Here are some additional scoring systems to the TAZD, including TAZD*, ASRm, and ASR. They are all preferable to base TAZD because they reward skill rather than just deviance from a defined middle point.

Specifically, a win (first place) could actually make your TAZD score go DOWN. In all the other systems it would make your score increase (or stay the same due to rounding.)

There are other issues with the TAZD that have been hilighted in the forum numerous times already.

Kudos to chloe for pulling all this together and publishing all her formulae and results. Due to the shortcomings of the plain TAZD, part of what goes on needs to be kept secret, but it's not the case with these. Security through obscurity is not necessary.

Here's Chloe's post, plus rankings:

Just say so if you'd like to join. If you have any questions about calculations or anything, just ask, and I'll happily answer. Suggestions are also always welcome and listened to. In fact! Monte recently suggested normalising the percentage profiles so everyone is on even footing- since not everyone's percentage profiles add to the same number. It's a small change, but it's an important one in my opinion.

An average of 35 games per month are required.

Unless someone specifically requests otherwise, I'll also include everyone in the yearly TAZD*. So far, I've included everyone with sufficient games that joined up to June. I'll add in the later entries soon. If you'd like to be removed, just say so, and I'll take you out no questions asked.

420 games minimum, 2400 games max bonus

Final standings, sorted by TAZD*:

ASRm ASR TAZD* Name
1.85 1096 28447 grandgnu
2.00 1639 23607 olkainry38
1.43 3465 22097 1st.skyler
1.46 2421 21374 Mercantile
1.31 2687 21307 kdiceplaya!
1.70 1719 19583 Mazaman
1.36 1653 19332 stakaboo
1.72 4303 19273 montecarlo
1.26 2474 18691 Lady Lite
1.72 0820 18559 masticore
1.40 8004 17820 Fonias
1.48 1136 17635 DrunkDaShiVa
1.26 3420 17021 Gurgi
1.29 3248 16598 dottir
1.22 1767 15354 cool g
0.89 2351 15331 chaiNblade
1.09 3709 14989 dirtyrolls
1.13 0534 14673 BAMMBI
1.38 2094 14563 Loobee
1.46 0493 14330 Xar
1.09 1609 14316 Az_Balu
1.26 1121 14285 ehervey
1.23 3678 13670 dasfury
1.23 1822 13631 charliedontsurf
1.14 1317 13372 Randomperfection
1.27 1219 13102 caesar-blue
0.63 -0030 12124 THRILLHO
1.18 0377 10911 Crazy Smurf
1.00 1082 10788 greekboi
1.07 0234 10059 ji-jo
1.13 0372 09926 TheBetterYodel
1.06 0396 09274 toad92
1.28 0089 08793 Kibble95
1.14 0068 07885 skrumgaer
1.01 -0205 07740 pooch723
1.02 0678 04874 Simon
0.93 -0041 04471 CCSKAOT
0.38 -0174 03302 joejoewhoa

http://bit.ly/v4mNPe

I got un-dumb and changed from manually summing products to using the SUMPRODUCT function in excel, but google docs apparently can't handle fixed references in its SUMPRODUCT calculation, hence the #VALUE! errors. Everything works fine in the original excel document, which I'd be happy to email to anyone who wants it.

To qualify for the yearly TAZD competition, you must have played an average of 60 regular games per month, or to finish, 720 games.

The zero datum used was

07.2, 07.9, 10.2, 14.0, 17.5, 20.3, 22.9.

I have child-proofed the yearly TAZD, but I will not say in what way I have done it. The childproofing did not have to kick in in 2011.

***Special note: Actually the childproofing did kick in for Xar in the November standings, not because of any action of his, but by my compiling his January 2011 seventh place percentage as 14 instead of 14%. That happens if you don't include the final % sign when you capture the data with the mouse. Note that his final percentages added to 129%. Xar's corrected November standings should have been

0865 15% 19% 17% 14% 12% 11% 07% 13457 Xar

Here are the complete final standings:

