ZeroK: New Rating System
We have recently switched to a new rating system. Elo is being replaced by Whole history rating. Although generally very similar to the old ratings, this means that rating values have changed for every player. Here are the most important things to know about the new system:
Core concepts that remained the same
- Winning increases your rating, losing decreases your rating.
- Defeating a higher rated player counts more than defeating a lower rated player.
- Chance of victory is derived directly from the difference in rating between two players.
- Rating decreases during periods of inactivity but is fully restored after playing a few games.
Main differences to the old system
- The rating reacts faster to skill changes, especially noticeable for newer and casual players.
- Instead of a single rating, the entire history of each player is memorized.
- There are small daily rating adjustments. These are independent of activity and serve to optimize the rating’s accuracy based on past games.
Why change a working system?
- Lessen the impact of smurfs due to much faster rating adjustments even for old accounts.
- More accurate and stable ladders that are less susceptible to the outcome of single games.
- The new system is a base for additional statistics that weren’t possible before.
This is just a very basic summary. If you want to learn more I suggest you check out the related forum thread or the original publication.