#10, I was referring to the letting people choose beginner/intermediate/advanced to determine where they start. The sandbaggers could just choose beginner, start at 1200, and then go into a tournament and hit their targets hard with some 1800+ level play. Of course these are throwaway accounts, so it doesn't matter if the mods quickly shut them down, the damage has already been done.
As for the puzzle idea, it's the same, the sandbagger can intentionally fail the puzzles and get their 1200 account. As much as I truly like the idea, I'm just concerned about how it might add abuse potential.
ok that is what you mean by sandbagging - intentionally getting a low rating and then winning.
honestly i have never ever seen this to be a big problem in online chess and i have played since 1995 or so online.
overall i would think the problem of discouraging players is not such a big deal. beginners simply can not expect to win against experienced players. giving them provisional ratings that are invisible will not change the opponents they are facing and thus they will lose the same at the start.
providing them with a ability to lower their rating at the start is a good way to ensure they are better matched up at the beginning. sandbaggers can go to 1200 within 2 minutes of playing a few moves and resigning anyway, so this should not make any difference. as i said before, i have not experienced a lot of these guys before.
Players at your level aren't the ones who get sandbagged, no offense. I mean, I'm not speaking from experience, I'm lower level than you are. But I hear the top players complain about it more. Thing is, I don't think those people are sandbagging as 1200 rated players, but rather as players around your strength who are really 2200+ level players; so maybe it's not a concern.
Consider me a fan of your idea, Chilly.
Is there some sort of road map of the devs have of features to implement?
People of any rating can get sandbagged.
Sometimes strong(ish) players make new accounts, and play against weaker players....this is technically sandbagging.
I hate when i play on a new website and need to play a lot and a lot of games to reach my real level. I usualy quit it even before, cause playing lower opponent over and over could be very boring. I guess it's even worst for better players than me.
That's why i think that the current system is good for keeping high level players going on lichess.
The rating system and quality of opponents wouldn't change any. Just the users rating would be hidden for a couple games. This could actually be potentially exciting. The user might binge those first 5-10ish games to see what their mystery number is.
Then again maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure I had a different experience coming to this website than you did CrazyMadMax4. I didn't know more than the piece movement before I came. I actually didn't make this post about my own situation either. When I introduce friends to this site who are new to the game I want them to have the best possible experience. I have a friend who played and lost a few games and hasn't been back since. He still enjoys the game of chess. I've played him a few times since in person.