7167 15% 16% 16% 16% 13% 11% 09% 28193 dottir
1036 24% 18% 20% 13% 09% 08% 06% 27003 grandgnu
5818 19% 13% 11% 11% 15% 14% 14% 21834 dirtyrolls
1648 21% 17% 16% 10% 11% 10% 13% 20963 1st.skyler
1641 21% 18% 12% 10% 09% 12% 16% 20017 kdiceplaya!
1743 20% 17% 13% 13% 13% 11% 10% 19795 Mercantile
0730 21% 21% 15% 13% 10% 10% 06% 18357 Mazaman
2596 17% 16% 16% 12% 11% 12% 13% 18217 Lady Lite
2124 18% 15% 16% 14% 12% 10% 11% 18050 stakaboo
0720 22% 18% 17% 12% 13% 08% 06% 18028 montecarlo
1632 20% 17% 10% 11% 11% 11% 17% 17769 chaiNblade
1217 17% 19% 16% 13% 14% 10% 08% 16780 DrunkDaShiVa
1472 20% 15% 15% 13% 14% 10% 11% 16732 Fonias
0732 15% 20% 20% 18% 12% 08% 04% 16708 SirPepa781
3504 16% 16% 12% 11% 12% 14% 15% 16239 Az_Balu
1497 19% 18% 09% 11% 15% 11% 14% 15976 Gurgi
2463 13% 16% 17% 13% 11% 12% 13% 13905 BAMMBI
1838 17% 15% 14% 16% 12% 12% 11% 13662 ehervey
0865 15% 19% 17% 14% 12% 11% 07% 13457 Xar
1817 18% 11% 09% 08% 08% 13% 30% 13402 THRILLHO
2666 16% 14% 14% 14% 13% 12% 13% 13159 Randomperfection
1645 18% 14% 15% 13% 13% 12% 12% 12627 charliedontsurf
0958 22% 12% 12% 13% 14% 14% 11% 12460 caesar-blue
1632 13% 17% 15% 14% 14% 12% 13% 10457 Crazy Smurf
1359 17% 15% 11% 09% 13% 13% 18% 10190 greekboi
1797 14% 16% 14% 12% 14% 14% 14% 09447 nodice4u
1242 16% 16% 13% 13% 13% 14% 13% 09373 TheBetterYodel
1168 11% 14% 15% 19% 19% 13% 05% 08894 skrumgaer
0834 17% 16% 14% 08% 11% 14% 17% 08726 toad92
0740 15% 16% 13% 17% 16% 11% 09% 08624 Kibble95
1099 13% 16% 14% 12% 11% 15% 14% 07297 pooch723
0983 16% 13% 13% 12% 10% 14% 20% 06319 wrestlerchance

Here are the end of November standings:

0964 24% 18% 20% 12% 09% 08% 06% 26184 grandgnu
6652 14% 16% 16% 16% 13% 12% 10% 25137 dottir
5510 19% 13% 11% 11% 15% 14% 14% 21349 dirtyrolls
1648 21% 17% 16% 10% 11% 10% 13% 20963 1st.skyler
1663 20% 18% 12% 13% 13% 11% 09% 20069 Mercantile
1637 21% 18% 12% 10% 09% 12% 15% 20046 kdiceplaya!
1632 20% 17% 10% 11% 11% 11% 17% 17769 chaiNblade
0692 21% 21% 15% 13% 10% 11% 06% 17549 Mazaman
2424 17% 16% 15% 12% 11% 12% 13% 16899 Lady Lite
0678 21% 18% 17% 12% 13% 08% 06% 16846 montecarlo
1217 17% 19% 16% 13% 14% 10% 08% 16780 DrunkDaShiVa
1454 20% 15% 15% 13% 14% 10% 11% 16663 Fonias
0723 15% 20% 20% 18% 12% 08% 04% 16340 SirPepa781
1449 19% 18% 10% 11% 15% 10% 13% 16055 Gurgi
3232 16% 16% 13% 11% 12% 14% 15% 15463 Az_Balu
1557 17% 15% 17% 14% 12% 10% 11% 15081 stakaboo
2265 13% 16% 17% 12% 12% 12% 14% 13173 BAMMBI
2546 16% 14% 14% 14% 14% 12% 13% 12655 Randomperfection
1641 18% 14% 15% 13% 13% 12% 12% 12628 charliedontsurf
1727 16% 15% 14% 16% 12% 12% 11% 12468 ehervey
0932 22% 12% 12% 13% 14% 14% 11% 12295 caesar-blue
1551 18% 11% 09% 07% 08% 13% 30% 12225 THRILLHO
0865 15% 19% 17% 14% 12% 11% 41% 11919 Xar
1277 18% 16% 11% 09% 13% 13% 17% 10662 greekboi
1632 13% 17% 15% 14% 14% 12% 13% 10457 Crazy Smurf
1164 16% 16% 13% 13% 13% 14% 13% 09354 TheBetterYodel
1742 14% 16% 14% 12% 14% 14% 14% 09210 nodice4u
0662 19% 14% 12% 11% 09% 11% 20% 08752 ji-jo
0834 17% 16% 14% 08% 11% 14% 17% 08726 toad92
0731 15% 16% 13% 17% 16% 11% 09% 08544 Kibble95
1122 11% 13% 15% 18% 19% 13% 06% 08457 skrumgaer
0994 13% 16% 14% 12% 11% 16% 15% 06545 pooch723
0972 16% 13% 13% 12% 10% 14% 19% 06352 wrestlerchance

