Is it right to keep following and watching someone's games?

[Tiger Grrrrr]

(Please understand that I am not good at English so I used Google Translator.)

One of the current top players in Arena watched my Arena game. I didn't really care at first, but he kept following me for 4-5 games in a row. Since I'm not good at English, I just asked him to "Please stop following me." (I'm not sure how polite this request is.) But he continued to ignore my requests, saying it was his right to do whatever he did. I thought he was quite rude and felt bad. What do you think, am I wrong or is he rude?

[speedypuzzlement]

"Please stop following me." is a bit direct but completely reasonable. The only way I could make it more polite would be "It makes me uncomfortable when you follow me across many games." Aside from entertainment, I also don't see what would be gained from spectating vs reviewing the game history later. On the other hand, being followed by spectators is a reality for top performers in many sports.

[MadManMark]

Not sure if you realize this, but anyone on BGA can go back and "watch" anyone else's games, long after they finished and you left the table.

For example, I can go back and watch a replay this game that you played 24 hours ago:
https://boardgamearena.com/archive/repl ... s=93191880;

(not that I did, just showing you the option exists). So while I concede to you your feelings of discomfort with this, I'm also telling you that many others could theoretically be doing the same thing, just time shifted so you will probably never know they did.

You didn't say who this was, but ... I am aware that there are certain frequent players who notice when brand new accounts are created that then subsequently win nearly every game, even against strong players. When this is an account name that was not used on the previous main sites (DoW java, then Steam), it raises suspicions that someone is trying to hide who they really are. There is at least one well known player from the DoW days that has been creating multiple accounts, I've had shared with me in private conversations. I don't know why he does something that pathetic, but there are multiple people who definitely have over the years.

You joined last month, and I actually noticed myself that you were already in the top 10 of rankings very quickly. You could be someone who has never played online before, and was able to become a top player without ever having played other top world players, or maybe you have played online before but have valid reasons to obscure this when choosing your BGA ID, but most of the rest of us don't do that, and yeah, I'm not surprised that some people see this brand new account near the top of the leaderboard and choose to watch a few of your games to try to deduce if you are a player they already have encountered under a different name.

[Ceaseless]

There is nothing wrong with a player spectating games by another player on BGA.

[Cournot]

(Please understand that I am not good at English so I used Google Translator.)

One of the current top players in Arena watched my Arena game. I didn't really care at first, but he kept following me for 4-5 games in a row. Since I'm not good at English, I just asked him to "Please stop following me." (I'm not sure how polite this request is.) But he continued to ignore my requests, saying it was his right to do whatever he did. I thought he was quite rude and felt bad. What do you think, am I wrong or is he rude?

Very obvious you are smurfing, hence the ''following''. Just use your real username, and your concern will vanish itself.

[ExaltedAngel]

Imagine blatantly smurfing and then complaining if players watch your games lmao

It's also pretty clear who you are based on your ridicolous amount of games played, just as on your previous smurf and the one before that.

[MadManMark]

Yeah, I was trying to be non-confrontational -- the "pathetic" comment in the 3rd person aside -- but ok, why not: his stats profile is similar to mine & other longstanding players migrating from other sites, 89% wins, w/ immediate vertical shoot to 500+ ELO, just over 32 average turns and 2 initial tickets kept, rarely draws more. He's played almost 1/3 as many games as me in 1/9 the time (2 months vs 18), and I'm hardly an infrequent player lol

What's the point of all this subterfuge anyway? Serious question, I want to understand it. Even if success here were worth more than simple personal satisfaction, isn't it then counterproductive to call attention to yourself by posting a thread like this? You're a good player, currently at top of arena rankings if were just content with that, people could respect you. But you do ... this instead. I don't get it.

[MadManMark]

Oliver2000 looks like another potential smurf account - joined BGA two months ago, playing only TTR & immediately winning ~90% of games, now #5 in arena standings. I'm paired against him in final round of Knockando's tourney and he isn't responding to chat there, despite profile indicating they speak english

https://boardgamearena.com/player?id=95512121

[Cournot]

Oliver2000 looks like another potential smurf account - joined BGA two months ago, playing only TTR & immediately winning ~90% of games, now #5 in arena standings. I'm paired against him in final round of Knockando's tourney and he isn't responding to chat there, despite profile indicating they speak english

https://boardgamearena.com/player?id=95512121

There's not a lot of players that can pull this of. #1 in the tournament. I don't want to speculate on his identity, but I know that Truck is around, with another pseudo. However, if it's the case, Oliver2000 would not be his first account here, which is kinda worst (as I was aware that he was playing on BGA since at least this past summer).