Bot “Player” cannot be reported to BGA

[FrankJones]

Maybe they're already an expert at the game, even if it's the first time they play it on BGA. Maybe they don't care about their opponents' levels.

Very plausible scenarios. Point being, it's not necessary for someone to create a Smurf account to play against inexperienced players, and, as noted, who can really know whether a player is experienced or unexperienced anyway?

[luffydude]

What's the point in smurfing on this website? It's not like the matchmaking is going to make you avoid strong players in arena and in pub games you can pretty much join any game ...

[Monkeyunit]

I thought the smurfing accounts were mostly to get "clean" stats from their results.

It's hard to track progress when all your data is clustered over months of play.
Making a new account each season gives you a clear comparisson

[BlueSwan]

Actual evidence of this player being a smurf is non-existent. What exactly is there to report?

"Hi BGA admins, I am repotting this player because this player is very good at the game" ? Most likely, whoever reads that report will be more inclined to punish the person making the report for wasting their time with a baseless accusation.

Why are some people in this thread being so dismissive of the notion that the player just might have already been very good at the game before playing on BGA?

Most of the games I have played on BGA are games in which I had a lot of experience before playing on BGA.

Because top players on BGA have literally played thousands of games, many of them against the other best players in the world.

People with “lots” of IRL experience have played maybe a few dozen games against their buddies. It is NOT comparable.

A couple of weeks ago I lost two games against someone with less than 10 recorded games on BGA with a 100% winrate. I am currently 600 ELO and it was very easy to tell from those games that I was playing against a very strong player, not just some noob who got lucky. I’d bet my house that he was a smurf. He was low ELO then, but already now he’s above 700 ELO with close to a 100% winrate. That shit doesn’t just happen.

[FrankJones]

Because top players on BGA have literally played thousands of games, many of them against the other best players in the world.

People with “lots” of IRL experience have played maybe a few dozen games against their buddies. It is NOT comparable.

I think you may have misunderstood my post.

Please allow me to clarify a few things.

1) BGA is not the only site that has online board games. A player can be world class at a game without ever having played it on BGA, and not just by playing "maybe a few dozen games against their buddies". I had played thousands of games of Pente over a long period of time before even becoming aware that the game existed here on BGA.

2) There are other online sites besides BGA, and the more popular a game is, the more likely it is that some other digital format of the game exists. Terraforming Mars, for example, has at least 3 other digital implementations, all of which have been around for many years. Thus, there may exist quite a few world-class terraforming Mars players who have hundreds or thousands of games played on other sites before playing here.

3) Ark Nova does have at least one other digital implementation, maybe more. So, again, a player could be world-class without having played here, and not just by "playing a few dozen games against his buddies."

4) The same is true for most public domain games, and many of the more famous thematic strategy games. Scythe, Splendor, Azul, Patchwork, Wingspan, Race for the Galaxy, and numerous other games have existed on other platforms, and therefore likely had a lot of very strong players floating around out there who hadn't yet played on BGA.


So, I'll repeat myself since my point is not getting across: If you run into a strong player with few games played on BGA, maybe it's a Smurf, or maybe not. To declare the account a definite Smurf is jumping to conclusions not supported by facts or evidence.

[boardgamesmue]

A couple of weeks ago I lost two games against someone with less than 10 recorded games on BGA with a 100% winrate. I am currently 600 ELO and it was very easy to tell from those games that I was playing against a very strong player, not just some noob who got lucky. I’d bet my house that he was a smurf. He was low ELO then, but already now he’s above 700 ELO with close to a 100% winrate. That shit doesn’t just happen.

Did you report the player and is he still active? If the admins don't care a community maintained blacklist might be worth to think about. I guess only more pressure against smurfs etc. would help to prevent this trend.