Assist user in selecting a computer player with an appropriate playing strength

[herzbube]

Many reviews in the App Store clearly state that the default computer players are too strong for a beginner. Some of the reviewers find this a stimulating challenge, while others are frustrated to a varying degree.

To prevent too much frustration, the app should provide some sort of assistance to the user with selecting a computer player with playing strength that is appropriate to the user's playing strength. This assistance feature needs to be activated when the app is started for the first time, but should also be available later in case the user made a mistake and wishes to reconsider.

Keep in mind that simply setting the computer's playing strength equal to the user's playing strength may not always be what the user desires. Allowing the user to select the degree of challenge may be a better idea.

[herzbube]

Some thoughts:

• In order to implement this, the user will probably have to rate his or her own playing strength.
• This rating will probably have to be stored in the user's player profile
• The user may wish to rate playing strengths according to different scales. Two that come to mind:
  • The dan rating
  • Simple terms such as "beginner", "advanced", etc. Note: Should we avoid terms like "weak" and "strong"?
• The user may wish to calibrate the in-game playing strengths against his own rating scale. This is not only a question of individual taste, there is a real difference between playing strengths on different devices. In general, the more number-crunching power a device has the stronger it is, because it can calculate more moves in the same amount of time than a less powerful device.