Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Forum rules
Please DO NOT POST BUGS on this forum. Please report (and vote) bugs on : https://boardgamearena.com/bugs
User avatar
JDansp
Posts: 64
Joined: 26 May 2023, 07:22

Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by JDansp »

Hey, you might remember me from such classics as https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39031.

Well, it's time again and this time it actually effects me! So keep in mind I'm heavily biased in the problem at hand. I have also learnt my lesson from last time and won't call out anyone specific.

So, someone in the higher ranks of the ** ladder (person A) and me has been tied on arena points for about a week. This person A has been speculated by multiple top players to be a previous arena winner who got his account banned and played a huge part of the last forum thread about this topic.

Today Person A decided to play to break the tie. I would find it a bit weird that despite persons A last 20 games have been on fast speed (and probably majority of their other games, but i only checked last 20), they decided to queue normal speed.

Their opponent; person b. Person b is obviously also a smurf account. What I find extremely odd is that person b woke up this morning and decided to change their language to **, despite playing on ** language setting from the creation of their account. It's almost like they wanted to hide the fact that person b shares nationality with person a.

The game itself isn't extremely obviously "thrown" and it's hard for me to comment on with the bias I have here, but imo person B plays about 100-200 elo below their elo. What I do think however is that this game could only have had one winner from the start.

Anyways, it is what it is, just wanted to share since it just * that the same group of people keep killing all competition in this beautiful game.

*Moderator edit: please refrain from swearing on BGA, this is a family-friendly platform.
**Moderation Edit: please do not use the Forums to call out specific tables or players by naming them or providing enough direct description to identify them specifically, this is what the Moderation Reports are for. The Forums should remain a general discussion.
IssyBG
Posts: 1
Joined: 27 May 2025, 22:28

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by IssyBG »

Not to hop on the topic with you but I was actually watching the leaderboard and thought it was kind of cool y'all were up there tied. Sorry this happened to you real or not but couldn't you just play another game and win?
User avatar
MilfordCat
Posts: 3
Joined: 01 December 2023, 15:36

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by MilfordCat »

I mean you essentially named them
User avatar
JDansp
Posts: 64
Joined: 26 May 2023, 07:22

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by JDansp »

IssyBG wrote: 05 July 2025, 21:01 Not to hop on the topic with you but I was actually watching the leaderboard and thought it was kind of cool y'all were up there tied. Sorry this happened to you real or not but couldn't you just play another game and win?
Playing any games at my rating is just negative EV. Person B was very high rated and gave a lot of points. And also, I don't see the point. Sure, let's say I do play and overtake them, what's stopping them from doing the same thing again with yet another smurf account?



MilfordCat wrote: 05 July 2025, 21:02 I mean you essentially named them
Nonono, it could be anyone.
User avatar
NowSituationChanged
Posts: 1
Joined: 20 November 2024, 09:48

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by NowSituationChanged »

Hi.I’m bing.So sorry to tell you.I’m not sakuraecho.What you guess is not so right.Lol,just want you continue your guess but don’t play your game like a tortoise ;)
SakuraEcho
Posts: 1
Joined: 27 April 2025, 03:19

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by SakuraEcho »

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I would like to clarify that I have never won an arena championship. Due to my higher score, I chose to play at normal speed, which allows me more thinking time to better plan my strategies and decisions.

As for my performance on the leaderboard, I have worked hard to improve my skills and achieve the top rank. I hope everyone can focus on the game itself rather than questioning individuals. Each player has their own style and strategy, and I believe fair competition is a core value of our community.

Thank you for your understanding, and I hope we can all enjoy this wonderful game together.
User avatar
yazavats
Posts: 61
Joined: 27 September 2022, 23:47

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by yazavats »

SakuraEcho wrote: 06 July 2025, 07:41
I hope everyone can focus on the game itself rather than questioning individuals. Each player has their own style and strategy, and I believe fair competition is a core value of our community.
I would certainly hope for circumstances in which fair competition is a core value and we only discussed the game itself. Except for certain people in the past it hasn't been and your comment is a mere platitude on top of being very generic and deflective. If certain players engage in suspicious games it's perfectly valid to question the integrity of competition. Rather than you justifying someone's loss as their play style I would like to have more insight in these ethnic chameleons whose accounts ostensibly are opportune rank boosters. But whatever, all this rigging drama just makes the arena championship a meaningless achievement.
User avatar
Valscor
Posts: 1
Joined: 12 March 2023, 22:32

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by Valscor »

SakuraEcho wrote: 06 July 2025, 07:41 As for my performance on the leaderboard, I have worked hard to improve my skills and achieve the top rank.
I would love to know what skills you worked hard to improve? Your account has a 90% win rate. It seems you had 0 learning curve in this game and just immediately started winning every game without a need to improve any skills.
kathy27665
Posts: 1
Joined: 06 July 2025, 06:35

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by kathy27665 »

Hey all,
Got a message from Sakuraecho today who linked me to this thread. Seems like I’m “Person B” here, so just wanted to chime in and clear a few things up.
First off, I’m mainly an offline Ark Nova player, and only started using this BGA account after the Marine Worlds expansion dropped. I’ve been pretty active this season, and yeah — I’ve lost to lower-rated players too. My ELO’s been stuck around the same spot for a while. That’s just how it goes sometimes.
Still, I didn’t expect that just quietly playing my games would somehow turn into a target for speculation.What really gets me is how even changing my language setting somehow became a reason for suspicion. Seriously? People switch languages all the time — for UI, communication, or just personal preference.I switched because it helps me better fit in and communicate effectively in the English environment I’m in now. If that’s part of the “evidence,” then it’s clear you’re just trying to force a narrative.
Then, you said I “played 100–200 ELO below my rating,” like your elo gives you the authority to judge how others should play. You assume the worst just because the outcome didn’t favor you ,which says more about your mindset than anything about my gameplay.Honestly, this whole post reads like you expected me to take down your rival, and when I didn’t, you decided to spin a conspiracy. Instead of looking at your own performance, you’re out here tossing baseless accusations. That’s unfair, and on top of that, it’s toxic to the whole community.
If you actually care about the competitive scene, show some basic respect to other players. And yeah, you owe some of us an apology. To be frank, witch-hunting over imagined doesn’t help anyone.
— Person B
User avatar
deeezz
Posts: 6
Joined: 11 January 2025, 04:30

Re: Blatant cheating going on in Ark nova part 2

Post by deeezz »

SakuraEcho wrote: 06 July 2025, 07:41 Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I would like to clarify that I have never won an arena championship. Due to my higher score, I chose to play at normal speed, which allows me more thinking time to better plan my strategies and decisions.

As for my performance on the leaderboard, I have worked hard to improve my skills and achieve the top rank. I hope everyone can focus on the game itself rather than questioning individuals. Each player has their own style and strategy, and I believe fair competition is a core value of our community.

Thank you for your understanding, and I hope we can all enjoy this wonderful game together.
Just for my curiosity, is this your smurf account. I noticed you started playing two months ago but your play style doesnt' seem like someone who just started playing the game. Not accusing anyone cheating here since I'm clueless
Locked

Return to “Ark Nova”