Unfair Advantage Policy
Hit the Sticks is committed to taking all reasonable measures to prevent any situation that either diminishes the fun you have playing on the site, or that gives another player an unfair advantage over you when you play against them. To this end, Hit the Sticks forbids all unfair practices. We do this to protect our customers and the integrity of the Get Gosu Platform.
What are unfair practices?
Unfair practices are any practice (including, but not limited to, the use of BOTs, AI, multiple account use and/or practices conducted in collaboration with other players) carried out by one or more players, with one or more accounts that could put any other player not engaging in such activity at a competitive disadvantage, where the unfairness in such activity is due to its success being based, to some extent, on concealment and/or deception. One way of thinking about this is to consider whether a group of peers, when presented with information about the practice, would overwhelmingly consider that practice to be unfair.
Examples of practices Hit the Sticks deems to be unfair (please note, this list is not exhaustive but simply illustrative of the types of practice Hit the Sticks will always consider unfair):
Multiple Accounts:
One person having multiple Accounts; whether in the player’s name or another name.
Extracting Player Profiles:
Certain companies offer for sale programs specifically created to extract player profiles and then sell them in the form of enormous player databases with the promise that anyone who purchases these programs can use this information to their advantage against other players—invisibly gathering information about you and then selling it to others to use when they play against you online.
The Use of “BOTS”:
Certain companies offer for sale scripts and programs (“BOTS”) specifically created to augment a player or play a game in place of an actual (human) player, and conceal its use from the other players, and avoid detection by the online gaming site. These programs are marketed by explicitly promising the prospective purchaser-user an unfair advantage over other online players not using that program. The use of “BOTS” in conjunction with the Get Gosu Platform is prohibited regardless of their application. The prohibition includes the use of “BOTS” as automated advertising tools, or as “spamming,” “flooding,” or “denial-of-service” tools.
To us, the key indicia that define the class of scripts and programs we seek to eliminate from use on the Site are: deception and breach of our customers’ privacy, those scripts and programs that give a user an unfair competitive advantage, those scripts and programs that seek to “flood” our servers with requests, and those scripts and programs that disturb our customers enjoyment of the games and services that Hit the Sticks offers.
What counter-measures are Hit the Sticks taking to prevent the use of cheats?
The Company has a zero tolerance policy towards cheating. Hit the Sticks makes use of two well known third-party anti-cheat tools on the Get Gosu Game Servers: Z-Block, and VAC2. Hit the Sticks Administrators also provide “eyes-on,” physical security.
Consequences of Unfair Practices:
Where Hit the Sticks, at its sole discretion, determines that an unfair practice has taken place (whether an advantage has been gained or not) the person or people responsible for that practice will face any number of the following consequences:
- Hit the Sticks may email the offender(s) and demand the immediate cessation of all unfair practices
- Hit the Sticks may suspend the offending account(s) for the purposes of conducting a thorough investigation into the unfair practices
- Ultimately, Hit the Sticks reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to indefinitely close the offending account(s) and to seize all funds in those closed account(s) (see our Terms and Conditions of Use).