Bots at BGA

[eugen83]

Hi

Does it only happen to me or are here some Bots to destroy entertainment? Had a player (dreamy-cat447) that waited always till a few seconds before his time run up, then played. I've heard from other players that there are other players with the name format adjective-animal3numbers that behave the same. Anybody of you also had this?

PS: I wasn't able to report this player because he applied to the rules. But if such things happen more often I have to search for a new platform.

[eugen83]

The game I had was https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=856339763

[Jellby]

I've heard from other players that there are other players with the name format adjective-animal3numbers that behave the same.

Yes, you can "hear" all kinds of crazy things. The format adjective-animal3numbers is just one of the proposed usernames when you create a new account:

[nik592]

One of my IRL friends took the name suggested for her and has run with it. She's not a bot, in spite of her adjective-animal3numbers username. Why couldn't the other ones you've encountered be the same?

Additionally, if the player is playing within the rules (whether they are a bot or not - which frankly is unlikely, but if you're curious on that, go search for some other discussions on it), then what is your issue? All players are allowed to use all of their time each turn. If you really find it that annoying, give that player a red thumb and you won't have to play them again.

[dschingis27]

The game I had was https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=856339763

This was literally the very first game of that account on BGA. What happens if you are new to a platform and its interface? You need time! So, it could of course be that it is a bot and I wouldn't be surprised if some bots are operating on BGA. But I don't think you can judge on that after only one game. To me, it's much more likely that it was just a new player simply exploring the page and perhaps struggling a bit with the interface.

[lefalaf]

The ironic thing is that the OP has a bunch of time issues themselves and got booted for several of them.

[tbhp]

Why would a bot wait until the last second to make its move?

[Jellby]

Because it's trying to analyze all possible moves and, if not finished within the allowed time it will just make the best move it found so far?

[dschingis27]

Why would a bot wait until the last second to make its move?

Well, there are two reasons I could think of.
(1) It is programmed to troll people. (I think trolling is never something you should rule out in any context.)
(2) What Jellyby said. It needs processing time depending on its own complexity and the machine it is run on. (Although it is indeed weird if it takes several minutes per turn.) You don't know what kind of bots people create or what is the mechanism for the bot to recognize the game state. I mean, yeah, a well-made bot would not take minutes per turn but some people may take BGA as a playground to "fool around" with some crappy AI bots run on a mediocre system, who knows.

[tbhp]

Why would a bot wait until the last second to make its move?

Well, there are two reasons I could think of.
(1) It is programmed to troll people. (I think trolling is never something you should rule out in any context.)
(2) What Jellyby said. It needs processing time depending on its own complexity and the machine it is run on. (Although it is indeed weird if it takes several minutes per turn.) You don't know what kind of bots people create or what is the mechanism for the bot to recognize the game state. I mean, yeah, a well-made bot would not take minutes per turn but some people may take BGA as a playground to "fool around" with some crappy AI bots run on a mediocre system, who knows.

I'd certainly suspect trolling first. I would have thought that taking more than a few seconds to make a move would be superfluous, given how fast machines operate, but I guess it depends on several factors.