Index -> Miscellaneous -> Ratings

Ratings

Ratings are a method of gauging the relative capability of one player versus another. While they are by no means completely accurate - depending on many things, such as how long a player has been competing, and whether they play in sanctioned events or not - in general they are a reasonable guide to how good a player is likely to be.

All players start out with a rating of 1500. The only way to improve your rating is to play in sanctioned events. The ratings are based on the ELO system, also used to rate chess players as well as in many other gaming systems. This means that generally your rating will improve for each player you beat, and it will decrease for each player that beats you (unless your rating is lower than 1600, in which case it will not go down at all. This is to give players new to the tournament system a time to get comfortable with it without being able to get themselves into a position that they cannot recover from later), except in some situations where the disparity in ratings is very large. The amount that it will increase or decrease depends on the rating of the person you are playing and the K-value of the event - the greater the disparity, the more the change, and the greater the K-value, the more the change.

Players with a rating between 1500 and 1749 are identifiable by a bronze sphere next to their name in a user list (as long as they have no other special icon, such as the crown that indicates a staff member); players with a rating between 1750 and 1899 have a silver sphere; and players with a rating above 1900 have a gold sphere.

See also Tournaments.