After tears thrown away at Oprah’s, I needed 10 minutes to recover from my dramatic confession. But, as promised this morning, I then sit with the journalists to answer all the questions they had. Here’s the result.

Q: Why did you decide to admit cheating after all these years playing SS/MS/RB?

A: It was the second time a great detective we have in our community accused me at the forum. At the first try, no one cared. They thought it was just madness. But then the Hercule Poirot presented strong evidence and left me no other option but confess: Yes, I’m a cheater. A big fucking cheater. I’m not proud about it, but I simply can’t avoid cheating. It’s a kind of disease, I can’t explain.

Q: What did this Parrot find out about you?

A: Poirot. His name is Poirot, not parrot. Well, he discovered that, after I transfer list a player he would like to have on his team, I then changed my mind and didn’t sell the player. Twice! That was outrageous and leave me no room to hide behind the mask anymore.

Q: Did you sell that player to another team?

A: No. I kept him on my team. How could I have such behaviour?

Q: But how come that is cheating?

A: The guy was disappointed, don’t you understand?

Q: Ok. But we are talking about cheating here…

A: All of my life I got used to see Hercule Poirot find the guilty of a crime and, if he’s saying I’m guilty, that’s because I am! What are you trying to suggest?! Don’t you dare to question Agatha Christie, my friend, don’t you dare!

Q: That’s not my intention. I’m just trying to understand what happened?

A: Man, I already told you what happened: I didn’t sell a player to him, TWICE! At tick 138 or 141 or something. Not enough to you?

Q: Is there any obligation to sell in these circumstances?

A: Of course. If you don’t sell a player to Poirot and change your mind twice after transfer list him, you cheat. When you are talking about a great detective like him, you have to sell that player, it’s in the rules, man. You have to take his money and lose it all just 3 ticks later.

Q: I see: but if you didn’t want to sell that player, why did you list him, right? Twice?!

A: Exactly. That was my biggest mistake, my crime gun, if you want. I wanted to buy a player listed for +500 million, so I needed money. But all of sudden another team bought him. And I removed all my players from the transfer list. I should have complained to authorities about the other team buying the player I wanted.

Q: And that happened twice?

A: Shame on me. First it was a midfielder, then an attacker for more than +600m. I did it all over again, lost that player and removed my players from the list. That’s what I regret most. This has no possible forgiveness.

Q: What punish would you consider fair to your offense?

A: Life in prison, at least. But I would consider dead penalty, too. I should have sold that player.

Q: Do you have anything you would like to say to Poirrot now?

A: Yes. Thank you. I’m feeling much better now. It’s like a relief, telling the truth. His find outs might turn me into a better person. I’m learning the meaning of ethics, respect, fair play, all the good things sport can teach you.

Q: Poirot said you had an accomplice, his name is Filipe…

A: Yes, he helped me (Sorry to bring you down with me Filipe).

Q: How?

A: I think he was bidding on another player of mine.

Q: And?

A: Well, then I canceled his offer just like I did the others.

Q: And?

A: And what mother fucker?! Poirot is saying that’s a crime. Fuck off, no more answers…

Q: But one more thing, please… How many players did you end up selling in those final ticks to other teams?

A: I already answered that question. None! That’s why this is cheating you dumb journalist.

Haha :) i actually enjoyed that. Im intrigued to know who the big 500+mil players were! Everyone knows by now not to take Davison seriously.

According to an intel source, their names are Sergiy Migashko and Afonso Caldas, sold with 31 ticks difference, so maybe Hercule is missing a piece here when he claims it happened twice, one after another. Damn, how could my lawyer missed that!!!

Rui One word for you…………..Brilliant!!

Hey Rui,

Your legendary status in this game is unmatched. I’m not here to tell you how to run your business but I know you’re trying to make light of a difficult situation. It’s never nice to be accused of being a cheater, especially when no cheating occurred. That said, I myself would have just turned the other cheek and let bygones be bygones. You’re just adding fuel to a small fire. No need to increase it.

Being a player of many years of this game, I know the frustration of losing a player at the last tick. Of course you’re not obligated to sell but perhaps an in game message explaining your position would have been a better way to handle it. If you did that, great.

