Seems to me there are (at least) 4 separate questions here, assuming that all regular backgammon players (ie regular away from this site) would like the cube to be available.
1. Should the game with the cube be the only one or should no cube still be an option? I don't have much preference here; if we go for cube only then a lot of people who've been playing only our present version will be at least puzzled and possibly upset. But a single rating system for both types of game might be undesirable.
Then, for games where the cube is in operation,
2. What about gammons etc? If we're going for the proper game, with the cube, it has to have gammons and backgammons at double and triple value. The purpose of the cube is skewed otherwise.
3. What should be the winning target? Somebody wrote "a target is what backgammon is all about". Not strictly true - I've no idea the balance between the number of games played tournament style and in money games, but the money game is certainly big and is about one game at a time. But clearly that won't sit with ELO here, so we're talking a target. With the base value of a game at 1, doubled if the cube is accepted and adjusted for gammons, 3 (which seems to be a typical target people talk about) - seems very low. Too quick to get to that crucial game where one player is so far behind he takes any double because he has nothing to lose.
In Hearts here there are a variety of targets - Long game etc. I would prefer a similar selection here - play to 3 or 5 points at least, and a longer game at 7 doesn't seem at all unreasonable.
4. And almost finally, what about the on-site mechanics of the game? This to me is the trickiest of all.
Look at it this way. I make my move. Only then does my opponent get to decide whether to double or not. After his decision the dice are rolled and it comes back to my turn. If that has to be done every shake of the dice the game will be slowed down enormously (contrary to the usual spirit of backgammon.) And if I say "Double" we have to wait again for the opponent to respond. I don't know how this would be coded, being different to any other games I know on the site, but I would suggest the following:-
Each player has, apart from the usual choices to press, a toggle switch saying "I want/don't want the opportunity to double." It would have to be possible to toggle this switch even when it's your opponents turn (taking account of a very lucky roll you've just had and a poor one he has.) This is where I see a possible problem with the site mechanisms (although Puerto Rico amongst others has situations where all players can play at once.) But either player (if the cube is in their possession) can switch this to "Doubling On"; they then get the opportunity after their opponent's turn and before their dice are revealed. That would still be a bit slow, but far less so than if it happened every shake of the dice!
But finally of all, the rating system should take no account whatsoever of the winning margin in one game. Each game is either won or lost (gamons apart), and that should be reflected in the scoring.
