Guest Article: How to Fix Cheating in Disney Lorcana

Editor note: This is a guest author article, while some formatting changes may have been made, the article as a whole remains unchanged unless otherwise noted. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author listed above.

DLC Indianapolis was an incredible event, with great fun, vibes and competition. But an abundance of unfortunate incidents of poor sportsmanship have put a cloud over the whole affair.

Without getting too much into the weeds of the specifics, several incidents of alleged cheating and DQs have been upsetting for people. It is clear there is dissatisfaction from many in the playerbase regarding how the rules are being enforced, and what the punishments actually are.

I personally have felt this for some time. While I think judges are reasonably adept at finding incidents of cheating, or just sloppy play, the overall philosophy of Lorcana’s rules enforcement seems to be one of leniency. People can be given multiple chances before anything substantial is handed down. Investigations, or judges discretion determining maliciousness, seem to be on the rare side relative to the number of “incidents” that happen in every DLC.

This has its positive sides. If you just make a mistake with no ill-intent, you do not have to stress about suffering a penalty that will impact your tournament. Despite our best efforts, we can all make mistakes and get nervous in the heat of the moment.

But there are notable downsides to Lorcana’s approach, which is, frankly, more lenient than other TCGs. It potentially allows cheaters to more easily skirt by pleading ignorance. It excuses repeated sloppiness that can create negative play experiences. It can make players feel less safe and secure if confronted with an opponent who they suspect of cheating, fearing that protest will not actually amount to much of anything.

It is clear that the status-quo when it comes to the handling of cheaters is not really good enough. There are things that other TCGs do, that Lorcana is not doing, that feel like an oversight in a burgeoning card game.

Lorcana needs to do more to ensure it is gatekeeping potential cheating profit-seekers in its gaming space.

Let’s go into how that could happen:

Harsher Penalties

This is going to be a hard thing to navigate, but it is a discussion that needs to be had.

Most of the penalties in the play correction guidelines are warnings based. While cheating does amount to disqualification, players can attempt to feign ignorance and skirt by on warnings until a point.

Under the current system, a player can receive two warnings from any category of rules error before getting even a game loss on the third infraction. There is only one warning for tournament errors like tardiness, deck registration issues or slow play before getting a game loss on the second offence

This is effectively a ton of leeway. A cheater can try to abuse this, hoping they do not get caught, and then just lean on ignorance and just get a warning if they are. They could even try to do so a second time, before they get a game loss that could impact their tournament.

Let’s take a look at two sections.

Under 4.4 Cheating [sic, of the Play Correction Guidelines], a player realizing they drew an extra card or having an extra card in their inkwell and failing to call a judge is grounds for disqualification.

But under 2.3 Card Count Error [sic, of the Play Correction Guidelines], a player drawing an extra card or putting an extra card in their inkwell is considered only a warning in competitive play. A player can potentially do these things two times before even getting a game loss.

To me, that is a major problem that is ripe for abuse. A savvy cheater can try to play it off. Their hand slipped, and they didn’t realize they drew an extra card, and so didn’t call a judge. Their hand slipped, and they didn’t realize they put an extra card into the inkwell. They can feign ignorance and hope if their opponent does call them out on it, they are getting off with a measly warning.

I know that has happened.

In DLC Las Vegas, my friend and teammate was cheated by a player drawing extra draws. My friend caught this later in their match, and the cheater feigned ignorance, saying they didn’t realize and they had “sticky sleeves”. Per 2.3 in the rules document [sic, Play Correction Guidelines], they were given a warning instead of an instant disqualification for cheating, went on to win the match, and my friend’s hopes of topping were seriously dashed.

This cheater went on to do the same thing in Round 3 to another player, but was caught again by his opponent. To my understanding this was also a warning, but the cheater surrendered the match anyway. But the cheater continued to play on.

Thankfully, after pleading from the cheater’s victims, the judges did use their discretion, investigated ,determined it was cheating, and the cheater was disqualified around Round 5-6. While positive, my friend still had to suffer with a loss to a cheater, and had his tournament experience ruined.

While this is still a somewhat positive example, I highlight it because I fear how more leniency in the rules can create problems. A cheater caught in the act in Round 1 was able to effectively compete for several rounds after that. That cheater was only caught because he did it again and played against two very experienced card game players - and might have gotten away with it longer against less savvy opponents. The cheater may have skirted by with two warnings were his opponents not so adamant about seeing justice done, or were the judges not willing to examine the evidence and investigate in more detail - something that should have happened more immediately.

So. What do we do?

Firstly, I think the warning system could be harsher.

