They are better than most people. Just not against most people they play against. Chess players also lose 50% of their games unless they're at the absolute top.

They are better than most people. Just not against most people they play against. Chess players also lose 50% of their games unless they're at the absolute top. Usually there are ways to play besides the ladder, if you can find players willing to lose much more than 50% of their games against you. But for understandable reasons, those are hard to find. So people make new accounts and start at the bottom of the ladder again instead. (In many games, the publisher makes money off that, so they don't fight it too strenuously).