March 14th, 2004, 06:23 AM
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General
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 3,499
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Re: SE4 Rating System
Quote:
Originally posted by Grandpa Kim:
Quoting myself:
quote:
A personal, 300 point drop does not scare me. Does it really scare any of you?
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Well, to answer (gulp), yes, it does. Though my score reflect victories against opponents near my skill level (and losses to people I consider better than my skill level), I've spent quite a few games getting it that high. Not wanting to sound over protective of my score...I'd have to say I would be a bit apprehenisve risking "it all" on one multi-player game where I might have a bad position that, despite my debatable diplomacy skills, would result in a position I could not overcome. As an example, in Anklebiters, the first 3 people I met had the same colony type as me! While others might have been trading colony types, I had no such opportunity. To add to the misery, 2 had methane (so there was not wide ability to trade "breathers") and the other had NONE as I do. There are 7 rated players in that game competing. If I come in 7th among them, I would feel like it was a bit unfair to lose (estimating) around 100 points.
When it all comes down to it, fitting square pegs in round holes (  ) like we are trying to do when we adapt a chess formula to a different sort of game, it's ONE game, not a Swiss System pairing of 7 rounds.
Having said that, I'd be willing to go for a 50-point gain (or loss).
I MIGHT feel differently IF all multi-player games were played on Geo's Balance mod with an uninterested party positioning all the players in fair starting positions (etc.) but that is probably not going to happen on the majority of multi-player games. Nature of the "beast" and all.
Another "addition" to rated games might be to add a rule that says: Before game start, if a player has changed his mind about having himself rated in any particular game, he may withdraw his request to be rated. This would give a person the chance to change his mind if the number of players requesting to be rated surpassed the limit of what he was willing to gain/lose.
Again, I just don't know...tossing out ideas.
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ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third. (Ambrose Bierce)
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