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Kamikaze28 · 07-17-2012, 12:51 AM

(07-17-2012 12:36 AM)crump7 Wrote:
(07-16-2012 11:54 PM)Kamikaze28 Wrote: During the beta, I brought up a similar point and Alex (the Alex) made some very convincing points about why there are no viewable skill rankings:

To quote from the discussion:

onealexleft Wrote:A lot of the design decisions in the league play are geared to making players play *more* and worry less about outcomes.

I understand that the current league design philosophy doesn't include what I have suggested, I just wonder if other players are happy as it stands or would like something along the lines I suggest?

Fair enough. I for one am okay with the current system. We're talking about a mobile game after all, not an eSport competition.

(07-17-2012 12:36 AM)crump7 Wrote: Some good points made so lets look at them:

Quote:1.Outwitters does not use ELO, the values used are anything but human-readable and knowing them doesn't get you anywhere.

Two possibilities here, the unreadable numbers could be converted to readable, or an elo type system could replace them.

Either way, it's a high development effort for potentially little gain.

(07-17-2012 12:36 AM)crump7 Wrote:
Quote:3.Show a skill rating to people and once it's high enough they are motivated not to play anymore, because they might lose and fall down the ranks.

I would be very surprised if there was much of that, however you could easily overcome that by an inactivity penalty if no games are played, so they would descend the rankings.

I find it hard to explain such a complicated system in a mobile game environment. People started playing Outwitters and didn't even know what Wit Spaces were for - even though the very-much-in-your-face Tutorial told them.

(07-17-2012 12:36 AM)crump7 Wrote:
Quote:4.Show them a score they can maximize instead and they'll go to the ends of the earth to do so.

I don't quite understand this comment, can you elaborate?

When players read "rating" and grasp the concept of it going up and down depending on how well they play, they will feel compelled to get it as high as possible and then stay there by not playing for a while.
Points on the other hand have this "get as much as possible"-character to them and players will feel motivated to do just that. In other words, players will always feel motivated to keep playing to the best of their abilities.