On Wed, 27 Dec 1995, Lou Poppler wrote:
The thorniest problem in our reputation economy continues to be the case of the player who drops out of a match when clearly losing, to avoid the decrement of his rating number (based on match results only, not on individual games). [......stuff deleted...] The best defense we have found against the match dropper is complaining in the newsgroup.
It seems to me the easiest way to solve this problem is to list for each player the number of games he dropped and didn't finish along with his rating and experience. Why go for elaborate social solutions when a simple technical solution exists?
Wei Dai
It seems to me that not finishing a game is the same as knocking over the board. It's a loss for the player waiting to move, and a non-game for the other player. This should solve the not-finishing-a-game problem in short order. For the problem of playing a fake unrated player, try variations on this scheme. Track the players each player plays and reevaluate all players scores in relative terms. To get a rating, players must engage in games with enough other players to form a valid statistical basis - at least 100 games with rated players for 10% accuracy. Start with provisional ratings in the 1-10 range based on comparrison with other players regardless of who. As players play other fully rated players, add a temporary rating based on relative performance and post both relative and 1-10 ratings. When players reach 100 games within the rated group, they get an official rating. -> See: Info-Sec Heaven at URL http://all.net/ Management Analytics - 216-686-0090 - PO Box 1480, Hudson, OH 44236