Board Game Arena

End of arena season is 3 days away. This kind of thing has been happening repeatedly but there's no actual category to report it.

Player A is currently top 5 in arena rankings.
Player A matches with their friend Player B in arena.
Player B is in a winning position in the final turn/final round.
Both players agree to abandon the game (to preserve Player A's rating).

Is this...
1. Morally wrong, but within the rules?
2. Against the rules?
2a. If so, how would I report it?

Reward without risk? That is absolutely cheating. The same player doing this with two accounts would be clearly cheating; I see no difference if one the accounts is technically played by someone else as long as they do the main account's every bidding.

It is a compact and would be against the rules with two very large caveats:

1. It needs to be a sufficiently consistent pattern that you can demonstrate it is an actual attempt to manipulate rankings, which one game obviously isn't - there are all sorts of reasons two players might choose to abandon a game which are entirely legitimate.

2. It has to actually be happening and not be a figment of your imagination. That may sound harsh but 90% of the posts on the forums alleging these sorts of things that get any sort of follow up turn out to be complete nonsense. If that is how it pans out on the forums for those of us who are just observers I cannot imagine it being much different on reports and suspect that those looking at reports will likely work on that assumption.

Oh, and since no-one on these forums actually decides this don't try to post actual game links or names of players; that would definitely be a breach of site rules and would make it look to observers even more likely that you are imagining it.

sorryimlikethis wrote: ↑05 October 2024, 04:36 2a. If so, how would I report it?

As you probably know, you may report a player from their profile. If I had sufficient proof, I'd use the category of misusing several accounts for getting a higher Elo / upranking.

One thing you're forgetting: the player with multiple accounts also has an account that's a moderator. They will not be punished.

If they are ranked 1st, they might moderate someone in second or third place to knock them down. You don't hear about this because a moderated player cannot ever tell another person, or they are banned from the site, and their posts are deleted.

Also, they never know this is what happened to them, because you wont know who moderated you. All they know is they were unjustly moderated, and never allowed to speak of it.

CoolLuke wrote: ↑02 November 2024, 12:15 One thing you're forgetting: the player with multiple accounts also has an account that's a moderator. They will not be punished.

If they are ranked 1st, they might moderate someone in second or third place to knock them down. You don't hear about this because a moderated player cannot ever tell another person, or they are banned from the site, and their posts are deleted.

Also, they never know this is what happened to them, because you wont know who moderated you. All they know is they were unjustly moderated, and never allowed to speak of it.

This is a very bold claim. Can you prove it 100%?
I couldn't find significant mod presence in Arena mode after all: https://boardgamearena.com/team
If you can, an administrator will directly check your report. Go ahead: https://boardgamearena.com/support
FYI, clicking 'Report this player' button says exactly the same thing - 'Report directly to admins if really needed'.

I cannot prove this 100%. I suspect it happens, but not rampantly. In order to prove something like this, players would have to be allowed to talk about their experiences. That's not allowed.

The policy about moderation is:
We don't respond...We don't respond...We don't respond...
If you talk openly to other people, you are penalized, silenced, perhaps banned from the site.

This is not a good policy.

CoolLuke wrote: ↑02 November 2024, 13:41 I cannot prove this 100%. I suspect it happens, but not rampantly. In order to prove something like this, players would have to be allowed to talk about their experiences. That's not allowed.

The policy about moderation is:
We don't respond...We don't respond...We don't respond...
If you talk openly to other people, you are penalized, silenced, perhaps banned from the site.

This is not a good policy.

So, you are trying to openly accuse someone for something even you are not sure about? Not a good call, I guess.
Also, anyone can check a player's game record from their profile page.
You really don't need to talk each other to prove an obvious collusion.

ufm wrote: ↑02 November 2024, 13:54

CoolLuke wrote: ↑02 November 2024, 13:41 I cannot prove this 100%. I suspect it happens, but not rampantly. In order to prove something like this, players would have to be allowed to talk about their experiences. That's not allowed.

The policy about moderation is:
We don't respond...We don't respond...We don't respond...
If you talk openly to other people, you are penalized, silenced, perhaps banned from the site.

This is not a good policy.

So, you are trying to openly accuse someone for something even you are not sure about? Not a good call, I guess.
Also, anyone can check a player's game record from their profile page.
You really don't need to talk each other to prove an obvious collusion.

He is not accusing anyone openly as there was no username mentioned. He is criticizing site policy. Do you care to address his criticism?

h_illes wrote: ↑02 November 2024, 17:41 Do you care to address his criticism?

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The user has provided nothing other than a personal conspiracy theory of something they think could be happening.

Flat Earthers provide more evidence and I don't feel the need to "address their criticisms" in order to dismiss them.