"pointless" games

[quote=Virtuosity98][quote=Dima]I am absolutely against this. Your points and rank should express and resemble your game skill and strategic knowledge as close as possible. [/quote] Nearly every online game I know has the capability to play casual/unranked games in addition to ladder/ranked games. Are you saying that a 2000 rated chess player is not truly that skill level just because they also play casual games on the side? No. They still earned their rating in the ranked games they played. A limit of one unranked game at a time seems sensible to me. It cannot be allowed to replace the rating system, but should provide a way to play with friends in an inclusive setting (at least, this is how I would use it).[/quote] When I play with friends, I also win or lose points. It doesn't stop me from doing so. There are already too much exceptions in calculating points, to protect the very high ranked. IMO: not necessary at all.

[quote=B4rny][quote=Virtuosity98][quote=Dima]I am absolutely against this. Your points and rank should express and resemble your game skill and strategic knowledge as close as possible. [/quote] Nearly every online game I know has the capability to play casual/unranked games in addition to ladder/ranked games. Are you saying that a 2000 rated chess player is not truly that skill level just because they also play casual games on the side? No. They still earned their rating in the ranked games they played. A limit of one unranked game at a time seems sensible to me. It cannot be allowed to replace the rating system, but should provide a way to play with friends in an inclusive setting (at least, this is how I would use it).[/quote] When I play with friends, I also win or lose points. It doesn't stop me from doing so. There are already too much exceptions in calculating points, to protect the very high ranked. IMO: not necessary at all. [/quote] I agree, high rankers don't need protecting. But in my case at least, the people I play with literally don't let me win, they all gang up on me to make sure I lose ^^ which is fun when no points are at stake, but would not be so fun if it gradually eroded my rank :) so I play with them on an app with nothing at stake. But if I had the option to play unranked games with them here, then I would certainly refer them to this site. I only speak for my personal situation :)

[quote][b]Virtuosity98 wrote[/b]: But in my case at least, the people I play with literally don't let me win, they all gang up on me to make sure I lose ^^ which is fun when no points are at stake, but would not be so fun if it gradually eroded my rank :) so I play with them on an app with nothing at stake. But if I had the option to play unranked games with them here, then I would certainly refer them to this site.[/quote] Absolutely. Good point, V. More casual games between friends from real life would be another benefit of having ratingless test games. The incentive to play here, instead of on an app or a board game IRL, would be tangible. Especially if one of the players had a high rank like yourself, whereas the rest recently signed up. On that note, a lot of new players also don't seem to know the rules in here, or don't care to abide by them, so enabling them to play test games, where they get to know the setup in a harmless way, would perhaps be better for everyone involved. This has everything to do with practice, experimentation, and fun. So yeah. One test game at a time, per capita, makes sense.

There should DEFINITELY be an option to start and participate in unranked games.