I usually stay away from the forums as you can tell by my very low post count but just thought I could add my two cents to this situation.

Now, back to the game we love……it is only a game after all.

Of course it’s just a game, Hank, a funny game :)

(in game emails doesn’t work in cases like this… i might get insulted :) )

Very nice to read your post Rui :D I only hope being sarcastic and too funny isnt consider cheating by Poirot… He problably wont understand what you write so I guess you are clear from this one…

Cheers

Nice post very funny :)

First thing i thought when i saw the titel and you name was, wow crap..rly? At the middle, i started laughing.. gj!

Close but no cigar.

One of the simpler divide and conquer techniques to ridicule the guys saying what others might have thought but not mentioned. Remember the tale of the king’s invisible clothes?

No matter how the message is delivered, listen to it carefully. Davisson often sounds like a guy with a lot of issues, but do not forget his passion for the game.

Let’s just consider what the game really is. You can simplify it as state machines where INPUT results in RESULTS. As simple as that.
If you have a good tactic, and the best players – you will win.

Tactics, you can copy from others, so that is not a n issue here. THE PLAYERS are the key. HOW do you get your hands on the players.
Issues like managers selling only to certain friends and in some cases to themselves (2nd or x-th account) is more than likely to happen.

There are several methods to prevent this.

I do not believe there is such a thing that is " a legendary manager", because EVERYONE can do the same INPUT to the game engine, you can not do UNIQUE stuff that ONLY you can do. The players again are the key. How you get your players is the ISSUE, and Davisson and others have seen this too many times to let it pass as great managers doing great things. I kind of agree to that assessment.

Couple of ways to prevent this.

- completely revamp of how the great player is produced. This has to be KEPT SECRET, it’s part of the game reward system. You do not make a roulette game saying next will be RED, right?
Analyse few player histories, and create few patterns how a player can reach to what level of greatness by doing what?!
Some player could become star at 18, while others might need to hit certain checkpoints before getting there (IF EVER)

- let clubs sell any player if manager can not deliver, the other clubs could buy any player then. You can not keep bulking up your players.

- player morale, form, and these are two different things.

- morale could be affected when you have 4 goalies and buy a 5th or something similar. Then that could trigger few actions, some positive some negative. The effect could last a month and some even half/full season.

- form, some players need to play a certain amount of time in order to be at top level, others less. Rotating teams should mean something more than gaining stamina.

Anyway, to the subject, if you have a system where some are biased for no certain reason that is probably cheating. Like the most usual thing in such games, buying players others can not.

/BK

LOL @ your statement …

“I do not believe there is such a thing that is " a legendary manager", because EVERYONE can do the same INPUT to the game engine, you can not do UNIQUE stuff that ONLY you can do"

That’s a strange statement. Off course some can be legendary. If everyone can give the same input, then why does Rui Antunes have 12 CL titles and 28 league titles? Because of luck? Don’t make me laugh :). Now, with that same logic, why does Davison who’s been active since season 13 have 1 EPL title? Because of badluck?

Ok let’s see it from a different point of view. If i would play chess vs Garry Kasparov or Bobby Fisher, it should be 50/50 according to your logic? Afterall my queen can move in the same way as there queen can right? WRONG….there is more then just giving input. It’s knowing what input to give in which situation. or better yet, ask yourself…..what actually is the right input?

I guess Rui can stand up for himself, but I couldn’t help it standing up for my hero……the legend…..RUI ANTUNES!!!

BK must actually stand for Buzz Killington.. :D

I very much doubt Bobby Fischer would be able to beat you in chess :P

Very true, since he died in 2008. How observent of you :), but I hope you still got my point :)

Nice one Rui, I think it`s impossible for a guy like you to cheat… Specially because you play it since SS like I did it, and for that, you must be at least around 30+ hahahaha Cheaters usually are kids…..

I think we should respect everyones opinion, even if its not what we think… That what makes life interesting! If everyone had the same opinion, we would live in a boring world.

Sly, why indeed??

No one states it’s luck or bad luck, read my post and point where I blame luck or bad luck.
I ment that EVERY manager has same set of tools to use, as we all use the same menu in the game.

If a manager would get the best players in the game, he will be much more successfull than a manager not having the best players in the game.

