Competitive Racing License

[IBZ6L20VT]

Omg so much 👍 👍 👍 to this.

I need to highlight this

Y'think???


I appreciate that you were trying to help, but if you've been following the thread like you say, you would know that avenue has been explored, multiple times already. Apologies for snapping, but it gets old after a while.

Please, I invite you to check post #308 (page 11) of this thread where I was referring (I think for the first time in the thread) about SMS requesting 2000 and 4000 points to access two community events.

View attachment 677843

Well, it looks that SMS is quite confident that someone will have +4000 skill point by the 20th of October...

Wishful thinking if you ask me, as we all started with 1500 points 2 weeks ago. No way of getting such a high score at this stage. Maybe +2000...

By the way, as a (very) funny side note, it looks like they don't care too much about cleanliness as the minimum safety rank is set to U. And we are wasting our time trying to be clean to climb the ladder... lol.

Edit: this will be my last post on the matter as this is getting off topic. Just point out again that my only initial intention was to help you solving your problem of not being able to access the lobbies you want.

 

[TRGTspecialist]

Right, because that's what I'm saying. Read my post. I definitely said that I could do a better job think I know better based on my online experience. Ffs

Fixed. But if I misunderstood all those posts where you've convinced yourself you know exactly how the system is working, you know how many people are "affected", and you know the devs clearly don't have a clue - all based on, seemingly, anecdotal evidence - I apologise.

But listen to yourself. Demanding the name of an SMS employee - the 'person responsible' if you will - and that they give an Q&A, presumably so they can explain themselves, is a whole new level of ridiculous.

Not that it matters now I guess........

🤬 it, time for a change of scenery, I'm out.

Bye. Again.

 

[StefanMac]

Finally get to S1408 then get kicked last lap from the cheating, piece of trash lobby host and lose 36 points

It's a shame to see such a lack of people online on a friday night also, i'm hoping everyone is just waiting for a patch.

 

[Outspacer]

It´s not just the disconnects, there´s a lot more going on that should be reflected upon.

Yesterday i hit A1603, first time over 1600.

I couldn´t join a lobby because i was late to the party, but there was a RWB lobby PACKED with aliens from the time trials. Trash, Speeddmon and many other fast guys... they were all 1550ish.

Am i better than those guys? Hell no, i know my limits.

What happens is, like any other system, if you game this system you are going to level up. If you just play for fun, even if you´re freaking fast you´re not gonna hit 2000 with little effort.

Racing with fast buddies means you are not gonna win everytime, so these groups of fast guys get stuck because they are not winning everytime.

If you´re 1600 or above, in most cases you´re gonna be the highest ranked player, meaning you have to win to keep your score.

Let´s say i joined that alien lobby two minutes earlier, let´s say i raced like crazy and finished 3rd out of 12, heck of a result but i would lose points because i didn´t win against lower ranked players.

So if scoring is important you have to start restricting yourself and only joining races that you can win, gaining few points, but not losing anything.

It´s not a rant, just an observation... TBH i don´t know if there´s a solution that´s reasonable for everybody, but it is what it is.

If you want to reach 1700 or 1800 there are things you should absolutely avoid, like joining lobbies close to the end of qualify, lobbies with cars that are easy to go fast, lobbies with fast guys.

Lots of things are still weird at this point because i´m sure some of it wasn´t really considered before the game came out, otherwise they wouldn´t have set 2000 and 4000 for the e-sports qualify events.

Lets see what changes, because what works for real life chess (elo) might not always work for online racing.

Yes, if people race in small groups the rating would at best reflect their relative abilities within that group. But even amongst the aliens there's a pecking order, so if that was what they'd been doing you'd expect more difference between them.

Another explanation is that they've had a handful of disconnects. It wouldn't take many for them to have otherwise had a rating much higher than yours. Or that they've been racing against people who've had disconnects, and therefore have less points to be gained by beating them.

I'm so against having any penalties (or bonuses) applied to the skill rating because it isn't only a penalty on one person, it's a penalty on anyone who later races against them, and on the overall value of the rating. It's impossible to say what rating an alien should have because of it.

Ignoring penalties, no one can be 'truly' ranked unless they race against a pretty large number of varied oppenents. I'm sure it can be gamed to some extent, but then you'd have someone with a rating higher than their skill - a prime target for anyone else wishing to gain points!

