>I believe ranking will have no positive effects on game play, but many
>negative effects on game play, and therefore, NO RANKING system should be
>implimented at all. NOW, agree or disagree with that!
*** I personally and from a business perspective disagree but will keep
your points in mind. I don't mind disagreeing it's often very healthy.
Clint
"from a business perspective"
Careful Clint. You're getting very close to admitting what I've suspected from the start. That the rankings were intentionally designed to encourage people to play more games and spend more money. What next? I can buy an extra 100 points to my ranking for $20?
The rankings won't reflect who is the best player, but are likely to favor those that spend the most money. A couple of systems reward number of games won. Not winning %, but won minus lost, which rewards playing more games. Another system rewards turns played = money spent. Even the proposed voting systems rewards number of games played as each game is another chance to get votes.
Why not just cut the crap and get the the heart of the matter. Create the rankings as a list of who spends the most money with ME Games.
Darrell Shimel
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Hi Darrell,
I share some of your concerns about rankings, but
since it is a game I don't mind if some people try
sneaky ways to inflate their rankings. Spending money
to get into a lot of games MIGHT be one way.
But then again, as I said in my last email, how great
would it be to take on these supposedly "mighty"
players and beat them! "So-and-so is a 'god-level'
player, but I (and my team) kicked his butt in Game
666." Something like that.
Or, "I play in very few games, two at a time is the
most, and yet I've beaten every high-ranking enemy
that has come my way." I would be nice to know who
could back up their ego, no?
Nick
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> >I believe ranking will have no positive effects on game play, but many
> >negative effects on game play, and therefore, NO RANKING system should be
> >implimented at all. NOW, agree or disagree with that!
>
>*** I personally and from a business perspective disagree but will keep
>your points in mind. I don't mind disagreeing it's often very healthy.
"from a business perspective"
Careful Clint. You're getting very close to admitting what I've suspected
from the start. That the rankings were intentionally designed to encourage
people to play more games and spend more money. What next? I can buy an
extra 100 points to my ranking for $20?
*** No - Ranking systems are for enjoyment and possibly as a hint to a strength of a team enabling me to organise more even games at game start. I need some way of judging this and at present it uses my experience to do so. I think both AM and the PRS make a better game. AM will help players to run turns, make the game simpler to play and reduce errors and make the game more enjoyable. Simple. Your call to perceive it any way you want. If I said it's black and you perceive it as being a different colour then we have no common ground to debate. We can't MAKE you play more - that's upto you. If you enjoy the game and then play more because it is more enjoyable (rating systems et al, mapmaker, ease of inputting etc) and then decide to play more what's wrong with that? Well I tell people outside of the PBM world what I do for a living they are totally amazed. Usually goes something like "What do you do for a living?" A: "I moderate an Internet game based on LoTR - have you read the book?" .... "You MAKE money doing that?!" add various levels of amazed tone... 
Cue sigh and polite smile..
You've commented that you haven't used AM so how do you know if it is a bad thing without trying it? You have had lots of players comment that it is useful and been very praiseworthy. I have given some statistics to back up my comment.
Why not just cut the crap and get the the heart of the matter. Create the
rankings as a list of who spends the most money with ME Games.
*** Please don't swear. It turns it from a debate and an exchange of views into a shouting match. I have given my reasons why I think it a good idea - you seem to be hung up on us making money, whatever level that is. I don't do it to argue with players constantly and re-iterating the same point, and I try to be as honest in my business dealings as is possible. End of that particular story. I know the nature of the PBM beast is that I sometimes have to cross swords with players, which I find distasteful, but I think that we are just going over old ground here.
Clint
