Anonymous Play as a set up option for individual games
Concise description:
A tick box option in the game set up which would hide the player's usernames in that game until the game completes and the usernames are revealed.
Specifics/Details:
When setting up a new game there would be a tick box (just like for Fog or Trench) which can be selected to create an anonymous game. The game info tabs and logs will hide the usernames of the players and instead only refer to the different players by their colour. So for example instead of the gameplay log reading: "Mikoyabuse11 assaulted Greenland and took it from Kevsterr", the game play log would read: "Red assaulted Greenland and took it from Green". When player joins a waiting game the slots do not reveal the player names of those already registered either, it would just display that game slot as "occupied" or something like that. At the end of the game, maybe even only after player rating are given, the player identities are revealed.
How this will benefit the site and/or other comments:
As I have climbed the ranks i am encountering more instances of players recognizing me or my rank and targeting (and suiciding) into me in larger FFAs. I've started to see petty dramas carry across games and the result is that free for alls, my favorite game mode, can be annoying to play without taking the time to "foe" some toxic players. The option to play a game anonymously would allow for each individual game to be played from an even playing field in a more pure sense, game to game. Plus I think it'd be fun to only be playing against an unknown and have the surprise of finding out who you beat (or were crushed by) after the game ends. Additionally not knowing the score rank of your opponent would be a fun reveal at the end of the game. If players were not revealed until player ratings were given it would make for fair and unbiased ratings as well.
Drawbacks:
Collusion - anonymous gameplay could enable more collusion between friends in FFAs, and would be more difficult to catch in game. This would have to be deduced after the fact.
Non-english players - players for whom English is not their first language could possibly have a more difficult time not revealing themselves through in game chat. I think it would take an improbable amount of analysis for any player to correctly deduce an anonymous opponent's identity based on their in game chat speech patterns, and somehow use that information to a material advantage but it's possible.
Toxic Players - some people on the internet use anonymity to be bad people, and may use this option to be toxic in game. This is why identities would need to be revealed upon conclusion of the game, to give everyone else the option to "foe" the toxic players, or report them if necessary. The end result would be the same as every other game though, once you're locked into a game with a toxic player you have to finish that game then never play them again.
Listing when searching a player's "active games" or "waiting games" on their profile - a waiting game would need to be hidden from a player's active or waiting games when other players search it up.
Just a thought, curious what people think.
Thanks for reading.
