Arena players are weaker than nonarena players!

I just played an arena and was surprised at some of my opponents. I feel like arenas probably attract a lot of weaker/average competition, meaning players who only play arenas can inflate their rating cause it's relative to the average arena pool. Here's some games where my high ranked opponents made some simple mistakes.

What do you think? Should people be playing in arenas only just to have a higher rating?

My experience is different: arena players generally are more competitive and thus better than lobby players.
I have noticed, that the strength of the player pool varies according to the time of the day. So you might have played arena at a weak hour and lobby at a strong hour.

Ooooh I was playing in the same arena yesterday and consider myself lucky that we did not face, lucky not to be one of your victims :-)
Imho arena players are much stronger than their rating might indicate. Especially the ones who choose to berserk.
There is also psychological side: in the lobby players might make a break after few losses or stop playing while in a tourney they are playing until the bitter end... :<

If you want to inflate your rating, try that crazy marathon for few hours (https://lichess.org/tournament/autumn20) - and collect some free points from tired, sleepy or tilted people!

mm that's a good point, @tpr and @Funkmaus! You probably can get paired with tired or tilted people based on time of day or length of the arena haha. Also I don't know why I haven't tried arenas before -- they're kinda fun lol.

Do you think it had anything to do with you being criminally underrated from throwing your first games? Then playing people with a rating 1000 points lower than what you might actually be rated. So the 2k player thinks they are playing a much weaker opponent and so he doesn't try hard? It's quite an impressive jump in skill you made in the last month.

Arenas are full of cheaters and especially sandbaggers. The temptation for them is probably being listed in the winners page with virtual trophies. My rating dropped down 50-100 points after several arena games. It always returned to the previous level after playing quick pairing games. This happened many times and made me avoid arenas at all cost.

I dont like the first part of your post, dear @DaneQuixote - it contains public accusations, which are not allowed here :<
If you think that they are lowering their ratings on purpose, please write a report.
To the second part: Ratings dont play! Imho, everyone should be taken seriously - no games are won with less effort.
If you are not trying hard against lower rated opposition, you will blunder and lose - and you can only blame yourself...

I never played in a rapid-arena, dear @pointlesswindows so I am probably not qualified to refute your points.
As I see, you dont play bullet and blitz. But, I have been watching some rapid arenas and the only thing I did notice is that almost everyone is berserking there, turning 10+0 rapid into 5+0 blitz. :0

In my experience, bullet/blitz arenas are not full of sandbaggers or cheaters, lichess does a great job cathing them! :-)
Tournaments are so entertaining to play - you are missing out a lot of fun! Or you are letting sick people (cheaters/sandbaggers) ruin the fun for you...#

Btw, I almost always lose points in blitz arenas because I am crazy enough to go berserk against everyone.
Or due to chat distraction. or due to... whatever excuse... does not matter, I dont care about ratings at all :-)

I understand you guys seem to be talking about standard chess, but I know that arena players in Racing Kings tend to be better than lobby players. Most Racing Kings arenas are in blitz while lobby players tend to farm in bullet, hyperbullet, or some fast time control with cheap lines and swindles which inflate their rating. So, it does not apply to a specific time control, but I think for variants, it tends to be that arena players are stronger than lobby players.

Dear WFM @Funkmaus don't even think about refuting my points. It's impossible for anybody to do so regardless of their qualifications, because they are based on evidence. You rightfully noticed that I had in mind 10 min arenas, which I forgot to mention. However, I don't think that players are totally different in other time controls. Let's be realistic. The risk is high that they do the same in faster arenas too. Maybe you don't experience sandbaggers because they are on lower chess level? But if you don't care about ratings, would you like to be 1500 rated?

In my experience it is different in faster time controls and in open-for-all arenas. I dont have impression that I am facing sandbaggers - or maybe you are right - I just dont notice?! :0
Indeed, I saw some underrated players in Uxxx arenas and for those rating restrictred tourneys I can see your point of lowering ratings on purpose in order to gain virtual trophies.
To your question: If the 1500 is the number with which I get paired with opponents of similar skill level, then I wouldnt mind having it. Imagine lichess adding 1000 points to everyones rating - would it make us better players?!