Worst Scoring System in Years

[Gabriel]

I agree with the original poster, this years scoring system was a step backwards.

First, the stated goal was to make the system simpler, they succeeded in making it more complex. Now, instead of having to keep track of one number (avg. opponents score) you have to keep track of two (# of wins and avg opponents score). Also, winning is important but so is the "cooperation" aspect, I think that last years scoring system balanced both of them quite well. Unfortunately, this years system didn't - there was too much emphasis on winning at all costs, if you were in the middle of the pack winning or losing a game would cause you to jump a whole tier (maybe as many as 10 slots) so it wasn't worth the risk of losing by a small margin. Last year, losing by a small margin wasn't bad at all so there was more of an incentive to try for really interesting matches with high scores on both sides.

Here's an example of how the scoring system seems to punish losing a little too much: I remember that one of the last matches at UTC was between four excellent teams (181, 782, 195 and 236 IIRC). I think that 181 and 782 won by a score of something like 115 to 110 - a margin of 1 ball and as a result 195 dropped from 6th to about 12th and didn't make the finals. Last year a high losing score at the end wouldn't have hurt nearly as much.

I don't know, maybe this system will grow on me but I think its overly convoluted and a step backwards.