Board Game Arena

FrankJones wrote: ↑08 July 2025, 16:34 What about having 2 accounts in the top 5 in Arena for one game? I would think BGA would not want that.

With the way they allow people to reach a level and suffer no decay for not playing for months, I doubt they would care

xate wrote: ↑06 June 2024, 10:46 1 player - 1 account.

Playing from multiple accounts for ranking, even if not against themselves, is unfair and prohibited.

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

Wow. BGA probably needs to have this somewhere more official than a random thread in the forums! You are right that this is would be difficult to enforce. Although if someone is explicitly saying they have other accounts, that would be clear evidence.

Apologies, I did not get the thread notifications. And wow, there was a fair amount of discussion on this. To clarify, the other person who entered the chat was chatting with the my opponent at the table. They were joking back and forth about this. Given the speed at which he mopped the floor with me, what he said is more than possibly true, however, I'm not sure how it could be proved, especially if someone is using VPNs to connect to BGA. This particular table was not a ranked game.

katmk wrote: ↑11 July 2025, 14:16

xate wrote: ↑06 June 2024, 10:46 1 player - 1 account.

Playing from multiple accounts for ranking, even if not against themselves, is unfair and prohibited.

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

Wow. BGA probably needs to have this somewhere more official than a random thread in the forums! You are right that this is would be difficult to enforce. Although if someone is explicitly saying they have other accounts, that would be clear evidence.

SO if I say you have 2 accounts that is clear evidence?

SiRan90 wrote: ↑22 July 2025, 21:48

katmk wrote: ↑11 July 2025, 14:16

xate wrote: ↑06 June 2024, 10:46 1 player - 1 account.

Playing from multiple accounts for ranking, even if not against themselves, is unfair and prohibited.

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

Wow. BGA probably needs to have this somewhere more official than a random thread in the forums! You are right that this is would be difficult to enforce. Although if someone is explicitly saying they have other accounts, that would be clear evidence.

SO if I say you have 2 accounts that is clear evidence?

That does not follow at all from what they said. "Someone" and "they" in that sentence are obviously referring to the same person. So if you, SiRan90, say that you, SiRan90, have 2 accounts, then that is clear evidence.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑22 July 2025, 22:29

SiRan90 wrote: ↑22 July 2025, 21:48

katmk wrote: ↑11 July 2025, 14:16

Wow. BGA probably needs to have this somewhere more official than a random thread in the forums! You are right that this is would be difficult to enforce. Although if someone is explicitly saying they have other accounts, that would be clear evidence.

SO if I say you have 2 accounts that is clear evidence?

That does not follow at all from what they said. "Someone" and "they" in that sentence are obviously referring to the same person. So if you, SiRan90, say that you, SiRan90, have 2 accounts, then that is clear evidence.

Ah my bad, misunderstood the comment

You can disallow new players. That won't catch every instance, but for whatever reason I see a brand new players that never played a game on bga and they clearly know the game and interface.

I am not sure the point of having a bunch of accounts, but I assume some sort of shenanigans reasons and I prefer to avoid those people entirely.

katmk wrote: ↑11 July 2025, 14:16 Although if someone is explicitly saying they have other accounts, that would be clear evidence.

That's clear, but is there any other way to prove it? E.g. playing patterns, IP address, anything. Because If not, all these cheaters have to do is shut up about it and they'll never get caught. Which would be disturbing.

h_illes wrote: ↑23 July 2025, 05:16

katmk wrote: ↑11 July 2025, 14:16 Although if someone is explicitly saying they have other accounts, that would be clear evidence.

That's clear, but is there any other way to prove it? E.g. playing patterns, IP address, anything. Because If not, all these cheaters have to do is shut up about it and they'll never get caught. Which would be disturbing.

Unless the person is playing from the same IP address (dumb cheater) then I don't think so. Most of the time someone would use a VPN service if they wanted to do it. And most of the time there is no way to know that this is happening. Someone could legitimately be a new BGA player with loads of IRL experience with the same games. And unless its super obvious, I wouldn't be likely to report (accuse) someone...that's a good way to get yourself modded.

So, occasionally, we will play against a master on a dummy account.

It happens, and it's difficult to precent.

it happened to me once. How do I know? Because the player said to me, after I commented on how badly I was getting my butt kicked, "Don't feel bad, I'm a master on my other account."

Oh well. I wasn't happy about it. But it did not mean much in the long run. It didn't affect my life much, so I shrugged it off.

I do try to avoid games against players who are not yet established - meaning, have not played 20 games. Because, anyone who is 7-0 with a 250 Elo is probably an expert or a master.

It might not be a multi-accounter. It might just be someone new to the site but with great experience at the game from playing other sites or on the physical board. (Myself, for example: Pente, Connect6.)

Either way, I try to avoid playing someone who's listed Eli might be a lot lower than the player's actual Elo.