Unsportsmanlike behavior

[Mart OwO]

I'm posting this to get everyone's opinion to know if it was as I saw it or not.
We were playing arena and player 1 started stealing only from me because they said I stole their spot. I didn't feel like I stole anything because it was not like they had build the road and were only waiting to have the resources to build a settlement, we both had just one road in that direction and I got lucky and could build there.
Right after I discussed that on the chat, player 2 then also starts stealing only from me and started backing player 1 up by saying I was winning and had the best numbers and that it was obvious to steal from me, and to stop whining.
At that moment, player 1 and 1 were tied with 4 points each and player 2 had 6 points with longest road. The game continued with both of them only stealing from me and in this moment player 2 kept saying I had the advantage because of development cards, position on the board and stuff, but I was still at 4 points and they were both at 6.
When I finally caught up, it just continued like that until player 1 won and I got second.
Even then, player 2 never stopped saying "is my turn to cry now?" "Keep whining, that makes the game so much fun" and things like that, to end up with congratulating the player who won and vice versa. Even in the chat it felt like they were ganging up against me.
It'd help a lot having your input to know if it was justified

[Jontia]

This is just life. It happens sometimes and we just have to deal with it and move on.
If you come up against the same people regularly, and they keep doing it, then give them a red thumb and have done with them.

Don't waste your own time giving them the satisfaction of thinking it bothered you.

[Manic Meeple]

IMO Catan is a cutthroat game and none of this is really unsportsmanlike, though some of it is kinda lame. I think unsportsmanlike is something like using the timer against you to try to get you expelled from the game so you won't win, even though you are obviously playing, or targeting you throughout the game while you're in last place, just because you robbed someone before 3pts and they prefer to play Friendly Robber, even though Friendly Robber wasn't selected for that match. But really whatever is not against the rules is fair game...

[Clairemcc]

I think it's important that people remember there are many tactics to game play. For example sometimes I rob a player that is not in lead but because I know they just received a resource I need. I personally do feel that anything that isn't against the rules is fair game and it can seem irritating when people moan about being robbed a lot. And truth is if someone moaned in chat that I robbed them I would probably be more inclined to rob them again.....sorry.

[Manic Meeple]

I think it's important that people remember there are many tactics to game play. For example sometimes I rob a player that is not in lead but because I know they just received a resource I need. I personally do feel that anything that isn't against the rules is fair game and it can seem irritating when people moan about being robbed a lot. And truth is if someone moaned in chat that I robbed them I would probably be more inclined to rob them again.....sorry.

Truth start to finish. Robber target matters less if the leader is still close in score too. No sorry Player #2 I'm not gonna rob that same "leader" every time just because he has one more point than you especially while you have twice as many cards.

Ideally I try to land the robber on the leader +1, but of them I'll take from whoever has the most cards.

[Wistama]

But really whatever is not against the rules is fair game...

I have a question about the relationship of rules and sportsmanship. I played a game against three opponents who were all from the same country. I'll call it Freedonia so the mods don't think I'm calling anyone out. Early on, one of the Freedonians accepted a trade from me. There was some chat in the Freedonian language. Babelfish told me that the gist of it was an admonition to that player, invoking Freedonian solidarity and cautioning against trades with the non-Freedonian (me). Thereafter, for the rest of the game, the Freedonians traded only with each other. None would trade with me.

Was their conduct:
* a rules violation?
* within the rules, but unsportsmanlike?
* not objectionable on either basis?

I thought I should report it. I've never reported anyone and the reporting mechanism didn't seem to accommodate this situation (or maybe I just gave up on it too quickly).

[Jellby]

What if they were not Freedonians, and from your own country, and communicated in your own language that they didn't want to trade with you? What if they did that, without communication?

In my opinion, trading, not trading or targeting players for any reason is within the rules. Doing it for reasons beyond the game (who's in the lead, who has which resources, who has been nice to me earlier...) or metagame (who has higher elo, who's competing for an Arena spot...) is unsportsmanlike. If it gets to the point of elo boosting, it's reportable.

[Wistama]

In my opinion, trading, not trading or targeting players for any reason is within the rules. Doing it for reasons beyond the game (who's in the lead, who has which resources, who has been nice to me earlier...) or metagame (who has higher elo, who's competing for an Arena spot...) is unsportsmanlike. If it gets to the point of elo boosting, it's reportable.

Your distinction is sensible.

If you were running BGA, would you ever take action against unsportsmanlike conduct? For example, suppose a player expressly refused, in all games, to trade with anyone whose name or avatar suggested a female player. Or suppose I, incensed at my experience, said I would never trade with anyone from [name actual country of Freedonia], not just the three I encountered.

Such choices are inimical to our community. Allowing them feels wrong. For BGA to deal with them, though, would raise practical problems of where to draw the line and how to enforce it.