 

[twitcher]

Fixed. But if I misunderstood all those posts where you've convinced yourself you know exactly how the system is working, you know how many people are "affected", and you know the devs clearly don't have a clue - all based on, seemingly, anecdotal evidence - I apologise.

But listen to yourself. Demanding the name of an SMS employee - the 'person responsible' if you will - and that they give an Q&A, presumably so they can explain themselves, is a whole new level of ridiculous.

Not that it matters now I guess........



Bye. Again.

I never said any of that crap...that's all words your putting in my mouth. Where did I say I know exactly how the system works, more home many people are "affected by it" (that doesn't even make much sense). I never claimed to know better, just that I have input that I don't think was considered, hence I'd like the chance to talk to someone to give my input. Is that really so hard to figure out? You're reaching incredibly hard and blowing my stance completely out proportion just so you can take some kind of ba moral high ground.

Buying a product that doesn't work properly, and then asking speak to someone involved in making it. My God, what audacity I have.

What's rediculous is that you give one crap about my opinion of the rating system. You haven't offered any help in fixing the situation, just "don't like it, go away." Is your goal to have this forum be a circle jerk of people who think the game is awesome?

SMS doesn't need you to stick up for them lmao. Don't like my opinion, fine. But either offer some suggestions about how to improve the rating system, or just move on.

I've realized that this section of the forum is literally like 10 people talking in circles around each other, going nowhere. Hence leaving....which is I guess what you want? So you win lol. Btw, you've never left somewhere that was a complete mess, thinking, "I'll come back once this mess gets sorted out." Difficult concept, eh?

 

[TRGTspecialist]

I never said any of that crap

What's rediculous is that you give one crap about my opinion

You haven't offered any help in fixing the situation, just "don't like it, go away."

But either offer some suggestions about how to improve the rating system, or just move on.

SMS doesn't need you to stick up for them lmao.

I never learn.....let's just leave it with this, because it's something we both agree on (probably for different reasons, but I'll take it).

I've realized that this section of the forum is literally like 10 people talking in circles around each other, going nowhere

 

[McTrucker]

I love the idea of having a speed rating number. It really gives you something to strive for and achieve.

But they really need to fix this thing.

I lost 35 points this morning when I got disconnected from a room. It took me two days to build up those points. I keep going up and down. It makes me not want to even try.

 

[Gr8_Lakes]

And the "gaming" has already begun, at least on PS4. Had a couple lobbies last night where after qualifying, I was confident I could beat the other couple racers that had higher scores than me. Low and behold, at race start, they disappeared. This left me on the grid by myself. It's a shame there's little honor in online gaming. I've also realized what a lack of high safety rating lobbies there is. Seems like 90% of lobbies are set at a safety level of U. The rest are no minimum requirement and the occasional level F or E. I thought by now we'd start weeding out the bad drivers. But they seem to be the bulk of the online community. I don't know if this license system is working quite as intended. I'm hoping for improvement.

 

[FuriousDemon]

And the "gaming" has already begun, at least on PS4. Had a couple lobbies last night where after qualifying, I was confident I could beat the other couple racers that had higher scores than me. Low and behold, at race start, they disappeared. This left me on the grid by myself. It's a shame there's little honor in online gaming. I've also realized what a lack of high safety rating lobbies there is. Seems like 90% of lobbies are set at a safety level of U. The rest are no minimum requirement and the occasional level F or E. I thought by now we'd start weeding out the bad drivers. But they seem to be the bulk of the online community. I don't know if this license system is working quite as intended. I'm hoping for improvement.

I think you are correct that majority of racers are rated E and below. That isn’t really a problem with the system but the players, isn’t it?

 

[ZnA1209]

And the "gaming" has already begun, at least on PS4. Had a couple lobbies last night where after qualifying, I was confident I could beat the other couple racers that had higher scores than me. Low and behold, at race start, they disappeared. This left me on the grid by myself. It's a shame there's little honor in online gaming. I've also realized what a lack of high safety rating lobbies there is. Seems like 90% of lobbies are set at a safety level of U. The rest are no minimum requirement and the occasional level F or E. I thought by now we'd start weeding out the bad drivers. But they seem to be the bulk of the online community. I don't know if this license system is working quite as intended. I'm hoping for improvement.

