There is a special bulletin, followed by the regular news.
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 10:15:50 -0500
Subject: What it takes to win in IBL
(A copy of this message has also been posted to the following newsgroups:
rec.games.bolo)
I was exchanging private email with an IBL player when I realized that my
response might be useful to all IBL players. The issue is how some people
insist on using IBL ratings as a rating of overall Bolo skill.
The IBL rating system was designed for one thing only: to ensure reasonably
fair divisions. Players gain or lose points based on who they win/lose
against. In 1x1 games like chess, over time one's rating will reflect
one's skill. In IBL however, there is an added twist since we do 2x2,
round robin games.
In other words, IBL ratings measure one's ability to IBL. IBL games
require the ability to partner up with almost anybody and kick ass. This
can be achieved by brute force talent, such that it doesn't matter if one's
ally sux, or it can be achieved by being a good team player, defined as one
who takes advantage of his ally's strengths, knows how to compensate for
his ally's weaknesses, and in short makes the alliance stronger than the
sum of its parts. Hoov and more recently drad are remarkable
demonstrations of this latter group. Individually or even in most 2x2s
they are good but certainly not "gods" yet they are nearly top ranked in
IBL, because week after week they consistently win no matter who they
partner with. The irony is that a 3-0 winner is one who can team up with
somebody and kick ass, then in the next game kick that player's ass.
I suspect part of IBL success (and here I am going deep into theory since I
am nearly bottom ranked myself) is a lack of psychological pressure.
People like drad certainly don't mind winning and being elevated in the
ranks, but they laugh at themselves -- "wtf am I doing in the top 5?!?"
When they lose 1 game, they don't go into a tailspin -- "talk to me goose!"
and end up losing more games than they should.
In the end, I wish everybody would just play for fun. Many people have
told me they really enjoy PBL, not just because we play bigass 4x4 or 5x5
games on weird maps with suspiciously lascivious Latin names, but because
nobody really is in it for their ratings. The ratings determine who you
play against in IBL, the rest is up to you. A good player can win against
those much better or much worse than themselves, and all players should be
able to enjoy the games regardless of the outcome.
Jolo
- - - - - - - -
And now the regular news from this week...
Date: Tue Nov 12 13:17:55 EST 1996
Heil IBL!
Well the new division-making system is still being refined. On Sunday
night 11 people showed (I *hate* that, being 1 shy of 3 divs), so after
I stepped out, the we eliminated the last two arriving players (1 of
whom was late b/c he misunderstood the new rules, the other was sitting
on the wrong channel). Div 1 was so confused by the loss of the former
player that they didn't identify drad as a splitter and the games were
consequently ruined (drad, you're on probation until we can figure out
wtf is wrong with your net). So anyway only 1 div ended up playing,
with Will easily winning over our beloved newbie corps.
On Monday night, we had 2 regular divisions (I'm convinced I should just
let Will do all the division making, he never seems to have problems).
Cliffa kicks ass against some tough competition (Nutz, Max, and welcome
back Bob) and leaps up to the #2 spot, and spectre better known as Bob
Uhl joins IBL and goes down 0-3 against our newbies.
I noticed IBL in this season has settled into a new group of players.
The only "god" still active is Samhain, with an occasional showing from
BM. The best players who are still active now are what we used to
consider average-good, people like Drad, WD, Cliffa (all 3 in the top 5
now), Nutz, and Pins. There isn't much of a middle-class anymore, since
it consists of mostly rusty vets like Lance, Max, Fish, and Bob.
Instead we now have a cluster of diehard newbies who now play all the
time: tzun, ultra, eldoce, kremp, Ian, and Magrathea. Then there's
Will, who seems to enjoy going up and down the ranks to be sociable, and
myself, doomed to forever define the threshold between newbie and vet.
Due to lack of Duke players, we didn't do any formal PBL, but there were
a few good pickup games, including 2 memorable ones I played with Will
against vert and bob. All I can is, vert would probably be right up
there with Samhain if he played IBL. The man is just scary. On Xenon
Lamp, he raped us to death in 3 minutes with hardly a single pill taken.
Then on that Oryctocunnilingus whatever map, he gave a good lesson in
pill wars and strategic offense. I love this guy!
See Will's post and my follow-up for more discussion on the
division-making process -- we really want to get as many opinions as
possible, both from newbies and vets. Those who don't speak up are most
likely to get shafted!
Jolo
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Div 6a2: Will ultraman Krempic Ian. (Will went 3-0.)
Game 1: Will & ultraman > Krempic & Ian.
Team A was favored by 447 points. By winning, each gained 7 points.
Game 2: Will & Krempic > ultraman & Ian.
Team A was favored by 375 points. By winning, each gained 10 points.
Game 3: Will & Ian > ultraman & Krempic.
Team A was favored by 77 points. By winning, each gained 40 points.
Overall point changes: Will +58 ultraman -44 Krempic -37 Ian +22
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Div 6b1: Cliffa Nutz Max Bob. (Cliffa went 3-0.)
Game 1: Cliffa & Nutz > Max & Bob.
Team A was favored by 542 points. By winning, each gained 4 points.
Game 2: Cliffa & Max > Nutz & Bob.
Team A was favored by 86 points. By winning, each gained 39 points.
Game 3: Cliffa & Bob > Nutz & Max.
Team A was an underdog by 86 points. By winning, each gained 64 points.
Overall point changes: Cliffa +108 Nutz -99 Max -29 Bob +20
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Div 6b2: Krempic eldoce Ian spectre. (spectre went 0-3.)
Game 1: Krempic & eldoce > Ian & spectre.
Team A was favored by 243 points. By winning, each gained 20 points.
Game 2: Krempic & Ian > eldoce & spectre.
Team A was favored by 55 points. By winning, each gained 43 points.
Game 3: Krempic & spectre < eldoce & Ian.
Team A was favored by 55 points. By losing, each lost 60 points.
Overall point changes: Krempic +4 eldoce +37 Ian +83 spectre -125
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