Match queueing and FTA

[Syvan]

I might be imagining this, but I think I have stumbled on a way to bias getting FTA. I think it's only a problem at the extremes of the ladder, which is unfortunately where it is most a problem due to the competitive nature of the players there.

I'll tell you my story first. This morning I spawned P2 4 times in a row to the same person. I wouldn't have thought too much more about it, but he has been quite ruthless about pushing FTA on a couple small maps. Then a couple hours later in a bit of frustration (BTW, can we make Glitch about 4 hexes longer?) I started two more games. Again spawning both of them P2 against another player. This got my thinking about the Waiting for Player dialog in a game that hasn't found an opponent.

I'm not entirely sure how matches are found or leagues are distributed, since Adam and Alex have been cryptic about it, but I'm going to draw on some lessons I've learned in other games that seem applicable here. First, I suspect my MMR, or skill value, is somewhat high, which means I probably have a relatively small pool of competitors. It may have also been shrunk by the recent tweaks to the ladder placement system, which I think is a good thing overall. However, currently when a match cannot be found, the searching player goes first. If the server cannot find any matches, it just says Waiting for Player. Another game can be started, placing it in the queue all the way out to 20.

Including yesterday, I started P2 8 games in a row, which I figured was a little bit outside the realm of chance. With a little finesse of the queue, I started at least 7 games in a row as P1 before I ran out of space.

In this way, a person at the extremes of the skill distribution can fill the rest of their 20 games fairly confidently as P1. By periodically probing the system, it should be possible to discover when the queue is empty and start first most of the time.

This may be a system that keeps the point rich getting richer, as the phrase goes. Since the people at the furthest extremes will have the best opportunity to bias the system and abuse FTA.

I think there are a couple ways to fix the problem, but these are merely suggestions. (1) Prevent the server from searching more than 1 game per player. I think this can also be gamed. As soon as I see the match grab a player, I can just start a new game. (2) Force the match to wait for both players before randomly assigning who goes first. I like this option the best.

For those of you at the edges of the MMR, my current suggestion would be if you start a game as P2, wait a while before starting another, as you may be playing this same person.

Sorry if I have been completely wrong and you had to read this far for nothing.

As I wrote this post, I think I spawned some unfortunately player into my games as P2 4 times in a row. I suspect he will be a little frustrated. Zalteo, if you're out there, sorry about that