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BGonline.org Forums
The solution... (?)
Posted By: Marty Storer In Response To: The solution... (?) (Bill Davis)
Date: Tuesday, 23 June 2009, at 1:02 p.m.
I really think that a KG-like rating system will have no bad effect on tournament attendance.
When I played in chess tournaments in high school, I noticed that most players were in it for the fun. U.S. Chess Federation ratings (Elo system) enhanced the fun. People, even weaker players, loved to measure their progress against an objective standard. Many players never got beyond a relatively low level, but I saw them playing in tournaments time and again. They weren't discouraged by the fact of their lower ratings, they were having fun.
Only really top chess players had any chance to make significant money (Walter Browne haunted the NYC weekend Swiss tournaments and just about always cashed, and an average player had zero chance against him), but if you won a prize for your rating class, that was great, and your rating increased. You might even get to play someone like Browne. Of course you'd lose, and at the time the man seemed to me to have no manners at all, but so what.
In backgammon, you'll see a lot of volatility in ratings. That's endemic to the system and the effects have been analyzed by various math-literate types (Doug Zare? Bob Koca?). I saw Kit Woolsey's FIBS rating drop to 1794 as well as get over 2000.
I remember in the 1970s that all kinds of weak players played for money ranging from tiny to huge stakes. That's backgammon! It's easy to delude yourself about your skill and discount bad results as mere luck.
I expect that weaker players won't mind, or won't care, what their ratings are. The volatility of ratings will put them on a partial-reinforcement schedule and keep them at least somewhat encouraged some of the time. We can introduce rating-class-based prizes, too--that would mean somewhat less money for sharks, but I think it could only help attendance.
I agree with Neil that KG ratings didn't seem to be a factor in BG tournament attendance. When KG ratings were active (late 80s to mid 90s), they seemed to be pretty much under the radar except where high-rated players were concerned.
Ratings will be a useful source of information to anyone that wants to use it, organizers included, and they'll enhance the fun of backgammon for many people. I doubt the presence of a rating system will discourage anyone at all from playing in tournaments; it hasn't done so in the past that I can see.
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