Play Sites

Forum Archive : Play Sites

 
Ratings comparison

From:   Daniel Murphy
Address:   raccoon@cityraccoon.com
Date:   23 August 1999
Subject:   Comparing Ratings: FIBS, GamesGrid and Netgammon
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   37c08e5e.61891349@news.inet.tele.dk

How do ratings compare between servers?

Below, 3 tables compare ratings on three popular servers: FIBS,
GamesGrid and Netgammon. The tables were compiled from server-provided
ratings lists and include all players and only those players who meet
a server's requirements for inclusion on its list:

    FIBS, all users with 50 or more experience points;
    GamesGrid, all rated accounts;
    Netgammon, members with 10 or more experience points.

The FIBS list, therefore, includes 6148 players but excludes 7736
registered users who have less than 50 experience points. The
Netgammon list includes 4575 players but excludes perhaps 1500 members
with less than 10 experience points and an unknown number of
nonmembers (Netgammon claims 16,000 players in all). The rather
impossible task of identifying and excluding all nonplaying,
duplicate, staff, monitor, and/or spurious accounts has not been
attempted with the exception of 3 obviously nonplaying accounts at the
very bottom of the GamesGrid rating list.

Data is current as of 9/19/99 (FIBS) and 9/22/99 (GamesGrid and
Netgammon).

TABLE 1 -- % of Players By Rating

This table presents the number and percentage of players at or
particular ratings:

 ----FIBS----   --GamesGrid- --Netgammon-     Rating
    #       %      #       %      #       %
    1  00.02%      0  00.00%      2  00.04%   2200.00
    1  00.02%      0  00.00%     23  00.50%   2100.00
    9  00.15%     10  00.45%     81  01.77%   2000.00
   24  00.39%     32  01.42%    158  03.45%   1950.00
   75  01.22%     88  03.92%    259  05.66%   1900.00
  173  02.81%    169  07.53%    404  08.83%   1850.00
  368  05.99%    296  13.20%    615  13.44%   1800.00
  604  09.82%    415  18.50%    892  19.50%   1750.00
  973  15.82%    596  26.57%   1264  27.63%   1700.00
 1424  23.16%    772  34.41%   1689  36.92%   1650.00
 2035  33.10%   1011  45.07%   2212  48.35%   1600.00
 2708  44.05%   1245  55.50%   2751  60.13%   1550.00
 3570  58.07%   1550  69.10%   3311  72.37%   1500.00
 4323  70.32%   1817  81.00%   3756  82.10%   1450.00
 4991  81.18%   2001  89.21%   4081  89.20%   1400.00
 5744  93.43%   2178  97.10%   4397  96.11%   1300.00
 6021  97.93%   2227  99.28%   4510  98.58%   1200.00
 6148 100.00%   2243 100.00%   4575 100.00%      0.00

TABLE 2 -- Ratings and Rankings by percentile

Table 2 is perhaps more useful than Table 1 for comparing the ratings
curve on different servers.

Percentile -----FIBS-----   --GamesGrid--    ---Netgammon---
           Rating    Rank   Rating   Rank    Rating   Rank
Top   100% 2239.76      1  2080.47      1    2276.53     1
       99% 1907.52     61  1964.74     22    2040.57    46  <<Top  1%
       95% 1813.72    307  1881.13    112    1915.58   229  <<Top  5%
       90% 1748.10    615  1828.51    224    1833.06   458  <<Top 10%
       85% 1706.85    922  1783.65    337    1786.61   686  <<Top 15%
       80% 1669.00   1230  1737.85    449    1740.29   951  <<Top 20%
       70% 1614.43   1844  1674.34    673    1685.29  1373  <<Top 30%
       60% 1566.99   2459  1626.10    897    1634.59  1830  <<Top 40%
Median 50% 1526.96   3074  1577.14   1122    1593.47  2288  <<Top half
       40% 1491.91   3689  1533.07   1346    1550.34  2745
       30% 1451.34   4304  1496.25   1570    1509.91  3206
       20% 1405.72   4918  1455.37   1794    1460.97  3669
       10% 1337.23   5533  1391.68   2018    1392.58  4118
Bottom  0%  533.26   6148   961.56   2243     766.68  4575

TABLE 3 -- Ratings creep

Table 3 presents the percentage of currently rated players on FIBS,
GamesGrid and Netgammon rated above 1500.00, the starting rating and
nominal starting point for new players:

                   FIBS       GamesGrid       Netgammon
                  %     #         %     #         %     #
             58.06%  3570    69.10%  1550    72.37%  3311

Over time, ratings systems suffer from "ratings creep" as lower ranked
players drop out of the system with greater frequency than higher
rated players. This is normal and unavoidable. Median rating and the
ratings curve in general will also rise if rated players earn points
from players who are excluded from the ratings list because of minimum
experience or membership requirements and, assumedly, have generally
lower ratings than the players who are on the ratings list.

Other reasons for ratings creep include ratings manipulation by
players (unauthorized ratings "boosting" or authorized resetting
(starting over at 1500.00) and by servers (assigning new players
ratings not earned through play on the server, such as starting a new
player with a rating earned on another server, or some other awarding
of points not earned through play against other players on the
server).
________________________________________________
Daniel Murphy            www.cityraccoon.com/
Humlebæk Backgammon Klub www.hbgk.dk/
Raccoon on FIBS          www.fibs.com/
Raccoon on GamesGrid too
 
Did you find the information in this article useful?          

