> "Of course, a single number can only tell you so much -- it's a very gross generalization of skill." In a system where new players can enter after competitio

> "Of course, a single number can only tell you so much -- it's a very gross generalization of skill." In a system where new players can enter after competition has begun (and others have accumulated points), there's also a good chance that a new player will not yet have had enough time to accumulate a score that's in line with their actual skill, which can lead to some misleading matchups. Depending on the details of the ranking system and the ease of finding similarly-ranked partners, it can take a long time to converge to a "true" rating. For example: I had friends in college who played competitive card games that had some sort of lifetime ranking (Bridge, perhaps?) Because they were young, they were often the lowest seed in tournaments. Despite above-average skill, they were normally eliminated by the very most skilled teams in the first round, and therefore had few opportunities to accumulate points against more equal competition. Once they finally broke through and won a couple of tournaments, there was a bit of a snowball effect as they moved out of the lowest seed.