Splinterlands possible improvements

Competitive integrity is one of the most important foundations of any long-term game ecosystem. As Splinterlands continues to grow and evolve, it is natural and necessary for the community to periodically reassess whether existing systems still promote fair and engaging competition for all players.
Splinterlands has one of the most active and thoughtful communities in Web3 gaming, and many of the game’s best improvements have started as player-driven ideas. With that in mind, I want to share a series of proposals/ideas aimed at improving competitive fairness especially in areas where single-account players may feel disadvantaged.
These ideas are not presented as final solutions, but as discussion starters. The goal is to understand how the community feels about potential changes, what concerns might exist, and which directions players believe are worth exploring further.
Idea number 1:
Player shouldn't match with another account until the game that is started isn't finished. Meaning, both players didn't enter a game / entered tactics.
Currently, players are able to queue multiple accounts for matchmaking at the same time or once matched with one account they start searching with another. This behavior is commonly associated with scholarship setups and creates several competitive issues:
Faster and more efficient rating, reward, and focus farming
Disproportionate advantage over players who operate a single account
Reduced ladder integrity and perceived unfairness among the player base
Rating Gained
I’ve already had a similar discussion about this and still believe the system should be changed. This topic goes back about 14 months:
https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@shadecroat/rating-system-in-splinterlands-should-we-change-it
I’m not an expert, but based on the numbers I provided, AI suggested that in order to avoid rating inflation, a system of ±13 and ±27 would be the most appropriate.
For those who remember, we previously had ±3 and ±36, but that proved to be too extreme—and I agree with that assessment. How would it work?

100 difference +1 -1
200 difference +2 -2
300 difference +3 -3
400 difference +4 -4
400 - 600 +5 -5
600 - 800 +6 -6
1000+ +7 -7
I run some simulations on rating based on win% but I guess team could make it more accurate since they have more data. to see if this would be feasible.
Incentivize Fighting Higher-Rated Opponents
To encourage players to challenge stronger opponents, introduce bonus rewards when facing higher-rated players.
If a player has a rating above 1000, they would receive a percentage boost to rewards when matched against higher-rated opponents.
Example incentive:
+5% GLINT rewards
+5% SPS rewards
Prevent Immediate Rematches
To improve matchmaking quality and reduce exploitation, introduce a cooldown period before players can be matched against the same opponent again.
Players cannot be matched against the same opponent within 20 minutes. *20 minutes subject to change
Reduces frustration from repeated back-to-back matches
Encourages wider opponent diversity
Makes ranked play feel more fair and competitive
“Piloted By” Account Tag
Introduce a visible “Piloted by” tag on accounts to clearly show who is currently playing the account (e.g. owner or scholar). This tag would be publicly visible next to IGN.
Benefits of This System
Full transparency for opponents
Easier detection of multi-account play by the same scholar
Helps tournament organizers enforce scholar restrictions
Owners can quickly see if a scholar is playing multiple accounts
You know who you’re actually battling against, not just the account
Maybe I will input few more ideas over time if i get them. Please do comment if you have any ideas or see any negative sides to the ones i gathered.
Thank you in advance
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STOPI really like the basic idea, and will fully support proposals that will forward this.
A few points:
Idea 1 - do you have an idea how this could be implemented? I’m doubtful if changing the TOS would help, and I don’t know how difficult technical implementation would be; I’m curious what the team and the larger stakeholders think of this.
Idea 2 - love it
Idea 3 -extra rewards for defeating higher ranked opponents - YES! only one question: why hasn’t this been implemented yet?! @davemccoy
Idea 4 - wouldn’t the rematch time influence playability and give players who play consecutive games an extra “bonus” as they’ll be playing bits more often? Or do you plan for bots also to be unplayable for the duration of the cooldown? And, why 20 minutes?
Again: great initiative!
Thanks Chibu!
I like a lot of these ideas and I'm definitely paying attention. Thanks for tagging me @chiboulette!
Excellent job Shade! I'm trying to figure out a plan to implement many of your ideas. Well thought through.
I like a number of these ideas
The Scaled Rating System was only upsetting the people at the top because they would lose a huge chunk to a bad beat and bitch about Leaderboard ranking
Honestly even if they changed the scaling to this:
Rating Difference by %
9,600 Ranking vs 4,000 Ranking for example...
100%+
9,600 Win: +5, Loss -20
4,000 Win: +40, Loss -5
Something where it doesn't affect the top players by changing their loss points but it does benefit the lower players instead of just getting curb stomped by a Scholar.
As far as Bots go - they need to scale them back ffs. "Champion bots are supposed to be hard".
They aren't "Hard" they are fucking insane and need to be scaled back so that players like me who "only" have $5-$10k invested in Modern can play and have a decent chance at beating them... 😒
It's a stupid cop out that they are taking and it's taking the fun out of the game.
Games are supposed to be fun right???
When you face MegaWhale Scholars, Terminator Bots and then get shit on by stupid fucking RNG... it kind of makes you want to not play the game ya know?
Somethings gotta give - this is all just geared towards paying the top Accounts:
They can farm bots, crush the average player, etc - at least by scaling the rating system this way it benefits the Average player, doesn't harm the WhaleScholar and the bots don't make you want to quit playing and just figure out ways to milk the system...