New KGS Ranking proposal

• Sounds fine, but doesn't it seem a little to complicated with the whole point-handicap-thing-cart? Wouldn't it be easiest for online go servers to just do what tygem does (x number of games before you rank up or down)?

What is this??

Here I'll try to explain my (lobo) idea of how my new ranking system will work & compare it with current (deeply flawed & beyond any repair in my opinion) KGS ranking system. After reading please use the discussion page.

Basic idea

Entry point of my approach is point based system similar to EGF. Players ranks are directly influenced by how many points they have:

   Range         Rank                      Range         Rank

  0-999           30k                   20000-20999       10k
 1000-1999        29k                   21000-21999        9k
 2000-2999        28k                   22000-22999        8k
 3000-3999        27k                   23000-23999        7k
 4000-4999        26k                   24000-24999        6k
 5000-5999        25k                   25000-25999        5k
 6000-6999        24k                   26000-26999        4k
 7000-7999        23k                   27000-27999        3k
 8000-8999        22k                   28000-28999        2k
 9000-9999        21k                   29000-29999        1k
10000-10999       20k                   30000-30999        1d
11000-11999       19k                   31000-31999        2d
12000-12999       18k                   32000-32999        3d
13000-13999       17k                   33000-33999        4d
14000-14999       16k                   34000-34999        5d
15000-15999       15k                   35000-35999        6d
16000-16999       14k                   36000-36999        7d
17000-17999       13k                   37000-37999        8d
18000-18999       12k                   38000-38999        9d
19000-19999       11k

Mother of all tables

Another crucial part of my plan is a table expressing points change for win/loss situation under various circumstances:

Rank difference                     Actual handicap
   handicap +5   +4   +3   +2   +1    0   -1   -2   -3   -4   -5

-5          200  190  180  170  160  150  140  130  120  110  100

-4          190  180  170  160  150  140  130  120  110  100  90

-3          180  170  160  150  140  130  120  110  100  90   80

-2          170  160  150  140  130  120  110  100  90   80   70

-1          160  150  140  130  120  110  100  90   80   70   60

 0          150  140  130  120  110  100  90   80   70   60   50

+1          140  130  120  110  100  90   80   70   60   50   40

+2          130  120  110  100  90   80   70   60   50   40   30

+3          120  110  100  90   80   70   60   50   40   30   20

+4          110  100  90   80   70   60   50   40   30   20   10

+5          100  90   80   70   60   50   40   30   20   10    0

Notice how simple it looks and works: you know exactly how many points are at stake of a particular game and also how many more you need to actually advance!!!

This is where current KGS system fails the most. Depending on how many games you played, the more consecutive wins you need to advance. In result some people need to get ridiculous amounts of wins to actually change a rank and if they want to do it fast they are digging their own grave because the more you play the more you have to win!!!! At this point some people bring the subject 'if he's really better then current rank he should win easily' and they couldn't have been more wrong. Since wining percentage between two ranks is in the ranges of 60/40 in favor of the stronger player and our hero just wants to 'be' that one rank stronger he will loose some games in the process of advancing. Keep in mind though that if he does he is pushing his goal even further because the lost game counts towards not only rank decline but also to his rank 'confidence' that translates to winning more consecutive games to advance.

Proposed rules and implementation

Having a system is not all, there are issues that have to be resolved with a set of 'rules' appropriate to a particular situation:

• A new player arrives in the system?

First of all this new player is an 'added value', it means that his participation in the system can't generate any 'cost' (by joining the game he doesn't steal some players knowledge/ability and in result he shouldn't steal his ranking points). That's why a game between registered player with [?] ranking and a stable [k/d] or semi-stable [k/d?] rank won't provide any points for the 'old guy' and assign a rank of the 'new guy' depending on his win/loss in 1 range of his opponent.

For the new player beings a 'trial' period in which system will try to assign him a best suited rank (indicated by ? after the estimated rank). To actually achieve this I'd like to use a diminshing multiplier depending on how many games he played. If it's his 2nd game his points from the Mother of all tables will be multiplied by 9 and decreased accordingly (3rd x8, 4th x7, 5th x6, 6th x5, 7th x4, 8th x3, 9th x2, 10 x1). This generates faster promotion/demotion for new players and is quite flexible solution. If a 'new 9d' plays [30k] and is now [29k?] he can quickly estimate that he should play much stronger opponent and thanks to the multiplier he will gain much more points thanks to his next win against a much 'stronger' opponent.

• Player with [k/d] rank plays a [k/d?]?

Stable rank player won't gain/lose anything in this game, he is just helping the opponent to gain a stable ranking. This way we encourage players to help others gain rank.

Main features

Well there you go, whole ranking system!! Simple isn't it? Yeah it is but it's not his biggest advantage. Let me explain its main features:

• Clear rules, you know exactly what is at stake of a particular game.
• Faster rank advancement/decline that provides a stable (not locally but server wide) game enviroment. Your opponents will have more accurate ranking, no more '1d consists of players at about four different playing levels'.
• No penalty for playing too much, people who do so won't change their ranking 'chaotically' throughout a day because 10 consecutive wins doesn't just happen.
• Thanks to faster rank propagation on server level (9d will demote a player weaker than him faster than in current ranking and then he will do so with 8d, 7d etc. down to 30k) we will once again have double digit kyu's that right now are squeezed in 10k-9d range.