This is what I'm seeing as well, did a 3 lap race around Le Man's, and I definitely had the pace for a top 3 finish, except the guy in 8th seemed to have made the choice not to use his brakes... At all. He rammed me off the chicane and spun me out, and when I caught up to him again, he had spun out after colliding with a other player.. So I attempted to go to the other side of the track to go around and he deliberately rammed into me again. I passed him and made it to the chicane before the finish, and out of nowhere I was rammed a third time off the track.

He ended up with a 31 second penalty, and I ended up with 7 points off my license to a U1493 (I just got the game yesterday).

I stopped playing PC1 online because of these tards, I guess I'll go back to GTS that at least has official races with matchmaking and ghosting to reduce deliberate ramming.

 

[FuriousDemon]

This is what I'm seeing as well, did a 3 lap race around Le Man's, and I definitely had the pace for a top 3 finish, except the guy in 8th seemed to have made the choice not to use his brakes... At all. He rammed me off the chicane and spun me out, and when I caught up to him again, he had spun out after colliding with a other player.. So I attempted to go to the other side of the track to go around and he deliberately rammed into me again. I passed him and made it to the chicane before the finish, and out of nowhere I was rammed a third time off the track.

He ended up with a 31 second penalty, and I ended up with 7 points off my license to a U1493 (I just got the game yesterday).

I stopped playing PC1 online because of these tards, I guess I'll go back to GTS that at least has official races with matchmaking and ghosting to reduce deliberate ramming.

Stick with it. Once you rank up to E or higher you should see plenty of clean racers.

 

[ZnA1209]

Stick with it. Once you rank up to E or higher you should see plenty of clean racers.

That's what I read on the official forums, maybe I will.

 

[DesertPenguin]

And the "gaming" has already begun, at least on PS4. Had a couple lobbies last night where after qualifying, I was confident I could beat the other couple racers that had higher scores than me. Low and behold, at race start, they disappeared. This left me on the grid by myself. It's a shame there's little honor in online gaming. I've also realized what a lack of high safety rating lobbies there is. Seems like 90% of lobbies are set at a safety level of U. The rest are no minimum requirement and the occasional level F or E. I thought by now we'd start weeding out the bad drivers. But they seem to be the bulk of the online community. I don't know if this license system is working quite as intended. I'm hoping for improvement.

If we ever get the ability to name lobbies on console we should be able to help that a bit. Other than that just have to find leagues/series on days you're available.

 

[Mr Tree]

.....check every one of my posts in this thread, count how many times I talk about safety rating.

Safety rating is not my issue...I've been a A since week 2. Could get S easily, but I've kind of given up on the game for now...plus, it's the Halloween festival in ESO right now, so that's taking up all my gaming hours

It's the skill rating man, don't know how many times I have to repeat myself . Toil away in GT3 lobbies, finishing top 5 nearly every time (I also have a 35% podium rate in a couple hundred race finishes), earning a handful, absolute max of 10 points...usually though, it's less than 5 per race. It can take me several hours of carefully planned gameplay to aquire 50 skill points.

And then you loose them all from a single Disco or Boot, something completely out of your control.

And now instead of being able to join that C1450 VGTA lobby, or U1400 TC lobby, I'm stuck having to go back to another GT3 lobby, probably at Monza


Also I think you missed my point about SMS employees. Simple question. Do you think anyone from SMS has a copy of PCARS in a PS4 that they then surf the public lobbies with on a regular basis? Who from SMS has the most hours in public lobbies?

The reason I ask these questions is because I actually kind of doubt whether or not anyone outside of the SMS mail room actually plays this game on any kind of consistent and regular basis. Who from SMS has participated in a community organized race league? Let's see a video of an SMS employee turning up in a random GT3 lobby, quali last, finish first...just to see if they know what it takes to pull it off.


Right, because that's what I'm saying. Read my post. I definitely said that I could do a better job based on my online experience. Ffs

Doesn't matter how good of mathematicians and physicists they have...if none of them have ever participated in an online lobby, they lack practicle experience. It's not that complicated. It's a very common occurance in the engineering industry, that very "smart" and confident people design something that they never actually use themselves, so they completely miss out on the nuances of what using said thing actually entails.

Doesn't matter how good of an engineer you are, if you've never ridden in a passnager car, you can't design and engineer a properly functioning cabin. You simply lack basic practice knowledge.

