Ethics & Transparency
At MWC we believe that fairness, integrity, and transparency are essential for every competition. To show how seriously we take these values, we openly document real cases where standards were challenged. The following report describes a case of scoring manipulation, and how it was handled to protect the competitors and the credibility of the event.
CASE STUDY: Cheating in MWC 2021
During the voting for the Massage World Cup 2021, one of our judges was caught manipulating the scores.
She was given the chance to make a new and fair evaluation but did not comply. Later, she broke the confidentiality clause of her contract by sharing restricted information both internally and externally.
We tried to engage her in a constructive dialogue to solve the issue at a low level, but she refused. We later noticed that she continued sharing confidential information (mixed with false claims) with other judges in an attempt to turn them against MWC.
Therefore, we decided it is our responsibility to make some of the facts of this case available to massage organizers and competitors, so they can better prevent similar problems in the future.
Consequences of unethical judging
This judge is no longer a licensed judge, and she will never work with MWC again. But we know that she is working with other organizers, and we trust that they will take steps to ensure proper oversight. The reputation of the whole competition community is at risk if participants cannot trust that they will be evaluated objectively.
We share this information with you because we want to:
- Offer a learning experience to other organizers.
- Present a warning to other judges that ethics is taken very seriously.
- Protect the competition community against unethical judging practices.
- Protect our name and reputation against misleading claims.
Organizers who wish to understand this case in more detail — including the methods used to manipulate scores and how it was addressed — are welcome to contact us directly for further insight.
Fairness requires careful scrutiny of judging and scoring in competitions.
How scoring manipulation was detected
The judge was given one of the most popular categories to evaluate. This category included the participants who later won all the overall medals, and also medals in other categories. So, it was probably the highest-level category in the whole championship.
In our point system, with a scale from 1 to 6, we expected to see an average score of around 4.5 for this group of participants, and an intense and even fight between the participants.
To our great surprise, she gave us a point list which was completely different:
- One participant received only 6’s (we will call this participant ‘X‘)
- The others received an average of 3.4
When we looked at the scores of the other two judges in this category, they had both given X scores below middle, so there was no apparent reason for all the 6’s from this judge.
So, it was clear that she was making a deliberate attempt to manipulate the result list and create her own winner, overriding the other judges’ opinions.
NOTE! This is the absolute worst you can do as a judge! You are stealing medals from other participants; you are destroying other judges’ work and you are putting the name and honor of the competition and the organizers at risk.
Restoring fairness in the results
We had several options for managing the corrupt scores, and the most obvious were:
- To remove her scores completely, but this happened very late in the voting period, and we had no substitute judges ready.
- To adjust her scores to make them fair for everybody, and we knew exactly how to manage this.
Since we wanted to have three judges’ opinions, we chose the second option.
- The score given to X was reduced to just a single point above number 2 on her list, to remove the unrealistic gap, but respecting her opinion that this was the best participant.
- All her scores were adjusted up so that their average was the same as the two other judges’ average.
Thus, the result list reflected fairly the evaluations of all the judges in the category, and we got the deserved winners. X was not one of them.
NOTE! The math and analysis behind this are a bit complex, but also very precise and correct. If you want detailed insight, or help with your own championship, please contact us for free consultation.
Building a fair and transparent voting system
High quality and transparency in the evaluation of massage performances has been the core focus of MWC since the beginning. We have experience from organizing other online massage competitions and have also studied the voting systems of other competitions. We have discovered certain weaknesses and made improvements so that our system is as objective as possible.
We also run a series of mathematical adjustments to all the judges’ scores before the total points are calculated, to ensure that all the judges have the same influence.
NOTE! Any system that does not make these adjustments, is quite easy to manipulate, and we know that this happens in every competition, even though the judges may not do it on purpose.
Even with our high-quality system, the scores still must be individually checked to see if a judge is actively trying to manipulate the result list (= cheat). The easiest way to cheat is to give one participant an exceedingly high score, and the rest of the group low scores. This will override the other judges’ evaluations and create an undeserved winner.
NOTE! Any organizer that does not check and adjust for this is sure to be manipulated by subjective judges, and we know that this has happened in other competitions.
Training judges and ensuring confidentiality
All our judges have passed our license course and have accepted to follow our ethical rules. Some of these rules are:
- Points shall be given as objectively and consistently as possible.
- The participants shall not be compared by the judges, and the judges shall not express any opinion on who should win.
- The judges shall not discuss their points or opinions with other judges or any other persons except the competition management!
Another rule is 100% confidentiality about everything the judges experience and learn when they work for MWC. This is very important to protect the judges’ and organizers’ integrity against potential external attempts to influence or manipulate the scores.
Standards and responsibilities for professional judges
Being a judge in massage competitions is a position of responsibility. A professional judge needs to be competent, objective, honest, and loyal.
To maintain a group of professional judges, the organizers of a competition need to have a good system for recruitment, training, and ethics.
To help the judges to stay objective and give each participant a fair and relevant evaluation, the organizers also need to have a voting system with solid:
- Category descriptions
- Criteria for giving points
- A point system that is objective, clear, and robust against manipulation
Summary
The 2021 case showed how a single judge’s actions can undermine fairness, break confidentiality, and threaten trust in competition results. By detecting and correcting the manipulation, MWC ensured the right winners were recognized — and strengthened its systems to prevent future abuse.
Any organizer who wants deeper insight into this case, the scoring methods involved, and how to safeguard their own competitions is welcome to contact us directly for further consultation. Where necessary to protect the integrity of other events, we may also share details about individuals involved with trusted organizers on a confidential basis.