Alternatives on Playing with Friends without suspected of Cheating

[6element]

I have heard several incidents where a player plays ranked game with friends frequently, and ended up being moderated with ELO reset.

So, you play with your friends with Elo enabled and sometimes it is reset. Your account isn't banned, your "private" Elo wasn't really comparable to "public" Elo, your friends know you weren't cheating, so you just keep playing. What is the problem?

PS: I just checked your 7 Wonders Elo history. Presumably, your original post was due to unhappiness after your "above 500" Elo has been reset. But looking at statistics, your current Elo is roughly what I'd expect based on your play style.

[Meeplelowda]

PS: I just checked your 7 Wonders Elo history. Presumably, your original post was due to unhappiness after your "above 500" Elo has been reset. But looking at statistics, your current Elo is roughly what I'd expect based on your play style.

So is the question actually "how do I avoid being detected next time?"

[dschingis27]

So is the question actually "how do I avoid being detected next time?"

Seems so.
Also explains some of the weird arguments.
"If making friends on this website become a tool to cheat, the "Friends" section would become pointless." Sorry, what?

[GeraldineMerida]

Maybe just occasionally play someone outside of your friendship circle to prove you are as good as you think?

I play most of my Noir games against the same friend (not in training mode), whom I usually beat. He's in a different country, so it's pretty obvious he's not a fake account. But I also play a few games most seasons in Arena mode, where I typically finish in the Top 3.

I've never been accused of cheating, and have never had my ELO from games against my my regular opponent discounted.

I don't understand people who care about ELO, but only when they play strangers. Being ranked higher is important to me and my friends, and our 'friendly' games are hotly contested.

[SkylineStudio9876]

Let me paraphrase:

1) Do not cheat.

2) If despite not cheating, it may look like you're cheating, play in training mode.

Let me summarize what you have in mind: Playing games with friends under training mode is the bullet-free solution from cheating, but about a ranked game or two won't hurt.

Did you mean that?

[SkylineStudio9876]

PS: I just checked your 7 Wonders Elo history. Presumably, your original post was due to unhappiness after your "above 500" Elo has been reset. But looking at statistics, your current Elo is roughly what I'd expect based on your play style.

So is the question actually "how do I avoid being detected next time?"

Check my above dialogues cause the answers are stated clearly.

[Jellby]

Let me summarize what you have in mind: Playing games with friends under training mode is the bullet-free solution from cheating, but about a ranked game or two won't hurt.

Yes. Training mode is safe, with or without friends. Ranked games with friends are not suspicious per se, only when when they are too many and too one-sided.

If you are much better than your friends, play training mode, so your friends can actually... train. Once your friends get better the games will be more balanced and you'll all enjoy them more.

[SkylineStudio9876]

Let me summarize what you have in mind: Playing games with friends under training mode is the bullet-free solution from cheating, but about a ranked game or two won't hurt.

Yes. Training mode is safe, with or without friends. Ranked games with friends are not suspicious per se, only when when they are too many and too one-sided.

If you are much better than your friends, play training mode, so your friends can actually... train. Once your friends get better the games will be more balanced and you'll all enjoy them more.

Can this also be avoided by playing ranked games with both my friends AND opponents outside? If not, should I advice them to play ranked games with other opponents?

[6element]

I'd suggest against playing ranked 3-player games with a friend and a stranger. Depending on your and your friend's play style it might be considered kingmaking. For example if you both attack the stranger 70% of the time and attack each other 30% or something.

In general - if you're playing a lot with the same friend(s) - play unranked games.

[GeraldineMerida]

If you are much better than your friends, play training mode, so your friends can actually... train. Once your friends get better the games will be more balanced and you'll all enjoy them more.

Does this mean that if I am much better than most random opponents at a specific game, I should also play only in training mode, so they can 'train' and enjoy themselves more? Otherwise, this makes no sense to me.

I want a sense of competition in all the games I play, whether against a regular opponent or a one-off.

If playing ranked games against friends ever got to the point of being automatically considered cheating, I'd think very hard about whether I still wanted to be a premium member of this site.