Multiple Accounts: BGA Needs to Get On the Same Page....With Itself

[Meeplelowda]

A while ago, a BGA admin (the former Community Manager I think) wrote this:

To be perfectly clear:

Using more than one account to play in ranked games (Arena or normal games for ELO) is prohibited in our Terms of Use.

I thought this wasn't "perfectly clear," and left too much gray area so I asked this:

I'm sorry, but I think this needs further clarification. Is it only using more than one account to play against each other in ranked games prohibited, or is using more than one account in ranked game prohibited period, even if they don't play against each other. There are some people who continue to believe that it is OK as long as you don't play them against each other to ELO boost.

To this xate responded in what I thought were pretty black and white terms:

1 player - 1 account.

Playing from multiple accounts for ranking, even if not against themselves, is unfair and prohibited.

A secondary account that ONLY plays in Friendly Mode is permitted (so that players may use these to create tutorials, etc).

1 player. 1 account. You cannot use more than one account in any non-friendly mode. Period.

But apparently not, because if someone admits that their account is actually an alt account they are using to play in ranked matches, and you go to report it, "Playing from multiple accounts for ranking, even if not against themselves" is not one of the choices. None of the choices fits that scenario. Even worse, the message you get if you select "something else" as your report category is this:

It is acceptable to own several accounts on BGA, as long as it is reasonable and does not violate another rule of the website.

Well if not "Playing from multiple accounts for ranking, even if not against themselves" is "another rule of the website," it isn't reportable in the place where it should be.

[Fuchur]

just by curiosity : if you play with multiple accounts but never in the same game, how can this influence ranking ?

[Shivaware]

just by curiosity : if you play with multiple accounts but never in the same game, how can this influence ranking ?

If someone is pretty good and wants the top ranking, they could use sacrificial accounts against other strong players. If they win, the rivals are harmed, and if they are going to lose, they can quit early to lower the Elo gain by the rival.

[Meeplelowda]

just by curiosity : if you play with multiple accounts but never in the same game, how can this influence ranking ?

I wasn't even thinking of it in the way Shiva explained. To me it influences the ranking because the ranking for that account changes (except in the rare case you tie against someone with exactly the same Elo). "For ranking" in xate's response means you get rating points, i.e., it's just another way of saying it's not friendly mode. It seems like you are interpreting "influence" to mean "change it from what it should be otherwise," as in it has to have an underhanded effect. Whereas I interpret it to mean the rank changes. Period. It changes in non-friendly game (except for even-ranked ties), and it doesn't change at all in friendly games.

You could also say it influences ranking because people sometimes use their alt account to "try things out," i.e., tinker with a new strategy. This influences the ranking of the main account because it is insulated from the bad experiments.

Also, although I'm not good enough at any game for this to be a factor, there is a certain meta in some games where you assume (for better or worse) things about your opponent based on their rating, and a low-ranked smurf account can exploit that meta. Yes, you can argue that if you just play everyone GTO then you don't have to worry about the meta, but that's a different discussion.

This is not about "Elo boosting," which is why I specifically asked my clarifying question of whether it is prohibited even if you're not playing them against each other for Elo boosting.

[tbhp]

Maybe if the person plays Arena with a second account but stops playing with the first altogether that’s considered okay since they aren’t benefiting from doubling themselves in that case. It would even be detrimental to themselves, since any success in Arena during that season would be attached to their alt account rather than their main one.

I think they probably look at it on a case by case basis and ask themselves « would people complain that this player is using a second account in an unfair way? » If the answer is no, it’s probably what they’d consider « reasonable ».

[Ceaseless]

A fun topic I'm wondering is a player using multiple accounts for different games on the same page. Like if a player is playing with an account for 6 stone Kala vs 4 stone Kalah, or different variants of Azul. Scenarios where the ratings for a player may very well be different and represent very different things despite the BGA labeling system.

[Meeplelowda]

A fun topic I'm wondering is a player using multiple accounts for different games on the same page. Like if a player is playing with an account for 6 stone Kala vs 4 stone Kalah, or different variants of Azul. Scenarios where the ratings for a player may very well be different and represent very different things despite the BGA labeling system.

This is why I liked xate's clarifying response, which I thought was black and white, because people keep trying to push boundaries.

xate didn't say "1 player - 1 account....per game on BGA."

xate didn't say "1 player - 1 account....per every variant of every game on BGA."

xate didn't say "1 player - 1 account....if you only use one in Arena, but it's ok if you use another one in tournaments."

xate didn't say "1 player - 1 account....that you play with only your left hand, but it's ok if you use another one only with your right hand."

xate didn't say "1 player - 1 account....that you only use on odd-numbered days, but you can have another one for even-numbered days."

[Jellby]

just by curiosity : if you play with multiple accounts but never in the same game, how can this influence ranking ?

What would you think if the top 10 places in Arena or elo rankings were all alternate accounts of the same player? Do you believe others would think that's fair?

[Meeplelowda]

just by curiosity : if you play with multiple accounts but never in the same game, how can this influence ranking ?

What would you think if the top 10 places in Arena or elo rankings were all alternate accounts of the same player? Do you believe others would think that's fair?

It just occurred to me that it's ambiguous whether by "never in the same game" Fuchur means never playing against each other over the same board, or means they are all used for different titles. I answered assuming the former, but the latter is also a reasonable interpretation. In that case, you would not have multiple alts in the same Arena.

I could try to fabricate some preposterous edge case where the latter situation causes some catastrophic harm just because I'd prefer there to be one account per person, but that would be intellectually dishonest because I can't immediately see the harm in it, particularly if all the alts used names that clearly signify that the same person is behind them, so there's not even that level of deception.

[Jellby]

While different alt account playing different titles, does not harm the rankings, it's an obvious way to cheat around possible sanctions. I'm banned for 2 weeks because I was rude in Bang? No problem, I can keep being rude in Hanabi...