Hello you.
Well, yes, the ego in me certainly wants you to all agree with me - because surely it's not just me playing badly, right?! - of course not! - Sure, that's part of the equation no doubt, but there's still something fishy going on sometimes that bugs me possibly more than it should. The easiest solution here is for me to simply ignore it, chill out, move on, maybe play another game, enjoy myself, generally take it less seriously (after all, my issue here is just with the casual games). Only problem is, you're talking to a guy who when opening his eyes first thing each morning is accompanied by a melodically themed inner monologue of that Laurel&Hardy-esque muted trombone wah-wah-wah sound effect, which manages inevitably to sum up each forthcoming day. ie, chilling out, relaxing, etc are just not viable options for me after being subjected to a sandbagging.
That said - here's my perception of the issue...
I'm currently about 1800 rated (on rapid), fluctuating 100 or so either side. When I play the rated games, I feel that the vast majority of opponents are pretty much equally matched. - which makes perfect sense as whether you win or lose, the rating will automatically modify itself to reflect your level of play. So, excluding the sandbaggers on the rated games, mainly we're gonna be well matched and have a good game.
Conversely though, this of course doesn't apply to the casual games. So the issue of unbalanced games will inevitably become amplified the more we play casually without playing rated games in between. That is, over a period of time usually our games improve with practise, and I should imagine very rarely get worse. Hence, the perception of our opponents being sandbaggers. But the reality is (I guess) that the vast majority of these players are only inadvertently sandbagging as a result of a lack of rated games, as opposed to purposely doing it for whatever reason. So, as the sandbagging community goes, these ones have the upper moral hand. But, saying that, it does still produce unbalanced and sometimes frustrating games whether this is a product of active or passive sandbagging - the results for their opponents being the same, which is usually a frustrating loss from a supposedly balanced game.
When I play a game via the lobby, I usually specify +- 500, which keeps me on my toes, but also allows me a bit of well earned breathing space every so often when those lower rated games come in. Only thing is though - a lot of the time they don't.
Sure, I'm inevitably gonna lose a certain percentage of games to someone rated genuinely 500 lower than me. In fact, it's not that uncommon, BUT it certainly shouldn't be this many. Without a doubt I will lose to 3 or 4 times as many equally rated players on the casual mode than I will on the rated one. - which to me suggests that the sandbagging issue definitely exists, in whatever its forms.
So... tediously academic observations and corresponding moaning aside, I've taken the liberty of suggesting a possible solution (regarding the casual games anyway). --
- Maybe after a certain amount of casual games in a row (without playing any rated games at all), where a significant improvement would be pretty much a certainty, let's say 1000 games or something, - we shouldn't be able to continue with the casual games until we've done at least 1 rated game. I imagine that only a small minority of people (the people who actively sandbag on purpose) would simply throw the game, but the overwhelming majority of us being generally good sports would just play the game as best we can, just like any other game. This would level out a huge proportion of those frustratingly unbalanced games, as most people with a misleading rating just probably haven't even realised they've got so much better.
My next lecture will be on the subject of when people clearly write way too much for a forum post.
END OF ESSAY
Well, yes, the ego in me certainly wants you to all agree with me - because surely it's not just me playing badly, right?! - of course not! - Sure, that's part of the equation no doubt, but there's still something fishy going on sometimes that bugs me possibly more than it should. The easiest solution here is for me to simply ignore it, chill out, move on, maybe play another game, enjoy myself, generally take it less seriously (after all, my issue here is just with the casual games). Only problem is, you're talking to a guy who when opening his eyes first thing each morning is accompanied by a melodically themed inner monologue of that Laurel&Hardy-esque muted trombone wah-wah-wah sound effect, which manages inevitably to sum up each forthcoming day. ie, chilling out, relaxing, etc are just not viable options for me after being subjected to a sandbagging.
That said - here's my perception of the issue...
I'm currently about 1800 rated (on rapid), fluctuating 100 or so either side. When I play the rated games, I feel that the vast majority of opponents are pretty much equally matched. - which makes perfect sense as whether you win or lose, the rating will automatically modify itself to reflect your level of play. So, excluding the sandbaggers on the rated games, mainly we're gonna be well matched and have a good game.
Conversely though, this of course doesn't apply to the casual games. So the issue of unbalanced games will inevitably become amplified the more we play casually without playing rated games in between. That is, over a period of time usually our games improve with practise, and I should imagine very rarely get worse. Hence, the perception of our opponents being sandbaggers. But the reality is (I guess) that the vast majority of these players are only inadvertently sandbagging as a result of a lack of rated games, as opposed to purposely doing it for whatever reason. So, as the sandbagging community goes, these ones have the upper moral hand. But, saying that, it does still produce unbalanced and sometimes frustrating games whether this is a product of active or passive sandbagging - the results for their opponents being the same, which is usually a frustrating loss from a supposedly balanced game.
When I play a game via the lobby, I usually specify +- 500, which keeps me on my toes, but also allows me a bit of well earned breathing space every so often when those lower rated games come in. Only thing is though - a lot of the time they don't.
Sure, I'm inevitably gonna lose a certain percentage of games to someone rated genuinely 500 lower than me. In fact, it's not that uncommon, BUT it certainly shouldn't be this many. Without a doubt I will lose to 3 or 4 times as many equally rated players on the casual mode than I will on the rated one. - which to me suggests that the sandbagging issue definitely exists, in whatever its forms.
So... tediously academic observations and corresponding moaning aside, I've taken the liberty of suggesting a possible solution (regarding the casual games anyway). --
- Maybe after a certain amount of casual games in a row (without playing any rated games at all), where a significant improvement would be pretty much a certainty, let's say 1000 games or something, - we shouldn't be able to continue with the casual games until we've done at least 1 rated game. I imagine that only a small minority of people (the people who actively sandbag on purpose) would simply throw the game, but the overwhelming majority of us being generally good sports would just play the game as best we can, just like any other game. This would level out a huge proportion of those frustratingly unbalanced games, as most people with a misleading rating just probably haven't even realised they've got so much better.
My next lecture will be on the subject of when people clearly write way too much for a forum post.
END OF ESSAY
