After some consideration, I want to ask if anyone else is interested in participating in an alternative ranking system.
The basic premise is that the only way to get a rank above 30k is winning games, and that people of different ranks must use mandatory handicaps for valid games.
Obviously, this kind of system would include some manual work on my part, but it seems like an interesting experiment to see if this alternate ranking would eventually drift to a very close replica of current ranking of OGS for the players involved, or something much different.
And itâs yet one more excuse to play more games. That canât be bad.
This is NOT a feature request or in any way related to the OGS serverâs ranking system. None of the rules are particularly set in stone, either. This is really just a rough first draft. Suggestions are very welcome.
1.Ranking System
Everyone starts at 30k. No exceptions.
Upon 4 consecutive wins, a player is promoted.
Upon 4 consecutive losses, a players is demoted, unless at 30k.
A maximum rank past 9d may become necessary, but is undecided.
2.Valid Games
A game must be on a 19x19 board.
A game must have at least 30m main time and a byo-yomi which grants
at least 30 seconds per stone on average.
A game should be completed within 5 hours of absolute time.
A game must have exactly zero komi. If for any reason it does not, it will still be judged as if it has zero komi.
If a player plays against a player who is more than 9 ranks lower, the game will not be valid.
A game should contain none of the following:
- endless wasted moves to bore the opponent into resigning
- an egregious scoring mistake
- resigning a won position or a very unclear position
- trash talking or otherwise harassing an opponent
As a guiding principle, minor mistakes will simply be corrected since weâre all human, and the silly little details arenât worth putting people off participating.
3.Handicap System
If a player plays against an equal rank player, they shall alternate between playing black and white. Since strict alternation is a pain, random assignment of color is fine.
If a player plays against a player one rank lower, they must take white.
If a player plays against a player two ranks lower, they must take white and give two handicap stones. For every additional one rank difference, they must give one additional handicap stone.