I never, ever said I don't want math and physics experts designing this game. Not once did I say, or even imply that. YOU did. No, all I'm asking for is some mathematicians and physicists who happen to sink a couple hundred hours a year into racing online in public lobbies. Its not a difficult concept.

Sorry mate I didn't want to imply you had issurs with the safety rating. I just reaf oyher complaining about the safety system and I think those issues are mostly bollocks. So sorry for that miscommunication.

On the practical experience you're not wrong in a sense that you have to test a hypothesis (current system) to see if your hypothesis is correct. This is what you meant with you need to have practicle experience.

Now the developper doesn't have to actually play or talk directly to someone who is playing yo have this hypothesis confirmed or denied. You can just go of of data. For this example they probably have a percentage of players who should reach/drop to certain elo-zones (i.e 5% of the playerbase should drop to 800-1200 in month 1, ...).

Using this info they can confirm their elo-model. And let them adjust accordingly.

That breing said first hand experience is usefull! It catches one extra variable 'perception' how does this system feel.

And yes modifications are welcome. What I personally wouldn't agree with is removing the penalty for leaving entirely.

I hope your issues with online play will be resolved with a hurry!

 

[twitcher]

Sorry mate I didn't want to imply you had issurs with the safety rating. I just reaf oyher complaining about the safety system and I think those issues are mostly bollocks. So sorry for that miscommunication.

On the practical experience you're not wrong in a sense that you have to test a hypothesis (current system) to see if your hypothesis is correct. This is what you meant with you need to have practicle experience.

Now the developper doesn't have to actually play or talk directly to someone who is playing yo have this hypothesis confirmed or denied. You can just go of of data. For this example they probably have a percentage of players who should reach/drop to certain elo-zones (i.e 5% of the playerbase should drop to 800-1200 in month 1, ...).

Using this info they can confirm their elo-model. And let them adjust accordingly.

That breing said first hand experience is usefull! It catches one extra variable 'perception' how does this system feel.

And yes modifications are welcome. What I personally wouldn't agree with is removing the penalty for leaving entirely.

I hope your issues with online play will be resolved with a hurry!

The bold bit, I fully disagree with, and with valid reason.

As I've mentioned elsewhere on this forum, I've been playing vids for 20+ years, across a variety of platforms and genres. Aside from racing games, my other favourite genre of games is MMORPGs. I played World of Warcraft for about 7 years, and now play Elder Scrolls Online for about 2.5 years.

In the case of the mmo genre, for well over 10 years now, devs have fully admitted that when it comes to making chanes to the way the game works, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to test all the different possibilities, simply because there are too many. When you have that many people all playing the game in their own way, the devs know they can't test everything with a simulation run.

Furthermore, majority of devs in the mmo genre have also swallowed the bitter pill of, "those who play the game tend to know more about it than those who made it." Now, that's not to say that I necessarily understand more about the math behind ESO than the devs....but I'd whoop 90% of them in a duel. And that's just a small example. Simply by devs tracking people's hours played, they can see that in these MMOs, people are logging thousands of hours per year....and the developers and programmers simply do not have that hands on experience.


For these reasons, this is why MMOs typically put out beta tests before each patch. Not to mention a game like eso was in beta testing for almost 6 months before release. But even for a patch, ZOS runs a beta test, inviting high hour players and previous beta testers, to put the game through its paces, and see what works and what doesn't. They then get feedback from the beta testers, make adjustments, and test some more. Even for a patch, there is often 3 or 4 revisions before the patch goes live.

And all of that is open, transparent, documented, and recorded. I can go on the forums, see the incoming changes, see testers experience with the changes, their feedback, and the response from the devs. When the patch does go live, there's 30+ pages of patch notes, with specific details from the devs as to why they changed various things, and what their aim in doing so was.


I say all that to say this. A system as complex as the rating system can not be properly tested "in a lab". The only way to test it properly is in the field, over a period of time, with constant feedback from the players. As things stand right now, it doesn't really seem like the license rating is achieving the dev's goals, as I doubt many people will be reaching the ratings they have laid out right now.

We payed SMS $100 to be their field testers, period.

 

[Marcos_Okay]

My question is...
Why when someone crash to me and from this situation í crash another car the sistem give me a penalty and take me points of the racecraft ?
Is ridicolus....
Today the sistem take me down in to U again because of this in 2 diferents races.

