Introducing: new reputation system and Karma (☯)

[Liallan]

I'm sorry, but there is really something seriously wrong with this system. I've noticed nearly all of the people who are giving it high praise are at 100% or very near it. Of course they love it and they aren't looking at what I am.

I have no idea where my 79% is coming from, especially not if we're starting at 75%. I have a completely clean record. No red thumbs, no abandoned games, nothing. I have like two over-times from a glitch but that was a very long time ago, and over-times don't give a negative. So you're basically saying I have completed 4 games? I don't see how a beginner is supposed to understand this. I'm barely above average. I went through a bunch of invitations and only found like 5 people lower than me, and not by much. So I'm in the lower end of the "good people" spectrum despite a clean record.

I'm looking at an invite with someone who has just a hair over 10% over-times, i.e. someone that couldn't have taken that invite with the former <10% restriction. And yet they are at 100%, perfect. I don't have these over-times, but I'm 79% barely above average. So what does that say to the beginner? That I'm a crap player compared to everyone else? (And I saw no one below 75% in the invites.) I'm not much above where the old 10% cut-off would have been, with a clean record. This person would be cut out of that restriction based on the percent. But a beginner sees them as perfect. They aren't perfect.

I can't even do the chat?

I have 115 games. I realize that isn't even close to some of the people on here, but it's more than enough for this karma system to figure out by now that I've earned the clean record, and yet I'm barely above someone totally new who has no record at all. Sorry, but that's just wrong.

And the word "perfect" is inappropriate. No one is perfect.

I also agree that an extra 20 for a second abandon in 30 days is really harsh. For those of us playing mostly turn-based, which take a while to get through, and maybe aren't playing tons at once... well, I'm down to 3 right now. If something bad were to happen and I had to abandon those games, I'm down to 29% in nothing flat. And that would be very difficult to climb back out of. Considering this would be pretty easy to do, I imagine it might not take much for someone's karma to be totally ruined in nothing flat.

[sourisdudesert]

I have no idea where my 79% is coming from

79% is actually a good reputation. You finished 4 games without overtime since the Karma system has been (secretly) introduced last month, so 75+4 = 79. I agree this is not fair for players that have been here for a long time, so we're going to do something for this.

[sourisdudesert]

24 hours after the introduction of the new reputation system, following your feedback and the data we collected, we made the following minor adjustments :

• 1. The "double penalty" is now applied if you left a game less than 1 month after another game (instead of 3 months, which was a little bit harsh).
• 2. We introduce a special penalty for tournaments games : -4 when not showing for each tournament games. This has been introduced to take into account your remarks that "not being here at a tournament game" is less dramatic than quitting a game in progress. Note than quitting a tournament game in progress remains a standard "leave" penalty (-10 or -20).
• 3. Now you can see the Karma losses for each penalty on your profile (in your reputation details).
• 4. 10% red thumb rate limits your karma to 60 (instead of 70). 20% red thumb rate limits your karma to 30 (instead of 40). These players were not penalized enough with the new system, so we decrease their "maximum karma".
• 5. You can now chat when your Karma is over 30 (instead of 50). Chatting is a very basic website function, so we only want to restrict it to the worst players only (less than 0.5%).
• 6. We decide to give a "second chance" to players that have a really really bad reputation (below 50) by raising their reputation a little bit, and give them time to handle the new system.
• 7. We decide to give a +10 reputation bonus to players that registered before Septembre 1st this year (almost all players), as a transition measure, considering they should have started at 85 instead of 75 when we secretly introduced Karma one month ago.

These are the latest changes. Now we' will monitor "leave rates", "overtime rates" and all sort of statistics during a while, to make sure this system is as good as the previous one.

Thanks again for your feedback.

[Liallan]

[*] 7. We decide to give a +10 reputation bonus to players that registered before Septembre 1st this year (almost all players), as a transition measure, considering they should have started at 85 instead of 75 when we secretly introduced Karma one month ago.

Well, that explains why I just finished one game and it suddenly jumped from 79% to 90%, which is a great improvement and now says Excellent. That does help in that it won't take so long to get it up to an even better number. 79% was a much longer way to climb, especially for people just playing a few turn-based games at a time - takes a while to finish them.

[demiurgsage]

I think the idea of Karma itself is wrong. This system is needed to make players who hopelessly behind to finish the game. But there is nothing wrong in conceding when you have no chances. It sounds like an utopia but the right way is to make possibility to concede the game with any number of players and allow other players to continue the game without you.
Bad behavior is not common among the players and the old system handled it.

[Willie333b]

10% 65% and 20% 30%.

[sourisdudesert]

But there is nothing wrong in conceding when you have no chances

Again : conceding = normal end = bring you +1 karma.

[demiurgsage]

But there is nothing wrong in conceding when you have no chances

Again : conceding = normal end = bring you +1 karma.

you can't concede in games with more than 2 players

[Giau]

But there is nothing wrong in conceding when you have no chances

Again : conceding = normal end = bring you +1 karma.

you can't concede in games with more than 2 players

True, but if you leave during a 3 players game you are basically hitting the other players who can not complete the natural end of the game (ok, you can do so but does not really make sense).
When you join a >2 player game you are aware that you can not concede and that leaving bears consequences in terms of reputation -- as it was already the case.

[demiurgsage]

you can't concede in games with more than 2 players

True, but if you leave during a 3 players game you are basically hitting the other players who can not complete the natural end of the game (ok, you can do so but does not really make sense).

In Through the Ages there is an action "Leave the game honorably" that allow you to concede and other players to continue playing. It would be great to see such action in every game when it's possible.