Damn, my best games are gunboat and public press. : (

Thanks, ghost. Are these percentages backdated for all games, or just starting last month?

they are backdated

Well, I should drop like a rock next month. I played a lot of gunboat in my first three months. Damn.

Why? Are you implying that GB and PP players are less skilled than others? That's the way that it seems so I must ask why? Because to me that smells like a load. It encourages players to only play one type of game and it further allows veteran friends to monopolies games.

I think the new system is rational.
It doesn't imply anything like that
It just implies that all kind of variants are less representative of the skill, not for less skillful players.

It's the same thing is it not? It seems to me that as more guidelines are implied the whole system and the site becomes more and more elites. This is bad for the site overall. If this is where we're going then I think the ratings system should just be dropped. It's counter-productive to a good environment.

There is some truth in this but we surely need a rating system so as to motivate ourselves and to know "who is who".
If there was no rating system then what pleasure would it give to you to beat MadMarx :P

@C-K

The only difference is the amount of change per game. You can reach the same dizzying heights, only it takes longer. This reflects:

-The heightened element of chance
-That skill at gunboat and PP is less of an indicator of skill at diplomacy
-That the games often take less time, so you can play more

And a balancing of these factors.

I understand that my friend. I also think that this is furthering elitism and limiting game play overall. I wish that you'd re-consider. Players are starting to consider their rankings over the game. I know you're a player first and I'm pretty sure that's not your intention with these rankings. I think that many of the cheaters on the site do so to gain " credit" among the community. If the rankings didn't exist then there would be less motivation to cheat. No?

I think that non-standard game should be excluded from the Ghostratings altogether, and I include live games in this category. It's not that these games are less worthy, but its like comparing apples with oranges. The same applies to the points system, gunboats and live games should be free to play, but you don't win points,

I agree spyman.

I agree too

You know, you all sound like non-standard games are nothing like diplomacy. Play a public press game and see how hard it is. Play a gunboat and see how hard it is. It is not apples and oranges.

I agree. Personally, I think Public Press games are the most difficult. Everyone knows if you're full of it or not.

The way I see it everything that is different from the official way to play the game shouldn't count in ratings.

@jimgov - I don't think anyone is questioning that Public Press and Gunboats are difficult. Juggling on a unicycle is difficult too: the point is, by definition your performance in something that is not strictly diplomacy shouldn't count towards an assessment of your diplomacy skill as much as the game itself does. Allowing for the fact that these variants are MORE like Diplomacy than aforementioned physical stunts, they count for something. Just less. Unicycling counts for zero, although if you try it you will see that it is very hard.

The system seems rational to me.

Oh, I agree lulzworth. I was talking about the people that thought the others should not be counted. I am fine with the system that Ghost has created. Maybe I didn't explain my position fully.

lulzworth has said exactly my thoughts on the matter.

I still think that any ratings are bad for the game but I would like to say that it's people like Ghost that make this site the best. It's the extra work of people like him that give this game a twist.

I like the ratings. Whether they exactly reflect playing ability or not (I'm not getting into that argument again), they certainly let you know who is a good player.

Well if gunboat and PP are going to be worth less, then shouldn't anonymous get a boost. After all, it is much harder to play skillfully when you don't know who is who in a game.

I am not sure why variants are weighted less. Unless there is some sort of serious balance problem on them, the ruleset and method of play is still the same. In a lot of ways, it takes more skill to manage the world variant because the politics gets seriously complicated with so many players.

I think it good that they are weighted less, especially the world variant as those of us who are colorblind have a hard time telling some of the nations apart on the map. I know I won't be playing World Variant again unless the map changes to provide customizable colors.

The game is called "Diplomacy." That's what distinguishes it from every other strategy game. I don't see why people are upset that diplomacy-free Diplomacy is downgraded.

Well, my only issue is that the numbers chosen seem to be quite arbitrary. I think performance in variants is more correlated to overall diplomacy skill than those numbers imply. I don't see why World is so heavily devalued. Ancient Med is not so much different from the normal map that you would only have a 50% idea of how the same players would perform against each other on one map from their performance in another.

pasto, the map variants have just as much, if not more, diplomacy than the original map, but I can understand if the Ghost Rating emphasis is on accurately predicting the results of a normal map game. Public press certainly requires diplomatic chops, and Gunboat has a surprisingly subtle diplomatic element. Much can be said without words. I do agree that they should be worth less, especially if the Ghost Rating is supposed to be a reflection of skill in the classic game, but I do think the current values are a bit strong.

I do think the percentages are a little low. I agree they should be lower than 100%, though. Or we could have some sort of nonagon, with a line segment from the center to an angle whose distance is proportionate to our skill. Then you could look at someone's skill nonagon and say, "Oh, their Ancient Med-Open Press line is really long. They're good at that." Of course, that'd be annoying to do up.

I am in favour of live games (and I guess gunboat too) not counting for points and not counting for Ghostratings. It would good to have a category of play where players could try out new, possibly riskier strategies etc, without fear of compromising their hard won rankings.