We already effectively pay for a Zwift Licence, it is 12.99 GBP / month in the UK.
A possible solution to the weight/height doping would be that every 6 months you have to get a weight / height verification done by a Zwift representative, someone who is local to you.
Part of the Zwift Licence fee could be used to pay an official Zwift Rep for this purpose.
Some price restructuring may be required, such as you pay for 6 months at a time. That is up to Zwift to decide.
If you do not or cannot get your Licence approved by attending a āofficial Zwift weigh inā, you would still be able to use the app but no official results would be recorded in KoMs or races.
In essence I agree there is a need to verify but i fear this is taken too far. There are lots of smart scales that can be connected to Zwfit, i am using one for instance. They should have a rule that you need to weigh in 24h before the race and let the scale communicate with Zwift. For non smart scale owners, they shoud not be able to change the weigh to more than 1% per week. It is impossible to drop from 100kg to 90kg in one week and still be able to race at a competitive level, for example
Yea the smart scale would be a good way to start with, maybe a verification picture orso aswell? Like they do on the facebook where you can verify your weight so people know your legit.
100kg to 90kg is 10% though, I am able to change more then 1% on weight in a week, I have a strange body, one morning I am 63 and then 2 mornings later I am 65, my wife stays at stable weight. (Yes both measured in the morning)
Weight and Height is only a problem in the A+ group IF zwift have a proper ranking system. Zwift only need to check that you donāt change height and that weight changes is reasonable.
If someone is a C rider IRL but lower his weight for zwift then he will quickly move to the B cat in Zwift so still no easy winning. We will all race similar ability avatars, even if your power source is reading high or low you will be grouped with people producing the same effort.
I am pretty sure they use that for the A A+ riders. Us normal B, C, D riders would need meet the guidelines. I think we also need a way to ācertifyā our weight. Maybe a one time certification at a local participating bike shop. Then Zwiftpower can see weight changes. There is a window of change before alarm bells go off. I average 159 lbs, but it can swing by 1-2 lbs either side on any given day.
I always thought Zwift should get involved with bike shops and have some ācertifiedā weigh in locations. A rider could do it once, then Zwiftpower knows that weight. ZP has a +/- before alarms are sounded. If that happens, such as an overweight rider that is losing weight, they could go back to weigh in again to verify it is legit.
Donāt forget that ācheatersā are a big mass of people paying Zwift subscription monthly.
Same thing as Strava does with the āgroup ride KOMsā in all terrain except the very hillyā¦
Companies are benefit oriented, so you canāt expect nothing from them about doing anything that can disappoint the big mass of cheaters giving money to them.
So, if one have to have a really fair competition, then need to go over the real roads to do it. Oh wait! then you will find people on some dopingā¦
i donĀ“t understand the logic behind leting you make big changes to your height ā¦ and then bring the old values back at will, and then up again, etc. People with more than 18 years have sudden changes in height in a matter of days? The software should block someone with 20s or more in age to change the height (maybe 1 or 2 cm but a limited number of times). People donĀ“t change 10cm in height overnight.
And weight changes should have limitations too. X % per week and block sudden changes of absurd values. It should use BMI to help spot blatant cheating situations.
Really height changes in Zwift form many people but only to a shorter measure!!!
Donāt be suspictious, you have to understand that many people cut their arms and legsā¦
Just as the nails, the hairā¦
Well, being serious, if Zwift finally FIX the ridiculous physics that make the riders fly in EVERY terrain (yes, on the flats as well) when they are light and small, the advantages would be only climbing, as it is in the real life. But not as that on the flats or descents.
Since I joined Zwift on April I was claiming about this.
FIX the unreal physics and people may be not find advantages on being small and light unless they are climbing. And climbing is not all time.
When 9 year old is leading the C group, it is obviously due to the extreme inputs of height and wt.
My question is, which one is affecting the game speed the most?
I know this is an old post, but height issues annoy me. Zwift height calculations are terrible and are a big contributing factor in how small cyclists in Zwift dominate the TTās in races when in real life taller riders are often the fastest. It makes no sense. You should be able to calculate CDA based solely on weight. But, Zwift was developed by a single guy many years ago and the original calculations have never been improved upon.
Address the unreal and unfair nature of the height discrimination first. Until then I recommend anyone 6ā or over lower their height or be at an extreme disadvantage. Google the issue if you want more info.
But, there are more people satisfied with the ābug physicsā. Read my last comment on that topic.
So, as Zwift is a business, they will keep the joy of the fantasy physics (never happen outdoors IRL) for their subscriptors.
Most of them donāt want realism.
IRL when they put 200W they go at 32km/h but in Zwift they can go 40km/h. Thatās why they are happy on Zwift.
Only the FEW riders that go outdoors at 40km/h (putting more than 300W) will claim because everybody beat them on Zwift and thatās not like IRL.
I think some are taking zwift a bit too seriously. Its a game, theres not money to be won in winning a race. All competitions have rules in place to monitor weight.
Some trainers powerout is more than 10% out at higher power, aswell as different kinds of trainers that arent calibrated.
Play the game, you can tell who is cheating, let them cheat if they feel they need to, its not going to ruin your life.
