We have an issue here

[BugA_the_Great]

Buga the idea of a masked rating is to not know that it is masked. They would just look like a normal player wanting to play.

You mean to show a wrong rating for them, alongside showing the wrong number of games? And, when they play, their fake rating is taken into account?

Beside deceiving others, wouldn`t that ruin the rating system? Of course the current system is not perfect (and that is another topic), but just let us not push it even more

Don`t get me wrong, I respect your wish to improve things for beginners, but there has to be a better way than lying everyone else and messing with the ratings

[ZeroEmpires]

Well I don't think it's as bad as you're making it sound
A deviation of +-20 points isn't harming anybody and would only be temporary for 10 games that they play, the points others gain and lose wouldn't even be affected I don't think. I can see your concerns though which is fair enough.

My idea for the random matchmaking (IMO) is one of the best, however I don't know if there are enough players for his to work fluidly. This would also have to be implemented in another lobby though or as an optional thing as the "Laissez Faire" would go nuts.

[timtim]

I think voobly has very few new players to the beginners lobby be created. And from the times i played on the 1vs1 ladder i get the idea that most of the players there are over rated beginners..

For the random matchmaking system it was already sugest countless times. But it would be a really good adittion for voobly

[thepitzaboy]

I will draw a parallel from Yahoo pool to solve this problem.. what they do is for new players for first 20 games they display ratings as provisional.. and once they complete 20 games then the actual ratings show up.. Now i dont think this solves the issue at hand as much coz now people will simply kick provisional players out of the game.. new lobby sounds more viable but not sure if we can get people in those lobbies.. from what i have seen is its just not about ratings... in voobly a lot of lobbies are like minimum 100 games played... i dunno if this is always the case or not coz i play on gr more.. but well if you plan to grow the game you need to figure out a way to welcome new players for sure..

[BugA_the_Great]

Well I don't think it's as bad as you're making it sound
A deviation of +-20 points isn't harming anybody and would only be temporary for 10 games that they play, the points others gain and lose wouldn't even be affected I don't think. I can see your concerns though which is fair enough.

My idea for the random matchmaking (IMO) is one of the best, however I don't know if there are enough players for his to work fluidly. This would also have to be implemented in another lobby though or as an optional thing as the "Laissez Faire" would go nuts.

Ah, you go and tell to Voobly players that "a deviation of +-20 points isn't harming anybody", and see what happens That`s why the concern.

But you did mention a range of 1550-1650, which is 100 points (+/- 50), and not to say that once a player has more than <certain amount> of games (which masking would award him), and his rating is above 1650 (which masking would award him), that player is pretty much above the average (not because of the points, but because of the Voobly competitiveness, drowning beginners to below 1500), and if someone decides to play such a player he has some expectations of a certain game-play level - which he won`t get because he`s been deceived.

I don`t want to make it look worse than it is, but it is bad. It would help beginners for sure, but it would ruin the experience for others.

Through the years of rated play, the "main" lobby has reached a certain level of skill, and that is why people refer to Voobly as to more pro-game environment. If we want to include beginners into all of this, let us not ruin the fun for those that are already playing on Voobly, but prepare the beginners before (and if) they join the experts.

Exactly as dfs explained earlier - if you already have a Champions League, but you would like to include more teams, then don`t ruin what you have just in order to make it easier for others - no, make a separate league for the others to expand their skills, and when (and if) they reach a certain level (of confidence, or some pre-set goal) they will enjoy the Champions League as everyone else is enjoying at the moment, not ruining the fun for anyone.

Also, aren`t there like different "Leagues" in StarCraft II, too? I`m not much into it, but I think they have a certain league gradation system, where as you advance you join the higher (more skilled) league. We don`t need something as advanced as that (though it is nice), but an organized, separate lobby for beginners sounds like a good starting point.

Just think of ways to make it even more beginner friendly (suggested automatic match making, designated "hosting players" to help others, good advertising, etc). As I already said, the biggest issue would be how to populate this new lobby in the beginning, not to be empty and boring, later it will grow on its own. I guess the best solution would be to have some kind of "volunteers" to sit there and help newcomers. Yes, no one is going to pay you for that, but you`ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you actually helped someone, and they won`t forget it. There`s not much else beside that in the community work after all, but I guess that`s why it usually involves a special kind of people

[thepitzaboy]

or get them playing at GR to start with

[ZeroEmpires]

Personal opinion here again but I think Voobly is much easier to use and understand for beginners than GR is, also getting people to switch between GR and Voobly would be challenging. Not to mention that GR doesn't have anti-cheat etc.

I think my main concern is the number of players, at a quiet time on voobly you may only have 300 players online and at it's peak just over 1100. I'm not sure if this is enough to split into more lobbies. I do think a lot of the problems could be solved if new players could find other new players a lot easier though, perhaps they would need a minimum of 20 games to join the main lobby? (I don't know if restricting them from the main lobby is a good idea though as the "New Players" lobby may be empty a lot of the time and unltimately turn people away) It would definitley stop smurfs though!

[Mongol_a_Vie]

Quick solution, host games entitled " Welcome zero gamers/beginners". Let's take matter in our own hands. Community service should be mandatory.

[Turkman]

Quick solution, host games entitled " Welcome zero gamers/beginners". Let's take matter in our own hands. Community service should be mandatory.

Totally agree, I think a lot of it is going to come down to the community giving the newer players a helping hand and pulling them up to a higher level of play. If you think about it, it really doesn't take much time to help someone get on there feet when playing. Things like luring boar, shift clicking, keeping the TC busy are all things that new players could need to learn, and honestly it doesn't take much effort to teach.

Everyone can teach the new players, anyone who has a decent idea of what they're doing could teach someone the basics, doesn't have to be like a 2k player. So having a new lobby for beginners, where a few experienced players could just hang out and help the newer players, that sounds like an awesome idea to me.

[Meow]

Voobly should host a Beginners Lounge where new players can play and learn the basics of the game.