Board Game Arena

Hey everybody,

I noticed in Yahtzee that there are quite a few players in the elite league that have the same name (with different numbers at the end), same flag, same person in profile pic (not same pic though).

I suspect that they are multi-accounting, but obviously can't prove it. When I clicked the "report this player" button, it said that if my accusation is false, I may be punished.

So should I report? In general, what would be considered sufficient reason to report?

Take a look at their games history. If they tend to play among themselves (and especially if they have other accounts with the same name that tend to lose), then there is a good chance that they are violating the terms of use:

BGA F.A.Q. wrote: What is absolutely forbidden?
On Board Game Arena, it is absolutely forbidden to:
...
Create multiple accounts and play against oneself to boost one's ranking.
...

If, however, they play with a wide variety of people, chances are they might have a multiple personality disorder (Or some other reason. I am not qualified to diagnose any disease or condition.)

If it looks like they're boosting their own rankings via multiple accounts, report them. The warning is to prevent frivolous reports without merit.

The sad truth is that there are many ways for a multiaccounter to cheat and gain an advantage, without being so stupid to play vs himself. The moderation policy against this is nonexistent / careless, even if whole leaderboards and final arena rankings are rigged by such cheaters. Caring about leaderboards and standings therefore is totally useless in any game where these cheaters are active.

It looks like the accounts haven't played against each other.

I looks like they are just trying to win arena, but are not willing to come back from losses. You know how it is, you do really well winning 80-90% of your first arena games and when you make elite you are really high ranking. This person looks like they play about 50 games, then decide to make a new account to try again. It's kind of unfair, but it is certainly true that it is not as egregious as playing against their other accounts.

Of the four accounts I've found, two of them have played about 50 Yahtzee games. Only one account (probably their first) has a significant number of Yahtzee games played (360). The account that it looks like they are currently playing on has almost 100 games of Yahtzee, and they actually played 7 games of Gomoku (none of their other accounts register any games other than Yahtzee).

I feel like my evidence is pretty strong, albeit circumstantial, and I feel like this form of multi-accounting is unfair to others even if it's not as egregious as playing against one's self.

The moderation policy only accounts for multi accounts that are used to boost the ELO of the multi accounts of the same person.

Creating and using multi accounts for anything other than boosting your own ELO isn't disallowed.
Which of course people exploit in a multitude of ways. Both for the ranking, arena, social engineering and whatnot.

N_Faker wrote: ↑03 September 2020, 10:12 Creating and using multi accounts for anything other than boosting your own ELO isn't disallowed.

I don't think they moderate against it, but having multiple accounts for any reason is explicitly disallowed in the TOS.

whatshisbucket wrote: ↑03 September 2020, 17:34

N_Faker wrote: ↑03 September 2020, 10:12 Creating and using multi accounts for anything other than boosting your own ELO isn't disallowed.

I don't think they moderate against it, but having multiple accounts for any reason is explicitly disallowed in the TOS.

Last I checked that wasn't the case. Please do quote it.
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You are right.

https://boardgamearena.com/legal wrote:The Player agrees to hold only one account on BGA, unless otherwise approved by BGA.

Thank you both for your comments. I'm aware that the TOS states in clear terms that only one account is allowed per person. I'm just wondering, given the circumstantial evidence that I have, should I report this person? Or do you think such a report would result in me being punished instead?

sweetandcool wrote: ↑03 September 2020, 22:48 Or do you think such a report would result in me being punished instead?

That is unlikely.

What's the punishment? How strong is your sense of justice? Is it worth it to risk being "punished"? I would think if you make a good faith report they wouldn't punish you, but that's just my sense, I have no proof of that.