MMR

[BlackenedPies]

MMR is no correlation of the quality of players. The past performance of newer players being thrown around pub matches is no indication of performance on a tight ship. If a player with 20 matches has lost every match that is no indication of potential ability when they fly with experienced players.

MMR is experience. You might have to teach low MMR players but that doesn't mean they're bad. The system should mix experience with new players. The system prioritizes speed so it will put the first available crew in your ship. If there are multiple crews or multiple ships then MMR comes into play.

Friend everyone who listens. Be friendly and make them a part of the ship. Explain so they understand their job and mechanics. If you treat a player like they're bad then it's fun for no one. I have high MMR from my 5900 matches and this isn't an issue. Mixing gives experience.

[HamsterIV]

I would argue that Individual MMR doesn't have a place in a game where an individual's performance can not guarantee victory, but that is a different topic.

Low MMR players are not all bad, but most of them don't communicate, and may even have turned microphone audio off. The cases where I encounter a low MMR crew (one that gets set as Underdog when I move to spectate, or looses underdog when I move from spectate to their ship) that is actively communicating are extremely rare compared to the many mute/no text chat ships that meet the same criteria for low MMR. Trying to teach the mute crews feels as futile as speaking to a wall. In these cases I would rather let them make their mistakes and loose so that when I rejoin the solo Matchmaking Queue with a lower MMR.

My goal is to get on a fun ship with good people. Increasing my MMR by winning difficult games does not bring me closer to this goal. Instead  I may not always bring my A game to an uncommunicative novice ship that in my estimation stand no chance of winning. It is my Meta Game of dealing with the Match Maker, sometimes it does not help to play the best I can. I see this as a failing of the over all design of the game.

[Daft Loon]

Sounds like something that could explain some of my experience. I play a lot of public lobby games and they tend pretty heavily towards winning and losing streaks, partly thats my mood etc but having a winning streak bias towards getting the worst of the novices tommorow and a losing streak the reverse fits what i see. If it is correct it would seem like MMR is changing too fast from an accuracy standpoint at least, im not sure slowing it down would solve anything though. IMO it should be biased against mixing players with too large a differential in experience, it just leads to frustration with excessive demands/insufficient skill.

[Byron Cavendish]

That's pretty much been the main criticism of matchmaking since it's release and the reason for the drop-off in vet activity.

[BlackenedPies]

I don't know how MMR is weighted but I doubt losing a few matches has any effect. I assume it's mainly matches played. MM first prioritizes speed then it balances- which is exactly what it should do. If there's a slot open on your ship it will put the first open player in it. If there are multiple players then it balances by MMR. If the opponent MMR is higher then it will give you the higher MMR player. I don't see the problem.

Equating low MMR with being a bad player is false and unfair. Yes you'd rather have an experienced crew member but you either got the first random pub, or MM attempted to balance and gave you the lower MMR player. It helps balance the match and gives the new player valuable experience. If you don't want to teach new players then find friends.

There are occasional problems with players but you can reduce that. The easiest way is to friend every pub who listens and play with them. If you get an uncooperative player in match then tell them to leave and don't play with them again. Recrew and find a replacement. These are pubbing problems not MM problems.

[nanoduckling]

Blackened there are only two possibilities I can see here. Either you are right, and MMR doesn't correlate strongly with player ability, just experience. Since the stated goal of the MMR is to capture player ability if it is really only reflecting experience then MMR is already a serious failure and would do badly predicting match outcomes in a variety of circumstances. If it does capture player ability, then it will have precisely the impact that has been suggested by myself, Byron and Hamster. Either of these scenarios is pretty problematic.

[BlackenedPies]

This isn't a complicated game but it's not intuitive. New players get thrown into disorganized ships with only a vague idea what to do and they often lose. The only way to learn is from experienced players.

There is no good way for MM to capture player ability but it can reflect experience. According to Muse over 75% of matches are statistically well balanced based on MMR and win rate. http://gunsoficarus.com/blog/chewing-on-some-stats/#more-7147