Viceroy63 wrote:I might interject here that as I understand it, the SoC was formed to prevent the advantages that HRP's (Higher Ranking Players) were taking of, of LRP's. No sooner would some one Join CC that they were played with for their score. Although this is a new angle it still seems like fishing or farming in a way. I could be wrong and this is just a thought.
A player's score is kind of like a price in economics. It's the basis for transactions, and it means something, but what exactly it means isn't always well-defined. Most of the SoC's teaching involves getting players used to counter-intuitive settings that can be applied to a variety of situations.
As long as the student is learning instead of just being outmatched in an arena they're uncomfortable with, it's not farming. It's possible that the student's singles skills would lag behind those for team games for a little while, but that's not so much of a disadvantage. Also, the kind of people who take up offers like this tend to be players who show promise and learn more quickly than most.
In other words, If I am playing with a team of four participating individuals against three HRP's and one LRP then I would simply break out the champagne early or maybe not too early but I would have it out and ready for the celebration as soon as the game was over. I would simply see that as a disadvantage to your team. If you look at minds like Horsepower, then surely 4 horsepower will always out perform 3.
In the quote that begins this post, you assume that the student's score will shoot up, possibly to the point where it's mis-representative of the student's skill. In the quote above, you suggest that a LRP will drag his/her team down most of the time. These assertions can't both be right.
If you've played enough team games, you understand that if a weak teammate can take advice from a strong teammate, they can perform closer to the strong teammate's level. In any case, it's a risk that the OP is willing to take.
In the meanwhile it would also leave that low ranking player as the "Odd Man Out." The sooner that his total score goes up beyond a certain number it would be time to retire him and find a new "LRP" (Low Ranking Player). While the LRP would come out of the adventure with considerable experience and learning, If his mental aptitude for learning is high, he would also eventually come to know the most important lesson of all. That of being used by the top dogs for his Low Rank.
Let's crunch some numbers.
Silver's got a score of 3430, and is looking for someone around 1100 to play with.
The team's average score for doubles would be about 2300 (high-end estimate), as opposed to averaging around 3200 alongside officers.
Compare the point gains/losses versus a typical team (averaging around 2800), and versus a low-end team in score (averaging around 1500).
Default team against regular opponents: 17 for a win, 23 for a loss (must win 57% of time to break even)
Default team against low-rank opponents: 9 for a win, 43 for a loss (must win 83% of the time to break even)
Student team against regular opponents: 24 for a win, 16 for a loss (must win 40% of the time to break even)
Student team against low-rank opponents: 13 for a win, 31 for a loss (must win 70% of the time to break even)
Winning 40% of the time is a lot easier than winning 57% of the time. I'd wager this is even the case when you correct for your teammate's skill.
I'm not going to go into the math of how many games it would take for the student to rise up in rank, but put it this way.
As long as they play all their games with Silver, they'll get the exact same increase in points that he does. They can't go from 1100 to 2100 without Silver going from 3430 to 4430, effectively putting him in the top 5. Even a 300-point gain, which would give Silver a new high score, wouldn't alter the dynamics all that much.