Threaten to use knight

[Oami]

The rules state that development cards are supposed to be kept face down, but they don't say anything about talking.

Some players in Catan IRL have a habit to, when getting a development card, immediately claim that the card is a knight. This is followed by a threat: "if you rob me or hurt me in any other way, I will immediately rob you". Of course, this may be a lie, but you can never tell until that player actually gets a chance to fulfill the threat.

This kind of threat is not supposed to be harassment of any kind, indeed it may be said to a very good friend across the table IRL, and by all the players present it is considered a part of the spirit of the game. However, as BGA takes harassment seriously (which I'm not necessarily going to blame them on), some players may take this as a hostile act and possible report it.

Which is why I'd like to ask: what do people internationally think about such behaviour? It feels laborious to explain this every time, so until now I have chosen to not do it.

[silentProtest]

playing with people you dont know and cant see and quickly speak to, this tactic is high risk. Some people will just play against you after such a claim/threat and won't give a f*ck about anything else .
And the way bga rates catan games, elo and arena points, by giving places, instead there being only one winner, gives such aggro players good chances to get more points than you at the end, even if there is just no chance for them to win themselves!

Also imo, it would be stupid to limit the chat in that way, since it is an important part of catan, to negotiate and trade with other players; which doesn't mean that bga cares about that

[el cosimo]

I will ignore it but always. Because the player can throw a 7 also. Don’t happen to our games on real life.

[Stroom]

He will use the knight sooner or later. Call his bluff and make him use the knight sooner rather than having a nasty surprise at the end game.

[Livini]

This sounds like the kind of play that's more fun in real life than online. Online, you don't know each other or each other's mindsets and you can't see each other's faces or hear intonations. Some people might interpret it as petty or threatening behavior and not notice it might be a game strategy: some players make a fuss any time they are robbed, and your strategy may be interpreted as this kind of poor form. Others may play along with your strategy, while still others may feel uncomfortable or anxious talking on the chat to begin with and just get nervous that the chat is being used.

With my own family, we have an unconventional strategy while stealing cards from each other. We rearrange our cards in a way so that the other person is (hopefully) less likely to pick the card we don't want them to pick, turning it into a sort of bluff game. Just like your strategy, it's fun in real life, but wouldn't feel entirely fair on BGA.

[Oami]

With my own family, we have an unconventional strategy while stealing cards from each other. We rearrange our cards in a way so that the other person is (hopefully) less likely to pick the card we don't want them to pick, turning it into a sort of bluff game. Just like your strategy, it's fun in real life, but wouldn't feel entirely fair on BGA.

This may not be right according to rules, which state that the card stolen is picked by random. My interpretation of "random" is that any card should have an equal probability.

[RobertBr]

It feels laborious to explain this every time, so until now I have chosen to not do it.

Do not do it, there is no way to avoid this causing offence sooner or later and getting you reported. You are playing a competitive game with strangers and anything that even resembles 'trash talk' is a bad idea.

[Livini]

With my own family, we have an unconventional strategy while stealing cards from each other. We rearrange our cards in a way so that the other person is (hopefully) less likely to pick the card we don't want them to pick, turning it into a sort of bluff game. Just like your strategy, it's fun in real life, but wouldn't feel entirely fair on BGA.

This may not be right according to rules, which state that the card stolen is picked by random. My interpretation of "random" is that any card should have an equal probability.

That makes sense, and it's not something I'd do randomly with other people.

Not shuffling your cards at all before being stolen from is not random, though. Clever players can figure out which card is where in your hand. So to make it completely random, the best would be to shuffle your cards without anyone (including you) seeing what is where.

[TheSmolDog]

It feels laborious to explain this every time, so until now I have chosen to not do it.

Do not do it, there is no way to avoid this causing offence sooner or later and getting you reported. You are playing a competitive game with strangers and anything that even resembles 'trash talk' is a bad idea.

This.

Catan on BGA is already full of people being gits in the chat, don't add to it by threatening a stranger!