: Online is unacceptable. If I hadn't been planning to write an article about this there is absolutely no way that I would have gone through all this effort to see what actually needs to be done to report bribery, and the average Magic: Online player cannot be expected to perform all these tasks.

Every time I think about the differences between bribery punishments online and on paper, I am reminded of a comment made by Randy Buehler that “[Wizards'] goal, as with most things about Magic Online, is to mirror the paper-based world as closely as we can.” Unfortunately, in the realm of bribery punishment, there is a large chasm between Magic Online and paper Magic.

A few weeks ago, at a PTQ for Prague, a player was at 4-1-1 and was paired against a 4-2 player that had no chance of making the top 8. The 4-1-1 player said to his opponent, at the start of the match, that he would split his prizes with the 4-2 player, if the 4-2 player would just scoop and let him get into the Top 8. A judge was nearby — actually, it was not a judge; it was some guy that was helping the judges that day — and he overheard this and reported it to the head judge. The head judge took the 4-1-1 player aside and told him that he was being disqualified, without prize for bribery. Shortly after this we found the 4-1-1 player's name posted on the DCI's Webpage.**** He was suspended from sanctioned Magic tournaments for 5 months.

I offer this up as an example of how briber on Magic Online should be treated. No more of this “75 articles of evidence and 3 days of emails and phone calls” garbage. A player bribes another; he is disqualified without prize. Shortly thereafter, his name is tacked on a list for all of the community to see, along with his crime and the punishment dispensed.

The players in the E3 Qualifier received “*DISQUALIFIED*” next to their names in the tournament, but still received their prizes from the tournament (which rightly should go to the 9th and 10th place finishers in that tournament); they are still qualified for the E3 Championship, and, as far as the Magic community knows, were not even suspended.

There is no reason that Magic Conduct cannot have a page like the DCI has for posting screennames, the infraction they committed, and the punishment exacted. There is an extremely short section in the DCI Universal Tournament Rules about publication, which is on point for this issue. Section six includes a part that simply states “Wizards of the Coast reserves the right to publish penalty and suspension information.”

Players have no motivation to report misconduct if they have no idea that punishment is dished out for that misconduct. Furthermore, players have no motivation to obey the rules if they don't know what the punishment will be — which often times seems to simply be to write “*DISQUALIFIED*” next to your name. Magic Online already has the ToS; there needs to be a section in that ToS that if you violate the ToS or CoC and receive punishment that it will be published.

Furthermore, even if Magic Online cannot have a judge online at all times to rule on issues like this, in order to disqualify miscreants at the time it happens (as is done at paper events), there needs to be a judge to make these judgment calls at a later date. This judge also needs to decide on compensation for players that are essentially cheated out of top 8 slots by this bribery and are left without any recourse in the typical situation.

Magic Online claims to take bribery “very seriously.” Wizards needs to step up and prove how seriously they take bribery. Bribery is not taken seriously when its punishment is seemingly left up to the randomness of the wind. Bribery is not taken seriously when the average person has no idea how to report it. Bribery is not taken seriously when it is punished by allowing the offender to keep the prizes won from bribing.

The Magic Online community needs an official definition of “bribery.” We need a unified theory of punishment for bribery. We also need to be told how to report bribery. For God's sake, we need an end to this ridiculous “privacy policy” regarding screennames. Constructed players need a way to split the 8-man queues, without losing a pack. And, finally, we need somebody at Magic Conduct with judging experience and familiarity with Magic Online. This person can then make judgment calls that judges are called upon to make every round of a paper magic event.

I owe a ton of thanks to everyone that helped me get this article together, particularly to Scott for relaying his story about his suspension. Thanks for the help everyone!

Armor_Thrull on MODO

{e}

*This is roughly a quote from Jeff Donais from back in the day when Magic Online was being released, which can be found here.
**I'm sure you make a habit of checking it every time you log in, in case there are any changes to it, but in case you've lost your link the CoC is located here.
***A win in round 1 nets you two packs, a win in round 2 nets you two more packs, and a win in round 3 adds one more pack.
****If you have never viewed the DCI's suspended list Webpage, you really should, for at least the comedic value of why many people get banned or suspended.