Definitely!

This thread was started as a spinoff to the tourney thread here : http://www.funkypool.com/viewTopic.do?topicid=8953

If you dont wanna read it all, what i was pointing out was that rather than have anything complicated as tourney "prize", simply making the games ranked would mean the winner had won about 16 (8 rounds, 2 games each) ranked games, average that at 4 points and you have a gain of 64 points for winning a tourney!

What about people who win tourny's more often than not, that can't be fair.

Sure it's fair, it's just the same as winning a cluster of games. If a player is good enough to win a torn, then they are good enough to get some rank.

To the actual point of this thread........

When I am in the mood to play ranked games (when I have a mouse not a touchpad) I play ranked. When I want to chill out and have some fun, I play friendlys. Why take that away from me?!

Theres NO point whatsoever, let me enjoy both typs of playing, it doesn't do you any harm.

Edited at 00:40 Wed 20/12/06 (GMT)

Ah but there is a very important point, which Nick himself has made.

At the moment the ranking system is pretty much meaningless because players can pick and choose when to play ranked games.

The ability to practice and to play friendlys isnt being removed, you can practice as normal and if you want a "live" game, sign in as a guest.

The big benifit is, again, that your stats will have some genuine meaning as opposed to just being a number..

spinner you didn't share very well as a child did you? i'm gonna go out on a limb and say you don't choose like magic does, its not exactly fun to have to log on as a guest in order to play a non ranked game, especially now that guests do not have chatting privileges. and furthermore, i thought we were trying to lower our number of guests and raise the number of members, getting rid of a feature and simply saying "well if you want to do it be a guest" is taking us two steps back from the one step forward. when it comes down to it, this game is meant for fun...its even called funky! the ranking system now is not the best it can ever be, but the people who are in the top, generally deserve to be in the top, and i don't think there would be that much of a change if we changed it to all ranked games. the people in the top of the ranks..played loads of ranked games, and if any are like squeezy, he plays everyone. i guess i just can't see more pro's than con's in this situation.

On the contrary, its my desire to share that means i never play friendlies.

Just seems unfair to say "i dont want to share my rank just now"

I can see no cons atall!

Some good points there _brighteyes_!

In my opinion, i can't see it doing much harm at all. Afterall, at least your rank can reflect your win percentage.

Also, i can't see much reason in being afraid to play a rank game, as it will effect all users, you can easily get your rank back if you lose a bit.

Although i see your point magicblack, If your not in the mood or not 'on form', the fact that you cant play on your username seems a little drastic!

its not that people are scared to play ranked games. and i'll be the first to admit i don't mind losing, and many people can tell you i'm not a sore loser at all. but like i said, whether ranked games or not, you can tell which players are in the top group, and which aren't. plus how is it going to help the ranks when people are resetting their stats, you may be number one, but there are 6 people out there going for first to all 100 wins record that could spank ya up and down the pool table. like i said in the beginning, if nick decided to make all games ranked, i'd deal with it, i wouldn't stomp off in a huff. its my personal desire to keep friendlies, but if i cannot help the change, then so be it. i agree with many many points you've all made about changing to only ranked games, but i'm still torn because i also agree with those who are for friendly games.

and to spinner: the reason you don't see many cons, is because you don't see any one elses opinion at all.

My opinion is that unranked friendlies should still exist.

Firstly so you can play a game with no real worries about the score affecting your stats (with the minor exception of wins and losses). This is good when you're not paying attention to the game (football on the box) and just want to play casually or maybe when you're giving a new user you introduced a few extra chances to help them learn.

Secondly guests can not compete in ranked games. For each game there should be rank balance eg someone gains and someone loses. Guests could have a temporary rank but still the member would be playing for a permanent score change while the guest would be playing for a temporary one.

However playing for solely ranked points does not make sense. When people reach their true ranking value why should they play more? Rankings are simply meant as an indicator of how well someone is playing.

The next area to come under attention will be tournaments. Games becoming ranked is a strong possibility. There will also be other additions which will compliment the tournaments (eg points depending on number of entrants).

I would just like to say if these new us8 and us9 smaller tables were created for ppl to have fun then they should'nt be rank games, these tables suit the hit and hope players out there, meaning not alot of skill required, making these games rank is also messing up the overall rank standings, which is not fair on players who have been playing for a long time.

seriously, what is with you guys and being so serious about rank here. isn't the rank just an indicator of how well someone is doing, the whole point of this site is to not be ranked number 1. everyone is making rank seem like the ultimate goal, and for some maybe it is, but i think for the majority of players on here, maybe not the majority of forum users, but the majority of users come on here to play a pool game and have fun. sometimes things aren't fair, but you lot whine more than any one i've ever known! and what is "messing up" the ranks...putting different players up there? if you don't like who's on the top of the ranks, get there yourself.

edit: my spelling is atrocious

Edited at 20:55 Wed 20/12/06 (GMT)

If you didn't care about rank, and just play for fun, then why not play rank anyway?

If rank wasn't an issue then play all you want, without worrying about losing rank in the first place.

no, rank is an issue, but i don't moan about it loads, and i actually said fine fair enough if you make ranked games i'll play ranked games, but it seems like soooo many threads on here are guys saying how unfair some type of ranking is. the fact is so many people are causing issues about rank that are unnecessary.

and you could also go the other way, why make all games ranked? why not cut rank out all together and purely have things based on win percentage? thats a ridiculous idea...but i'm just saying.

it seems like the underdogs are always getting ragged on, because something is "unfair" and the "hit and hope" players are doing well. many players have found ways to be on top of the board while still dealing with hit and hope players. if you complain about every time a mediocre player is on the rankings boards...then apparently you're not up to the challenge of being number 1.

this is more dealing with the issue suggested by ab_rfc than spinner's issue

The smaller tables are meant to be more fun. But, this doesn't mean they'll be less competitive or a win is any less of an achievement. Currently UK pool is the most difficult tournament to win. This is due to number of players and the amount of skill and experience top players have. However, it's also the easiest to play and pot (and has 2 shots with carry for a foul!).

Overall ranking stats are currently of small value as they are biased towards US events. For some stats it makes sense to keep overall stats (tournament wins, total wins) but maybe overall rankings should be taken with a pinch of salt!

Being number one and complaining about top players' luck are not my reasons personally.

I just think it would be a lot more interesting.

i know farren, and undoubtedly it would be more interesting, especially seeing which players show their true form, but i was talking about the other threads, and the one ab_rfc tried to bring in. like i told spinner, i think all ranked games is a notable request. its the other ones, the whining, that gets to me. you haven't done it at all i don't think, its more the sore losers that get on my nerves. but thats off the topic so i probably shouldn't have posted it, but i just get worked up sometimes . i'm sorry if i came off to any one as a rude girl, lol i'm really not, and i'm sorry if i sounded like a party pooper.

Surely now as everyone can check any other players results we can check which players pick and choose games to climbs the ranks