 

[chopz]

Most of the problems in this thread are generally solved by getting your safety rating up and racing in rooms with higher safety ratings. Lately i've been racing in C1000+ rooms and the integrity in these lobbies are much much higher. Very few quitters, generally respectful racing, etc.

The only thing I would change about the rating system is applying the subtraction of points to people who disconnect as if they finished last in the race and thereby also providing the winning points to those who finish at the top and finish the race. As it is now, it is very difficult to get points in random lobbies as usually more the 50% of the field quit, which is a joke. The points should be based off of the finishing qualify grid or the starting grid.

I can appreciate the problems like getting booted by hosts if your too fast, quitters, game errors, etc, however it is the same for everybody.

To me it looks like the system is working. You can see the groups segregating by safety rank and skill. Everyone can see the difference between U900 and C1300. The former is a quitter and the latter is not.

I would guess the general skill level is lower that SMS anticipated as it is very difficult to raise skill after 1600. I would be in favor of rewarding those who finish races more than its current implementation. I would not lift the hammer on quitters whatsoever so that we don't penalize the few instances of unfair disconnects. If you join a race, you should be in it for the duration regardless of what happens. This is the spirit of racing.

 

[Outspacer]

Most of the problems in this thread are generally solved by getting your safety rating up and racing in rooms with higher safety ratings. Lately i've been racing in C1000+ rooms and the integrity in these lobbies are much much higher. Very few quitters, generally respectful racing, etc.

The only thing I would change about the rating system is applying the subtraction of points to people who disconnect as if they finished last in the race and thereby also providing the winning points to those who finish at the top and finish the race. As it is now, it is very difficult to get points in random lobbies as usually more the 50% of the field quit, which is a joke. The points should be based off of the finishing qualify grid or the starting grid.

I thought that was supposed to be happening, even if they aren't shown as being in the lobby any more?

I can appreciate the problems like getting booted by hosts if your too fast, quitters, game errors, etc, however it is the same for everybody.

Well, not quite... presumably getting kicked is more likely the faster you are

To me it looks like the system is working. You can see the groups segregating by safety rank and skill. Everyone can see the difference between U900 and C1300. The first is quitter and the second is not.

The skill isn't, or at least not as intended. The intention was clearly that 1500 would be 'average', but in practice the average is now quite a bit lower. The only explanation is the quit penalties, because otherwise points just get moved around and the average wouldn't change. In somes ways that wouldn't matter, but when you have new players starting with 1500, it does.

I would guess the skill level general skill level is lower that SMS anticipated as it is very difficult to raise skill after 1600. I would be in favor of rewarding those who finish races more than its current implementation. I would not lift the hammer on quitters whatsoever so that we don't penalize the few instances of unfair disconnects. If you join a race, you should be in it for the duration regardless of what happens. This is the spirit of racing.

The skill level isn't measuring your skill on a fixed scale, rather it's always relative to those you race against. So for anyone trying earnestly to increase their rating much beyond the average, there's two problems. One is that points are disappearing due to penalties, and most of those they might beat have less points to take. Second is what @fasj6418 kinda pointed out - if the high level racing happens mainly in private groups, each group only has a certain number of points to share between them, and their ratings can't be compared to the outside world.

 

[MowTin]

The licensing system means that people want to avoid crashes. The best way to avoid crashing is not to drive cars and tracks you're not familiar with.

I would join races in tracks I don't know which hurt my rating. Now I'm stuck with the bad drivers and it doesn't matter what I do, I'll get rammed and it will count against me.

People don't want to do unrated races because they're trying to build up their rating.

Now I can't join lots of races and I''m stuck with crashers.

 

[MowTin]

My question is...
Why when someone crash to me and from this situation í crash another car the sistem give me a penalty and take me points of the racecraft ?
Is ridicolus....
Today the sistem take me down in to U again because of this in 2 diferents races.

The problem would easily be solved like this:

If you crash into someone with a higher position in the race you get a penalty in the race. If someone crashed into you, you won't be penalized for the next 3 seconds for crashing into someone else.

 

[mattikake]

Here we go. Sooner or later you meet the a$$holes who want to ruin your game. The moment there is a ratings system that players will care about, you get those people who want to ruin it for you.

And yes, despite having 5 or so squeaky clean races, my rating didn't move up from a D. In this one race it's dropped to an E and I have to start building that up again. Because all of that contact was my fault.

