A higher rated player has a lot more chance of losing to a lower rated player in 1pt games. In a 1pt game a gammon or backgammon means nothing to the end result of the game, also a short game is much more at the whim of the luck of the dice. This is why you will rarely see the top players playing 1pt games at dailygammon or games grid, or playing them with a separate ID so as not to affect their ratings.
In multipoint games the odds even out a lot more, a higher rated player has a lot more chance of beating the lower rated player simply because of game skill and strategy.
With FIBS the lower rated player is rewarded for beating a higher rated player, but the higher rated player does not lose such a disportionate amount of points.
Here on the other hand we will see a similar thing happen as what happened at Goldtoken.
The top 20 players consisted of quite a few players (most) who would refuse a casual invite, most were non club members thus were not involved in random match ups in club challenges. Some only played 1 or 2 other players. It also allowed a player with only 35% (or was it 33%) wins to achieve the number 2 position simply because the games they won were against the number 1 player, who just happened to be a buddy. When the system was switched to FIBS and all games were recalculated some interesting things happened, players who had good win/loss ratios but had previously maintained a low rating simply because they played anyone, had a large rise in rating, whereas other players who had a high rating all of a sudden took a big drop. FIBS rewards players for winning, you will not simply get the large point gains by winning the occasional game against a high rated player...nor if you lose will you see your rating drop by 30-40 points at a time, only to find your next win is rewarded with 6.
Backgammon is a very different game to chess, it is extrememly popular, and is usually one of, if not the most popular game on any game site. Thus I personally feel it deserves to have the most effective rating system applied, this will become even more important if multipoint games are ever introduced to this site.

Fencer is there any chance you would consider changing the rating system for the gammons over to FIBS? This is the most recognised rating system for these games, and is a much fairer system, it also gives a better indication of player strength than the current. I know it is really frustrating for players to lose such high points for a loss and gain such low ones for a win.

It would be really nice to get an automated message when a new tourny round starts, also to have that round on the actual game when you go to play it, I keep finding these games appearing on my list and having to refer back to the original tourny page to see what round it is.

I have been asking this for weeks BBW. The worst thing is if you can't get in and timeout, its fine that you can ask for a game to be reistated (must say its too time consuming I have given up even asking) but you don't get your rating points put back on..which is especially cruel with the BKR, as you lose so many points for a loss if you have a high rating, but gain so few for a win.

Is there any reason I havent been able to get into the site Fencer? If not, then I think I will have to consider not playing here anymore, as I am finding it very frustrating not being able to load the site and play when I have the time

well this is the first time today I have been able to get into this site, the site would not load at all this morning, if this keeps up I will use up all my vacation days because its the only way I can avoid timing out...other people are saying they are having problems either getting in, or the site being very slow... If this is a widespread problem shouldn't the timeout clock be stopped?

I have just timed out on games because I could not get into this site, I am limited to dialup at the moment, and find my game sheet takes an inordinate time to load or just will not load at all..has this been a site wide problem or is it just happening to me? I know dial up is slower than cable, but none of the other sites seem to be affected

Would it be possible for an automated message to be sent out when a new tournament round starts, and also for our game page to show which round it is?
Also if a tournament starts off as a 1 game per player, not 2, that it has to stay that way for all rounds, until the final playoff? I just had a round 2 start which was 1 game per player in round 1, now we have to play 2 games per player, once a tournament is started, shouldn't the settings stay the same the whole way through?

zilch is a great game..tho better played with a few friends and few drinks into the wee hours i think :-)

Ok I see a lot of whining about top players not accepting games.
I would like to suggest a ladder system for members only, where players can challenge a higher rated player, subject to certain guidelines of course (ie. must be 5 day moves, may only challenge once per week). I have played in several different leagues at Cases leagues..www.igl.net, where top 20 ladder players must defend their position every week, (this may be to short a time for a dailymove site) they must also play a certain amount of games outside of the top 20 to retain their status, tournament games are included in these numbers. GT also offers something basic along these lines in its club format, where a lower rated player may challenge a higher rated, only 1 challenge per player is allowed at one time, it has its faults but could be the basis for a working ladder system here.
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It would be easy to set up a cases league for this site however it does mean accessing another site for stats and to enter losses which some people may find a pain in the butt.

When Fencer introduces tournaments for inter fellowship competition you will be representing that fellowship against others in a team comp. For now it is internal fellowship tournaments only. Of course some fellowships consist of groups of friends from this site or others as well

IYT seems to manage with no problems, but I know they dont have vacation days and flexible days off there. Cant it be done just to bring up the next match as listed on the main page? This I think is all we are asking for right now.

I agree with wolf, it takes ages to go back to the main page. Surely the games could be listed in the same order when you click go to next game as they are on the main page? I often sit down with only a few minutes wanting to play the games most likely to timeout.

Choice of points would be great, especially great if it was implemented like dailygammon, which is by far the superior site for move by day backgammon to any I have seen. IYT not having the choice to resign for single, gammon or backgammon each round is a pain. Again if we get multipoint we really need the FIBS rating system for the gammons, I dont think the current one would work well at all.

I know the perfect solution. IYT has an option in a regular game for a player to request a longer timeout period, ie from 3 days to 30 this gives you the opportunity to finish those delayed matches, without having to ask for a draw.
However I think a tournament should never have the opportunity of a draw in backgammon as it is not in the rules, thus the option should not be there :-)

My argument Fencer is it is impossible to have a draw in the official rules for backgammon, and for the site to have any credibility in the future for backgammon players then it should not offer one. I have also struck big problems in the past with draws in tournaments at another site. So just trying to perhaps make things better (and avoid the conflicts) :-)

Hrlqns: There can only be one winner in a game of backgammon, it is impossible to have 2 winners. Any player with any experience knows this.

On the subject of the draw option (lol...well loosely on the subject)...Fencer it is impossible to have a draw in the game of backgammon, and there shouldn't really be an option there, can you remove it sometime? Please? :-)

PHew... thats a relief..LOL

Fencer: are you intending for players to be able to save and load boards and choose random boards for battleships? (fingers crossed) I have heard so many people complain about the way you have to set up boards at GT :-)

Will you be introducing the ability to define tournaments between different fellowships? This would be a lot more fun than just playing your own fellowship members, ie club challenges at GT.

This may have been asked for before..but anyway...I am asking again
Can we get some options for different coloured game boards and playing pieces? Purely an asthetic thing I know, but makes it easier on the eyes :-)

Its great to see someone else agreeing with the change of backgammon ratings. I would like to note that although GT has implemented the FIBS rating system, it is not working correctly, at present a player will only gain or lose 2-3 pts, whereas it should be possible to gain or lose more even in a 1pt match. This 2-3pts has resulted in a stagnation of many peoples ratings, making it near impossible for a low rated but improving player to ever get near the top. Dailygammon however uses the FIBS system which works very well and is representative of a players strength. If multipoint games with the cube were intoduced here (fingers crossed) then a modification of the ratings system would be essential.

Can I add a request that the backgammon and variants ratings be changed to something more suitable for the game ie: the fibs system. The current ratings system just doesnt work well for backs, the fibs info can be found here http://www.fibs.com/ratings.html

When I have played my last game waiting and click go to main page the page takes forever to load, or wont load at all..I usually find its easier to play the move then reload the page from favourites..anyone else having this problem??