Do you have any comments you'd like to add?     

 

Play Sites

Arkadium  (Michael Volpatt, Oct 2003) 
BG Room  (Stanley E. Richards+, Oct 2007)  [GammOnLine forum]
Backgammon4Money--Announcement  (Will Edison, Dec 2001) 
Best value  (Kenny Lee Smith+, June 1998) 
Club Games  (Ashton Haze, Sept 2005) 
Club Games  (Tomawaky+, May 2005) 
Comparison of rakes  (Raccoon, Dec 2006)  [GammOnLine forum]
Comparison of rakes  (Raccoon, July 2006)  [GammOnLine forum]
Comparison of rakes  (Hank Youngerman+, Oct 2005)  [Long message]
Comparison of rakes  (Daniel, Aug 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
DailyGammon  (Dan Wittkopp+, July 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
DailyGammon  (Scott Steiner+, Apr 2004) 
DailyGammon  (Phil Vanicek, May 2001) 
FIBS vs. GamesGrid  (Bob Stringer, May 2000) 
FIBS--Financial support  (Kit Woolsey, Aug 1997) 
FIBS--Original announcement  (Andreas Schneider, July 1992) 
FIBS--Top Tournament Performers  (Osman Guner, July 2003) 
FIBS--Your worst fears  (Richard Greenberg, Nov 1995)  [Long message] [Recommended reading]
Fair Backgammon  (info, May 2006) 
Free online tournaments  (Ricardo Hui+, Mar 2009) 
Friendly play site  (Ian Dunstan+, Feb 2006) 
GameDesire  (Maciej Mróz, Sept 2004) 
GameSite2000--Announcment  (GameSite 2000, Jan 2000) 
Games4Dollars  (Info Team, Apr 2004) 
GamesGrid vs FIBS  (Jim Cochrane, Jan 1999) 
GamesGrid--Announcement  (CyberArts Inc., June 1996) 
GamesGrid--Comparison to FIBS  (Ken Arnold, May 1997) 
GamesGrid--Second version  (Ken Arnold, Sept 1996) 
GamesGrid--Update  (Ken Arnold, Mar 1998) 
Gammon Empire--Announcement  (Jerry, Nov 2004) 
Gammon11  (sirkaber, May 2006) 
HigherGames--Announcement  (Michael Gilbert, Dec 2003) 
ItsYourTurn--Announcement  (Tom Buhrman, Sept 1999) 
Ladbrokes.com  (mccm1976, May 2006) 
Link to review of play sites  (cindybel+, May 2006) 
MSN Gaming Zone--Overall experience  (Mark Ferrante+, Nov 1997) 
MSN Gaming Zone--Thoughts  (Gregg Cattanach, Dec 1998) 
MoneyGaming.com  (max+, July 2005) 
NOBS  (Lou Poppler+, Aug 1996) 
Overview  (chinaski+, June 2008) 
Overview  (Alan Webb, Jan 1999) 
PiranhaGammon  (Piranha, Dec 2007) 
Play site wish list  (Perry Gartner+, Dec 2012)  [Long message]
Play65/GammonEmpire  (Butch Meese+, July 2005)  [GammOnLine forum]
Play65/GammonEmpire  (Daniel Murphy+, Dec 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Play65/GammonEmpire vs. TrueMoneyGames  (oneprime+, Feb 2005) 
Play65/GammonEmpire--Are they the same?  (Tony Yarwood+, Aug 2005) 
Play65/GammonEmpire--Review  (Tom Keith+, Sept 2005) 
Play65/GammonEmpire--Withdrawal symptoms  (David Warmind+, May 2007)  [GammOnLine forum]
Play65/GammonEmpire--Withdrawal symptoms  (Erik Sorensen+, Apr 2007)  [GammOnLine forum]
Playmaker World--Announcement  (Michael Crane, Nov 2001) 
Playsite--Announcement  (Seth Tapper, Mar 1997) 
Ratings comparison  (Daniel Murphy, Aug 1999) 
Richard's Play-by-E-mail Server  (Richard Rognlie, May 1997) 
TrueMoneygames--Announcement  (TrueMoneygames Info, Apr 2002) 
VOG  (Glenn+, Feb 2000) 
Where to play for money  (mginat+, May 2006) 
Where to play for money  (Victor Zanfer+, Apr 2005) 
Yahoo Games  (Steve Fiete+, Mar 1998) 
Yahoo Games--Ratings  (Neil GoBlu+, July 2000) 
melBG--Announcement  (David Kinston, Dec 2000) 

[GammOnLine forum]  From GammOnLine       [Long message]  Long message       [Recommended reading]  Recommended reading       [Recent addition]  Recent addition
 

  Book Suggestions
Books
Cheating
Chouettes
Computer Dice
Cube Handling
Cube Handling in Races
Equipment
Etiquette
Extreme Gammon
Fun and frustration
GNU Backgammon
History
Jellyfish
Learning
Luck versus Skill
Magazines & E-zines
Match Archives
Match Equities
Match Play
Match Play at 2-away/2-away
Miscellaneous
Opening Rolls
Pip Counting
Play Sites
Probability and Statistics
Programming
Propositions
Puzzles
Ratings
Rollouts
Rules
Rulings
Snowie
Software
Source Code
Strategy--Backgames
Strategy--Bearing Off
Strategy--Checker play
Terminology
Theory
Tournaments
Uncategorized
Variations

 

Return to:  Backgammon Galore : Forum Archive Main Page