View source for Piano Tuners Hacking Scandal

[[Image:Fair_Random_Number_Generator.png|thumb|right|400px|Screenshot showing one of the random number generators procured to Golly's E Division by the Piano Tuners' shell company. (Source: XKCD webcomic https://xkcd.com/221)]]

The Piano Tuners Hacking Scandal is a scandal that took place during the [[Toroidal/Season 16]] postseason. The {{CTeam|FWPT}} were accused of procuring backdoored random number generators to Golly's [[E Division]] to affect the outcome of the [[Toroidal/Season 15]] championship (which the Tuners had won). E Division patched the random number generators in time for the [[Toroidal/Season 16]] championship, enabling the {{CTeam|SAC}} to get a revenge reversal and win the championship.

=Background=

While the [[Toroidal/Season 16]] postseason was still ongoing, the Piano Tuners became embroiled in a hacking scandal when leaked documents showed that the Ft. Worth Piano Tuners had formed a secret partnership with the {{CTeam|DECO}} with the purpose of creating shell companies to sell backdoored random number generators to Golly's [[E Division]]. The E Division, in charge of all aspects of engineering, is the division responsible for all Golly simulations.

=Effect of Hacking=

==Direct Impacts of Hacking==

The backdoored random number generators had been put into place at the beginning of [[Toroidal/Season 15]] and had enabled the Piano Tuners to manipulate the outcome of the [[Toroidal/Season 15]] season and postseason, completely in secret.

The Tuners declared [[Torodial/Season 15]] a wild success and intended to replicate their success again in [[Toroidal/Season 16]], and successfully manipulated the outcome of the regular season as well as part of the postseason.

However, the documents were leaked prior to the Toroidal Cup Series, allowing [[E Division]] to patch the random number generators so that the Toroidal Cup Series would not be impacted.

==Side Effects of Hacking==

Over the course of [[Toroidal/Season 16]] many commentators and fans noted a disturbing change in the personality of the normally obnoxiously cheerful and obsequious Boot Lickers. As Season 16 progressed, the Boot Lickers became nasty toward other teams, uncharacteristically crushing their opponents in blowouts, starting fights on the field, and showing a stunning improvement in their trash talk game. While some commentators speculated that the Boot Lickers had worked trash talk exercises into their offseason training routine, the Boot Lickers roundly denied their training routine had anything to do with it, threatening to flip tables if anyone said otherwise.

=Events of Hacking Scandal=

==Revelation of Hacking Scandal==

The news of the hacking scandal broke amidst the [[Toroidal/Season 16]] postseason. The Boot Lickers, still in contention for the Torodial Cup championship, and still under the spell of a personality change, realized that they had lost the [[Toroidal/Season 15]] Toroidal Cup series to a pack of cheaters, and set out on a bloody path for revenge against the Piano Tuners.

==RNGs Patched==

Unbeknownst to the Piano Tuners (who were unable to consistently win matches without cheating), the [[Commissioners Office|Commissioner's Office]] had ordered [[E Division]] to deploy patched random number generators in time for the Toroidal Cup Series. The random number generators had been found in a dusty warehouse, required extensive cleaning and repair, and made a tremendous racket, but they would allow [[E Division]] to simulate matches without relying on the Piano Tuners' backdoored random number generators.

==Taste of Texas Rematch and Evisceration==

Season 16 was a rematch of the Taste of Texas Series, with the Tuners managing to cheat their way to the championship series, and the Boot Lickers reaching the championship game by crushing their opponents with a singular focus.

The {{CTeam|FWPT}} were eviscerated by the eventual champions, the {{CTeam|SAC}}. Following the series, the Tuners spent several weeks in the hospital recovering. The Boot Lickers, whose personality had returned back to normal after the backdoored random number generators were replaced with new ones, were the only team to send them a get well card.

=Outcome of Hacking Scandal=

The hacking scandal was the biggest scandal in Golly since the [[Season 3/Fixing Scandal|Season 3 Fixing Scandal]] in [[Season 3]] of the [[Hellmouth Cup]]. It had several important consequences for Golly:

* Led to establishment of a research program in [[E Division]] to investigate using entropy crystals to channel randomness from the entropy vortex located in the Hellmouth

* Led to formation of [[S Division]] (to handle security) and [[A Division]] (to handle audits) before the start of [[Toroidal/Season 17]]; in the seasons following the hacking scandal, [[S Division]] quickly grew to become a powerful, mysterious force in the Golly bureaucracy, permanently changing the organization.

* Planted the seed of the [[Cancel Texas Memo]]; four seasons after the hacking scandal took place, in [[Toroidal/Season 20]], the [[Cancel Texas Memo]] would be released, announcing the cancellation of Texas in Golly, the incineration of the Baltimore Texas, and the ultimate humiliation of the Ft. Worth Piano Tuners, moving them to Baltimore and rebranding them as the Baltimore Piano Tuners.

* Began an anti-rivalry between the {{CTeam|SAC}} and the (eventual) {{CTeam|BPT}}, dubbed "The Match Made in Hell" or "The Match Made in Phoenix"


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[[Category:FWPT]]
[[Category:SAC]]
[[Category:Toroidal Cup]]