Arena guidelines + player block question

[Kalyna]

I wanted to confirm if it is within the guidelines for a player to block all or 95% of top players (experts and above) so that they only play lower ranked players in arena. I know this issue was discussed before, but I wasn't sure if there was a limit to what extent a person can block players to make sure they always play lower ranked players in arena.

[Meeplelowda]

I wanted to confirm if it is within the guidelines for a player to block all or 95% of top players (experts and above) so that they only play lower ranked players in arena. I know this issue was discussed before, but I wasn't sure if there was a limit to what extent a person can block players to make sure they always play lower ranked players in arena.

There is no limit. It's like Nadal being able to refuse to play anyone in the top 200 in the ATP, yet still claim to be #1.

[Kalyna]

Thanks for the response! Has BGA ever provided a formal explanation why they implemented no limit block player rule in the arena? One the one hand they created a format to encourage competitive play but than they have a rule that encourage players to block top players if they want to win in Arena and advance in rakings. I don't understand the logic here unless there is something else that I'm missing.

[Hervor]

The logic is that playing in arena is just for fun, so no real harm done if someone ranks higher than they maybe should.

On the other side limiting the number of players you can block can very easily lead to problems. Who says how many people I am allowed to have beef with ! ( I can already hear people complaining in the forum). Or on a more serious note, what if I come across a player who insults me or is creeping me out, and I am out of players I can block.

I think it would be really difficult to moderate if they made red thumbing a reportable offence. Hard to proof and a lot of work for the moderation team for very little benefit, because, as stated above, arena is for fun. It's not like they give out prize money or something. Ranking high in arena doesn't even guarantee a guru spot.

[GTSchemer]

A simple potential solution would be allowing you to mute players, but not block them as arena opponents.

If someone is griefing in a game in other ways, that's just normally reportable behavior.

[Jellby]

One could also have only public red thumbs work in Arena, and not private ones (what is the point of public red thumbs, anyway, now that they don't affect karma?). There is (or was) already a built-in limitation in the number of public red thumbs allowed.

[Kalyna]

I guess my assumption when Arena first came out was to incentivize competitive play among active players and not just play for fun. The xp point rewards are given out if a player wins arena or gets a high ranking. In addition, the player winner stays on the main game page for duration for the next arena session. In another words, there are different and many markers that celebrate the winners of Arena sessions more so than a player who has a top ELO. To me it's clear that the player block option is clearly getting exploited to gain advantage in Arena and I'm surprised that there is actually no way too look even at extreme cases, since a person can block unlimited number of players.

I worry that this kind of use of blocking players, will make some games even less popular, since players will be disincentivized to play and compete in Arena.

I agree, muting the chat is a perfectly good alternative to a block in Arena and in non-Arena mode a player can block as many other players as they wish, since it is not designed for competitive play in same way as Arena.

[nik592]

A simple potential solution would be allowing you to mute players, but not block them as arena opponents.

If someone is griefing in a game in other ways, that's just normally reportable behavior.

This doesn't cover situations where players run well over time, or quit games prematurely without explanation. I frequently use red thumbs for that, but that behaviour is not reportable. I believe this was one of the big complaints when they mentioned removing red thumbs from Arena. I get that there's an issue with blocking people in order to reach higher rankings, but there's also an issue with not being able to block players who ruin your experience (by ignoring time limits or just plain quitting).

[ErikLevin]

A simple potential solution would be allowing you to mute players, but not block them as arena opponents.

If someone is griefing in a game in other ways, that's just normally reportable behavior.

This doesn't cover situations where players run well over time, or quit games prematurely without explanation. I frequently use red thumbs for that, but that behaviour is not reportable. I believe this was one of the big complaints when they mentioned removing red thumbs from Arena. I get that there's an issue with blocking people in order to reach higher rankings, but there's also an issue with not being able to block players who ruin your experience (by ignoring time limits or just plain quitting).

But then you get the win, which is what you want if it's a competitive ladder.
See, this is the dilemma. Is arena for competitive play (winning, gaining points n climbing the ladder) or just for fun? BGA needs to set their foot down. If it's competitive you shouldn't be allowed to manipulate the match making, period, and people quitting isn't a huge problem unless it happens en masse, just more points to you. If it's just for fun, then it's good to have the option to tailor who you play with so you only meet those playing in a style you like.

[Jellby]

But then you get the win, which is what you want if it's a competitive ladder.

Not always. At least for elo you get only a % of what you'd have gotten with a normal finish, I don't know if it's the same for Arena points. And it gets worse with more than 2 players.