Multiple accounts

Playing from the same computer as other people is allowed, and having more than one account is allowed. What follows says within what limits, and above all why those limits exist.

The game cannot tell by itself the difference between two brothers playing side by side and a player who has built himself a second stable in order to gain an advantage. These rules therefore serve as a common reference: when a dispute arises, that is what we refer to. They are applied case by case, by looking at what really happened and by talking with the players concerned — it is not a machine that decides.

What counts as a multiple account

Counted as multiple accounts are the accounts used regularly from the same computer.

Logging in now and again at a friend's or a relative's is not part of it: it is regularity that counts, not the occasional visit.

If you have co-management of another player's account — or simply his password — the account is attached to whoever logs in to it most often. An account whose creator now comes only occasionally can therefore be counted as one of yours.

How many

Up to three accounts used regularly from the same computer. They can be yours, or belong to different people in the household.

But the three are counted together: if three of you share the computer, each has an account and nobody has two.

The names of the accounts

To avoid any ambiguity, you are strongly advised to give your accounts a common root: myaccount and myaccount-1, or myaccount-flat and myaccount-trot. For accounts belonging to one family, a family root plays the same part.

It is not a formality: it is what makes it possible to see at a glance that you are hiding nothing.

What your accounts must not do together

Each of your accounts plays freely, but the rule comes down to one sentence: two of your accounts must not end up in the same public race, nor on the same auction.

A race is public as soon as anybody can enter it. That is the case for the great majority of them: regulated races, competitions, cups — and also races with random genetics. That genetics do not count there changes nothing: entry is open to all, so the rule applies.

That leaves the races where the organiser chose who comes: reserved races, those you are invited to by name, and clan races. There, your horses may cross paths — the manager knows whom he invited.

The exception: saving a race that was going to be empty

A race that does not reach its minimum number of entries is not run. It would be absurd for an event to be lost because the multiple-account rule forbade the one entry that could have saved it.

So: in the last ten minutes before the entry deadline, if your horse is the only one entered, you may enter a second one from another of your accounts so that the race takes place.

The three conditions count, and are read together: ten minutes, not half an hour; one single entry, not two; and it is in order to fill, not to take up a position. Entering early with two accounts and counting on the exception is not one.

Beware of the case that comes as a surprise: if you entrust your horses to trainers or jockeys, they can enter them themselves — including in a race where a horse from another of your accounts is already running. The entry remains your responsibility. Keep an eye on the races where your horses end up together.

The clans

Your accounts may belong to different clans. On one condition: that the members of each clan know it clearly. A clan that finds out afterwards that it was harbouring two accounts belonging to the same person has good reason to take it badly.

The accounts that do not count

Accounts for a particular use — a clan bank or a competition manager — do not enter into the quota of three, as long as they take part in neither races nor auctions. As soon as such an account starts playing, it becomes an account like any other.

The automatic safeguards

Two checks run without any intervention: one at registration, the other at login, which can temporarily block access when too many accounts log in from the same computer. They only catch the most visible cases, and they do not replace the rule: they, for their part, do not know what they are looking at.

If a block seems unjustified to you — there really are several of you playing, each at home, or your situation fits into no box — write to us rather than get round it. These situations are settled by talking.

These rules exist precisely so as not to have to write them into the program, which would be far more restrictive for everybody.