Not sure how complicated this is for the developers, but could we have an option to create / join a MULTIPLE GAMES MATCH against another player? (E.g. a 10 games 3+0 Blitz match or 20 games 1+0 Bullet match etc)
The match would be created from the main page, either from the Custom tab in the "Quick pairing" tab OR via a dedicated "Create match" button (located under "Create a game", on the right of the page).
Once created, the match would then show in the Lobby (visible only to players in the rating range), and any player interested would take the spot and play.
I personally think this would be a nice addition to the already amazing features of the site.
Thanks for considering it.
The problem I see there is what if a player has to leave in the middle? Sure, you can say then the other player wins the match by forfeit, but are these rated games? It doesn't make much sense for a player's chess rating (which measures chess skill, not reliability) to be affected by the loss of 8 games when someone leaves a 20 game match after 12 games. But then, do you make the games unrated? Then, what are the actual stakes?
I have no problem with the idea, I would just like to see things like this fleshed out a little more before I personally got behind it (not that that is important to anyone but me).
I also like this idea.
Maybe a player, who quits before finishing certain amount of games shouldn't lose rated points for all the games, but only for a one game. This would not affect player's rating too much (as in the case of losing 8 unfinished games), but would still discourage players from leaving the match before finishing all games.
Yeah, that definitely seems more reasonable to me. It still concerns me as a rating-purist for a player to lose rating points when they didn't play a game (it distorts the rating system as the player is stronger than their rating indicates as soon as this happen, which affects the entire pool when it happens), but it isn't too bad, for sure.
What if a player suspects their opponent of cheating? Are they forced to continue playing?
This is, probably, unavoidable. But the same happens in tournaments already: players have to play against a cheater, even if they are certain about that player using computer assistance. Maybe players reported after matches (if a player who reported them just played a game with them in the match format) should be priority for cheat detection team. So that rating refund in the case of cheating would happen with almost full certainty.
What about this idea:
If someone quits an ongoing match he just loses the match without considering the remaining games.
If we separate game results and match results it has no influence on the rating at all.
Do you propose to count a match as one win/loss? I think this is a cool idea.
If a player wins 6 games out of 10 and quits without finishing the last 4, would it count as a win or a loss?
Thanks to all for chiming in to this idea. :)
I admit I haven't thought of all the aspects yet, but since we are brainstorming, here are my answers/suggestions to your questions:
1. Casual vs. Rated should be a choice when the match is created, similar to how the regular games are.
2. For a Rated Match -- basically, players agree from the start to play ALL the games. If one quits mid-match, they forfeit the rest of the games and lose rating points for each accordingly.
In fast time controls (Blitz/Bullet), this should pose no problems, as the whole match should be over within minutes (or max 1-2 hours) anyway. I agree some might find it difficult to complete longer time control matches (e.g. 10 games of 15+0), but nobody is forcing them to join one in the first place, correct? Basically, if you are joining a match, you would be signing up for a SERIES of games and agreeing to play them all.
3. Re. suspected cheating (#5) -- Let's say PlayerA suspects PlayerB of cheating in a match. PlayerA can report them as usual, moderators will investigate, and if cheating is confirmed PlayerA will get all rating points refunded, for all games played. If PlayerA quit playing after they suspected cheating, they will get the points back for the forfeited games too.
Basically, between the time of the report and the final decision, PlayerA has a choice to make:
(a) either continue playing and wait for the final decision to confirm/deny their suspicion; OR
(b) quit the match, thus forfeiting the rest of the games, and rely on the final decision to refund their rating points.
One other point: Imho, a LEGITIMATE cheating suspicion can only arise from the thorough analysis of a game. While involved in a match, I doubt a player would be able to play a (current) game while being able to properly analyse a previous one to make a determination whether they suspect cheating. But I might be wrong...
But rating refunds can take days to take effect, and sometimes not all the points are refunded!
Also a match opponent could sit in lost positions to be annoying, with the same dilemma. And they could delay the time between games, or increase their lag... this suggestion introduces myriad problems all because people can't manually agree to such things.
