The premise - There are plenty of posts going around about Dashboarding, but it seems like most people aren't getting it and there is still massive amounts of confusion out there.One, let's start with the process. The process starts with someone wanting to quit, and the ends up affecting many other people. Let's start at the beginning.

1. Step One - Quitting Games:  Quitting makes you a douchebag and there are very few legit reasons to do it. But I will admit there are probably some, like for example in MW2, getting stuck in an typical IW glitched game, with people cheating. But this is now, that was then, and right now, MW3 is mostly all clean. There really aren't any legitimate reasons to quit. But for this post, let's look at the two most common ways.

- The Exit Button - That's using the 'Leave Game' tab in the Options section of the in-game menu. So if you die, instead of changing your class, scroll down....and simply click on the 'Leave Game' tab and you are out. If you must quit, be a quitter, this is the honorable way of  doing so, that least affects others (more on how it affects other later)

- The Dashboard - This is the douchebag way of quitting. This is using the XBL component of the XBox and backing out through the game. In essence, what you are doing is 'pulling the plug' on the game for everyone (more on why this is wrong later)

2. Step Two - How the two methods affect the "quitter": If a person quits, there is a lot of confusion with how HE is affected. Let's examine next, just what happens to only one person, the 'Quitter'.

- The Exit Button - The quitter, when using this 'exit button' as one is supposed to do, will get a loss. His KD and other stats, up to the point of his quitting, will also stay in the system. This is how it works in MW3 and in all prior CoD games. Pretty simple and easy to understand. If you must quit, let's say for lag reasons, this is the correct way to do so.

- The Dashboard - The quitter, when using the Dashboard, does not get 1) a loss and 2) none of his points, kills, deaths and other stats count. In essence, because the plug was pulled by him, the game he was in ceases to exist. It never happened. It goes without saying,  THIS IS CHEATING.  A person who has a bad game, goes negative lets say, simply can make that game disappear. And the reality is, that's why the KD stat is pretty much meaningless in CoD games. Most guys with high KDs (2.50, 3.10, etc...), they simply Dash their bad games. You see a guy type in his KD is 2.45, he probably dashes. Don't believe the lies he puts up on the board.

So what's the confusion here? IW games and Treyarch handled this differently, how it affects the Quitter. MW1, MW2, MW3 have been consistent with how their game engine treats a quitter using the Dash. Nothing counts. Basically, IW feels it's good to give this person a free pass. Is this the same for Treyarch games? No. In BlackOps, if someone used the dash, he would get a Loss. He could still cheat his KD stats, but his WL would be affected. So Treyarch and IW handled this slightly differently. Treyarch's system was at least somewhat better, in that it allowed you to spot dashboarding KD douchebags easier. If you saw a guy with a high KD of say 2.76, and WL record of say 0.67, you could be 100% certain he boosted his KD with dashing. Why? Think it through. He could eliminate his bad games with the Dash, but the 'Loss' still stuck on his record.

The confusion, Pt 2. - What confuses many people is  how 'win-streaks' are handled. When a person dashes in MW3, he is able to continue his win streak. Makes sense, as the game he quit ceased to exist. That said, it wasn't the same with Black Ops. BlackOps put a fix into the game, halfway through, that corrected this, and ended the quitters win-streak. Lo and behold, suddenly, you no longer saw people rolling up 350 win streaks anymore in BlackOps. The cheaters got busted. As of today, I'm not sure if IW has put a Treyarch type fix into MW3.

3. Step Three - How the two methods affect the rest of the lobby (the other 11 players) - This is the most important part. How the quitters actions affect OTHER players. Here's the deal. Every time you enter a console version game of CoD, enter a 12 person lobby to play a game....the CoD game engine will pick one of the twelve players to be 'host' (let's set aside 18 person ground war for a sec). This is 'host' is the person the game engine is running itself through. So when a person quits, there is one immediate action that needs to be determined, and that is IF this quitter is the host.

- The Exit Button - When the quitter quits via the 'leave game', in-game option, he is out of the game as we know.  If he was host (1 in 12 chance)  the game won't end though.  You'll get wind of his quitting, as you will see that 'host migration'  icon pop up on the screen. If it comes up, you know someone quit via the 'Leave Game' function and that quitter was host. The game engine will now pick one of the other 11 people to host the game. This usually takes about 5 to 10 seconds, and at least with MW3, this process seems to work 95% of the time. A new host is picked, and the game continues. The quitters actions don't affect things 'to much'

- The Dashboard - If the quitter was host and dashboards, the game ENDS as we know. There is no host migration. How does it affect others? The other 11 players, their game ends. They get a big old 'LOSS' on their WL records. Their KD and other stats still count. You can now see the second effect their cheating has. Not only do they cheat by dashing, they also have the secondary efffect of screwing over other people, sticking people who were about to get the 'W', and now sticking them with a 'L'. Robert Bowling and the other aholes at IW should be embarrassed for letting this go on, for what is now years. These IW idiots should be held accountable and answer to this. One billion plus in revenue, and you can't even comment on this cheating?

4. Some other important points, the douchebag quitter never considers.

You'll often here the douchebag quitter give excuses that he's not going to take a loss, because it's not fair, ...the other team was cheating, had host, he had lag, pretty much, insert any of dozens of lame excuses these guys give. In every case, with every excuse, the quitter is always just thinking about themselves. That's how these guys think. One excuse you will often hear a lot is this...... "I wasn't the host, so my quitting didn't hurt anyone, what's it's to you?" .....Let's address that. One, you can never be entirely sure you aren't the host. Two, even if you aren't host, your quitting does affect other people. How? For starters, you just shafted your teammates, as they will be shorthanded for a while, 5 vs 6. Also, every time the quitter quits, the game engine will now have to find a replacement. And now some new guy, looking to get into a fair lobby......won't get one. He'll get dumped into the dreaded "Game-in-Progress" (GiP) Ever want to pull your hair out, when you get dumped into a losing game that is almost over? Blame the above a-hole(s) who originally bailed out on the game. GiPs exist because of these aholes quitting.

5. The "this is a Microsoft Issue, quit blaming IW" excuse

You will see this pop up a lot in threads. Absolving IW of all blame, and passing the buck to Bill Gates and Microsoft. While these people are partially correct, they aren't telling the whole story. Yes, the Dashboard is a Microsoft feature. That is correct. That said.......IW can do something about it. Why do i say that? Because Treyarch did address this partially. The CoD game engine and its stat tracking, it can recognize the Dash process. With IW, their engine gives the Dasher a free pass, and the other 11 players a Loss. Treyarch? Their engine gives the Dasher a loss, as well as the other 11 players. Both suck, but at least Treyarch  penalized the dasher on the WL ratio. IW can do more. Both companies can do more.

End of the day, Robert Bowling needs to address this.