CATAN CHEATERS

[RICK7425]

The first 25 games I played I encounter cheaters on probably 4 -6 of them. I then started only playing with people who have higher ratings Good or better. I also started giving those cheaters a thumbs down. If I have been playing cheaters recently I am unaware of it. I find BGA to be a great source of entertainment and hope they are getting lots of people who support them with memberships and are making bank.

[blakan957]

I play catan always and 3 times per day and i see kingmaking, should be punished, wast the time of the rest of player

[Jorinimus]

I just played a few games. But in my last game I was talked down in the chat. Unspoken rules about not being alowed to use the robber, placing it on empty tiles instead. Also, not able to make any trait in the meantime. I am the one who's getting less points, but it definitely discourages me to continue playing. When placing the towns, I was already blocked in (3 player-game), so they placed them on inconvenient tiles just to do so.

It's not just cheating. It's targeting.

[SilkySapper]

I am not sure this is as rampant a problem as people think. I have seen cases where I suspect people are "kingmaking" but really have no way to know for sure.

I have also been accused of "kingmaking" several times yet it is not something I have ever done. In fact, I don't know a single person that uses BGA aside from myself. Sometimes one person becomes a target for a variety of reasons, perhaps they are a jerk so people just focus on them, maybe they simply have the right resources, or maybe they are a huge threat.

I beat a person once with an ELO of 400+. One of the best. I did so by getting lots of knights and robbing them to oblivion. I also got lucky with dice rolls. I did not target them for any other reason than really wanting to beat them, and I did.

Sometimes honest strategy comes across as cruel targeting and king making, but it does not make it so.

Getting lucky with rolls is not the same as cheating or kingmaking.

When you join a game, check each players' profile and see if they're "friends" with the other players in the game then watch them play. Pay special attention to the premium member, as they're the one with the ability to set up the games how they want and invite players.

I will give you an example from today where I saw cheating and kingmaking. *

BGA should really give you a warning when you start a game that two of the players are "friends", or only let you play games with only friends are only randoms, not a mix. It makes no sense to penalize players for leaving a game when you realize people are cheating and kingmaking but don't give you a warning that people are possibly cooperating before the game starts.

*Moderation Edit: please do not use the Forums to call players out by name or specific tables, this is what the Moderation Reports are for. The Forums should remain a general discussion.

[blakan957]

I agree that it's hard to punish them but I would like for there to be an opt in option not to be matched with people who are grouped up/on friend list. They may or may not be teamplaying but I would rather not take the risk of ending up stuck in 30-40 minute game with people teamplaying.

When you have the premium member you can add a login or friend, when i see kingmaking always is the same, this webside is for win money, they dont care the kingmaking, you cant report it if you try. This is it

[Nicole Koleff]

*

*Moderation Edit: please do not use the Forums to call players out by name, this is what the Moderation Reports are for. The Forums should remain a general discussion.

[SilkySapper]

Found a couple more in my latest game https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=483601310

The accounts were made days apart and looking at their game history, they play with each other almost exclusively and 4 of the last 5 games have been quit by other players after they get tired of kingmaking.

[IamgonnaROByou]

I just ended a Catan game where two people were cheating/kingmaking. This makes the game a complete waste of time for the other players. I have seen numerous posts from others making the exact same complaint. Until BGA steps in and does something, this game is not even worth anybody's time. There are just way too many cheaters who are playing as a team. As far as I'm concerned, Catan is COMPLETELY UNPLAYBABLE ON BGA.

Please BGA, if you care enough about having Catan on your website, then please make the necessary changes to discourage this type of behavior. I understand all games can have cheaters, but for whatever reason Catan games are FILLED WITH THEM. There needs to be harsher penatlies for those who play as a team. Otherwise, the problem will never be rectified. Simply reporting them after the game is not enough to deter this kind of behavior.

BGA has strict rules to not name the players, so I will not do so. However, if you look at the timestamp of this message, and match it up with my game history, you can easily find the game I am talking about. And if you do a search on the players' profiles, you can see that they have a history of playing together.

I am posting this message to get BGA's attention that something needs to be done about this problem.

I agree

[Doja Grande]

The Catan leaderboard has a new leader who is a cheater. Anyone can review his game history and see for himself.

[Jeroenpenguina]

Where can I find that leaderboard?

Is playing only Arena a simple solution against kingmaking?