Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sony's SOCOM II Online Ranking System Explained

Posted by simoniker on from the grand-master-sniper dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Curious about how the complex online ranking system in PS2 online title SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs works? Thanks to Playstation Magazine, you need wonder no more." The article reveals the ranking "...is based on the Chess Ranking system developed by Dr. Arpad Elo... [but] much more complex in order to take into consideration the SOCOM II game format", showing the increasingly involved calculations needed to construct online rankings, although lack of clarity may also be confusing gamers, as: "It is important to note that the 'score' on the player stats and the 'score' at the end of the game are not directly related."

2 of 10 comments (clear)

  1. Nice to see other systems by moldar · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I worked on a system for ranking Tradewars players. This system is based on the work that I did. It is interesting to see how various games value achievement, team size, etc.

    I only wish that the article was more technical since others may have thoughts on multi-player online game ranking systems.

  2. A Tale in the Desert's ranking system by Teppy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We designed this to be game-resistant, give the illusion of early progress, and be zero-sum. It's used in the Conflict discipline in our game, which consists of competitive two-player mini-games.

    I'm convinced that it's a near-perfect replacement for ELO-like systems like those used in chess, but only when getting a high rank is the main goal. When a high percentage of the population is willing to throw games to boost a few players, then even this system breaks down.

    We're now experimenting with N-elimination tournament systems. We'll know in a couple weeks how those work.