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  2. Adjudication Basic Guide: What to look for?
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This page is a chapter in 'Policy Official Book of TG Guidelines'

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As an adjudicator, you are being asked a simple question:

DO YOU REASONABLY BELIEVE THE SCORE CLAIM THAT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED IS "VALID?"

  • You perceive that the score was achieved according to the specified rules.
  • You perceive that the score is honest.
  • You perceive that the score was achieved within the intended sprit of the game
Of course, you can never be 100% sure about anything in this universe - but like many things in our lives, you can be 'mostly' sure about them... At least sure enough to feel that something seems valid enough to you. So after reviewing all of the submitter evidence, after reading any comments from other users on the Twin Galaxies site, what do you believe? What do you think others who are voting will believe?

That's it.

YES OR NO?

To be a successful adjudicator, it is important to be REASONABLE about your judgments. Use your common sense!
Being an extreme skeptic, seeing conspiracy in every nuance, or carrying an artificial bias will lead you toward an incorrect judgment that will not be in line with what everyone else might reasonably believe when reviewing the same evidence - and that will put you on the "losing" side of an adjudication procedure, causing you to lose valuable credibility points and reputation!

On the other hand, you must not be unreasonably easy with your judgments either. Failing to identify someone who is clearly cheating will also wind up damaging your credibility and reputation as well!

It's a delicate balance, but the main goal is to be reasonable and have fun with the process!

Now with that being said, it is still important that objective and clinical care is taken when adjudicating scores. Below are a few general things to look closely at when trying to make an adjudication determination:

Has the original submitter failed to follow up on the submission thread if additional questions have been asked by adjudicators in the thread? Again, this is not proof that there is cheating going on, but a failure to respond to legitimate voter questions should raise an eyebrow.

Has the original submitter played the game in such a manner that you feel it is in the intended "spirit" - or have they accomplished their score performance in a grotesquely exploitive fashion that would ultimately ruin the fun of the game for anyone who would attempt to match it?

WERE YOU ABLE TO SEE THE "POWER ON" START UP CYCLE OF THE DEVICE/PLATFORM?

Also, for great examples of styles and techniques that demonstrate gameplay that is not in the "spirit" of a game: You can check out MARP's list of banned techniques.

Finally, here are some thematic examples of specific kinds items to keep an eye on and should not be allowed:

  • Improper Hardware Settings: Dip switches not set correctly, etc
  • Cheat Devices: Game Genies, Action Replays etc are not allowed.
  • Hardware Modification: Console games must be run on official hardware. Modifications needed to support the use of external storage devices such as the PlayStation 2 HDD, PS2 HD Loader, Everdrive or other mechanisms are considered generally acceptable unless otherwise prohibited by track specific rules, or the discovery and documentation of definitive unfair advantage of use for that game track during an adjudicative score verification process. This section does not apply to PC games, as they have no stock hardware.
  • Software Modification: Removing or altering any part of a game is forbidden. Examples include software mods, the crooked cartridge trick, or disk streaming. Editing config files and console commands for PC games beyond the scope of the in-game settings are only allowed for purely cosmetic changes that grant no gameplay advantages.
  • Input Modification: Console players may use third-party controllers, but may not use features not present on controllers bundled with the system. For example, auto- or turbo-fire controllers are banned, except for the TurboGrafix-16 where stock controllers have it. Pressing up and down or left and right simultaneously on a dpad is not allowed as it requires hardware modification in order to do so. PC gamers may use any reasonable input device and remap keys, but may not use macros, scripts or programmable keyboards to automate button-presses.
  • Codes & Cheats: Beneficial cheat codes of any kind, such as invincibility codes, debug or console options, and so forth, are not allowed.
Please remember, the primary goal is to just be REASONABLE with your judgement, and not become a private investigator and over complicate things!

The main question you must always ask yourself is, "Based on what is being presented do I reasonably believe that this submission is honest and true?"