Board Game Arena

Hello all,

I am still in the process of playing the most unpleasant game on BGA — one that really makes me question not only whether I should renew my Premium subscription, but whether I should keep playing at all.

I came back to play Arena when the FR rule was finally removed; however, some people still expect everyone to agree to play that way.

I am not sharing the table since I already reported the two players, but to me it’s inconceivable that I’m (paying and) trying to relax and disconnect from the rest of the world, only to have to deal with such behavior.

The story (exact wording quoted):

At the beginning, Player A rolled a 7 and, without even asking, moved it to an empty space.

Shortly after, Player B rolled another 7. Player A wrote in the chat:

“hope we playing friendly thanks”.

Player B didn’t reply, and I said:

“arena’s rules”

.

Player A replied:

“so pink not playing friendly till 3? cool thanks”

which to me felt like a clear hint they intended to target me

I answered:

“do not play arena if you don’t like the rules — it’s not that hard”

.

From there:

As soon as Player A rolled a 7, they targeted me, despite my bad placement and fewer resources.

I told them I would report the game, but later discovered kingmaking can’t be reported.

Player B said I was rude, and Player A eventually added:

“there’s no way blue or I gonna let any one player win bro”

.

Needless to say, I was blocked and robbed at every opportunity.

My questions are:

How is it possible that kingmaking cannot be reported, even when it’s clearly stated in the chat?

Why is it so difficult for people to follow Arena rules or the table rules they join, yet still feel entitled to demand others follow their own?

It’s not the first time this has happened, and it’s always unpleasant, but at this level it makes me seriously question if I should pay to be stressed, especially when there’s no way to prevent this behavior.

The same happens to me. I'm losing multiple games because I don't follow the friendly robber, and they end up kingmaking against me. In multiple games, ALL (not exaggerating, all, despite being the one with the least points) the robbers are placed on me. Sometimes, they even put it in a spot they share with me, blocking themselves just to keep targeting me.

I'm also muted (this is not my account), so I can't say anything (and honestly, it's probably for the best—sometimes I get so mad).

The Friendly Robber, as has been reported many times, is CRAP.

Here’s a game where every single robber went to me (Katekhon), without exception:

https://boardgamearena.com/13/catan?table=712702601

User34 wrote: ↑09 August 2025, 14:13 The same happens to me.

I am sorry to hear..I might eventually post the link to the table.

I could have somehow accept misunderstanding before the variation was implemented, but now it should not even be a question.

If you don't like the rules, don't play. In a second game again I had to bend to FR to avoid being targeted because 2 people out of three decided so and I didn't want to get mad.

Why not just avoid the arena? I know it's another way to test yourself against a pool of people and compete, but there are plenty of competitive ordinary play games out there. And you can avoid the 3-player setting arena mode requires.

• I've never seen anyone insist, or even suggest play with friendly robber in 4-player games without the setting.

• It's much harder to gang up on one person like you've experienced in 4 players, partly because more people need to co-ordinate, but also because the more crowded board means hitting just one person with a block is much harder.

• And the first pick bonus is reduced in 4-player as the choices for placement 8 are way more restricted than for placement 6. Meaning you're less likely to be underresouced compared to other players, no matter where you are in the turn order.

This happened to me even outside of the arena.
But, anyway, it's hard for me to find games in outside of the Arena, while in the arena un 30 seconds I have a game.

The problem is that the bullies play according to the rules. Everybody is allowed to place the robber wherever they want - and it does not matter if you always target the player who has color red, or the player with the shortest user name or the player who did not accept the last trade offer.

Nowhere in the rules it is mentioned that you shall target the players in a way that optimizes your own winning chances. That is just a design flaw of the game of Catan that the social aspect may influence game decisions away from rationality.

Here on BGA you can report players that consistently team up with each other because then they are cheating the ELO system. But you cannot report two players that by chance end up in the same game and decide they want to target the same player in a single game.

As was noted before, 4-player games are quite a bit more robust in this respect. It is less likely one ends up with 3 bullies. If there are only 2 bullies in the game the other two players naturally will try to counter it.

Thus, you just can give red thumbs and forget the game. If one of your opponents started the bullying and the other "only" joined in you might guarantee that the major bully gets second and the minor bully wins (by robbing them and trading 10:1 with the minor bully).
Or simply quit the game right away! It is well worth the ELO loss and Karma hit to never see the bullies again!

When you play in arena mode here, you have to put up with games like this.
It's up to you whether you get annoyed.
I don't play Catan anymore; there are more appealing games out there for me. And I no longer have to torture myself for weeks with turn-based games where everyone is playing against me. However, I now miss the satisfaction of winning games like this anyway...

Thanks everyone for the comments and sharing your experience and also for all the input.

I guess I will qui Arena for good, it is not worth it indeed and while I enjoy other games, catan is the only one I feel confident playing with strangers without ruining for everybody else, not being good at them

The thing is, here you made the mistake. You have to take the social aspect of the game into account. Which is not to say you should have agreed to robber, but staying quiet until it was an issue probably would have served you better. and sometimes you have to read the situation, and go friendly or this will happen. not saying its great, and people who ask for friendly in non friendly games suck in my opinion, but you have to play around it.

Slartibartfst wrote: ↑14 August 2025, 23:41 The thing is, here you made the mistake. You have to take the social aspect of the game into account. Which is not to say you should have agreed to robber, but staying quiet until it was an issue probably would have served you better. and sometimes you have to read the situation, and go friendly or this will happen. not saying its great, and people who ask for friendly in non friendly games suck in my opinion, but you have to play around it.

I really thank you for point of view. And you are right, I should have ignore them. There is always to learn!