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BGonline.org Forums
How to improve backgammon: Adopt a world ranking system like tennis or golf
Posted By: Henrik Bukkjaer In Response To: How to improve backgammon: Adopt a world ranking system like tennis or golf (Chuck Bower)
Date: Friday, 8 July 2011, at 4:28 p.m.
>>2. Isn't the problem addressed by segregating players in tournaments according to rating? In other words, if you have a high rating (whether acquired against top or weak opponents), you will play against the real top rated players only. Won't the faux high-rated players get creamed by the real high-rated players thereby bringing the ratings closer to their "true" rating?
>> That would work for this purpose but it's very unlikely to happen. There are many players who don't aspire to compete at the top levels. If the reward for doing well at Intermediate is to get thrown to the wolves, they are less motivated to even play. Note also that entry fees are significantly different which also is (to some) a deterrent for moving up. Sandbaggers (open level players in the intermediate) are discouraged from the practice, and even though that tends to be a subjective 'ruling' it seems to work pretty well in the US.
If you had a rating system (that worked), one of the best things you could do with it would be to put limits on second tier flights!
I can't understand that several people in this thread see rating limits on flights as a problem - I'd see it as a positive.
For the vast majority of (multi flight) tournaments in DBgF there are limits and they keep the sharks out of the swimming pool and make the lower flights much more attractive to new-comers and recreational players. They also push some players forward that has reached a higher level.
Of course there are some things that needs to be taken into account, before the rating limits will work as they are supposed to:
1) The rating system (the ratings) should be mature - if everyone has the start rating plus minus a few matches, it doesn't work. It should be the right players that are rated high.
2) Most of the tournaments where you push players up in a higher flight must still carry a pricetag that's reasonable. It's OK to have a few tournaments that players considers too-expensive, as long as this is not the norm. If you tell a player that he has to pay $250 to play Flight A instead of $25 in Flight C, because he just won 3 matches in a row, that will never be very productive! So, the limits should not be too tight - they can be a combination of rating and experience, and you can offer sidepools in the top flights to keep entry fee to a level that's affordable by the majority of players.
3) You probably still need to have many matches rated from tournaments that pitch high and low rated players off against each other. Weekly low-entry tournaments, team leagues, etc. Partly to get the ratings better, partly to differentiate your tournament catalog - so everything will not be A group B group segregation. It's also fun now and then for beginners to get a shot at some of the top-players...
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