We'll be implementing a new, far superior scoring system and rules for MaG's second ares season(which will be running every 3 months now) If you want to take a look, I've posted them below. A summary of important changes:
1. Ladder scoring now uses a modified Elo system(If you've played on one of the battle.net ladders for war2, SC and BW, that's Elo) which takes into account both your opponents score and rank in comparision to your own and takes away/awards points based upon the probability of winning.
2. You will now lose points for losing games.
3. Challenges must be accepted within a week unless there is a reason you can't play besides "i don't want to lose"-this rule will probably not be enforced much, just try and not dodge anyone who's better than you and hosts a mag game.
4. Rank(Sgt., Lieut., general, marshall etc.) will be based upon your performance within your clan-there will be a separate "intraclan" ladder for each clan. Of course, you won't need to worry about this if you aren't in a clan.
5. MaG may release or designate scenarios for official ladder play in the future-you will likely have a nice selection of well-balanced maps to choose from.

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General MaG Ares Rules :

1. All reported MaG ladder games must be played as a best of three between two registered MaG players. The MaG Challenger gets first pick of the map and race, and the challenged player gets second and third picks. All official MaG matches must be played with both players using the same race( Ish vs Ish or Aud vs Aud etc. is acceptable, but Ish vs Cantharan or Ish vs Human is not).
2. In cases where a third, tiebreaker game is necessary, Capture the Flag and Space Warz may not be chosen.
3. Custom Ares multiplayer scenarios may not currently be chosen as maps for play. However, MaG may release or designate scenarios in the future which will be official ladder maps. Official ladder maps may be used in MaG Ladder games if both players agree to allow it(the use of MaG ladder maps, not the use of a specific level within those maps). There are currently no official MaG ladder maps.
4. MaG Best of 3 games may be played over a period of time. However, if a player is forced to leave a in-progress game due to circumstances beyond his control, he automatically forfeits that third of the match. This rule is binding unless both players agree to replay that third of the match, or in cases where both players agree that one player had already decisively won the game.
5. You may not play more than one official, reported MaG Ladder game per day against the same opponent.
6. You may not decline a challenge, and you have one(1)
week to play the challenge. You may not purposely
challenge someone who you know has a schedule
conflict. (vacation etc.). If the other player does not
play the game against you, you may report him to an
ares magleague admin (Jimmy or Patrick) and proper
steps will be taken.

MaG Intraclan competition rules:

1. When players are initially accepted into a clan, the Marshall will choose a rank for them based upon their ladder score and known skill level.
2. Any player within a clan may challenge the higher-ranked player directly above them within their clan for their rank. Unless there are circumstances such as a vacation etc. players which decline to play the ladder game within a week automatically forfeit. When a lower ranked player defeats a higher ranked one, they switch spaces.
3. Intraclan ladder games are not counted on the official MaG ladder. However, they must follow all standard MaG rules.
4. Only the General may challenge the Marshall for clan leadership. In this case, the Marshall has two weeks to respond and play the challenge. Of course, if some external reason prohibits the game from taking place within two weeks, the MaG Ares admins will extend the deadline for as long as necessary.
5. A game for clan leadership will be played as a best of seven, with the challenger picking the first three and the Marshall picking the last four. Clan leadership games may, of course, be played over a period of time.
6. The original clan marshall, (creator of the clan)
will still be credited as being the original leader on
the magleague clans webpage, even though the general
may have taken over their place. He is only worth
whatever rank he is currently at though.
7. A player may only challenge another player once every three days and players are prohibited from challenging other players due to the fact that they(the challengee) would be unable to play a game due to external concerns.

Ares Scoring Manifesto
The new MaG Scoring( www.magleague.net )
MaG Ares scoring will go as follows:
Scores of all new players will start at 1000. However, players with no games will not be listed on the Top 25/50/100 List, to prevent a mass of 1000s clogging it up.
One formula is used to compute probability of winning:
Probability = 1 / (1 + 10^(-y / 400))
However, this forumula will be run once with the difference in ratings as y, and once with the difference in Rank as y. Difference in rank will be calculated as follows:
Sergeant= 1000
Lieutenant = 1100
Captain = 1200
Major = 1300
Colonel = 1400
General/Marshall = 1500
The results of the two calculations will then be averaged together and fed into this formula, where:

• K=50 for new players

• K=30 for players who have played 30 or more ladder games

• K=20 for players who have attained a rating of 2400 or higher

• Winner's rating increases by K * (100% - probability_of_winning)

• Loser's rating decreases by K * probability_of_winning

Thanks to http://www.battle.ne...ladderfaq.shtml for details of the Elo rating system and Jimmy Page for the necessary criteria for ladder scoring on MaG, as well as all the other MaG Staff.

