WAML presents League Ranking!

The World Amateur Mahjong League presents the preliminary season of League Ranking.

Players able to rack up points in Lobby 7447 will contribute to their standing. At the end of the preliminary season, we will have the first free international ranked leagues, enabling people to track their progress, and compete for the title of World Amateur Mahjong Champion.

What’s the catch? What is the guarantee that this won’t fail?
This system cannot fail, as participation is directly rewarded. With the exception of Championship matches for the top 3 ranked players and the previous Champion, scheduling is irrelevant. The people who play more will edge out those who do not. The catch is that scores will be calculated from the brute scores, rather than the net scores (Finishing with 23300 (after the placement bonus) will net you 23 points, not -7), putting pressure on players who do not participate enough.

What do I need to do to participate?
Join Lobby 7447 and play regular hanchan games (Ari-ari hanchan with red fives or not, buttons 2, 3 and 4 on the right.) with your Tenhou handle. We do all the rest.

What if no one is in Lobby 7447?
Come find us on IRC at irc://irc.rizon.net/osamuko/ and ask around, or bring your friends to 7447.

Will there be prizes?
This is still in discussion, but there’s a solid chance that there will be. DVDs or prop gifts were some ideas suggested. The better you perform, the more chances you have of winning

Details on the scoring system:
1. Each game score is added to a player’s current total. This score is usually positive unless you finish with “-30” after placing bonus. These scores are multiplied by a simple factor to account for the player’s value, and if many games were played against the same opponents, a rebalancing of games with the same opponents will kick in.
2. The player value factor is counted as such: 0.2 for playing + 0.2 per A-League player + 0.1 per B-league player. For the preliminary season, all players will count as 0.2. Games with NoNames will count, but will get rebalanced if too many occur. Example: 4 players from A-League play each other. The factor is equal to 1.0. Example: 2 players from A-League, 1 from B-league and a NoName play together. The player value factor is then equal to 0.7.
3. Rebalancing will occur if more than 5 games are played between the same opponents. The total value of the games with be reduced to an extra 0.5 games for games 6 to 11. Any number of games beyond 11 will be normalized to 8. Example: 4 players play 9 games. Scores will be dampened to seven-ninths. Example: 4 players play 24 games. The games will only be worth one-third their base value.
4. A player with 50 games with an average final score of “+5” (35000) will have a score of 1.75M points, assuming the absence of reducing factors. A player with 30 games with an average final score of “+15” (45000) will have a score of 1.35M points, same caveats as before. It is logical to consider if someone plays more than 150% the games of another player, the chances of surpassing them in the rankings is next to impossible. This is intentional.
5. After the preliminary season, people will be in separate league groupings. A player in B-league with a high score is still ranked lower than anyone in the A-league. When a new session rolls along, the final ranking of the previous session will be ordered: Dropouts from higher league, players that have remained in the same league, players promoted from the previous league.

Every league season lasts exactly two months, effective Tenhou Server time. Make sure to get in at least 20 games over November and December to earn your way to the highest league you can achieve!