*goes to prepare a dossier (that's what you do about international frauds!) on the subject*

I am in the same game as Big Al (I'm Austria), and I can vouch for what he says. It's not coincidence. When I first joined the game, I noticed they had all joined within minutes of each other. If there were an "Un-join this game" button, I would have used it. But then I thought, why not give them the benefit of the doubt?

Since then, these three have logged on within minutes of each other in EVERY TURN.

Hi. I agree with Big Al. Give me back my credits please. Boot this person and lock out his/her web address.

Big_Al accuses these 3 players of the crime of being "One Person". I will investigate this as follows...

Are they always together?
-----------------
# Karolos: Yes - only in this game, where they seem allied, but # .........one game is never enough for real evidence
# frau_ploetzlich: All his games are with Konradin
# ..(game) - Status
# .. 2686 - ('this' game) Seem allied, early stages
# .. 2682 - Not working against each other, very trusting
# .. 2673 - Not working against each other, very trusting
# Konradin: Has more games, so at least sometimes not with them!
# Verdict: Supports theory

Account Creation: (number, date)
------------------
# Konradin: 4498, Mon 07 Jan
# frau_ploetzlich: 4502, Mon 07 Jan
# Karolos: 4545, Wed 06 PM
# This supports the theory, as they are close, especially the
# first two - the third seems to have been made just to cheat
# in this one game, which if I remember correctly was Wednesday
# evening, around 6 o'clock at a rough guess

Login Times: Close in all games I checked

Putting these together supports the theory that these accounts are owned by the same person, since they log in at very similar times, although slightly different, which accounts for the fact only one account can be logged on at a time. Then, their user numbers: they were all created very recently, and the older account is the only one which has games without the multi's in - before they were made or as a smokescreen perhaps?

Having said that I do not think there is enough evidence to catagorically say they are the same player. They could be very close friends, who introduced diplomacy to each other and have started in the same games to help each other out. Thus, with my most balanced and logical viewpoint I would have to say there is not enough evidence to find him/her/them/it guilty of being "one person". However, I find him/her/them/it guilty of the lesser crime of "Suspicious activities related to the possible existence of external alliances detrimental to the equilibrium of the game"

Just to add: If i was to have more knowledge of the sign-in times I expect I would find enough evidence that I would be able to say:
"In light of further evidence that has been brought to my attention, I now find him/her/it guilty as charged"

wow, what a nice analysis! I wonder if Kestas' cheater-catcher algorythm works something like this, or it relies on different/ more information.
And congrats to your balanced final conclusion, and the way you put it. ;)

Yeah, great analysis. They are very suspicious. If they could come forward and explain themselves...

This is probably a case of metagaming or multiaccounting, both of which I frown upon.

Yes, I'm in the game as Italy and I agree that they must be the same person.

Well, as for more information: I think if Kestas was to look at the chat logs between the player's he'd be able to tell. If there is not talk about forming an alliance and they just do it; definite cheating. If not, either very well hidden cheating/friends or just coincidence (unlikely!)

I wonder if Logout time is a very good indication of multiple accounts held by one person.

If someone sends a message and you respond to it. The sender and you probably end up with nearly identical Logout times. Maybe if logout times that correspond to sent messages were ignored?

I also do not see that multiaccounting can be stopped by looking at IP addresses. I know I have 3 ways of accessing the internet. Each would give me a different IP address.

Even behavior is difficult to judge. Trusting another player gives enormous advantage. And if both keep the trust, it looks like one player with multiple accounts.

The one thing I have noticed is that multiaccount players make weird decisions. Attack each other once, but no counterattack follows. In the case of "slcl" and "lcls", I accused them and countries that had worked together to defeat me, stopped.

Still, this game is not a game if one person controls multiple countries.

Multiaccounting cannot be stopped, nor can it be definitively identified without asking the actual person. You can use different computers, pretend to chat with one another, and log in at different times of the day. You can even pretend to fight with your other accounts if they are not detrimental to your eventual victory.

The evidence thus far is completely inconclusive to the original "same person" question. There are many, many possiblities in which these three are not the same person, and we cannont assign definitive probabilities to each possibility. For example, they could be 3 kids at school, three brothers at home, or they could 1 lonely kid at school or one lonely kid at home, who knows?

You should've asked whether or not this was an incidence of metagaming, in which the absolute answer can almost, almost be yes.

Back to the wider topic, metagaming cannot be stopped. this issue occurs in every online with 3+ players per game instance. This is just one of the facts people must accept when playing these games.

Metagaming is much more of an issue on phpDiplomacy though, because of the seven-player limit, and the fine balance Diplomacy must have in order work at it's most outstanding, intricate, and beautiful level.

Though metagaming cannot be stopped, you can still get someone with administrative authority to check the IP address, chat logs, login times, and account creation times for the said accounts.

If all of these elements indicate that metagaming is occuring, then a banning of these accounts and IP address(') should be in order.

sorry just wondering if it's been looked into by a moderator or someone and whether i will be able to get my credits back and leave the game?

Kestas, again, sorry for the hassle. Could you release the victims from this game, or at least post a comment. Thanks.

Hi everyone, especially BigAl. My name is Marislena Plötzlich from Germany. I joined the game after being asked by my collegue Konrad. Together we are studiyng in Augsburg and currently we are doing an exchange semester at the Universtiy of Pittsburgh. Apparently his alias is Konradin. Playing together was not meant ot be cheating, we are just co-students who have played the board-game before. If you want to, go ahead and delete my account, I don't want to infringe on anybody here.

frau, its ok. i think you can keep playing. just be aware that people will get annoyed if in every game you always ally with konrad. hey, stab him in the back sometimes, it will help his and your game play in the long run:)

Marislena, thank you for coming forward. I am satisfied that there has been no competitive impropriety. Face-to-face alliances are no less valid than online ones.