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

[Meeplelowda]

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...

Interesting that you say that, because relating to the issue that prompted me to begin this thread in the first place, evading a ban is also not a reportable offense. If you select that option you get this message:

Creating another account after moderation is not allowed.

If a player is banned from BGA too many times, we are going to block them from creating new accounts.

There is nothing for you to do, except report the accounts for what they have done wrong. (emphasis added)

Now that is a super weird thing to say, because you can't report the creation of the ban-evading account itself. So it suggests that creating the new account WHILE ANOTHER ACCOUNT IS BANNED is not something "they have done wrong." Then what exactly is the point of the ban? The way it is worded, you have to wait for the ban-evading account to do something wrong.

"What's the point?" some may ask. "How are you going to know the new account is from someone evading a ban?" Because some people actually come right out and say "I got banned, so I made this account." Usually it's to contest the moderation that got them banned in the first place.

[tbhp]

Interesting that you say that, because relating to the issue that prompted me to begin this thread in the first place, evading a ban is also not a reportable offense.

That's an interesting question. This makes me wonder, in real life, is escaping jail considered a crime? I mean, if you escape jail then obviously they'd try to put you back in, since you didn't do your time. But I wonder if the fact of escaping in itself is considered a crime.

[Jellby]

There's also this (https://boardgamearena.com/legal?section=tosv):

By accessing the BGA Sites, the Internet User declares, guarantees and undertakes:
[...]
* not to create several Accounts: the User undertakes to create only one Account corresponding to them. If BGA deletes a User's Account in the event of non-compliance with these Player G.T.S., the User undertakes not to create another Account without prior authorisation from BGA;

[Fuchur]

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?

What is the difference if the top 10 places are hold by 10 different persons ?

That would be all the same for me (i'm here to play games in my free time, not to optimise my ranking position and/or ELO-score) -- but it seems it makes huge differences for you and some other folks in this thread.

[tbhp]

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?

What is the difference if the top 10 places are hold by 10 different persons ?

That would be all the same for me (i'm here to play games in my free time, not to optimise my ranking position and/or ELO-score) -- but it seems it makes huge differences for you and some other folks in this thread.

Maybe unfair is not the right term. I mean, if someone manages to fill the whole top 10 with their accounts, clearly they deserve their spot. But why do they have to take several spots? This doesn’t make any sense and is not how rankings are supposed to work. A team or player can’t enter themselves twice in the same competition.

[SHKätzchen]

I think there's at least one player who might have multiple accounts they use in Pandemic, which doesn't so much affect ELO in a discriminatory way, because it's a cooperative game, but which does influence gameplay. Because you usually talk and agree on a course of action, playing two different characters doubles your voice as to what should be done. But there's no way to report someone for doing this to have bga look into it, because none of the options to report a player for using multiple accounts applies to the situation.

[tbhp]

I think there's at least one player who might have multiple accounts they use in Pandemic, which doesn't so much affect ELO in a discriminatory way, because it's a cooperative game, but which does influence gameplay. Because you usually talk and agree on a course of action, playing two different characters doubles your voice as to what should be done. But there's no way to report someone for doing this to have bga look into it, because none of the options to report a player for using multiple accounts applies to the situation.

Oh, this example would certainly be unfair. In cooperative mode, you are supposed to be drafted with a team of random players. If you are guaranteed at least one other good player in your team (yourself), that gives you an advantage over other players who don't have this guarantee. You will win more games and climb higher.

Just because the advantage is created by your own skill doesn't change that you are giving yourself an unfair advantage.

[Meeplelowda]

So the workaround for the issue that got me riled up enough to start this thread in the first place is that you can report a forum post where someone admits that the account is an alt competing in non-friendly games while they also have another active main account. Less than 3 days later an action has been taken in response to that report.

[smattathias]

It’s unethical to have more than one account, period. If some users have a dummy account to create tutorials, there should be a way to disable it from normal ELO-accruing game functions and flag it for all to see.

If the top 10 (or 100 or 1000) spots were all filled by the same person, that would degrade the rating system. You can Google the top ten players in chess. It’d be ridiculous if the top 10 (or 100 or 1000) spots were all held by Magnus Carlsen. This would undermine the entire system.

Also, for the casual player, these types of discussions and any related actions will have zero effect on your ability to play games. However this convo plays out in the short or long term will not affect you or your gaming. You might be playing a unique individual from across the world or you might be playing one of 10,000 bots created by the same person. Either way, it’s just a game.