Guys, figuring out who is who in a semi-anon game, where you know the 7 players, just not which countries are assigned to them is more than easy. Furthermore, if someone, like you CS, is also active in the forum, one can figure out which power you are in his game, because you can accidentally enter moves and comment on the forum at the same time.
It has happened to me many times I figured out 1-2 countries by accident, without checking login status, missing points, and so on. And where's the line between deliberately checking login status or accidentally seeing your competitor being logged in via forum posts.
As long as the site itself provides the information which directly or indiretly helps breaking anonymity I consider it as tools which anyone can use, since, as I stated, these information might surface accidentally as well.
Solution: don't show login status (or just the day) and only show total points (not available or points in play at all).
about a tournament: I used to play in Gobbledydock's GB challange, 7 players, 7 countries, and I didn't win because by the last game, it was clear who is who, solely based on the 6 other games were already finished.
That's what a tournament is about, winning the 7 games combined, not winning 7 separate games. The best would be if games were paued before the last turn, so noone would see who is who, until all 7 games are finished. But to refer my case, I didn't win Gobble's tournanment because all the others new, if we finish a 4-way I lose the tournament if it's a 3-way I win. Guess what, they drew it a 4-way, without communicating. It sucks, but that's how it is, when it comes to tournaments.
If mods, by any chance, rule against players who deduct who is who, based on publicly available information, caused by the site itself, they are moderating, would be ridiculous. Especially in cases where all the 7 players are known, just their country assignments aren't.
Going further, there are certain play styles, which are specific to players, like Split always opens the first 1,5 years the same way with England, which I always identify I see him. But I could continue this list, like Barnett's England opening, Vaftrudner's german builds in case of 3 builds etc. These are pubicly available information, and why on earth would be someone a cheater, whatsoever, just becuase he recognizes a certain playing style? And I just can't see the fine line between this and any other publicly available information.
It sucks, I don't like it either, but it's the site's fault one can do this, without extra effort, and not the player's.
I'm confused
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