naan/steak-holding toll wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 3:52 pm
Carlos Be wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 3:24 pm
Smuttynose Island wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 9:43 pm
[*] Please remember that a
webcam is required to play this tournament. If you do not currently own a webcam, please work on getting one.
[/list]
I'm assuming that this is intended to prevent cheating, but how would it do that? If someone is googling, the webcam won't pick that up.
The webcam will pick up if someone is typing, unless they are pretty subtle.
Will it? Let's say that it does. How does that help? They could be typing an answer, responding to a text message, updating a scoresheet, writing down a clue, googling a clue they negged on, or probably several other things.
I generally connect to audio on my phone since the audio input on my computer doesn't work well. Should I find a workaround for this tournament? More generally, I think there's several legitimate reasons to check one's phone during a tournament, so I'm not sure what this would accomplish.
I think the most significant problem with this idea is that, if I had not made this post, I would have had no idea that "hands on keyboard" or "using phone" would be what was considered suspicious. If this tournament is going to use webcams to enforce anti-cheating rules, then it needs to be clear and specific about what constitutes suspicious behavior.
naan/steak-holding toll wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 3:52 pm
But in this case, the perfect (absolutely no cheating possible whatsoever) is the enemy of the good
Obviously we can't stop all cheating. But how many people does this camera system stop from cheating? To me, it is unclear that it would actually deter anyone. Even if it makes most forms of cheating a little bit harder, I don't think that outweighs the issues that the camera system presents:
- Minor inconveniences to people who like to connect on mobile, or like to play minesweeper during tossups, or whatever.
- Major inconveniences to people who do not own a working webcam.
- Potential issues with respect to bandwidth. Connection issues are already a problem with just audio, so adding video sounds like a nightmare.
- Flawed evidence that can become fodder for bad accusations. If someone looks down at their lap for too long, will they be accused of checking their phone?
I think that when an anti-cheating measure threatens players' privacy, it is the burden of the tournament to prove that it is a good measure. Specifically, the tournament has to show that the method is effective at preventing cheating, does not present a significant burden on normal play, and will not be abused. I don't think the webcam system satisfies any of these criteria, so this tournament should either explain why it does or stop using it.