private chat in multiplayer games

[Olin IX]

There are situations in mulitplayer non-cooperative games (like Terra Mystica), where 2 players start to play together against the others. In some kinds of games it's possible and desired (like The Game of Thrones, which is not implemeted on BGA), but in most of games it's not desired and should be seen as 'unfair'. In several my games I was inquired by another player to take actions against the third player. It is very uncomfortable for me and every time I had denied this, of course.

My sugestion is to disable a possibility of private chat during such games. Public chat is enough to communicate between players in such games.

[RicardoRix]

the bane of multiplayer games.

[Jest Phulin]

Considering that kingmaking is one of the behaviors specifically listed as not allowed on BGA, you might request that players who suggest you do that get investigated -- chances are they've done it on other games.

[RicardoRix]

That's not the same as kingmaking. He's trying to win himself.

[CraWleR]

Unfortunately there's nothing you can really do about it.

• Some people communicate outside of BGA already, so you can't control it anyway
• If you disable direct messaging between people that are in a game, then you will encourage even more people to communicate outside of BGA

I feel like the drawbacks of implementing something like this would outweigh the benefits. Like Jest Phulin said - if you believe that that kind of behaviour is 'unfair', you can always report the person. With enough reports, the person might receive warnings and/or penalties.

[Liallan]

I would agree to report it. I don't know that I see it as kingmaking. If this other player was giving you information in the private chat, I'd consider it cheating. Even if not, doing it privately is still yucky.

But I don't believe in the idea of preventing bad behaviors by making it impossible to do something, which can also hurt other innocent people. There's always going to be people who do stuff in games, and I don't think you can bandage up all the holes.

[sourisdudesert]

What if we do the following: when players A and B are talking using private message, and at the same time are playing on a table with others, we add a log "A says something to B privately" in the table chat log?

It reflects the fact that in real life, you actually see when 2 players at your table are talking private.

However, some may not like this as it is going to spam the table chat if 2 players are talking intensively.

[N_Faker]

I don't think there is any point in any such measures, it may just create needless hostility and player reports. And I would expect that the vast majority would be innocent of any cheating by using on-site PMs.
If someone wants to cheat in such a way, they would have a multitude of other ways rather than the on-site private messaging.

[RicardoRix]

It's not cheating, a lot of games actually encourage this behaviour, see diplomacy for the ultimate example. You could even say it's part of the game play, and the person who can negotiate the best has an advantage.
The reason you won't see me playing 3 player Puerto Rico, and the reason I like to play a house rule for Settlers with no trading allowed.

If you don't like the game then don't play it.

[N_Faker]

This thread is specifically about the games in which such acts are not desired or even forbidden.