Suggestion: Gamer Ranking Page

[desultor]

Kudos on a fantastic site - brilliant work!

I think it would be a great addition to this community to add a gamer ranking page that tracks stats, like SpielByWeb does
here. That way I'd know what I'm getting into by playing astroglide at Samurai, for example... :o It would also be fun to challenge the masters, or know where to look for expert advice.

Anyway, great job on this MaBi - thanks so much!

[desultor]

Sorry, I hadn't yet read the comments on this subject here: BGG Game played hit?

Still, I think it'd be valuable. I'm open-minded, though - what are your reasons against a scoreboard?

Again, fantastic work - its fun to be involved just as this PBW thing seems to be taking off!

[MaBi]

Other players have already asked me privately about a ranking system, so I just copy&paste here a previous reply of mine:

I intentionally don't want to put up player rankings.
In my opinion they tend to create a too strongly competitive environment among players. Certainly not all players would be affected by this, but enough to start creating all kind of problems. Bad feelings when losing a game, blaming other players for not playing well enough and giving away the victory to another opponent, even cheating (with double accounts) in order to improve the ranking. Most of all, there would certainly be an increased number of abandoned games (if you are going to lose, you can just stop moving, waiting for the game to expire).
I've seen this happen in many other places, from chess-playing sites to Days of Wonder Ticket To Ride, even Euphrates&Tigris on BGG, and I don't want to see any of this here. This site has to remain a place where all can play just for fun in a friendly environment.
(I'm a bit worried that even current single player's stats could be too much. I'm ready to remove them as soon as I have the slightest feeling that they represent a problem).

I recognize the advantages of a ranking system, but I think it's worthwile only for commercial sites, where they need to create and maintain a large base of highly motivated players. That's certainly not my case here, so for MaBiWeb the cons far outweigh the pros.

So, no rankings: play for fun and don't look at your stats! Or look at them but don't take them too seriously :).

[desultor]

Great reasons - you've changed my mind. Hopefully this thread will help other new folks understand what this place is all about.

Thanks for the response, and for this service!

[Oblio]

I used to play chess at red hot pawn.. and it had such an air of competition that made me enjoy it much less than I could have :/

I like your motivation MaBi, thanks for helping keep games fun!