But if you want the best ranking system, try the ghost-ratings: http://phpdiplomacy.tournaments.googlepages.com/home2

They measure players performance like the Elo system in chess with higher rewards for beating better players.

wow, that is impressive. just as an explanation, the reason i frown on the "most points" as being top player is because its easy to take a couple high stakes games, but a real "top dog" has played multiple (more than 15 or so) and come out victorious in most scenarios. Not to hate on my point-chasing brothers, but those with high wins percentages are the ones that impress me. Rait definately is the top player i've seen.

Geesh, is this *another* multiple account confession through a forum screwup!?

:P

mysterio, "top dog" is relative to how you judge such things. You do not count points, some do. You could view the Ghost-Ratings which is an Elo based system. If you wish to look at winning ratios, you could look at a players profile; however, that winning ratio includes games still being played. In other words, if a player is only playing one game currently, then the ration is mostly accurate, but if a player is in 20 games currently, then the ratio is far less accurate.

One other thing to note, every person plays for his own reasons, so even if you find your "top dog", he may or may not be the "best" player.

I'll try to find an answer to the win percent question. I'm no programmer, so I may unwittingly make a total hash of the coding.

Haha, yet another foolish multi-accounter identified and hopefully soon to be eradicated!

it depends on what you count as a win as well

draws count as wins according to the rulebook...

idiot

Yes, there are lots of different views on what makes winning.

People have questioned the individuality of your accounts Mysterio and Macdaddy - please would you email me (address in profile) or explain in this thread here: http://phpdiplomacy.net/index.php?viewthread=422801#422801

(come on, lets not hijack the thread itself when there's a 2nd on the subject!)

I've done the calculation, and I can assure you that comes out with alot of noise when your measuring skill, by my reckoning.

@Jacob - Draws do NOT count as wins according the rulebook. In fact it specifically states that they are NOT wins.

@dangermouse, I thought the rule specifically states that those players involved in a draw are deemed to have won the game?

Object Of The Game
"As soon as one Great Power controls 18 supply centers, it is considered to have gained control of Europe. The player representing that Great Power is the winner.

However, players can end the game by agreement before a winner is determined. In this case, all players who still have pieces on the board share equally in the draw."

So there are two possible game ending options: A single player wins. Multiple players share a draw. These are clearly defined as different distinct outcomes. Otherwise the last line would read "all players who still have pieces on the board share equally in a win."

I took that sentence to mean everyone remaining was a winner - but this game has always been shrouded in vagaries!

@dangermouse:

When you play Blackjack at the casino, do you consider a push to be a win? I do!

Here I'm fairly new but I've played a lot on the brother site (facebook diplo), and there too there has been debate on the rankings system and the top players.
What I don't like in the points system is that it builds up inflation hence when you join the site, it takes you months to get to the top. Also it tends to favour people who play a lot of games as opposed to good players not so active.
However the points system allows people to be able to play opponents their force since people with high points tend to play each other in higher points games.
It has also many qualities which are not all related to the sole ranking purpose.

To me the best ranking system is elo based and takes into account the strength of the opponents, I hence think it is very similar to the ghost rankings.
An easy and immediate fairly good measure is the win ratio or the win+draw ratio according to your opinion on how good a result a draw is.

A last point to mention is that the points system can lead to a difficult interpretation of the other ranking systems:
- I often took over countries in CD to increase my points, even though there was no chance to win the game. Such games should be taken away from a ghost raking or winning ratios. but it is not easy to get the appropriate data
- the points system leads to the legitimate 'strong second' strategy where a player helps another to win a game in exchange for getting a good deal of SCs hence plenty of points. If the game was WTA instead of PPSC, that same player would probably be trying to build an anti-leader coalition, hence increasing the odds of a draw.

You don't win your money back on a push...why do you consider it a win?

Two months in a row my Ghostrating has dropped by like 10 points. The only games finished in those months were CD takeovers, so I'm with Julien. I'll probably drop again this month as my only games will be one takeover and the league games...

Its a pity about implementation. I have been asked about making a stand alone internet-wide site that runs of feeds by a chap who runs a judge, who offered to help with programming, but that would be a long way off without a doubt.

Julien +10
Jacob +5

hell... Ghostie +100 b/c he's such a good chap!

Hey Babak, since when do you get multiple votes?

Well, except when voting for TGM :-)

Scoring/ranking discussions have been going on since the hobby started with never a consensus. For those fond of quoting the rulebook it should be noted that the recent French language 2001 (>-4?) rulebook has a different concept for results other than an outright win and furthermore has no concept of a drawn game.

The cheese-eating surrender monkeys writing rules on results other than winning. Great expertise and experience, but rather too much vested interest.

Common, somebody had to say it! No offence to any Frenchmen intended.

Ghost +1

I'm always playing for a win .. even if I'm down to one SC and being a pawn for someone else for survival, I'm hoping for a chance to stab and make a comeback. :)

it may not seem obvious to your right now but within 3 months i will be the top dog in diplomacy!

"The cheese-eating surrender monkeys writing rules on results other than winning. Great expertise and experience, but rather too much vested interest."

Well at least the Italians aren't writing the rules, or you'd be getting points for switching sides.

hey! i'm italian!! -1 Dingleberry

hmmph, someone went and changed all the rulebooks including the one in my copy of Diplomacy. where's Sicarius? He can probably shed some light on this...

who changed the rulebooks?

where can we find the new rulebooks?