#2Author of original report
Fri, September 25, 2015
It is nice that SparkChess has addressed the issues of cheating. What is not true about their response is that they DO CHARGE FOR PREMIUM ACCOUNTS.
Emails and other communications were forwarded to SparkChess over TWO YEARS AGO indicating that there were massive problems with their programs and point management. They were not responsive which is why this ripoff report was filed.
Yes there are cheaters all over the internet. Spark chess was inundated with them. It is true that they re-formatted their platform. Good for them.
On a side note, people state that ripoff reports is not useful. It seems like ROR brought light to bear on a situation and a corporation dealt with their situation in a responsible and professional manner.
I did note that there seems to be screening for pornographic name title on Spark chess. I could not find one in a recent review of their site. This is a valid concern as one need be only 13 years old to open an account.
KUDOS to SPARKCHESS. They have the best chess GUI on the internet.
Armand Niculescu
Sibiu,#3UPDATE Employee
Tue, September 22, 2015
Frustrating as it may be, cheating in online games is a fact of life and cheaters are infinitely creative, even when no financial gain is at stake. All online games have this problem, even companies like Microsoft and EA are struggling with it and are banning hundreds of thousands of cheaters.
For SparkChess Multiplayer we tried to keep it simple. It is true that some people have abused it but our support team is always taking complaints very seriously. Abusers have been banned and had points subtracted.
Since 2015 we have overhauled the scoring system with a new, Elo-based one, making cheating much more difficult. It is still an ongoing battle.
I should stress, for those who may not know, that there's no "ripoff" involved. The multiplayer service is free and no money is won/lost by playing SparkChess.