Board Game Arena

I always thought it is childish and against any sportsmanship. Then I had a closer look at some 500+ ranked and - voila

I might promise to eat my hat if this is not a clone play:

(Blanked) game xxx (two player game)
Most frequent opponents
(Blanked): 645 hits on 655 games (98%) [Filter]

did one side always win? they might be very good friends.

if the losing player also plays other people to help regain the ELO.

Hi,

Please report this player as "multiple accounts" and he will probably be moderated.

Caffe Latte wrote: ↑11 May 2019, 10:24 I always thought it is childish and against any sportsmanship. Then I had a closer look at some 500+ ranked and - voila

I might promise to eat my hat if this is not a clone play:

(Blanked) game xxx (two player game)
Most frequent opponents
(Blanked): 645 hits on 655 games (98%) [Filter]

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here. It is certainly childish and unsportsmanlike to boost one's ELO using multiple accounts. However, the fact that X beat Y on 645 out of 655 games doesn't prove that these are multiple accounts of the same user. Indeed, if you really beat somebody that many times, the ELO difference should be so big that you actually hardly gain any ELO points per game by beating them any more, so continuing to play them would not be an efficient way to boost your ELO.

Moreover, you have not specified what game you are talking about, but there are certainly games (especially where no randomness is involved, e.g. Chess) where it is possible for one player to be vastly better than another. And I can also imagine that in such a game, the worse player may be willing to play and lose repeatedly in the hope of learning the game better. (Less clear why the better player is willing to play and win repeatedly instead of looking for someone more at their level.)

I don't know what measures BGA takes to verify claims of multiple accounts, or of other forms of cheating, but I hope that they are refined enough to distinguish between true cheating and people who just happen to play from the same IP address (family members) or happen to win a lot because they are better players, or whatever other innocent activity that might potentially look skewed. Please be very careful when accusing others of cheating!