yabs and yabe

[illium]

Hi Fibsters

There is something I don't quite understand here. yabs and yabe are both
bots( the same program as far as I know), the only difference being that
yabe plays players over 1700 while yabs plays players under 1700. The
latest ratings listing show yabs with a rating of 1948 and the last time I
played yabe it's rating was about 1780, exp for both in the 12500+ range.
Why the big difference? You might conclude that playing lower ranked
players could boost your rating by over 150 points! I'm currently 17-17
with yabe, so I think reasonable to say I'm close to it's standard. However
if I now assume yabs tactics could I expect my rating to climb much higher?

Surely this casts doubts on all bot type programs ratings, whereas humans
soon get tired of playing players well below their own standard on a
regular basis, bots will never grow tired of playing anyone. Even an
unselective bot would presumabley play about 90% of it's matches against
players below 1750 as only 10% of players or less are ranked above this.

Further, I view 1-pointers as a distinctly different type of game compared
to matches of 5 points and over where the cube is the dominant factor.
Comparing multi-point match players with 1-pointer is like comparing apples
with oranges as far as ratings are concerned.

I feel, having spent about 2 years on FIBS now, that most people
frustration with the dice in general stems from the fact that the ratings
system is inherently unbalanced. Perhaps it would be better to move to a
league type system, where for example a group of 16 player could play
against each other on a regular basis( weekends?). At least that way
players could make reasonable comparisons between themselves and others.

Thanks for rambling along this far with me:-)

Regards William, illium on FIBS.