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Chess Variant Pages Rating System

A new system for rating specific chess variants. The new system will operate as follows: 1. An inventor of a chess variant posted on our site, will be able to select their variant to be part of our rating system. Only variants specifically selected would be part of the rating system. Editors have the option of adding variants for which the inventors cannot be contacted. Once submitted, the web page for the variant would be 'locked' (ie. no significant changes to that web page would be allowed). 2. Registered members and users will be able to rate any of the selected variants. Rating would consist of assigning numbers from 1 to 5 to a particular variant (with smaller numbers being of a lesser quality, larger numbers being a greater quality). Users would be able to rate a particular variant only once, with the ability to change their rating. 3. Variants will be rated in five categories: Design, Inventiveness, Beauty, Presentation, and Overall. Design covers how well the variant achieves its stated goals. Inventiveness covers the number and quality of novel concepts introduced in the variant. Beauty covers the aesthetic appeal if the variant. Presentation covers how effectively the web page conveys the information on the variant. 4. Any ratings submitted will have to be accompanied by a textual explanation explaining the reasons for the particular ratings. Only after review by the editorial staff will a rating be accepted. Raters must have played at least one game of the variant they are rating. 5. For each selected variant, an average rating will be calculated based on its individual ratings. There will be a page which displays the selected games sorted by this average rating. Only variants which have been rated five or more times will be listed. 6. All ratings will be reviewed by a Chess Variant Pages editor. Any ratings which do not meet our guidelines will not be visible on the site. 7. Guidelines for ratings. Ratings must be respectful, well thought out, logical, reasonable, comprehensive, and comprehensible. They must reflect the rater's own experience evaluating and playing the game. Ratings are not to be made lightly, so we expect a certain degree of seriousness (although a reasonable amount of levity is certainly allowed). Ratings regarding a game invented by a Chess Variant Pages editor will not be subject to that editor's review, so as to remove any suspicion of bias (whether deserved or not). Use the following link to display games currently available for rating: Ratable-Games

This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.


By David Howe.
Web page created: 2006-03-23. Web page last updated: 2006-06-22