Obfuscate new user's rating

I just signed up for an account <1 week ago and I don't feel like playing against other players until I know I can play at the 1500 rating that the system starts you at. Because 1500 is the starting point, falling below that rating makes me feel like a bad player considering 1500 was chosen as the average (as far as I understand, reading posts from when the Glicko rating system was introduced).

My suggestion is to obfuscate this rating for new users until they have played a few games and their rating has settled. This would lessen the ladder anxiety. If my rating was just (????) when I first signed up, I wouldn't have held 1500 as the base rating that I need to strive to maintain.

And to get ahead of people suggesting to just play and get better, my competitive gamer brain won't let me do that. 😅
For now, I'm going to continue playing the computer (Stockfish) until I can steadily beat the Stockfish level that is rated higher then 1500. Only then will I feel comfortable enough to queue into the rated pool.

Come on. If nobody accepted being worse than 1500, then nobody could be better than 1500.

Sure.

This issue may be a non-factor to some, but there must also be some that have the same ladder anxiety as me because of this imaginary bar that has been set for them. Whereas if the initial rating was obfuscated and only revealed after you play your first few games it might help ease this group of players (including me) into just diving in.

This would be similar to how games such as Overwatch or Valorant have you play placement games before you're actually given a rating.

I think that's why this would be a small, but welcoming change for the new player experience.

@Doofenshmirtz
"You should have put "my leader anxiety"; the way you phrased it makes it sound like a real thing which applies to other people."
--This may have been a typo on my end, but still you shouldn't marginalize ladder anxiety. I'm sure I'm not the only person on here that experiences it.

"Nobody cares what your score is (this site has hundreds of thousands of users and you are anonymous). Just play and your score will find it's natural level soon enough, then increase if you practice and study."
--This is totally fair. And I even remarked on this forthcoming "just play" comment, that I knew I would receive in my OP.
The way that the 1500 rating is just handed out at the beginning has set an imaginary bar for me.
To reiterate, I think it's fine to start new players out at 1500 (as that is the average), but obfuscate this to them at first.
Let them play a few games to get their rating settled and then reveal it.
This creates an exciting moment too! To find out where you've been placed and then work from there.

"Uh.. This is chess. Different game, different rules."
--Sure, but it is still a game with a similar rating system attached to it. Thus creating ladder anxiety.

"Maybe play casual (unrated) games for a while until you feel ready to gamble with your rating."
--This is what I am set on doing for now as I mentioned in my OP.
Thankfully my wife and I are on a similar level so she's great human practice.
Meanwhile I'm vying to comfortably beat the Stockfish level that is at an comparable 1500 rating.
Additionally I feel like I currently take too long with my moves to want to play anyone else online. I'm going to work on my speed as well before I throw myself into the gauntlet.

Instead of playing stockfish, why not just play casual games against other 1500s?

@sunceti
I don't want to trouble real people with how agonizingly slow I probably play right now. 🙈

Thank you for the words of encouragement, that's lovely. 🙏

However, I want to steer the conversation back on-topic to rated games and obfuscating new player's ratings until they've played a few rated games before revealing their rating to them. All in order to reduce ladder anxiety as seeing 1500 from the get go makes it seem like dropping below 1500 makes you a less then average player.

I think this would be a really nice improvement to the new player experience and would love for this to be considered by the staff here. I don't see how this change would have a negative impact on the site or a player's initial experience. Would love to hear everyone's thought on this! 😄

@GamerKingFaiz for what it's worth, I agree with you.
You guys have stumbled onto something called an 'anchor' so when you see '1500' you're 'anchored' onto that number, so any deviation up or down, feels like you 'lost' or 'won' something.
I love this idea, and I think taking away this anchor is a good idea for newer player's motivation and mental well-being!