Is this allowed?

[Jellby]

Another reason is that if someone wants to red-thumb or report the player for any reason other than having multiple accounts, now they'll have to do it twice (or 100 times). You may again say that's no issue, because if the second account behaves badly, you just report/red thumb it, and if it doesn't, then no problem. But that means you have to encounter the player again after you (or the mods) have explicitly declared that you should not, ever.

[h_illes]

I don't actually care about climbing the ranks or where my position is at the end of the season.

You might not care, but others do, especially the strongest players competing for the top spots. And this trickery gives the player with two accounts an unfair advantage over honest players with a single account.

[JoysJoy]

Honestly, of the many Things that have been listed out as BGA problems in the forums, someone having multiple of accounts to try to reach the top of an ELO in an arena game is at the bottom of my list for fixing. Even if there were 1000 games, we would only be talking about a possible thousand people. We have bad players that start more than 1000 games and walk away over and over again for years. They have disrupted tens of thousands of games. I would rather have an issue like that fixed than this one.

I’m sorry you’re being angered by what you think others are doing with multiple accounts. I hope you can find a way to think about it differently because it’s not gonna change. That’s not how BGA works.

[JohnnyCyclops]

Honestly, of the many Things that have been listed out as BGA problems in the forums, someone having multiple of accounts to try to reach the top of an ELO in an arena game is at the bottom of my list for fixing. Even if there were 1000 games, we would only be talking about a possible thousand people. We have bad players that start more than 1000 games and walk away over and over again for years. They have disrupted tens of thousands of games. I would rather have an issue like that fixed than this one.

I’m sorry you’re being angered by what you think others are doing with multiple accounts. I hope you can find a way to think about it differently because it’s not gonna change. That’s not how BGA works.

Hear hear

[ChiefPointThief]

Honestly, of the many Things that have been listed out as BGA problems in the forums, someone having multiple of accounts to try to reach the top of an ELO in an arena game is at the bottom of my list for fixing. Even if there were 1000 games, we would only be talking about a possible thousand people. We have bad players that start more than 1000 games and walk away over and over again for years. They have disrupted tens of thousands of games. I would rather have an issue like that fixed than this one.

I’m sorry you’re being angered by what you think others are doing with multiple accounts. I hope you can find a way to think about it differently because it’s not gonna change. That’s not how BGA works.

I don't think it's a big deal if someone has multiple accts as long as they aren't using them maliciously. If you have multiple accts ranked in spots that receive awards then it is wrong because you are one person taking a spot from another deserving player. As long as bga makes a thing about arena rankings, top elo boards, and xp then they should do as much as possible to make sure those awards are legitimate.

Just because a certain issue doesn't affect you doesn't mean it isn't important. The issue you are concerned w/ falls under the same unethical cheating umbrella but bga cares more about level 0 "insults" than people disrupting tens of thousands of games.

I can understand why someone might want to have two accounts to maintain a "high water mark" and continue to play without risking it. I just don't understand how that is a problem for the rest of the user base.

Because their opponents aren't being properly rated when they play against them on an alt acct. They may be a 1800 player but starting new w/ the alt acct they are only 1500.

Another reason is that if someone wants to red-thumb or report the player for any reason other than having multiple accounts, now they'll have to do it twice (or 100 times). You may again say that's no issue, because if the second account behaves badly, you just report/red thumb it, and if it doesn't, then no problem. But that means you have to encounter the player again after you (or the mods) have explicitly declared that you should not, ever.

Wanting to stay away from someone/not wanting ppl to know you are here is also a reason for an alt acct.

[Hervor]

Because their opponents aren't being properly rated when they play against them on an alt acct. They may be a 1800 player but starting new w/ the alt acct they are only 1500.

I more or less agree with your other points, but this specific "problem" also exists when someone knows a game well IRL and starts playing here. There are so many account with wrong ELO rating on the site because of that, that - in my opinion - the handful of malicious "double account-ers" are not really the deciding factor when it comes to this issue.

[ChiefPointThief]

Because their opponents aren't being properly rated when they play against them on an alt acct. They may be a 1800 player but starting new w/ the alt acct they are only 1500.

I more or less agree with your other points, but this specific "problem" also exists when someone knows a game well IRL and starts playing here. There are so many account with wrong ELO rating on the site because of that, that - in my opinion - the handful of malicious "double account-ers" are not really the deciding factor when it comes to this issue.

Yeah I know. This is 1 of several reasons why I don’t play beginners in regular games once I reach higher levels. I realized this was an issue in Arena as well. In my 1st season competing I outplayed the previous arena champ (& they had more elo) throughout the season in head to head matches but lost aes against them because they started the season after me.

This as well as other things mentioned in this thread (extreme risk the higher you reach in arena) are flaws of the arena format. You shouldn’t be able to fall below someone you outplayed over 100s of games throughout the season just because you have 3-5 subpar games at the end. This is even more problematic the luckier the game. The k factor/aes calculation could be adjusted to compensate for this. The only counter argument I hear is, “you aren’t forced to play a game w/ a luck factor. Deal with it.”

[h_illes]

I more or less agree with your other points, but this specific "problem" also exists when someone knows a game well IRL and starts playing here. There are so many account with wrong ELO rating on the site because of that, that - in my opinion - the handful of malicious "double account-ers" are not really the deciding factor when it comes to this issue.

If an otherwise strong player is doing this, it could very well be the deciding factor, e.g. in this situation:

If it is normally a Top 10 player, this trickery can elevate them to a Top 3 position instead, or maybe even champion if the differences are small near the top.

Either way, whether you personally think this is not an important issue isn't really relevant (no offense).

My question is whether it is even possible to catch such cheaters in the current moderation system using public evidence (e.g. playing patterns). Because if not, I won't bother with reporting if I notice such a scenario.

[Cile]

My question is whether it is even possible to catch such cheaters in the current moderation system using public evidence (e.g. playing patterns). Because if not, I won't bother with reporting if I notice such a scenario.

I would say it's indistinguishable (even from the moderator side) from 2 people who share a computer and are just trying to compete with each other for highest ELO.

[h_illes]

I would say it's indistinguishable (even from the moderator side) from 2 people who share a computer and are just trying to compete with each other for highest ELO.

That's a good point. So this form of cheating has basically no risk of detection? That's very disturbing, because the advantage gained is very real. So much for a fair playing field.