Board Game Arena

I'm wondering if you can be matched up with someone in Arena who gives you a red thumb (or whom you have given a red thumb)?

The reason I'm asking is I know I've been given red thumbs by a number of players because of refusing to abandon games in Arena. In principle, I never allow games to be abandoned in Arena and I will never ask to abandon a game myself. If you want to abandon, you should just go ahead and concede. I've conceded many times myself, it's no big deal. However, there are players out there who seem to think that they are entitled to have games abandoned for whatever reason (bad luck, unfamiliar starting civs, because they are losing, boss is calling them, etc, etc) and when you refuse they start calling you a bad sport and give you a red thumb.

Ok fine, I'm cool with getting a red thumb. However, ever since getting red thumbed by them, I noticed that I never get matched up with them in Arena, while before I would routinely get matched up with them. This is a pity, because the players that give me red thumbs are ones that I beat up on quite regularly (some of them have never beaten me). This got me thinking, if this is indeed what is happening, would it be possible to strategically use red thumbs as a way of avoiding players that you have a hard time beating, hence manipulating the match up algorithm in Arena to your favor? (Note: I would never do this, but was wondering if this is a possibility)

From the FAQ's:

....The effects of a red thumb are:

This player will not be able to play with you anymore (except if you meet in a tournament).
This player will not be able to send you private messages or watch your games as a spectator.

red thumb = no arena play.
My opinion: If they allow tournament match-up they should allow arena match-up. Maybe with a 5 minute time delay to enable a non red thumbed player to "jump in"

No, not at the moment, as NaCl_duke wrote above, but it will change in the next season:

https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33785

lordalx wrote: ↑13 December 2023, 10:41 → Red Thumbs for competitive play
One last thing that is going to be changed in a few weeks will be the impact of the Red Thumbs.
You can currently give a Red Thumb to any player with which you had a bad game experience. This prevents you from competing against them in ranked games or the Arena, but not in Tournaments.
This system can, and unfortunately is, used to prevent some players from competing against the best players. Considering that the Red Thumb system is being abused this way, on purpose or not, we will update the way Red Thumbs are impacting the matchmaking for the next season.

Sjarmtrollet wrote: ↑03 March 2024, 12:05 No, not at the moment, as NaCl_duke wrote above, but it will change in the next season:

Any changes implemented (that was more than one season ago....)? I could not join an arena table, because the other player had given me a red thumb.
Do not know why I got the red thumb....
Reason why I give a thumb:

• Swearing
• Very slow play
• Conceding after finishing the game (Is that still possible by the way?)
• Joining a table multiple times but never agreeing to start

Maybe don’t thumbs down so many people…

How do you get from my reasons for possibly giving a red thumb to an assumption about the frequency I might do that?

I was trying to comment on the original post that raised the suspicion that players red thumb strong players, so they do not have to play against them in an arena game. I have never done that (which can be seen on my loosing record against some players...)

What do you think are acceptable reasons to red thumb someone?

And it could not have been the reason anyway for the other player to red thumb me, since I did not put a thumbs down on him/her. How could they know how much I red thumb?
That would only be possible if that player has multiple accounts and I happened to red thumb another account of them. And as "revenge" he/she red thumbed me across all his/her accounts.

I had that same suspicion, too. I’ve told a couple of players this suspicion. I don’t think I’ve red thumbed anyone. Let them do that hate lol

Sjarmtrollet wrote: ↑03 March 2024, 12:05 No, not at the moment, as NaCl_duke wrote above, but it will change in the next season:

Have chances been implemented? I often see an open arena table but I cannot join. One time I checked back later on active arena tables and I noticed that one player must have given me a red thumb (limited info visible on his info page). Checked game history: I won 4 times against him/her with only one loss -> "good player avoidance red thumb" Although my ranking is not good enough that I am a real threat.....(I hope there are no other reasons that I got "thumbed", I am not a slow player, I do not curse...)

Back to my original question: any chances implemented or coming soon?
Could the system let one know that one cannot join an arena table because of a "red thumb" situation? I am always confused when the progress bar does not go to "Searching for 1 player....". I think the server is stuck or something.