3. The Hanged Man (don't care, 36-48, anon)
5. peterwiggin (1500 , 24-36, anon)
9. Ogion (250 , 24-36, anon)
16. Rdrivera2005 (200-1000 , 36-48, don´t care)
18. VillageIdiot (250 , 24-36, anon)
20. ckroberts (150 , 36-48, anon)
31. Socrates Dissatisfied (408 , 36-48, either)
34. abge (100 , 25-36, Nonanon)
51. dyager_nh (50 , 24-36, anon)
56. TMOW (272 , 36-48, anon)
62. bo_sox48 (only in it for the free money, 36, nonanonanonanonanon-BATMAN)
87. Hellenic Riot (50 , 24-36 hours, either)
92. mendax (50 , 36+, anon)
109 Hamilton Brian (Max Points: 25, 24-36 Hour Phases, Anon)
135 ssorenn(50 , 24, either)
221. Chaqa(250 , 36+, non-anon)
581. dirge (40 , 36, either)
671. Krellin (26 , 24+, either)
XX. Braillard (50 , 36+, either)
XX. goose (27 , 36, Nonanon)
XX. Kallen (9 , 24-36, Nonanon)
XX. Jeff Kuta (11 , 24, anon)
XX Alpha@Omega(50 ,36-48, anon)
XX VashtaNeurotic (25 , 24 -36, anon)
XX Squigs44 (25 , 24-48, either)

if GR goes up and down based on how well you do VS. other players how are the determinations made on who is better than the other?....what basis are they using?

If someone in the top 20 joins, we can get the first two games going.

Squigs, you don't have a GR rank but you will soon enough. It takes a few months of data collection before it's added.

GR as well, ssorenn. I don't know how it was originally built, but if you have a better result in a game than someone with a higher GR than you (even if you had nothing to do with it, for example say that they were defeated early just by chance and you managed to survive and draw), you get a slight bonus for that game.

It's pretty simple. All it is is the following:

Everyone has some GR. Each game, each person in the game "bets" some fixed percentage of their GR (I think it's 2/35ths) and then at the end that GR is distributed according to the rules of the game (PPSC or WTA). That's it.

@ssorenn

See uclabb's post. Basically, at the start of each game, each player bets n% of their GR points, rather than n webDip points. This means that better players put more into the pot. In this way, you win more by doing well (draw/win) against better players.

thx to all for the explanation

Take it the monthly GR tends to take a while to get compiled and posted?

There's a betting element to GR? Always figured it was just based on skill analysis alone.

"skill analysis" isn't a real thing, though. You need an algorithm calculates a number that represents skill. GR does this by having people "bet" a fixed % of their total rating. You don't get to choose how much you bet, though. It's always the same % of your total.

Two caveats: your bet is taken when the game ends, not when it starts, and for the combined gr, I think variants have a smaller bet percentage than standard press games.

Maybe the word "bet" is throwing me off. I'm picturing it where you look at the rating of everybody in the game and adjust based reward based on who's left. Aka a solo against crappy players could do less for you then a threeway with great players. I also assumed WTA vs PPSC played no relevance and variants only mattered in category breakdown. Am I off?

A little bit. At the end of the game, every player puts in a percentage of their rating, andrthe pot is split the same way as the webdip coins, depending ding on whether it's wta or ppsc. You are right that a solo against terrible players can net you less than a draw against very goodpplayers, but it depends on all the players in the game when it finished, not just the survivors. I believe that for the overall gr, variants are weighted less than the standard press game, as in the percentage of their ratingthat each oplayer puts in is smaller. Obviously, for the category ratings, only games in that category are included.

Is it kinda similar to how the do it over at PlayDiplomacy?

I've never played there... It's the same as how dipbounced does theirrrating system. It's basically an elo system.

Never even heard of dipbounced but think I get the general idea. Thanks peter, very informative!

Haha very few people here seem to have played there. It's pretty dead over there nowadays, but it's where I learned to play, do I'm rather fond of it.

Yikes just had a peak, that does look a bit antiquated.

Nice meeting ya. Guess i'll probably be squeezing my way into your group this game so looking forward to getting to play with one of the top dogs. Go easy on me! ;)

For those who are curious, here is how GR actually works, adapted from pg 33 of http://www.diplomacyworld.net/pdf/dw105.pdf.

GR_New = GR_Old + V(R-E[R]), where:

GR_New := New Ghost Rating (Not Rank)
GR_Old := Old Ghost Rating
V := Weighting Function
R := Result
E[R] := Expected Result

The paper justifies how the following are chosen, but in summary:

V := ΣGR_Old/17.5 (Divided by 17.5 to prevent wild fluctuations due to one particularly good/bad game)
R := 1 if Win, 1/n if n-way Draw, 0 else (WTA)
E[R] := GR_Old/ΣGR_Old

So, what we have is:

GR_New = GR_Old + (ΣGR_Old/17.5)(R-GR_Old/ΣGR_Old)

Looking at just the delta, we have:

ΔGR = RΣGR_Old/17.5 - GR_Old/17.5

So, if you lose (R=0), then your GR will drop by your old rating divided by 17.5.
If you win (R=1), then your GR will increase by the sum of everyone's old rating divided by 17.5.

What this all boils down to is everyone bets GR/17.5, which means if your have a higher GR, you are contributing more to the pot.

Hopefully the above is somewhat helpful; apologies if it's just confused the issue.

To put this in perspective, let's take a look at a game between Wizard (GR=367) and 6 abgemachts (GR=162). We each bet our GR/17.5, so Wizard bets 21 and each abgemacht bets 9.25 for a pot of 76.5. The payout for different draws are:

2-way: 38.25
3-way: 25.5 GR
4-way: 19 GR
5-way: 15 GR
6-way: 12.75 GR
7-way: 11 GR

Notice how Wizard contributes so much to the pot that the abges would increase their GR even in a 7-way draw. Wizard, on the other hand, would lose points even with a 4-way draw. He would need at least a 3-way (but even that is barely breaking even).

VI: we played together once, and you more than held your own. I think just were in another game together right now. U don't think you need us to go easy.

Would I be right to say that the system de-incentivises playing people with a lower GR than your own? Or perhaps more accurately, you should always play people with the highest possible GR?

And more importantly, do people here adjust which games they play or dont based on this?

Yes and No.

TMoW, it's only slightly a deterrent against playing people with a lower GR. If you lose, you lose the amount of GR regardless of who you were playing against. In that sense, playing the toughest competition might not be the best way to optimize your GR. Of course, I really don't think many - if any - players on the site are that concerned that they try fix things in certain ways.

TMoW. Are we all here to be snobby about our GR. Or are we here to play diplomacy? As long as you get people who will press and not CD. Who cares?

Like, I like playing people who are better than me, because usually I learn something in a loss(or at least try to). People who have high GR either aren't that good or have not had the opportunity to play in better games, therefore not getting their rating down

"People who have high GR either aren't that good or have not had the opportunity to play in better games, therefore not getting their rating down"

No, this is pretty much the exact opposite of the case. It is very hard to farm up GR playing against bad people. That was my point with the Wizard example.

Higher GR=lower quality player, in your ex. Yes?

Sorry, my abbreviations are sloppy.

Ghost Rank, lower is better. 1 is the best. Ghost Rating is how the numbers are calculated. The more rating you have, the better you are. People are Ranked based on their Rating.

In my example, Wizard is Ranked 1 and has a Eating of 360. I am Ranked 36 and have a Rating of 160.