Obviously not going to post any names, not that it would help. The accounts are never more than a day old before getting abandoned, banned, or deleted. They typically have fewer than 20 games played, all BANG! I have personally reported and seen a few dozen deactivated. I have also noticed more and more regular arena players identifying this player early in games.
Anyone who plays arena regularly probably has played with this person. It has been an ongoing problem for a long time now. They say the same things in game chat over and over to get a reaction. They purposely throw games and play against role at the very first perceived slight. They chat in the same repetitive manner, saying things that are clearly reportable, and typically starting with "red thumb" or "no sense."
Typically, I try to point it out to the table and encourage others not to play with them. I'd like to propose, for regular arena players, an alternative way of handling it. It doesn't seem to make a difference to this particular player or discourage them from making another account.
Obviously, since these are very temporary accounts created only for this purpose, reports and red thumbs make no difference. I am not going to speculate (and would discourage others from speculating) on the reason this player does what they do.
I'm not making suggestions for how to handle cheating, smurfing, multi-accounting, or those suspected of any of those things. This is specifically directed at this behavior and nothing else.
My suggestion is, when this player shows up (and they do make themselves known quickly), explain the situation to those at the table and ask the players if they are willing to abandon. Obviously nobody has to agree to abandon and if anyone would prefer to play it out anyway or doesn't understand, then play the game through.
If only this player refuses and all others agree, team up until this player is dead (unless they are sheriff, in which case you will have to play it out regardless). Once they are out of the game, the rest can choose to abandon.
Whoever this person is, they're not going to stop and I'm not going to say this will make much of a difference, but at least it can keep people from getting stuck in a ruined game and allow them to go play another. For those that care about ELO/ranking, it will keep an unfair game from affecting players scores.
Regardless of whether the game gets abandoned, once this player is out you can give them a red thumb to keep them from talking at that table during the game. Please give them a red thumb and a report as soon as you encounter them.
Obviously, there are no good options here, and I don't think it'll help to make suggestions of what BGA could do differently here. Just do what you think is best - but this will be my approach with this person going forward.
Anyway, thanks for hearing me out.
Anyone who plays arena regularly probably has played with this person. It has been an ongoing problem for a long time now. They say the same things in game chat over and over to get a reaction. They purposely throw games and play against role at the very first perceived slight. They chat in the same repetitive manner, saying things that are clearly reportable, and typically starting with "red thumb" or "no sense."
Typically, I try to point it out to the table and encourage others not to play with them. I'd like to propose, for regular arena players, an alternative way of handling it. It doesn't seem to make a difference to this particular player or discourage them from making another account.
Obviously, since these are very temporary accounts created only for this purpose, reports and red thumbs make no difference. I am not going to speculate (and would discourage others from speculating) on the reason this player does what they do.
I'm not making suggestions for how to handle cheating, smurfing, multi-accounting, or those suspected of any of those things. This is specifically directed at this behavior and nothing else.
My suggestion is, when this player shows up (and they do make themselves known quickly), explain the situation to those at the table and ask the players if they are willing to abandon. Obviously nobody has to agree to abandon and if anyone would prefer to play it out anyway or doesn't understand, then play the game through.
If only this player refuses and all others agree, team up until this player is dead (unless they are sheriff, in which case you will have to play it out regardless). Once they are out of the game, the rest can choose to abandon.
Whoever this person is, they're not going to stop and I'm not going to say this will make much of a difference, but at least it can keep people from getting stuck in a ruined game and allow them to go play another. For those that care about ELO/ranking, it will keep an unfair game from affecting players scores.
Regardless of whether the game gets abandoned, once this player is out you can give them a red thumb to keep them from talking at that table during the game. Please give them a red thumb and a report as soon as you encounter them.
Obviously, there are no good options here, and I don't think it'll help to make suggestions of what BGA could do differently here. Just do what you think is best - but this will be my approach with this person going forward.
Anyway, thanks for hearing me out.
