You should label this series 'Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective'! Jokes aside, great work and thanks for sharing these incidents with BGA and the community :)
Well done! I can’t wait for the CSI episode based on your methods and nefarious board game plots waiting to be uncovered! 😢 If they go to such lengths to win titles online that mean little other than bragging rights with the few others that care, I wonder if they also cheat when playing in real life with friends and family….makes you wonder what is the point of it all for them! Glad you are doing your part to clean up the playground for everyone else to enjoy games!
I do like the sleuthing! Clever to check the IPs like that (though part of me wonders if this is another example of the complete lack of privacy protection at BGA). Also, while this does appear to cheating on the surface, and I agree this is the likely case, the public jury should consider that there may be some situations such as people playing at a school/university/dorm/etc on wifi where there may be many legitimate players having the same IP. I have some sympathy for the small team at BGA trying to detect cheats as it is not as simple as checking for how frequently players have beaten others with the same IP (as said previously there may be legitimate reasons for that), not to mention that a more knowledgeable cheat could mask their IP. Even the large chess sites with multi million dollar budgets struggle to detect cheaters for a single popular and ancient game after years having full time and specialist staff dedicated to cheat detection.
I do feel for BGA staff too. I don't know how many there are - not many. They have to track over 500+ games and 50,000+ active players. And this would have been so easy to hide if they didn't use the different country flags and used a VPN.
What baffles me is that someone has put a minimum of 10 hours per week into get top spot in a small game. You could put that time into getting very good at small games. Yes this gives you a mental boost, so does going for a run.
Bots would solve that problem. I was mildly curious what the code for the game looked like; there is an element called “middle” in which the ID of the available cards is provided, along with coordinates of the card. Cards held by each player are conveniently similarly returned as hand1 and hand2 elements. So it would seem pretty easy for someone with a working knowledge of the game to write something that picked cards based on whether you wanted the bot to win or lose.
Very good idea infact I tried do the same on people from the top 10 of the game I'm playing and I got a msg saying I could get in trouble for doing so or something along those lines
@@TsushimA199 It gives you a warning about inviting people to lobbies that aren't on your friend list. Just don't go spamming them with email invites and you should be fine
wow, great stuff. BGA could come up with some SQL queries that would highlight this kind of thing, especially after any report. I think that shows that they don't have it. Someone got stopped from future reports after so many ones failed, so be careful.
Just too much hassle though. Players can cheat in so many ways. This person went through the trouble of making a ton of accounts but not hiding IP by VPN.
Many people question it. Were the last 2 games rigged? Yes, most likely. My take is Tsong Chen already reached 2120 without any help and that would have been enough for the arena win either way.
Is having multiple accounts in and of itself against BGA rules? I have a separate account I use to play arena games I am already #1 in and don't want to lose rank, play games with higher player count while my main account queues for games with long queue times, and have a more relaxing time playing ark nova. I have obviously NEVER played myself in any of these but the second account is really useful for all the reasons above.
I think using multiple accounts in the same Arena season is a gray area. Probably a smaller issue if it's a 2-player season, but for 3+ player games one could simply target the higher ranked players, defensively and/or unfairly, from their alt account(s). Secondarily I think it'd be somewhat unfair to give myself multiple chances to get a lucky enough streak to get a top ranking - that feels against the idea of Arena to me so I don't do it.
This is something I missed in the ToS from the last video. "• not to create several Accounts: the User undertakes to create only one Account corresponding to them." It is now clearly written in the ToS that everyone should only have one account. How long has it been worded that way? No idea. Do they regularly enforce this? No. But I would make the switch to one account if it were me personally.
Whatever! BGA is too risk averse to do this so somebody needs to handle it. Also, if he ever messes up, he can just do an apology video. Who knows, maybe all 67 accounts on the top 120 of clash of decks are different people with the same IP. That'd be a crazy apology video
I just don't understand...why...why spend so much time of your life cheating at something with no consequence... Bga is such a niche thing. Who is going to care who the number one player at Clash of Decks is 😅
Why would you cancel the invite... I wouldn't mind another Cartographers game.
The IP idea was very clever. Incredible that someone would go to such lengths to cheat.
You should label this series 'Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective'! Jokes aside, great work and thanks for sharing these incidents with BGA and the community :)
this is as entertaining as the gameplay video haha, keep it coming
Well done! I can’t wait for the CSI episode based on your methods and nefarious board game plots waiting to be uncovered! 😢
If they go to such lengths to win titles online that mean little other than bragging rights with the few others that care, I wonder if they also cheat when playing in real life with friends and family….makes you wonder what is the point of it all for them!
Glad you are doing your part to clean up the playground for everyone else to enjoy games!
"CSI: BGA" ... I'd watch it. And hey, CBS has a hole in their schedule now that 'Vegas' was cancelled.
I do like the sleuthing! Clever to check the IPs like that (though part of me wonders if this is another example of the complete lack of privacy protection at BGA).
Also, while this does appear to cheating on the surface, and I agree this is the likely case, the public jury should consider that there may be some situations such as people playing at a school/university/dorm/etc on wifi where there may be many legitimate players having the same IP.
