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TrueSkill matchmaking demystified [update 1]

With all the hoopla surrounding Gears of War's matchmaking system we've been led to believe that come Emergence Day we won't get to play ranked games with our friends on Xbox Live. Well, that's only partially true. The smart folks over at Microsoft's Applied Games Group try to explain the TueSkill matchmaking system that Gears implements for ranked multiplayer sessions. They state that the TrueSkill system doesn't allow you to play ranked games against your friends due to the possibility of intentionally throwing a game to increase anther's rank. (That makes sense, keep going.) The other dark side of the coin is that the system doesn't allow you to "party up" with your friends either, due to them wanting to keep TrueSkill valid and completely random. (That kinda sucks, anything else?) The bright spot in all of this is that the TrueSkill system doesn't prevent you from playing alongside your friends, since you'll share the same outcome as them, but it's all up to chance of the TrueSkill system that you'll actually be paired with your buddy. Hopefully this clears up some of the mystery surrounding the matchmaking in Gears of War ... or maybe I just made you all the more confused.

Update: Ok, after analyzing this more thoroughly it looks like Gears of War's rank isn't based solely off of your win/lose ratio, but takes into account numerous individual stats. So, the TrueSkill ranking system looks at players individually and not as a team, hence why you can't party with a buddy in ranked games. Thanks BenzMoney for your insight, but the outcome is still the same no matter who you want to point your finger at ... you can't play ranked matches of Gears of War with your friends in one party. Also, I fixed that evil spelling error and I love how you're keeping the new guy on his toes!

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1. led is spelled wrong

Posted at 5:12PM on Nov 6th 2006 by Mr Adidas 0 stars

2. I don't think you mentioned it, but I believe that you can still party up and play together in the non-ranked games.

Posted at 5:11PM on Nov 6th 2006 by David 0 stars

3. Argh!!! Not even YOU guys got this information right! The amount of misinformation about this is really starting to get annoying.

Yes, you CAN still "party up" and play ranked matches with your friends so long as you all share the same FATE (ala Saints Row). The reason this isn't possible in GOW is because the rankings aren't based on a TEAM win/lose situation but rather INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS like kills, deaths, revives, stomps, etc. Therefore the reason we can't party up with friends is because of a DESIGN CHOICE made by Epic. If they'd decided to make ranked games a simple win/lose then there would be no problem. Read the explanation again.

They say that people who COULD collude must share the same fate. If GoW was a simple TEAM-BASED win/lose system then there would be no problem since no particular teammate would get a boost to their stats for individual things like stomping/chainsawing etc. But as it is, a teammate could let one guy go around getting all the stomps, etc, thus boosting his stats (ie: they don't share the same fate).

Hope this helps to clear things up.

Posted at 5:20PM on Nov 6th 2006 by BenzMoney 0 stars

4. This still sucks VERY much. Not being able to play against is OK, but not partying up is just dumb. This was a significant part of Halo 2 for many, and to remove it from future games, simply doesn't make sense.

Posted at 5:45PM on Nov 6th 2006 by RazorElite 0 stars

5. Dustin,

The "new guy"? I didn't even notice! Kudos to you for posting an article about something that is actually an important issue though! Thanks for that.

Lots of people feel that this issue is bigger than Epic is making it out to be. Personally, I've just grown tired of the "blame MS" stuff you see around the internet. This was a *design* issue. Epic decided how they wanted to rank the players in their game and Epic decided to make a system that doesn't play nice with MS's trueskill.

That JoeGraf guy at Epic opened a can of worms when he said that it was a MS certification requirement that games not allow friends in ranked matches. Turns out it was a lie - he was just trying to pawn the blame off to someone else. Or so it appears.

I know I'm going to love GoW and I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt before I start to critisize this decision too much... but I'm afraid that when it comes down to it, they've crippled the multiplayer aspect of this game.

"It's good to play together." I want to play with my friends, too, and I agree this sucks.