EDIT: just some other news:

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Greybeard: k
Greybeard: oh
Greybeard: Patrick
Greybeard: did you want a clan site for ares on magleague.net
Private message from Greybeard: Patrick?
Mr.Mellow has joined the chat
Greybeard: hi
Mr.Mellow: Hey.
Mr.Mellow has left the chat
Greybeard: heh
Greybeard: k out to script
‡ÄgT‡ .:|Mr.T|:. has joined the chat
‡ÄgT‡ .:|Mr.T|:. has left the chat
Private message sent: 'oops, sorry :l was in other app and i have the magchat sounds off :/'
Private message from Greybeard: np
Greybeard: magchat sounds drive me crazy to
Col. El Patrick: yah, it would be nice if there was a way for each clan to operate a simple site, just a logo, some text with news and info and a list of clan memebers and ranking
Col. El Patrick: yah
Col. El Patrick: :l
Col. El Patrick: pretty much like there is now
Greybeard: well I was thinking maybe 10mbs per ladder
Greybeard: so they'd have to coordinate
Greybeard: but it would give them all private small clanpages
Col. El Patrick: yah, that would work
Greybeard: for recruiting...
Col. El Patrick: 10MB or megabit?
Greybeard: and an ares.magleague.net url
Col. El Patrick: ah, cool
Greybeard: mbs
Greybeard: makes the links easier
Greybeard: ladder admins can admin the site area
Col. El Patrick: i see
Greybeard: sound ok?
Col. El Patrick: yes, definitely
Greybeard: cool let's do it now
Greybeard: pm me an admin password
Private message sent: '*********'
Greybeard: heh
Greybeard: k
Greybeard:
Col. El Patrick: k
Col. El Patrick:
Greybeard: give me 3 mins
Col. El Patrick: np
Greybeard: k done
Greybeard: ftp access is
Greybeard: magleague.net
Greybeard: username: ares
Greybeard: with the pass
Col. El Patrick: k
Greybeard: have fun
Greybeard: oh please let Jimmy know
Col. El Patrick: yah, I'll mail him the info
Greybeard: k
Greybeard: thanks
Greybeard: it's actually pretty cool http://ares.magleague.net

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"It could be argued that MacOS X is less of an operating system and more of a screen saver (puts up pretty images for you to stare at while preventing you from actually getting work done)."
-mc

(This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 06-17-2002).)

damn. personaly i dont think thats fair. if one doesnt want to play i dont think they should have to. i always exept a challenge unless i dont feel like a mag game. even you know that Patrick. i dont mind much about the losing points when you lose but having to accept a game? thats just not fair. there are some real (insert swear here)s on GameRanger that will not confirm a game when they lose. and if one of them challenges you and does this you will have nothing to show for a hard game played. are these rules final? could they be changed? but thats just my 2 cents. (doesnt anyone else argee?)

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Insanity has its advantages

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Originally posted by U.E. Admiral:
**damn. personaly i dont think thats fair. if one doesnt want to play i dont think they should have to. i always exept a challenge unless i dont feel like a mag game. even you know that Patrick. i dont mind much about the losing points when you lose but having to accept a game? thats just not fair. there are some real (insert swear here)s on GameRanger that will not confirm a game when they lose. and if one of them challenges you and does this you will have nothing to show for a hard game played. are these rules final? could they be changed? but thats just my 2 cents. (doesnt anyone else argee?)

**

The thing about not accepting games is Jimmy's idea, not mine. I'm sure we won't enforce it unless there is a serious problem like someone who will refuse every game against a good player and then go on to play a newbie five seconds later repeatedly. There is a week to play the game, and I doubt we will do anything unless the example above is happening(we won't even know unless there are complaints from other players after all)

Other then that, I don't know what to tell you. This was Jimmy's idea, wasn't in my original draft. I do believe this was one of the unwritten rules which never made it into the original stuff on mag but did in fact exist.

Also, about the -----ers on GR which will not confirm games, all I can say is to check before hand if they actually have a mag account(ask for the mag name and then go to the mag site and use the alphabetical player listing to check it( I have run into people without mag accounts who will lie about their name and claim they have one) As long as he has a mag account and we get complaints, Jimmy or I will handle adjusting your score to what it should be and banning him and deleting his account.

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"It could be argued that MacOS X is less of an operating system and more of a screen saver (puts up pretty images for you to stare at while preventing you from actually getting work done)."
-mcb

ok thats fine. im content now.

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Insanity has its advantages

well yea, it was my idea to somewhat enforce people who don't confirm games or have a streak of not accepting games.

although i don't know where the idea about losing points for losing a game came from...

I originally had the ladder on magleague set up that way, and it turned out to be a disaster because nobody wanted to play each other, and there is nothing I could do about it besides change the rules to be more practical. We might have to reconsider this scoring system if people are losing points when they lose. email me about it pat.

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ramble on..
--Jimmy Page
(list)
(*)(Leader of TĹG, Leader of Ares Empire, Magleague Ares Admin and guitar legend thoughout the sol system)