At a bare minimum, it should be a one warning maximum for any repeat offence before a game loss is given. If you get caught making repeated, sloppy mistakes for the same thing, one warning should be enough before more severe punishment is handed down.

Rules errors could also stand to have some more overlapping warnings. Rather than all four categories having an effective “three strikes and you’re out” policy, you could just have it be any three rules errors violations that lead to a game loss.

Alternatively, perhaps judges could be empowered to make harsher judgements. If someone double draws, perhaps it could be one warning if they immediately self-report, or a double warning if they did not immediately do so (assuming it is not malicious cheating). Judges also need to investigate immediately if a player is not quickly self-reporting on these errors.

While leniency can be a benefit for newer players, with the stakes being so high at DLCs and CCQs, the standards should be higher.

Most games are harsher than this. Lorcana can do the same.

The harsher penalties discussion will take some time and nuance, and I’m not the most knowledgeable person in the world for that. But, Ravensburger should open that discussion with its trusted judges, and move in that direction somehow.

Tracking of player penalties across events

This one is a lot more clear cut and obvious.

My understanding of how things work now is that every event is mostly a clean slate. A player could get a match loss in one event, and come the next one, are effectively treated the exact same as any other player by the rules.

This does not make sense and cannot stand.

If a player is caught drawing extra cards in one event and disqualified for it, they should not only get a warning if they do the exact same thing in the next event. That should be grounds for an immediate game or match loss, if not another disqualification.

If you are caught cheating, you should be on thinner ice. If you are repeatedly guilty of sloppy play that ruins a play experience, you should be on thinner ice. A new player who fumbles should not be treated the same as an experienced player who repeatedly makes the same errors, or nefarious actions.

So, how would this work?

If you get a game loss or higher punishment at a DLC or CCQ, that should carry over to at least your next equivalent major event. A judge will be able to look you up and see what you have on record.

That should reduce your number of warnings or opportunity for lesser punishment. If you got a game loss for something at an event, do something similar in the next event, it should not be a warning - it should be an immediate game loss, at least.

A DQ at a previous event should similarly put you in serious hot water for the next event. Anything that could be malicious,or a tournament rules error, could be grounds for an immediate match loss. Anything after that - DQ.

Of course, a record need not necessarily hang forever. If a player is punished, but then goes an entire new event without doing anything warranting a game loss, that could set them back to a clean slate for that event.

I do think judges probably informally keep closer eyes on players with histories. But they should be empowered to do so formally, and have tools to know problem players that may not be as famous.

While that would have to be ironed out, the principle is simple. Players with records of cheating should have that formally tracked in some way, and judged more harshly at events as a result.

A player suspension/banning policy

In all of Lorcana’s history, the only person we know of ever have been suspended is Raclem.

But we don’t know anything about how the time period for suspension was chosen or what kind of parameters were around the decision. While people agreed with the suspension, the picture of suspensions is murky. What happens the next time something like what Raclem did occurs, exactly? What if someone tries to shark in top cut in the same way, but isn’t on stream to cause the same level of outrage? Will they be suspended for the same amount of time, or is community outrage needed to get someone suspended for malicious action?

Players should be able to be suspended/banned for significant lengths of time, but it is currently not clear how exactly this happens. It is possible it has happened more than once in the background, but it is hard to know or be reassured by that.

Players want to know that cheaters are not necessarily just going to automatically be let back into the very next event. People want to know that if someone’s actions are egregious enough, they will be gone for a long time.

There should be a public-facing policy allowing for suspensions and bans. Players should know under what circumstances this can happen to them, or others. Players should know that the game developer is going to be coming down harshly on cheating and trying to keep cheaters out, and dole out punishment that fits the crime.

Whether or not a player banlist is public or not, we need to have assurances that cheaters can, and will, be banned from our game, and hopefully driven out over time.

Pushing DQs out of the Venue

You identify a player has cheated, or done something else worthy of a DQ. Why keep them around the event?

As it stands, these players are allowed to hang around and potentially play side events. This is awkward for anyone who may have heard what they did.

Such players should have to leave the venue and have their access revoked. They can cool off, and it can prevent a lot of awkwardness. Nobody wants to play across from someone who just got DQed for alleged cheating, even in a less stressful side event.

(Shoutout to JBaum for this part)

These are the almost common-sense changes that I believe could go a long way to fighting against cheating in our game. They would help discourage cheaters from offending, make competitive players put more focus into avoiding sloppy play, and make players feel more safe that the rules are protecting them from malicious actions.

I am not an absolute expert and I know judges would have to have discussions to refine these concepts further. But I hope these ideas can carry forward, and we can have better protections in place for our community. 

Joseph Quigley - Lorcana Pandemonium