HittheSticks is committed to taking all reasonable measures that will 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, HittheSticks forbids all unfair practices.  We do this to protect our customers and the integrity of the Gosu Software Platform.

What are unfair practices?

Unfair practices are any practice (including but not limited to the use of "stand-by" or "bridging" equipment, 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 which 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 against such players. 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 HittheSticks deems to be unfair (please note, this list is not exhaustive but simply illustrative of the types of practice HittheSticks will always consider unfair):

1. Multiple Accounts:

One person having multiple accounts, whether in the players name or another name.

2. 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.

3. The Use of "BOTS":

Certain companies offer for sale programs ("BOTS") specifically created to 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 Gosu Software 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 programs we seek to eliminate from use on the Site are: deception and breach of our customers' privacy, those programs that give a user an unfair competitive advantage, those programs that seek to "flood" our servers with requests, and those programs that disturb our customers enjoyment of the games and services that HittheSticks offers.

What counter-measures is HittheSticks taking to prevent the use of cheats?

Our efforts can be divided into three separate categories: (i) identification & detection; (ii) warning/suspending offending users; and (iii) additional measures through enlarged customer choice.

Identification and detection counter-measures are in-place now and have been for some time. These efforts will continue to improve - so that we're able to more precisely detect existing cheats, but more importantly so that as new cheats are created/released, we can also prevent those from eroding the experience when on the website.

The use of certain programs and their websites on the Gosu.exe system are blocked outright.  Once identified, a player using programs in the Forbidden Category will usually be notified. In that notice, we explain what we believe this player is doing and what steps we will take if he does not stop doing it immediately. In the most extreme cases we are prepared to suspend their GetGosu.com Account and confiscate the funds in that GetGosu.com Account without prior notice.

Do the efforts involve "data mining" or other intrusive means to access/read files on my computer as part of these efforts?

Yes--and indeed we want you to know that we do this and what particular data we're looking for and also why we need to. Perhaps the best way to explain this is by contrast to the most well-known form of data mining, what Google, Yahoo, AOL, and others like them are doing, gathering data about the user, for purely commercial purposes (to sell a user profile to online advertisers). Now consider what we do: Our automated software reports on any processes or programs running on your computer that have been identified as prohibited software falling within our policy. We do not scan your hard drive or take screen shots from your machine. The very limited data that is provided to us is used only to query player's computers while they're playing our games, solely for the purpose of detecting use of the offending type of software we're talking about here. This type of monitoring remains one of the key counter-measures against the abuses caused by BOTS and other cheats which we believe are against the interests of our players. To find out more about our general policy with regard to data processing, please see our Privacy Policy.

Consequences of Unfair Practices:

Where HittheSticks in its absolute discretion determines an unfair practice has taken place (whether an advantage has been gained or not) the person or persons responsible for that practice will face one or all of the following consequences:

• HittheSticks may email the offender(s) and demand the immediate cessation of all unfair practices;

• HittheSticks may suspend the offending account(s) for the purposes of conducting a thorough investigation into the unfair practices'

• Ultimately, we reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to terminate the offending account(s) indefinitely and for all funds in the account(s) to be forfeited (see our Terms and Conditions of Use).