Board Game Arena

Hi,

I love this site, thanks for the great job by the way!

I would like to suggest that the 60 days inaction period in games be brought down to 30 days. What I mean is that players can retain their ranking in any game for 60 days, even if that means that they are inactive in that game. This can be frustrating because players who achieve a high ranking might not play this game on purpose, so that they can keep their high ranking. I have no problem with that principle, however 60 days is too long, in my opinion.

I think by bringing this down to 30 days, it would encourage (force would be a better word) to play the game again and to fight for their ranking. This would make each game more competitive as we would be forced to play once a month, at least, and fight for our ranking.

It would also be easier to get players to join the less popular games.

What do the BGA staff think of this?

Merci

There are currently 45 games on BGA, with more being added regularly. There are already incentives for playing all games. If someone were to do reasonably well at 2/3 of the games, under this proposed system they would have to fight for their ranking once a day, every day, to keep it. This soon turns to work, and not play.

Granted, the chances of someone being good at 2/3 of the games seems rare. Granted, there are those that view rankings as more important than having fun playing. But, if a player A wants to outrank player B (and player B refuses to play), there are still ways. 1) Wait 30 more days than your proposal. We seem to live in a society of instant gratification, but one month isn't that long of a wait. 2) Play a lot of games against anyone else, and show that they are a better player. While the rating system does not give as large an increase for defeating a poor player as it does a good player, it still does give an increase. Beat enough average to good players and one will be an expert.

I don't think that there are a lot of people who play all 45 games on a regular basis. Plus, with new games regularly added, players will see their usual 'gaming palette' change over time. You're right, there is not enough time to play all games on a regular basis. This brings the interesting dynamic of people having to choose which games they wish to play on a given playing session.

I just don't like people hogging their high ranking for 60 days. It is difficult for the less popular games to get players without waiting an hour or so.I think 30 days is reasonable, it will mean that players will have to make a tough choice when it comes to retaining their high ranking. Make the effort of playing the game at least once every 30 days, so that you ranking can either go up or down. If it goes down, this might have the effect of the same player playing it a few more times to have it go up. This gets interesting, the rankings are changing, it becomes motivational to play. If the player chooses not to play a specific game (either because they no longer care for the ranking or because they prefer to play another game instead), he must accept that the ranking is gone after 30days. This gives the active players of a given game a better chance of getting a high ranking. You have to earn a ranking.