30-01-2001 21:07									#1
	Interview with Solver Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

This is the interview with Solver, and questions here are by Shadow. The interview topic is CtP PBEM Ladder System, and he just asked me to publish this when the answers are here.
So, I do as I should, and here comes the interview:

Shadow: I believe the first question here is quite a natural one - what is that made you think of the PBEM Ratings System?

Solver: Well, it came to me after a game of Age of Empires II. I was playing on the MSN Gaming Zone, a rated game, and suddenly a thought about CtP came in my mind. I thought, why are those only the games played on the Zone that have some sort of a ratings system. I took some more detailed reading of the PBEM threads over there at Apolyton. Then I always keep in mind that my PC is full of files that contain my various ideas, thoughts and other things I keep storing. And, I was lucky enough to find a file with the thoughts I've had then. So, on October 10, 2000 (hope I remember it right), I started a topic called "PBEM Ladders" in the Apolyton CtP Multiplaying forum. Now there are many referrals to this thread, even though there aren't too many posts under it.

Shadow: First the PBEMers expressed a lot of critics towards your system. What was the reason for it?

Solver: I hope it's not that the system was bad . Actually, it was completely new to the CtP Multiplayer arena. There also were many older players, that are registered at Apolyton since 1999, and are playing the PBEM games right since the 1.2 patch for CtP came out. And, they have been playing for long, and that did have fun from it. I guess they just thought they're doing all right in PBEMs already, and need no such a rating system.
Then, the second concern was my foolingness . I proposed to rate the game when it's finished - by that time I have just been about to start 1 PBEM game, and I didn't know for how long do they last (and see the "How long does a PBEM game take" poll for it). But then came Quinns with his formula, and we came to an agreement to take the ratings each ten turns, just the way it is now.

Shadow: Why did Quinns decide to support you here?

Solver: I can't say much on this one. Probably he just thought it's a good idea to rate the games, but better ask him instead of me .

Shadow: And after it all came true, you have been styling yourself the PBEM Ladder Administrator, right?

Solver: In fact, yes. It's simply that for it to be optimal, there have to be 2 or 3 people who care about the system. Here we have two, Quinns and me. Quinns does the calculations (admittedly, the most important part) and posts the results, while I take decisions in unclear situations, and keep the progress chart for the player. You know, it's also on one hand quite risky sometimes to take the decision, as sometimes it might harm someone, giving him fewer points, and he might now quite like it.
But it was clear for me since the very beginning that we have to have at least 2 persons here, once again/

Shadow: How did the delinquency rule come into the system?

Solver:This one was mine idea. Power went down at my home, and while I was sitting there without PC and in lights of candles, I was angry. I thought I'd be lucky to punish those who delay me from sitting at my PC. And thus I also though it would be nice to punish those who delay the PBEM game process, and thus the 0.1 rating points are taken for delinquency.

Shadow: The second important rule here is the Elimination Rule.

Solver: Right. This was an idea by our community at first, I'd say, and Keygen played an important role in creating this rule. Actually, it's a good one, as one of the things it does is preventing players from changing their status in the game from rated to unrated in order to avoid losing.

Shadow: For the last week you've been whining to me that you're "having problems with starting the TOP 5 game". What is it?

Solver: This is a game where 5 players that take the highest positions in the ratings table, play a game with themselves inside. The game uses a scenario starting about the Modern Era, with lots of everything, allowing a quick game, and attacks early. The game has no special ratings multiplier for it, so it's not very important.

To be continued, especially with Shadow's questions about Apolyton vs. Activision war, that is PBEM in CtP II.


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Solver - http://www.aok.20m.com