What is the policy re: bots playing on BGA?
Posted: 21 October 2020, 15:51
I was playing a game on BGA where one of players behaved suspiciously like a bot. Do the BGA terms of service permit bots to play? If so, can we ask bots to self-identify so that we can choose to avoid them? If not, can we make that something that players can flag (instead of just giving a player a thumbs-down)?
Regardless of whether my particular opponent was a bot, could someone clarify the terms of service on this topic? (If we permit bots, perhaps I would consider writing one, but I would want to do it responsibly so it was a pleasant addition to the player pool and didn't ruin the experience for others.)
I don't want to incorrectly accuse someone of being a bot, so if anyone wants to investigate for themselves, the game in question is here...decide for yourself: https://boardgamearena.com/6/hearts?table=118631677
If you want to know the reasons why I suspected I was playing against a bot:
* The player always moved instantly (this might not be clear without being able to see timestamps)
* The player's strategy was simplistic and consistent (but terrible): the player seemed to play the highest card possible whenever it was possible to win a trick and the lowest card possible whenever they could not, even though that's an obviously horrible strategy for Hearts, even to a beginner. (I didn't say that it was a *skillful* bot.)
* At the exact point where it was mathematically clear that the game was settled (one player had taken enough points to go under 0 and it was impossible to shoot the moon), the player responded with two non-stock comments in the chat that came on top of each other. This suggests two things: (1) the player was capable of analyzing play, but not capable of playing well, and (2) the player typed those chat messages *very* fast.
* Even though the player posted those two friendly-sounding chats to the room's chat, they did not respond to any (friendly) chat comments before or after that, even though the chat comments were specifically directed to them.
Regardless of whether my particular opponent was a bot, could someone clarify the terms of service on this topic? (If we permit bots, perhaps I would consider writing one, but I would want to do it responsibly so it was a pleasant addition to the player pool and didn't ruin the experience for others.)
I don't want to incorrectly accuse someone of being a bot, so if anyone wants to investigate for themselves, the game in question is here...decide for yourself: https://boardgamearena.com/6/hearts?table=118631677
If you want to know the reasons why I suspected I was playing against a bot:
* The player always moved instantly (this might not be clear without being able to see timestamps)
* The player's strategy was simplistic and consistent (but terrible): the player seemed to play the highest card possible whenever it was possible to win a trick and the lowest card possible whenever they could not, even though that's an obviously horrible strategy for Hearts, even to a beginner. (I didn't say that it was a *skillful* bot.)
* At the exact point where it was mathematically clear that the game was settled (one player had taken enough points to go under 0 and it was impossible to shoot the moon), the player responded with two non-stock comments in the chat that came on top of each other. This suggests two things: (1) the player was capable of analyzing play, but not capable of playing well, and (2) the player typed those chat messages *very* fast.
* Even though the player posted those two friendly-sounding chats to the room's chat, they did not respond to any (friendly) chat comments before or after that, even though the chat comments were specifically directed to them.
I can't unpost my message, but if there's residual damage that I can remedy (can I undo a red thumb?), could someone let me know so I can make it right? So sorry!