Separation of ELO for game variants

[kslghost]

What do people think of separating ELO ratings for 2 vs 3/4/5 player Puerto Rico? I am not a fan that players who play 1v1 are rated against people who play larger number of player variants. They play very differently and the rating system consequently means less because of the two ratings are combined.

Thank you for your consideration.

[sunrise]

I find that often times, games play very differently depending on the number of players, so it makes sense to have separate ELO ratings for each player count. In terms of implementation, it may be a bit tricky to have separate ratings for each player count. For example, if you're screening players based on ratings, which ratings is used? In addition to variants based on the number of players, there are also rule variants. The rule variants can also change gameplay strategy as well, but I don't think it's realistic to have too much granularity in the ratings. The list below only considers player variants.

Variants, Players, Games
(4) 2-5 Hawaii, Puerto Rico, In the Year of the Dragon
(3) 2-4 Stone Age, Dominion, Race, Can't Stop, Troyes, Gosu, Amyitis, Tobago, Uncle Chestnut's Table Gype
(3) 3-5 Coloretto
(2) 2-3 Haggis
(1) 2 Kahuna, Dragonheart, China Gold

[kslghost]

Unfortunately, I've only played a couple of different games on here. I came here specifically because of the Puerto Rico game, but I've also played some Can't Stop because it is incredibly simple in concept.

The only reason I mentioned Puerto Rico is because the 2 player variation is essentially a different game altogether because of the large number of rule changes. If many other games have this problem, then I can see the trouble that separating ELOs for different games would cause.

[Frizzled]

Some ELO break-outs would be great; even just one bracket for 2-player and another for everything else.

A major issue with the current system is that people who prefer 3+ players never see the top players in certain games. I.e. I'll never see a top 20 Puerto Rico player because I only play with three or more players.

We really need some tweak in this area.