possible stealing

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1912
Posts: 2
Joined: 26 May 2015, 10:53

possible stealing

Post by 1912 »

could you check out the player with username jamesbrabo? i think he is stealing. he plays 7 wonders with a friend who looks like is feeding him
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N_Faker
Posts: 1064
Joined: 09 September 2016, 10:16

Re: possible stealing

Post by N_Faker »

Use the player report function.

There is a white "Report this player" button on any player profiles, to the upper right next to the blue "Message" button.
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augustjologs
Posts: 52
Joined: 12 July 2018, 04:22

Re: possible stealing

Post by augustjologs »

I looked at jamesbrabo's game history, especially on 7 Wonders. It looks suspicious. He always plays with lordbrabo and only on 3-player 7 Wonder games. lordbrabo score is always below jamesbrabo's and the former has never won against the latter. Of the 117 games 7 Wonder games lordbrabo has played, 114 of those were with jamesbrabo.

I suspected that lordbrabo gangs up on the unsuspecting 3rd player, to ensure jamesbrabo's victory and boost his ELO rating. A replay of their latest game confirms that collusion. Lordbrabo denies vital cards to the opponent, and ensures that jamesbrabo retains military victory.

I was beginning to suspect that players who solely play 3-player 7 Wonders games were already gaming the BGA system to boost their ELO ratings, but this collusion between jamesbrabo and lordbrabo reaches an all-time low on cheapness.

I'm going to report these players.
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6element
Posts: 146
Joined: 26 July 2018, 10:15

Re: possible stealing

Post by 6element »

I wasn't 100% sure we're dealing with a cheater in this case for some time, people like to play with friends and there is nothing wrong with it, but replaying some recent games (for example 43557860, but there are many more) with jamesbrabo and a sidekick dejour (lordbrabo or SelmaBraga) convinced me we're dealing with a cheater.

BTW, looking at the playstyle I'd say there is zero justification for a rating above 250 - jamesbrabo is pretty weak player only winning because of the help from his sidekick.
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augustjologs
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Joined: 12 July 2018, 04:22

Re: possible stealing

Post by augustjologs »

Another group of suspicious-looking players come up: coblackmagus, morpheus739, and Greatyler / Yiwen. The first three players always play with each other, in turn-based 7 Wonders game of 4,5,6, or 7 players. Greatyler and another Yiwen, play with the same IP adress. What's surprising is that this group managed to finish a 1-move per 2 days turn based game in less than a hour! And coblackmagus is always the winner.

Could someone look into these players, and see if there's any collusion among them? I don't like to jump to conclusion with players.
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Jest Phulin
Posts: 1856
Joined: 08 July 2013, 21:50

Re: possible stealing

Post by Jest Phulin »

Just a friendly reminder -- the place to report suspicious behavior is via the "report this player" link in each person's profile, not in the forums.

The people who investigate these issues are used to a consistent way to get their information, which is not by digging through the forums.
If people are engaging in poor behavior, they will be investigated if the reports are filled out.
If people are not engaging in poor behavior, posting their names on the forums will only harm them unfairly.
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augustjologs
Posts: 52
Joined: 12 July 2018, 04:22

Re: possible stealing

Post by augustjologs »

I don't share the point of view entirely. Reporting players via the link, without any solid basis, will get your report ignored. It says so on the 'report link'. I can't be reporting all players I suspect, without first getting some good reason. And the report link asks for specific player actions, to help the investigators determine if there is indeed any collusion. I don't think the investigators have the time to investigate all of the 'reports' they receive for each and every game, and review several games in detail to uncover a pattern of deceit, if any.

In the original post, it's actually the posting in this forum that caught my attention about possible cheating, which prompted me to review and investigate, reviewing several games not for just one player, but for all players who might be part of the scheme, before 'filing a report'. And boy, did that take a lot of time. But that's what I used to file the report, pinpointing specific actions in the 7 Wonders game, arguing that those moves couldn't be by chance or some random player error. If not for others posting here, the original cheaters might have gone unnoticed.

I understand that there's a possibility of 'unfairly harming' someone by posting their names if they are not engaging in poor behavior. But I did check out the histories of the players mentioned, enough, to see some uncommon patterns. Not saying there's cheating, hence, the post asking for second opinion. Maybe, not mentioning names and just posting link to the suspected table numbers, might work, next time.
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6element
Posts: 146
Joined: 26 July 2018, 10:15

Re: possible stealing

Post by 6element »

"Always" is very specific word. When someone says "player A and B always play with each other" and player B played, for example, 67 games, while player A played (hypothetically) 26 games - this is not "always".

Similarly, when someone says "player A always wins vs. player B", this is supposed to be very close to 100% hit rate, not 73%.
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augustjologs
Posts: 52
Joined: 12 July 2018, 04:22

Re: possible stealing

Post by augustjologs »

I might have been careless with my 'always' wording when I actually was referring to just the four '1-move per 2 days' turned based games, all of which got finished in less than an hour, and had same winner.

Anyway, do you see anything to warrant further examination in those games or is it just me getting paranoid?
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6element
Posts: 146
Joined: 26 July 2018, 10:15

Re: possible stealing

Post by 6element »

augustjologs wrote: Anyway, do you see anything to warrant further examination in those games or is it just me getting paranoid?
I'd say nothing suspicious yet. Strike of six games proofs nothing. Playing turn-based games quickly is not prohibited, as well as playing with a friend.

Did you look at replays? If there is an obvious repeated kingmaking - please report it with specific tables / moves.

BTW, I'm not a mod, just an experienced 7 Wonders player.
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