Bot “Player” cannot be reported to BGA

[cigma]

It is definitely against BGA policy to smurf.

Can you give us a source for that?

[Ingoschi]

General Terms of Use
https://boardgamearena.com/legal?section=tosv
"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;"

[lefalaf]

Another official source backing that up - BalGAmor:
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 77#p257877

Have in mind that this is a smurf account. In reality I have well over 20k games played. Considering that I join random games I am rarely matched with players of equal skill. There is a skill element in the game, but like I said in my previous comment - assuming the same highest skill level where everyone knows how to utilize their wonder and position to the best of their abilities it all boils down to rng factors.

As a reminder, playing from multiple accounts for ranking, even if not against themselves, is unfair and prohibited by our terms of use.

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

Whatever the case for the game/user from this thread, the perception that there are a lot of, or enough that you are bound to run into one or more, smurfs probably isn't helped by the dumb relegation of good players to lower leagues each season. That's forcing a lot of unfair matchups until the good players advance again. A cursory search of "smurf" on the forum shows that the arena context seems common for these suspicions.

[Silene]

it's absolutely allowed to smurf with a new account if you delete the old one first (if that wasn't moderated). unfortunately it's almost impossible for others to check if you did that or not.

[FrankJones]

Are there really a lot of people deleting their account just so they can play with a new account at beginner Elo?

I would never even consider such an absurd act. I have accomplished a lot with my account. Why would I want to delete it and destroy all those accomplishments? Why would anyone wants to do that? Just so they can get a high Elo on a new account - an Elo that they likely already have anyway on the existing account?

I very much doubt this happens all that often.

[Silene]

I very much doubt this happens all that often.

I am just saying a legal way to smurf exists
*shrug*

[Suoivax]

Are there really a lot of people deleting their account just so they can play with a new account at beginner Elo?

I would never even consider such an absurd act. I have accomplished a lot with my account. Why would I want to delete it and destroy all those accomplishments? Why would anyone wants to do that? Just so they can get a high Elo on a new account - an Elo that they likely already have anyway on the existing account?

I very much doubt this happens all that often.

Some people enjoy the climb/grind. I'll replay an RPG video game from time to time, even though I may have done 100% of said game before.

[boardgamesmue]

The slow action and sometimes even no action is why it would be beneficial to create a blacklist as I mentioned here: https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 22&t=50979 this way you can at least avoid some of the bots or even smurf accounts. You can try to use the thumbsdown feature but I have never seen that having any impact on any player. Another way would be a proper MMR algorithm instead of the current one.

[FrankJones]

Help me understand what is happengin here:

What do you mean "slow action and no action"?

What does this have to do with bots?

[boardgamesmue]

What do you mean "slow action and no action"?

Reporting bots and smurf accounts, even with proof, rarely results in a ban or suspension. Or it takes ages. So you will run against those often enough again.