I have some sympathy for the small team at BGA trying to detect cheats as it is not as simple as checking for how frequently players have beaten others with the same IP (as said previously there may be legitimate reasons for that), not to mention that a more knowledgeable cheat could mask their IP.
Even the large chess sites with multi million dollar budgets struggle to detect cheaters for a single popular and ancient game after years having full time and specialist staff dedicated to cheat detection.
I do feel for BGA staff too. I don't know how many there are - not many. They have to track over 500+ games and 50,000+ active players. And this would have been so easy to hide if they didn't use the different country flags and used a VPN.
What baffles me is that someone has put a minimum of 10 hours per week into get top spot in a small game. You could put that time into getting very good at small games.
Yes this gives you a mental boost, so does going for a run.
Yep, it's ridiculous. With the amount of time spent you could just improve at the game instead of cheating your way to the top
Bots would solve that problem. I was mildly curious what the code for the game looked like; there is an element called “middle” in which the ID of the available cards is provided, along with coordinates of the card. Cards held by each player are conveniently similarly returned as hand1 and hand2 elements. So it would seem pretty easy for someone with a working knowledge of the game to write something that picked cards based on whether you wanted the bot to win or lose.
As you said I am wondering how this has become undetected for so long ? Id like to know BGAs response or anyone that knows
The answer is they rely on users reporting problems like this. I just don't understand why they didn't address it 3 weeks ago
Holy cow that ip address check was damning. 67/100 is a wild stat, what satisfaction do you even get from doing this?
I have no idea. It's sad
Very good idea infact I tried do the same on people from the top 10 of the game I'm playing and I got a msg saying I could get in trouble for doing so or something along those lines
@@TsushimA199 It gives you a warning about inviting people to lobbies that aren't on your friend list. Just don't go spamming them with email invites and you should be fine
How does one person have enough time in their lives to create 66 accounts and get them to the top 100 in a game, that is insane
as a BGA Norfolk Islander I'm appalled
wow, great stuff. BGA could come up with some SQL queries that would highlight this kind of thing, especially after any report. I think that shows that they don't have it. Someone got stopped from future reports after so many ones failed, so be careful.
Just too much hassle though. Players can cheat in so many ways. This person went through the trouble of making a ton of accounts but not hiding IP by VPN.
tsk tsk, Sam, once again you have fallen down into empiricism!!!
The leads are pouring in to your confidential hotline! 😆
Sam The not so secret police :O. Hopefully you won't look at the accounts i've been farming for my IAWW elo
Accounts? Or one account called Grim Nova??
Crazy that people would waste time and effort cheating for no money.
That’s crazy web of cheating!!!
Good job copsam 👍 ... this is so ridiculous 😂. Cheating for no gain as à full time job 🤪
Can anyone tell me why someone would cheat on BGA? Do people win prizes? It feels like so much work for no payoff.
There is no monetary benefit in this case. It is a full time job without pay
Given CnPlayer’s ban do we question Tsong Chen’s AN league win?
Many people question it. Were the last 2 games rigged? Yes, most likely. My take is Tsong Chen already reached 2120 without any help and that would have been enough for the arena win either way.
It would be great if you could organise an interview with a moderator from BGA and live stream it 😊
Is having multiple accounts in and of itself against BGA rules? I have a separate account I use to play arena games I am already #1 in and don't want to lose rank, play games with higher player count while my main account queues for games with long queue times, and have a more relaxing time playing ark nova. I have obviously NEVER played myself in any of these but the second account is really useful for all the reasons above.
As long as there is no interaction between accounts, it is safe
I think using multiple accounts in the same Arena season is a gray area. Probably a smaller issue if it's a 2-player season, but for 3+ player games one could simply target the higher ranked players, defensively and/or unfairly, from their alt account(s). Secondarily I think it'd be somewhat unfair to give myself multiple chances to get a lucky enough streak to get a top ranking - that feels against the idea of Arena to me so I don't do it.
This is something I missed in the ToS from the last video.
"• not to create several Accounts: the User undertakes to create only one Account corresponding to them."
It is now clearly written in the ToS that everyone should only have one account. How long has it been worded that way? No idea. Do they regularly enforce this? No.
But I would make the switch to one account if it were me personally.
@@NoWondersTV Wow, I had no idea- thanks for the info! That's a shame
thanks for the vedio!
Well done! Good boy! =))))
I dont even understand, why will you cheat in a bg to be first on bga..
You and me both
Cheating sucks, appreciate your sleuthing. But I have to credit them on their good taste in playing Regicide :D
And Connect 4!
Cheating on Connect 4 has to rank fairly highly on the long list of lamest cheats since time began.
sad to see my beloved BGA streamer turn into a drama youtuber!!
Whatever! BGA is too risk averse to do this so somebody needs to handle it. Also, if he ever messes up, he can just do an apology video. Who knows, maybe all 67 accounts on the top 120 of clash of decks are different people with the same IP. That'd be a crazy apology video
I just don't understand...why...why spend so much time of your life cheating at something with no consequence...
Bga is such a niche thing. Who is going to care who the number one player at Clash of Decks is 😅
Yep. Leaderboards do weird things to people
What losers
Agreed. Or just loser. I assume it's one person