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“Ratings FAQ”

How do Ratings work?

MSN Games Ratings system is based on ELO ratings. Players start with a 1600 rating (ELO ratings start at 500).Your rating is a number between 0 and 3200 that reflects how well you play, relative to other players.  Higher numbers are better, and lower numbers are worse.  You can think of it like a bell curve.  Most people will fall in the middle, between 1050 and 2100.  Only exceptional players (like Kasparov in Chess) will have a stratospheric Rating like 2400.

How is a game rated?

Ratings are calculated using a sophisticated rating system which rates a player relative to their and other players’ skill levels. That is, a player’s rating will increase, decrease, or remain the same based on the skill level of the player and the opponents.

Each player begins their ratings at 1600.  Winning games against opponents with similar or lower level ratings may only slightly increase a rating.

Defeating an opponent with a higher rating may increase ratings by a significant amount, up to 40 Ratings points.  Losing against opponents of similar or higher levels, may only slightly decrease a rating, while losing against a lower level opponent may decrease a rating by a large amount by as much as 40 Ratings points.

For example, an 1850-rated player’s rating will increase slightly if that player defeats a 1600-rated player. However, a 1600-player who defeats an 1850-rated player may see a large increase in their score.

When a playing a Rated game, check Player Info to see the skill level of your opponent, so you can gauge how your Rating may change upon completion of the game. Additionally, players are randomly selected from a pool of other players with similar ratings to ensure fairness in the games.

Ratings vs. Win/Loss

The Win/Loss record is the sum of all games you have played, including Rated, Standard, Short, vs. Computer games, Invite a friend, and so on. This record is independent of the Ratings system.

Placing above another player can either negatively or positively affect your score, depending on the Ratings scores of your opponents. When calculating a final Ratings score for a game with more than 2 players, (for example Catan Online™, Hearts, and Texas Hold’em), only 1 person can receive a “Win”.  Everyone else gets a “Loss”.  However, that doesn’t mean that all of the losers are equal.  Even the losers’ Ratings will go up or down based on the Ratings of the other players they beat.  Suppose you come in 2nd place.  That means your Rating will go down a little bit, because you lost to 1st place.  But your rating may also go up a lot, relative to 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th-place players whom you beat if these players had significantly higher Ratings than you.

For example, in Hearts if you place 2nd, you will receive a loss against the 1st place, player, but you will have beat 2nd and 3rd. Your ratings will change depending on the other players. If your Ratings was 1850 and you played against three 1600 or lower players, your ratings may significantly decrease. However, if you have a 1400 Ratings and play against three 1800 ranked players, there is a chance your rating will increase instead of decrease if you placed 2nd.  Note: the Rating system is designed to match you against similarly Rated players.

Disconnections

Disconnections during a rated game will affect ratings scores in the following way. If you are playing a two-player game and your opponent disconnects anytime during game play, you will automatically be credited with a win in the ratings system.

If you are playing a game with three or more players, the first disconnected player will automatically receive last place, and the remaining players will play to place in the game. Additionally, the player will be replaced by a computer player. However, losing to the computer will not affect your Ratings. If another player disconnects, that player will place above the other player who disconnected. (For example, in Hearts, the second disconnected player will place 3rd even if a player who remained in the game loses to the computer player that replaced that disconnected player.) If only one player remains in the game, that player will receive the “win” in the Ratings system, regardless if the player beats the computer or disconnects afterwards. Once again, the final awarded Rating score will always depend on the skill level of each opponent who participated in the game.

In Texas Hold’em, if you still have money left, you will place last; if you already busted out, you will retain your current place. (You can also exit a game after busting out by clicking Exit Game.)           For example, if you are first to bust out, but another player disconnects, you will place 7th instead of 8th and your Ratings will reflect that win against the 8th player.

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