CATAN CHEATERS

[alone_musk]

I have a suggestion, but don't know whether it is achievable or not. The idea is to flag these players with the table id. Then there should be a panel who should review these players and their last few games like last 5 games. They are easy to caught like trading among themselves only and trading 3:1, 4:1 or even 5:1 with each other.
If the reviewer suggest that these two are in team playing then another random person from the same panel should review independently and if the second reviewer also thinks that they are cheating then both should be banned. panel should choose random reviewers to minimise the bias(Cheaters could also review).
Reviewers should be incentivized, like 10$ per review. Due to this i think this is not achievable.
Note: I am ready to review for a little incentive .

[7_1_0_9_3_i]

Hello. Please check my latest game Catan and punish the player who played along with another. He gave all his resources so that he would win. I don't like spending two hours playing a game and losing. Thank you.

[euklid314]

Hello. Please check my latest game Catan and punish the player who played along with another. He gave all his resources so that he would win. I don't like spending two hours playing a game and losing. Thank you.

It is not clear which game you are talking about since you played several games in this time span (and I am too lazy to go through all of them).

Just some general remarks. If your opponent did it only once (namely gifting all his ressources to one player) he will not be punished. Sure, it is *very* bad style and deserves a personal red thumb - but it could have different reasons.

*) He had to leave and wanted the game to end regularly instead of quitting.
*) He was annoyed at one player (perhaps he was blocked,...) and wanted the other player to win.
*) He was gifting ressources to the winner to ensure 2nd place for himself.

All these reasons (and many more) are debatable and many (me included) will not like them. But they are not moderation-worthy. A player will be moderated and punished if and only if he *systematically* cheats the ELO system, e.g. by teaming up with a partner such that only one of them can win (and usually the other gets second, especially in a 3-player game). This must occur over several games - one game is *never* enough to prove cheating!

[gabe69velasquez]

I played a game the other day where I was overall left with the impression that one player was using two accounts. It isn't difficult if you have any two devices, one using a free browser VPN, two accounts and presto, if you are subtle and watch your time you should be able to win all your games. I'm not suggesting anyone do this, I'm just expressing my shock at realizing this has to be going on, and I've experienced it.

[7_1_0_9_3_i]

Hello. Please check my last game because the players were playing along with each other. I assume it was the same player from two different accounts. I like this game. I don't want to face this kind of attitude. Thank you.

table 493255486

[euklid314]

Hello. Please check my last game because the players were playing along with each other. I assume it was the same player from two different accounts. I like this game. I don't want to face this kind of attitude. Thank you.

table 493255486

The two players play most games with each other. Usually they do not trade with each other or with their other opponent - so the trading is fine. However, they use their robber in approx. 80-85% of all cases not on each other but on their third opponent. It happens now and then that they steal from each other. I have analyzed 5 games of them - and I did only read the game summary.

The game you gave the number of, I played through completely. In this game they used the robber in 100% of all cases against you even when it became obvious that you were the weakest player and were no threat to victory. Since there were a lot of those fishy moves (10-15, I would guess) the probability is high that the players planned to team up.

If you want to report, I suggest that you thoroughly analyze at least 5 of their games and list all their fishy moves (move number and short description) together with a brief analysis (e.g.: gameXX: 6 times robbed from 3rd opponent, only 1 times robbed from each other). Then report it as "Cheating the ELO system by playing with one account".

I did this in one case (which was even more obvious since there were horrenduous trades and even avoiding winning moves because always the same player of the two should win) and the players were moderated and punished.

Please note that your case is not a definite case of cheating for me - at the moment. There are just some indications (your game and the statistics of other games I looked at) which suggest that there could be enough evidence for cheating if you collect the data. You decide if it is important enough for you to do the work or if you just give red thumbs.

[Mathew5000]

Then report it as "Cheating the ELO system by playing with one account".

Wait, is there not an option to report a player for cheating in a game against their opponents? Because it seems that BGA ought to care about the fairness of a game to the other players, much more than the fairness of the Elo system.

[euklid314]

Then report it as "Cheating the ELO system by playing with one account".

Wait, is there not an option to report a player for cheating in a game against their opponents? Because it seems that BGA ought to care about the fairness of a game to the other players, much more than the fairness of the Elo system.

If two players never use the robber on each other they do *not* cheat in the game because they obey all rules of the game! The game does not force you to use the robber wisely.

However, if two players do this regularly they gain an unfair advantage because it is almost guaranteed that one of those players will win. Thus they have more ELO than they deserve and they are "cheating the ELO system". This is reportable.

Since you cannot judge the motivation behind bad moves it is "wise" that BGA does not even try to do that.

Once I played Carcassonne against two good friends of mine (a couple). It was over the board in their place and they played as a team (finishing cities for each other). They just thought it is fun that way, perhaps they thought I would start negotiating who might finish my cities if I also finished theirs. Obviously they were far ahead in the end and it was no fun for me. They did not want to cheat - they just liked to play that way that all their cities were finished.

All I want to say with this story: Motivations how to play games are widely different. BGA provides a tool to report if players gain an unfair advantage with respect to winning. That is enough.

[LKG31]

I just ended a Catan game where two people were cheating/kingmaking. This makes the game a complete waste of time for the other players. I have seen numerous posts from others making the exact same complaint. Until BGA steps in and does something, this game is not even worth anybody's time. There are just way too many cheaters who are playing as a team. As far as I'm concerned, Catan is COMPLETELY UNPLAYBABLE ON BGA.

Please BGA, if you care enough about having Catan on your website, then please make the necessary changes to discourage this type of behavior. I understand all games can have cheaters, but for whatever reason Catan games are FILLED WITH THEM. There needs to be harsher penatlies for those who play as a team. Otherwise, the problem will never be rectified. Simply reporting them after the game is not enough to deter this kind of behavior.

BGA has strict rules to not name the players, so I will not do so. However, if you look at the timestamp of this message, and match it up with my game history, you can easily find the game I am talking about. And if you do a search on the players' profiles, you can see that they have a history of playing together.

I am posting this message to get BGA's attention that something needs to be done about this problem.


Totally agree with you the player at the top of the ranking currently he plays with at least 20 accounts many accounts have only 15 games but already 3, 4, 5 games with the number 1 player currently in the "Arene" ranking and some account played with more than 20 games with a large percentage for the same players. Several reports have been made but nothing has changed and he continues to accumulate points with easy games where he is sure to win since he plays with 3 accounts of his own.