[ThatEbayGuy]

Originally Posted by midnz

ELO Rating System - Explained

The ELO Rating System has been around for decades. It was originally used for rating chess players but is portable to other games and fits in well with web games. Here's what it does:

• ELO is used to rate players based on skill level. It is generally used for two player games like chess but can be modified.
• A new player is assigned a default rating, say 1200.
• Two players compete and end with one of three results: player 1 wins, player 2 wins, players 1 & 2 tie.
• The two player's ratings are fed into an algorithm along with the end state of the game and a new rating for each player is returned.

If two players both rated 1200 played and player 1 wins then player 1 will have a rating of about 1205 and player 2 will be 1195. What makes ELO so cool is what happens over time. Players that win a lot end up with higher ratings. But the higher rated player starts to see diminishing returns for defeating low ranked players. So in order for a high ranked player to increase his rank, he must defeat other higher ranked players. If a high ranked player loses to a low ranked player, he loses much more of his rating then he'd gain if he won the match. Over time the game players will end up being rated based on their skill level rather than other factors.

That's what I was thinking but at the same time I don't think someone who is 4-1 should be at the bottom of the ladder. And that's what is going on right now. Is there any way I can tweak the system? I was digging in the ladder file but I have no experience in javascript. I like the idea of Elo, but I don't like that a 4-1 player can be behind someone who is 0-3 and my site members don't like it either.