Handicap ranked games should be allowed, shouldn’t they? - in the case where new player’s rank would be based on information they provide (I know it isn’t at present). Because otherwise it might be hard for a beginner to find a game. Not being able to get a game quickly is probably also a problem for beginners.
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I see two probable options: either they think smaller numbers are weaker (thus unfamiliar with kyu-dan ranks, which would be nice to teach about on the site somewhere)
or just haven’t paid attention to it, and are picking the top match that fits their preferences on a whim
Either way, a more probable solution to that specific problem might be having somewhere where you can learn what these “k” and “d” numbers are
or just displaying based on rating, which is more culturally recognizeable
(ofc there’s also the secret third possibility, which is, maybe they want to be beaten hard a bunch? Sorta like how dwyrin would go onto tygem and keep making accounts seeded at the maximum rank he could until he stayed there)
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I am not sure. He got a 13k rating. Although it’s overrated he may think he deserve it and just think 14k-5k is an interesting offer (some like to play stronger, usually for progress). He just don’t see the gap even if crushed.
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maybe? But I find it more likely that they just don’t understand this kyu/dan system that’s seemingly only ever used in the west by Go players and Martial artists (and even then, most people recognize them by colored belts and not kyu/dan), and has kyu work like negative numbers
Like if they’re just learning about Go, such as when you first discover it on your own and are about 25kyu in strength, they aren’t likely to have cultural touchpoints for kyu/dan, and almost every beginner I’ve ever worked with has had to be explained, otherwise they think big number is strong
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That’s possible too. By his games history, it
seems difficult to get some understanding of how kyus/dans works anyway. So it’s possible to infere that 14k is better as 13.
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Don’t get me wrong, I’m a supporter of multiple entry points and the like, especially ones that use common language like “beginner”, “intermediate”, and “advanced”, to give players a better idea of how the scale of the ratings system works (and thus helping understand the kyu/dan directions) so that they don’t have to know what a 25k is before signing up as a 25k.
I just think this is also a sign of a different problem than “oh my rating must be correct, that’s why I’ve lost several games in a row but am still challenging the upper end of my ‘possible to accept’ range”
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Sure.
Most interesting is how uninteresting (and painful) that player experience of OGS should be.
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Of course it also points to a flaw in Glicko design.
Namely it assumes the distribution of possible “current ratings” is symmetrical.
Which is especially prominent when you only gain information about the upper-end of a player’s potential, but yet it still restricts as if it’s gained information about the lower-end, too.
Under normal conditions, this doesn’t matter too much. The approximation used is generally good, but it is a weakness of the approximation
Maybe a mod would be interested to contact the player, see how the situation is understood and if agreed, propose a manual reajustement by annulation of the wins? I saw it done not long ago on request in another case.
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I think that in fact a “sandbagging” report could be raised to draw it to moderator attention. Not to suggest that the person is sandbagging on purpose, but just that some games need annulling due to a person’s rank having “become sandbagged”.
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Wouldn’t it be an airbagging/heliumbagging report?
Yes, but we don’t have that specific category, do we? You could file it as “other”, but my observation is that “other” gets processed more slowly than something fitted into the proper categories…
I mean the image only filters on their ranked games, they’re all sorts of random board sizes like 2x2 and 25x1, 5x2 etc that this user is playing. I’m sure their experience of OGS is whatever they’re wanting to make of it. @square.defender has presented a bit of a skewed picture showing this player only playing ranked games and losing, while the player actually has the same or more unranked games.
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Good for him if he find some fun with these unranked research. That doesn’t make his ranked games more shiny.
user lost all unranked games, except 1 rengo where he time-outed early
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Is it really about winning?
Is the fact they’re not winning this a concern?
Or winning this
If you’re willing to play 10 games of these funky settings either you’re determined or just having fun.
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I don’t really get your point when we are debating about access to fair rated games between beginners.
Beginner: I’d like to drive my car
Answer: well, seems you tried to ride a bicycle.
And what?
Did this beginner say they would like to win more?
If this beginner don’t like winning, does it mean other beginners should not win too?
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Other beginners’ ranks go down because they take games with weak or similarly ranked players. This user’s rank does not go down quickly because they mostly take challenges against SDK