Snaking

[Shinji Ikari]

I'm an okay snaker. I can beat newbs pretty badly, but I get my butt handed to 3-stars.

[Dark_Shark]

Yes.I snake.

[Vidgmchtr]

I do not snake, simply because I'm too lazy to master such a technique. I know it's not cheating, but I do quit out of a game if people snake because I would like SOME chance of winning. That, and the friction from the clicky DS D-pad hurts my thumb after multiple speed boosts.

[bobman37]

I would vote for the option of "Yes, but only against other snakers."

[SolidShroom]

That's what I do too.

[Ultima_Blade]

question, what is snaking?

[Markio]

It is the technique in Mario Kart DS in which players turbo-slide on straight tracks back and forth, which if done correctly is faster than traveling in a straight line.

[Nimoshi]

I do, but only lazily. I will only pick up the pace if they are catching up to me.

[BP]

I do in time trials and would if I were playing against a person. It's not cheating--it's a skill. If you're tired of losing because your opponent snakes, learn to snake. It's like a sport. If you want to be better, master your opponent's technique. To cheat would be to use a Gameshark to get infinite Stars.

[Vidgmchtr]

Or, do the lazy thing and quit out of the game and search again to find people who haven't mastered the technique/don't know what it is/how to do it. :D

Cheating? No. Giving racers a way to be laps ahead of unskilled racers who want even a small chance of winning? Yes.

[Hirocon]

I snake, and I don't think it's cheating, but I do wish that snaking were not part of the game.  I don't see the point of including it in the game.  It's a rather random skill which doesn't model any actual physics.  I'm also tired of its quasi-legal status.  I'd prefer if snaking were done away with all together, but if it has to be in the game, it should be an actual part of the game, not a "hidden" technique.  They should mention and encourage snaking in the manual, the AI should snake on higher difficulty levels, and the staff ghosts should snake.

[BP]

What WOULD be considered cheating is turning off your DS right when you're about to lose a match in order to keep your loss record low. How could one be more of a poor sport?

[Hirocon]

If you disconnect it counts as one or more losses for you and a win for your opponent(s), so disconnecting isn't cheating.  In fact it can be a time saver.  If you are playing 1v1 against an opponent who wins the first three races, then you have no possible way of winning the tournament (unless your opponent disconnents) so you can save time by disconnecting.  It's sort of like resigning in a game of chess when you see that your opponent has a forced win.

[bobman37]

Er...

Let's say you're racing against three other people, and you disconnect at the beginning of the first race. You get three losses, because that's how many people you "lost" to, or were racing against when you disconnected. The other three people, however, are unaffected, other than the fact that there is one less person racing.

Now let's say you're racing 1v1 with someone, and you quit right before the end of the 4th race. You had lost all 3 races beforehand. You get a loss, because you "lost" to the guy you were racing against, but the guy you were racing doesn't get a win because he didn't go to the end screen that say "Congratulations you win!" I know, it's messed up, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, so to speak. Other games work may work differently.

[Hirocon]

Really?  I thought you got a win if one of your opponents disconnected, but I could be wrong.  Are you reporting from personal experience, or do you have a source somewhere?  The win/loss system is very poorly designed if you don't get a win when your opponent disconnects...