Virtual International Players Ladder

"We have the players if you have the balls!"

Slate of the Union

Last modified on Monday, September 14, 1998

This section of the VIP Ladder will address current issues on the VIP Ladder.

The use of Kali
When the VIP Ladder was created, Virtual Pool 2 wasn't even available. The only way to connect with your opponent with Virtual Pool 1 was through an IPX connection. This required the use of Kali. Therefore, one of the rules of the VIP Ladder was that players must have a registered version of Kali. Then, Virtual Pool 2 came along. It allows players to connect through an IPX connection and through a TCP/IP connection. Although it was still a written rule that players must have a registered version of Kali, the VIP Ladder did not enforce this rule since Virtual Pool 2 supports TCP/IP connections. However, there are still some great advantages to using Kali. Many times players who do not have Kali email me asking for a match. I usually replied to their email with a schedule of best times that I can play and they reply with a set match date and time. However, by the time this email conversation takes place and I have received the match date, my schedule may have filled up. So, as you can see, it's very difficult to get a match without some realtime interactive communications tool. Here's where Kali comes in. With Kali, you can talk to many opponents in realtime. Even with Kali, players can still play in TCP/IP mode. It's just more convenient to setup matches. So, even if you have Virtual Pool 2, we highly recommend that you get Kali and register it.

WWWBoard
Before VPOOL.COM was created, some players suggested that the VIP Ladder create a bulletin board (some people still suggest it to me). At first this sounded like a good idea. However, after thinking about it a while, we realized that it could turn into an ugly mess with disgruntled players venting all sorts of bad things. As we have seen, the VPOOL.COM WWWBoard is cluttered with the exact type of thing we suspected might happen. Player impersonations, accusations, etc... Hopefully, these bad posts will not ruin what we've worked so hard to create.

Tracker
So, everything in the VIP Ladder world is doing fine and along comes this Virtual Pool 2 cheat. With it, players could turn on the tracking lines while playing online games. This tracking cheat created a huge wave of paranoia in the VIP Ladder world. Players refused to play. Trust was lost. Accusations were flying everywhere. Impersonators were writing confessions. Players quit. The whole Virtual Pool 2 world started turning upside-down. Luckily, Ace_Jr discovered that the cheat wouldn't work with matches played using the IPX protocol. Everybody quit playing matches with the TCP/IP protocol and went back to the IPX protocol. Things started settling down again.

Anti-Tracker
Now, we have this new VT2 anti-tracker add-in for Virtual Pool 2. It has all of the tracking information removed so it isn't possible to cheat. And, it only connects to other players who are using this VT2 version. This assures players that they are playing against an opponent who is not cheating. Overall, this is a good thing. But, we have some problems with its use and will not be forcing its use in VIP Ladder matches.

Personal thoughts on VT2
After having spoken to Celeris's VP of Marketing, Ed Richie, I feel it is necessary to update my views of the use of VT2 on the VIP Ladder.

Celeris does NOT discourage the use of VT2. Therefore, the use of VT2 is permitted on the VIP Ladder (it was never forbidden). The use of VT2 is at the player's discretion with the risk left solely to the player.

The VIP Ladder strongly encourages players who use VT2 to register their copy by remitting payment to AJ Enterprises within the time constraints imposed by the VT2 license agreement.