http://www.voobly.com/forum/thread/29457Citation:
Hey moderators and aoc fans,
I have an interesting dilemma. I believe I deserve the #1 rank on the ladder, however, it is taking an abysmally long time for me to get it by playing teamgames with comparatively lower skilled players. Why do I believe I deserve it? Well, it's because ALL other players in the top 10 have refuse to 1vs1 me. Yes, every single one that I have seen on since I have started playing again, have refused. This includes Tim, Daut, Alive, Cyclops, and Patin. The only one I haven't asked yet is Jordan. They all got their ratings without barely even playing against me. I believe this is unfair as I think their ratings are an unsubstantiated mark of history without any current basis.
I believe that we should institute a decay system, similar to other ladders, to ensure that players need to prove they are worth their rating. After all, a ladder is supposed to indicate who is at the top of the game at any given time. This would definitely improve the level of competition, quantity and quality of recorded games, and general community atmosphere. We've already done it in many ways by eliminating point trading, fixing broken aoc games, uploading recorded games, and creating a user friendly gaming atmosphere.
One of the major rating abuses is done by playing teamgames. Teamgames have always been a lot of fun, and even though I could and will probably play enough to pass the rest of these point sitters, I believe that they are not a reliable source of skill level. There are many ways of manipulation such as: having coopers with low ratings on your team, having friends on lower nicknames than their skill level, etc that create many inefficiencies to allow players to boost their rating without needing to play outstanding.
My first proposal is to eliminate the rated portion of teamgames whenever the rating differential between the highest and lowest player is greater than 300 points for players with ratings above 2200. They could still play in teamgames, however they will only be rated when they actually have players worth their rating in them. (I'm 2520, rated games wouldn't count unless all players have more than 2220 rating). This would eliminate the issue of "team game rating abuse" that I have described above, and which I am currently using since I have no alternatives to passing the point sitters.
My second proposal is to institute a decay system. Since the ladder should show who is the best at the time and since it should be current. Inactive players are likely to have lost their skill and therefore should not be allowed to be at the 'top' without proving it. There are many ways we could do this, however, whether or not to separate the 1v1 and teamgame ladders is a topic we may want to discuss as well. For now I will assume that we want to force the top players to play against each other in 1v1 combat. I think the best way to do this would be to force players to play at least 7 games every 2 months or else they will lose 75 rating points. I believe the games should be 1vs1 or teamgames with all players within 200 rating points (this would eliminate "top" players playing in 7 games with noobs and/or friends every 2 months to "show" their "skill"). Yes, in the last phrase I am trying to emphasize how little skill that actually shows.
I understand this would take time and effort on part of the moderators and site admins. However, if these changes or similar ones were implemented in order to force the top players to play each other we would see a dramatic uptick in amazing recorded games, increased competition, and general community awareness. I would be willing to donate $100 to Voobly for the cause and I would make sure to produce as many great recorded games as I could. Let's make our aoc community even better than it already is!
L_Clan_Chris
daut