Arena rating decay for inactivity

[evereverever]

The punishment is so low that it makes no difference if you started playing a month before the end or not. Agreed, playing later in the season is usually more lucrative (but also not too late, as by the end everybody who has decent ranking stops playing, which is why decays are important/ok!).

Agreed that secondary accounts are a bigger/more annoying issue. Could easily attempt to tackle those checking the IP addresses (though obviously people who live together and also VPN is possible, so not obvious). The arena system is generally flawed, and I think (an ever so slight) decay will be a good thing, and not too severe as to actually make a major difference. Not playing for two weeks would lose you less than 10 points, that's nothing.

If you don't have time (for whatever reason) to devote a few minutes per month or few weeks, you probably won't care not winning an internet badge as whatever else is going on is much more important.

[steve5332]

AES already decays ... back to 1500 every three months. Isn't that enough?

I try to get to elite in about a dozen games per season. I concentrate on a few when the season starts and switch to other games once I've reached elite. As pointed out already, getting to elite is hardest at the start of the season. I'm already forced to return to those games every three months to regain elite status, so why should my score degrade during a season? Granted, when I "park" my score it isn't usually in contention for a high placing so a little decay wouldn't hurt

I almost exclusively play turn based. There is the restriction that I can't play (or at least can't join new games) during the final week. If AES degradation is implemented then it shouldn't apply during the final week of the season.

[evereverever]

You won't lose elite status, if that's all you care about

[Jellby]

The decay rate should be related to the game's popularity (or mayne its Arena population). AES for a game with thousands of Arena matches per day should decay faster, especially if it's a short game. That for a game with a handful of matches per day (I mean total matches), should decay more slowly, especially if it's a long game that takes several hours to finish (in real time).

[steve5332]

You won't lose elite status, if that's all you care about

I appreciate that I won't lose elite status because of AES decay. I just (mildly) object to the decay of AES. As I pointed out, I lose elite status because of "decay" every three months anyway, so penalising me for playing a game say 6 weeks on / 6 weeks off just seems punitive. Mind, I say it is a "decay" every three months ... I should really say "reset" every three months because for several games I finish the season below 1500 so I benefit from the season reset!

[Majki1988]

If you want to be in top 20/10/5/3 or even first you have to try to get there to the last day. It is only way to force top players to go for more points On the other hand your proposal will be bad for all players because if you force the best (which 1) player play almost every day she/he will do score which will be not possible for most of players Now everybody can at least try to be close in last days and maybe count on first player misteaks Please also notice that some players plays few games on arena so if they have pretty clear situation in one game they can focuse on another ones. That's why BGA administration won't change anything in this subject

[evereverever]

I appreciate that I won't lose elite status because of AES decay. I just (mildly) object to the decay of AES. As I pointed out, I lose elite status because of "decay" every three months anyway, so penalising me for playing a game say 6 weeks on / 6 weeks off just seems punitive. Mind, I say it is a "decay" every three months ... I should really say "reset" every three months because for several games I finish the season below 1500 so I benefit from the season reset!

Well no, you don't lose elite every three months. You get to reach it every three months. It's semantics, but if everybody gets reset, you don't get penalised. It's just a blank slate, democratic. If you wanted to have a never ending competition where you can be top, go for #1 in elo all time ranking in your game and make sure you play a game every at least 60 days to keep parking the bus, otherwise you get hidden from the rankings until you play again. Just how sport (football, basketball, whatever) leagues end every now and then, and one team wins, others get other honours, and the next season everybody starts from 0. (and every team plays every week, so no need to have ratings decay).

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The decay rate should be related to the game's popularity (or mayne its Arena population). AES for a game with thousands of Arena matches per day should decay faster, especially if it's a short game. That for a game with a handful of matches per day (I mean total matches), should decay more slowly, especially if it's a long game that takes several hours to finish (in real time).

yes, excellent point. Popular games could decay differently (or at all) compared to those where you'd struggle to get a game every 5 days.

[steve5332]

If you wanted to have a never ending competition where you can be top, go for #1 in elo all time ranking in your game and make sure you play a game every at least 60 days to keep parking the bus, otherwise you get hidden from the rankings until you play again.

Nah, that's not for me. I'm not good enough for a start! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy trying to reach elite in several games each season as it is a fun challenge and none of my comments have complained about losing elite status. My only comment was that the AES is reset to 1500 every season (and quite right too). To have it deteriorate during the season I'm not so sure about.

Hypothetically let's say there are 4 players, each reaching elite league, and their games played over the three months of the season are:
A: 90 0 0
B: 30 0 0
C: 30 30 30
D: 0 0 30

Under the proposal players A and B would be penalised. Note that A and B played when it was harder to get promoted. Does that seem fair? I know that the real problem the proposal is trying to solve is that of players parking a high rating after a good run, but penalising average (elite) players for when they play within the 3 month season seems odd. Players B and D both played 30 times but one is penalised for playing at different times to the other. That's what I'm struggling to get my head around.

[OxYsMo]

It would be interesting to try it for a season

[T72on1]

A hard no on this. BGA is not a profession or a chore, people don't need to be penalised for not constantly playing.

If you want to encourage people to keep playing, this is a much better suggestion that already has support: https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=30059 (see https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... =9&t=18661)

Carrots, not sticks.

I think there should be incentives for people to actually play instead of parking when they have a good score. I have been in that position myself, for Battle of Lits, where I stopped playing because of my number 1 spot, while I actually still enjoyed playing. That felt so wrong. So it's good that BGA wants to do something about it. This proposition seems a far better one than the options in the poll though. As you say, carrots, not sticks !