RazorElite:

The good news is that this isn't a MS requirement so playing w/ friends in ranked matches SHOULDN'T be removed from future games. It's up to the developers, basically... Hopefully Bungie won't make a similar decision (although they've already said that they won't).

Posted at 6:01PM on Nov 6th 2006 by BenzMoney 0 stars

6. if you want to play with your friends, dont play rank matches. the end.

Posted at 5:04PM on Nov 6th 2006 by ThweeSiddy 0 stars

7. "You can't play ranked matches of Gears of War with your friends in one party."

Punish us more for having RL friends. That is seriously stupid. The majority of games I would love to play with my friends. Stop limiting us to only unranked games.

Posted at 6:39PM on Nov 6th 2006 by Parvin 0 stars

8. Does anyone know if there will be clan support in GOW if so that would be a little better for playing ranked games with friends.

Posted at 6:09PM on Nov 6th 2006 by NEO1X 0 stars

9. what does it matter if a match is ranked or not? I dont get the problem?

Posted at 6:45PM on Nov 6th 2006 by moore 0 stars

10. to enzMoney:
thanks for this information.

Posted at 6:57PM on Nov 6th 2006 by joane 0 stars

11. I wonder how long it will take for jackasses to learn how to exploit the system Halo 2 style.

My faith in humanity is low, so I say 2 months, tops.

Posted at 7:48PM on Nov 6th 2006 by dan s. 0 stars

12.
This is a response to the all glitchers and cheaters that plagued Halo 2. Kudos to Epic and Microsoft for trying to combat that problem. I can't understand why anyone would resort to cheating to increase rank or win a match. Maybe its just a lack of skills.

All cheaters should be shot!!

Posted at 7:53PM on Nov 6th 2006 by Shaggy Goat 0 stars

13. This is kind of awesome.
1. It shoes that XBox Live is pretty dedicated to making games fair.
2. I would think the majority of people play alone, and if you are playing with your friends it is for fun, not for rank.
3. I hate it when it is a clan of people ganging up on everyone. This makes it every man for himself.

Posted at 5:07PM on Nov 6th 2006 by Lou 0 stars

14. Most people I talk to enjoy unranked games more than ranked. Ranked draws jackasses...like the people who would throw a game to boost.

Posted at 7:15PM on Nov 6th 2006 by Edge of Blade 0 stars

15. I've got a couple cents to add to this.
It totally sucks to not be able to play ranked games with your friends. I've come to the conclusion that there is a (highly unlikely) solution to this quandary. We, as Xbox Live Gold Members and Gears of War early-adopters must pioneer a new play-style: make honest attempts to work together with strangers (even when they inevitably end up being 12 year-olds...d'oh!).
This may end being the only way to actually ENJOY ranked gamees since early impressions suggest that matches will require quite alot of teamwork.
Let's make it happen.

Posted at 8:56PM on Nov 6th 2006 by Ryan 0 stars

16. In summary, (in response to 14):
Let's not be jackasses then, and *maybe* that will encourage others to follow suit and discourage. A man can dream.

Posted at 8:59PM on Nov 6th 2006 by Ryan 0 stars

17. Just announced, movies and TV on Xbox Live marketplace...

http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/11/06/538735.aspx

Posted at 10:20PM on Nov 6th 2006 by nick 0 stars

18. I'm confused. This morning I woke up went into ranked, met a great group of guys, and played a couple of matches. When the game ended, he said he would start another one, and to find his game. So this went on for a couple of hours. Is this not "playing" with your friends?

Unless I'm confused and I was playing Unranked....

Posted at 7:12PM on Nov 15th 2006 by Oh So 0 stars

19. Fixed spelling errors and yet this slipped through?

"They state that the TrueSkill system doesn't allow you to play ranked games against your friends due to the possibility of intentionally throwing a game to increase ...anther's... rank."

Posted at 1:38PM on Nov 19th 2006 by Eisen4 0 stars

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