 

[chopz]

Hahahaha, well yes this is bound to happen, but it's not because there is a rating system. This would happen irregardless of having a rating system. The rating system actually helps remove much of this behavior because we are able to create and join lobbies higher than 'U'.

I did enjoy your video though.

 

[R9NALD9]

Joined a lobby last night...host was rated A1731. Easily the highest rating I've seen.

Red Bull Ring...GT3.

On the second lap I'm running in 2nd, behind the almighty A1731 in front of me. I managed to outbrake him going into the 2nd corner and take first. Going downhill into the 3rd corner he simply rams me off the racetrack and proceeds to take the victory...I finish 7th.

 

[twitcher]

@The_American, what's your license rating? How many online sessions have you joined, how many races have you finished? What are your online podium stats? How many hours have you logged online? How many miles driven? What's car have you driven the most online?

 

[Marcos_Okay]

Joined a lobby last night...host was rated A1731. Easily the highest rating I've seen.

Red Bull Ring...GT3.

On the second lap I'm running in 2nd, behind the almighty A1731 in front of me. I managed to outbrake him going into the 2nd corner and take first. Going downhill into the 3rd corner he simply rams me off the racetrack and proceeds to take the victory...I finish 7th.

That's great, but the problem for the people like me ,we don't have many time to play but we love the clean race, is really complicated...i know is my problem but is desperating for me...

 

[TommySalami]

Joined a lobby last night...host was rated A1731. Easily the highest rating I've seen.

Red Bull Ring...GT3.

On the second lap I'm running in 2nd, behind the almighty A1731 in front of me. I managed to outbrake him going into the 2nd corner and take first. Going downhill into the 3rd corner he simply rams me off the racetrack and proceeds to take the victory...I finish 7th.

I've found that the A rating is still pretty forgiving for accidents. Totally possible to get one or two ramming incidents into a race and keep your rating.

 

[TommySalami]

That's great, but the problem for the people like me ,we don't have many time to play but we love the clean race, is really complicated...i know is my problem but is desperating for me...

The rating system only works if you put in the time to prove you can drive cleanly online. No way around that. You'll just have to take your time to work your way up, avoiding others or doing whatever it takes

 

[mattikake]

^ Set up an unpopular race where only a few people join. It's easier to drive round without incident. Or you could do what I have seen peope do and that is to sacrifice your performance number by just driving off to the side of the track and come last.

btw, tonight we found another deliberate idiot. Sadly I didn't set up our lobby. There should be the ability to somehow vote to kick someone mid race without you having to stop. Difficult to do that on a console though.

 

[AllReD]

First online race tonight after getting super frustrated with Formula Rookie career at Donnington. AI were setting below WR pace on 80% , plus I qualified last in the rain. My car just doesn't seem to have much power in the rain, barely hits 4th gear.

Anways jumped into Indy Car @ Long Beach for 10 Laps. Plan was to just go super easy and just finish intact.

Anyways, racing got the better of me, finished 4th out of 10 with just one guy plowing into me in the hairpin. Had no off-tracks, wall bangs or any other incidents. Score dropped to U1499

Could have done better but when straight from qualifying with 20L of fuel to race with 70L; the game didn't give me a chance to adjust my fuel or setup. Then came the rolling start which confused the hell out of me because the top 4 guys had already gone clear by some 15+ secs by the time I got control of the car. The 5th place guy was just holding steady so I couldn't pass him without getting a penalty.

All in all not too bad, just wish I could have changed my fuel levels before the race.

 

[Mr Tree]

@The_American, what's your license rating? How many online sessions have you joined, how many races have you finished? What are your online podium stats? How many hours have you logged online? How many miles driven? What's car have you driven the most online?

I didn't reply to your previous message as it clearlu showed how you did not understand what I meant.

But since you descided to keep up the war here goes nothing.

In short no a dev doesn't have to play. A dev needs us to play, while we play they store data on what we do and what happens. This way they get that info you say they should, according to you, receive through their personal experience. This way they don't have to put in the effort of playing themselves. Since elo-is a purely mathematical approach they don't even have to get your personal impressions to see if it works as they expected. As for an elo-rating only the end result is important.

Now to see if it FEELS fair or not it would be better to have actual communication between the player and developer (fora). But then again it's not nessescary to check if it works as expected.

So again why would the american need to inform you about his online stats/playtime? Why would anyone of sms need to do this?