AI in gameplay

[Ausnahmefehler]

Hi gamers,

I use to play strategic games here, like TTA, GWT, TM, RRR and so on. In the last weeks, my ELO is rapily dropping in all these games, due to very low level ELO-players challenging me and winning by not making any mistake at all. This might be smurfing - which I´d really love to have some rules against - but it might also be, they use IA-bots giving them detailled advice what to play next.
Does anyone of you have the same feelings or experience?

Still all have fun on BGA!

[Ausnahmefehler]

And yes, I certainly mean AI-bots;)

[Meeplelowda]

And yes, I certainly mean AI-bots;)

Did you know you can edit a post instead of making a new one to correct yourself?

This might be smurfing - which I´d really love to have some rules against

How would a rule against smurfing be enforced?

As for bots, it seems every other week someone is claiming they are playing against bots without any awareness of how hard it is to make one that plays well. The simplest explanation is that it is a person who is playing better than you.

[lefalaf]

I looked at the charts for several, probably 5 or 6, of your recently played titles and except for one, TFM, you are either increasing or steady. Also, one title had some big ups and downs, but wasn't the first time that has happened, and overall was fairly steady, just periods of winning or losing streaks.

[tbhp]

There's already a rule. You aren't allowed to use multiple accounts. Although, if one deleted their account, then presumably they are allowed to create a new one, and therefore if they are good at a particular game, they would be "smurfing" by starting over with a new account. But I don't think anyone sees an issue with that if it's their only existing account.

People are already "smurfing" at the start of every new season when they are playing in the lower leagues but it doesn't actually reflect their level.

[tbhp]

And, yes, sometimes how well you do at a game suddenly changes. But the more likely explanation is that yourself or the pool of players is what changed, not the appearance of bots.

For example, this season I'm struggling to get back to the Arena score I reached in Castle Combo in the previous season. I attribute that to my mindset not being in the same place as it was last season, for whatever personal reason, or just that the playerbase is getting better at the expansion that was released not long ago, so the games are getting harder.

On a similar note, the average level of players for a particular game probably increases over time, especially if the game is still relatively new. For instance in Harmonies, the level it takes to be a top rated player currently is probably higher than what was required when the game had only been out for less than a year. That's because over time people figure out the game, they hone their strategies and so there's a certain mastery that the top players have now that wasn't really a thing when the game was new.

[Jellby]

As stated, there are already rules against smurfing, at least when it involves using several accounts. There are also rules against bots, AI or not, or any other kind of computer help. The problem is how to enforce them and prove they're broken.

[SiRan90]

Just because someone has low elo and are good at the game doesn't really mean they are smurfing. They could just be playing it on BGA for the first time

[BarnardsStar]

Just because someone has low elo and are good at the game doesn't really mean they are smurfing. They could just be playing it on BGA for the first time

You expect this to happen sometimes, certainly. But the OP claim was that there were a lot of such accounts, all of a sudden. If true, this would be suspicious.

However, as evidenced in lefalaf's reply, it does not actually seem to be true.

[Archisian]

And yes, I certainly mean AI-bots;)

Did you know you can edit a post instead of making a new one to correct yourself?

This might be smurfing - which I´d really love to have some rules against

How would a rule against smurfing be enforced?

As for bots, it seems every other week someone is claiming they are playing against bots without any awareness of how hard it is to make one that plays well. The simplest explanation is that it is a person who is playing better than you.

Chess.com has a system that can detect if you somehow always line up with the computer's "best move possible", which would indicate cheating.

Board games have more internal mechanics than chess, so it might be impossible to do. But maybe if they developed some kind of system like that, they weed out cheaters who use A.I. to ask for the best move.