Man Checks-In Everywhere But Foursquare Rehab

Editor’s Note: Game integrity is critical even for what seems a casual marketing promotion.

February 16,2010: summarized from TechCrunch -- Earlier today, I was ousted as the mayor of the Googleplex Patio on Foursquare. Turns out, it was this guy. KrazyDad was a man on a mission: to show the holes in Foursquare’s check-in based system. And boy did he.

To be clear, anyone who has used Foursquare quite a bit is likely well aware of these holes. For example, there is nothing to stop you from checking-in anywhere in the world you want except that it’s easier to do it at a venue close by that automatically shows up on your list. But this guy, KrazyDad, used Foursquare’s API and some scripts to do his dirty work. In the end, he had captured dozens of mayorships across a range of fake Foursquare accounts.

In the past, cheating hasn’t been that big of a issue on Foursquare because, well, who cares? The only thing you’re doing by cheating is exposing to those who catch you that you’re pathetic. But increasingly, Foursquare is gaining special deals that reward heavy participation. For example, a pizza place in San Francisco will give you a free pizza if you’re the mayor of that venue on Foursquare. It’d be a lot easier to cheat to become the mayor there rather than go there several times.

Read more at: http://tcrn.ch/9UMcJv