The discussion should be more about how come some managers KEEP getting the best players one way or another (read by transfers) while other’s don’t? There is no secure routine that prevents cheating by transfering great players from friends( other accounts), is there?

I would cal ANY manager Legend if we would reset the world, and NO transferes would be allowed, then if a manager wins as much as Rui, I’ll be the first to call them LEGENDARY. By disabling transfers you can then and only then guarantee that no cheating is going on.

Again read carefully – I am not accusing Rui for cheating although there is no way to verify, is there?

So until we really can play the game in such way that you can uniquelly lead a team, there can never be a unique style of managing a team. I am talking about human behaviour measured by the actions you make in the game, for example:
What do you look at the first thing when you log on, team, result, economy, mails etc. That if measured then can be read and analysed to apply as input in the game generating unique result of team/club/economy etc..

The way it works now is like –
once you know the “recipe” then you can win games/cups/titles. If you are playing for that reason.

/BK

ps BK = Burger King ;)

Another “proof” for my theori (of the “recipe”) is the fact that you can apply the same strategy to any team you take on when moving to another club, which logic says can not be done without changes that the team can cope with. Sure you can, just replace the team and there you go. Works every time. Come on.

Whatever, you are missing the point if you fail to see the problems in current setup of the game.

/BK

Just to give above statements a little test: Berhan, give me your tactics :)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iu6s5aematt3kag/formation.PNG

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fa4213wijv9e319/tactics.PNG

It’s not a secret, I play the game to add value to the community and give back to the game, winning titles is something I learned you can not do without doing fishy stuff, I could be wrong on that part but such is the feeling I have about that.

/BK

sweet! thanks! will keep you updated if it works ;)

hahah

If you suspect someone is cheating you should point it to the developers só they can determine if it is relly the case. Now, saying someone can only win things doing fishy stuff seems.to me youre getting close to Davison trying to justify your insucsses with everyone else cheating.

You Said we all can print the same input to the game, true. Some of us do it right, some dont. If we had no transfers the most sucssesful managers would Be the same. They are the ones that understand better how players improve, wich players to keep. Wich to let go, and the most imortant factor you forgot, wich tactics work better in any situation.

Filipe, I think I have failed to explain this properly.

I see the game as a box, you do your input – out comes the result, there is no RIGHT or WRONG choices, just choices, for the box itself. It is you as human that decides whether that was right or wrong but that decision is based on your EXPECTATIONS. WE do not know how the BOX works. Developers can check and see exactly what it does and sometimes they can miss a point so the BOX can work and behave in different way than they originally designed or aimed for.

Why do people always need an EXAMPLE that this has happened, it’s not important if Person A cheats right now, it’s more about being able to do so and the principle. I do not care if someone right now is cheating. But I do care about that HE/SHE thinks he/SHE can cheat, that is different thing. People will try to get any advantage when possible when winning is the goal. For me winning titles was never the goal with RS anyway, but try to give feedback so the game can be better, simply.

As we all know, winning without getting the best players (transfers) is impossible. If someone with no transfers would achieve same success as he is doing right now, then it could be person has better knowledge how the game engine works than others, it is the mechanics of the BOX and not understanding the input and results necessarily, see the difference?

I’t like guessing the numbers in a lottery game or knowing before hand that these could be the numbers and guess from them. In such case that could also be a way of cheating really, by knowing how the game engine works and manipulating it to win as much as possible. In a casino that would really be called cheating, and you’d be thrown out, even if they can’t “prove” you are cheating.

When I talk about cheating on this thread I aim only towards the fact that deals are made in not so fair way all the time, and that can be improved. BUT it is also so that DEALS make HUGE impact on how successful you can get, and therefor my saying I will call someone legendary when I absolutely surely know no cheating is allowed by system.

/BK

no such thing as a legendary manager on this “game” more like roll the dice and hope that the bullshit goes your way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga1eVSWtZYM

Gah, kids will get their toys confiscated tonight! :)

Too much positivity won’t help project going further. It’s a nice thought though.

/BK

i appreciate that video vaughn. however that has ZERO to do with this “game”

Rolling dice to.

Maybe someone should get his hands on the dice Rui has been using the past years then :). I think they might be ‘loaded’ as they say in the movies :)