Llamalland
commented
4 years ago In addition to this, I think this will create a larger potential range of ratings, as I think some people rated 0 in legacy are truly quite a way below 0.
For example, I've never beaten Stownie, but I've gotten a set off him and gotten close many times and am quite competitive with him, and if I had an amazing game and he had a relatively poor game, I don't think it would shock either of us if I beat him. He is rated about 800 or 900 points above me. Most people below 200 have less of a chance against me than I have against Stownie, but with far less of a ratings difference, because of a combination of the ratings floor of 0 and new players starting on 0 artificially buffing up those players. And many 200 rating players can probably destroy 100 players consistently, and 100 can probably destroy 50, asymptoting towards 0.
I think, before introducing this placement system (assuming you still are keen to), I'd add at least 1000 rating (maybe much more) to every active player above 0 rating and make everyone else go through placement. That way when the dust settles after enough games have been played and people settle at whatever level they should be, everyone should have a meaningful positive rating (nobody wants a negative rating, but a ratings floor introduces the problems I mentioned), and Stownie will probably still be 800-900 above me, but there will be people who can't beat really me but are at least a threat to me 800-900 below me, and the same for them 800-900 below them etc.
Table tennis is a game that is extremely sensitive to skill, so having a huge range of ratings does really make sense. Somewhat like chess, where the world top players are at 2700+, a good player like myself is something like 1500, decent players who know some tactics are maybe 900, people who at least know the rules but not much more are towards 0. But probably moreso imo.
Don't start people at 0 rating, put them into, say, a 5-10 game placement mode.
Actually, I think ELO 0 overestimates most people's skill starting the game, and that's why for most people under about 550, playing low rated people is the best way to get points.
In placement mode, somehow that is indicated when either they challenge you or when you challenge them. Maybe some pop-up comes up explaining that because your opponent is undergoing placement, your elo will not change (or will not change until they have finished placement, and elo changes will be based on post-placement elo).
And their elo should not be as if they started at ELO 0 but rather, say if they played a 400 elo person 10 times in placement and split 5:5, their elo post-placement should be 400 (or maybe just a little lower). It does have the potential for abuse, say if a friend boosts their performance up artificially, but I think the benefits would outweigh the potential for abuse.
That way, not only would players like @abs01ute returning to the game get to their approximate level much quicker than starting at ELO 0, but also people would not be afraid to play him at a time when they may know that point changes to them are unfair because of his temporarily underrated skill.