Ladder Parameters Explained
For each Ladder, there are 8 parameters which determine how the ladder challenges are managed:
“Maximum Ranking Difference” – This determines how many players above them, a player can challenge. For example, if this is set to “4”, then a player can challenge the 4 players above him/her.
“Challenge Expiry Period” – This determines the period within which a challenge, must be played – otherwise the challenge ‘expires’ and is deemed to be null and void.
“Number of Unrestricted Challenges” – When a player is added to an existing Ladder, he/she is placed at the bottom of the ladder. To allow the new player to find their correct level quickly, they may be allowed to make a number of ‘unrestricted challenge’ – i.e. challenges which are not restricted by the “Maximum Ranking Difference” parameter described above. Hence if a really good player enters the Ladder they can challenge one of the top players and quickly attain their correct ranking in the ladder.
“Allow Concurrent Challenges” – This parameter is fairly self-explanatory, and can either be a “Yes” or a “No”. If set to “Yes” then players in this ladder are able to make and accept multiple challenges at any given time, whereas if it is set to “No” then a player can only have one outstanding challenge at any point in time – the default option.
“Scoring System in Use” – This parameter specifies how the winner of a ladder match is determined. If the administrator chooses “First to 3 Games”, then the winner is the player who first wins 3 games irrespective of the number of games played in total. Hence the scores could be 3-0, or 3-1 or 3-2 for the winner. If the administrator chooses “Best of 5 Games”, then 5 games MUST be played in total for the match to be deemed complete. In this case, the score can be 5-0, 4-1 or 3-2 for the winner.
“Allow Unscheduled Challenges” – The Club Administrator is always allowed to enter the results for any and all unscheduled challenges, irrespective of the value entered on this screen, and it is recommended that you leave this parameter at the default value – which is “No”. Changing it to “Yes” allows ALL players to enter results (of their own matches only) that have not been scheduled using the website. Although this might seem attractive at first sight, this does mean that some of the other parameters can be overridden in this way, since these parameters (like Ranking Difference, Number of Unrestricted Challenges and Allow Concurrent Challenges, for example) are checked when a challenge is made, and not when the results are entered. Changing it to “Yes” puts the onus on the players to make sure that they implement the rules of who can challenge whom, and when, for themselves. Select “Yes” with care!
“Maximum Ranking Difference for ‘Top x’ Players” – This applies only to the top x players in the ladder, where x is defined by the parameter below. This value overrides the value entered in the “Maximum Ranking Difference” field above for those ‘top x’ players only. If everyone in the ladder has the same maximum ranking difference, then set this field to the same as the first field (“Maximum Ranking Difference”).
“How Many Players in ‘Top x'” – This defines for how many players at the top of the ladder the “Maximum Ranking Difference for ‘Top x’ Players” field applies to. If everyone in the ladder has the same maximum ranking difference, then this field has no effect.
“Send Results to SquashLevels”. This parameter determines whether the game results are sent to the SquashLevels website or not – primarily of interest to UK clubs only.