I've noticed that a good deal of the frustration with the game and with other players is consistently due to misunderstandings of the flagging system. This becomes pretty evident when you take a look at players' review pages and a large majority of the negative, and even positive comments, deal with flagging.

The initial flagging system was introduced solely as a way to help the game end faster. It was a simple checkbox, not related to place. When all players other than the one in first checked this box the game would end and each player would receive place based on their current position.

Incidentally, this system led to 'ninja flagging,' where a player would wait for everyone else to have their flag up and then quickly over-expand and then flag themselves, ending the game. They would then finish much higher than they should have otherwise. This led to some fun games as people would watch and try to respond, but it also cause some frustration. Anyone who uses 'ninja flagging' in regards to the current system is using the term incorrectly.

I bring this up because the current flagging system was introduced specifically to address the ninja flagging 'problem.' Some players that play in both systems find the old system preferable, some do not. To each their own; I don't think Ryan will be changing it back anytime soon.

The issue we have now is that flags are grossly misunderstood. You see people all the time expecting that when their flag is up they will not be attacked and thus they feel you did not "honor" or "respect" their flag if you attack them. This completely erroneous assumption has lead to a great deal of complaining, frustration, and negative review leaving.

Here are the flagging facts:
1. If you flag to someone, they have the complete right to still attack you, and often should. There is nothing 'dishonorable' about it. They may need to expand to fight for a higher position and your flag should not stop them from expanding to do so. They may want to earn more dom points - it is their right to do so as they have clearly earned a stronger position. Flags are ONLY there to help the game end faster; they are not magic invincibility potions to protect you when you otherwise should die.

2. People who over-expand and then throw up a flag should frequently be attacked. Just because you put up a flag does not mean that you can foolishly over-expand and leave little stacks lying about and expect to keep them. Again, a flag is not a magic invincibility potion that protects you from attack - it's just there to help the game end faster. You'll often see people over expand recklessly throw up a flag and have it 'respected' and thus earning a position higher than they should have gotten. Good strategy on their part if they think they can get away with it, but poor form on the other players' part to let them do so. Keep in mind that that over-expanding player is taking dominance points away from the other players when they do this as well; frequently from the person who is in the best position to take their smaller stacks.

3. An early flag is essentially a truce offer. If a player verbally flags in round two, it's a safe assumption that those two players are effectively truced and will not be hindering each other's play. The other players on the board need to actively counter this or will almost always end up losing to these two players. This is not very different from being observant and countering two players who says things like "I'm cool" or "how about we be friendly." If you don't fight this behavior when possible, those players will win. You will see some people that ignore or even purposefully attack early verbal flags. This is a reasonable solution to this problem. They're probably flagging early because they are weak, so take the land and dominance points if you are in a position to do so.

In review:
Flagging Rule #1 - Flagging to someone does not mean they cannot and often should not attack you.

Flagging Rule #2 - Players who recklessly over-expand and then flag for defense should often be attacked.

Flagging Rule #3 - An early verbal flag is often an effective truce offer.

I will state the most important part again: flagging was only introduced to help the game end faster. Your flag DOES NOT prevent you from being attacked - it is not what it was designed to do.

Forum Posting Guidelines:

1) Don't create threads that are entitled in a profane, obscene, racist, or otherwise obviously objectionable fashion. If posting such a thread would get you punished at home, school, or work, then you can expect that it will get you punished here.

2) If such a thread has been posted and a mod penalizes the poster, don't bump it. Especially do not bump it if the thread has fallen off the front page of the forums.

3) When posting in threads, please try to use some sense of decorum. Posts that are simply profanity-laden rants, insults, or suggestions that other players perform biologically improbable, unsanitary, or unsavory acts may be held to be actionable. Again, if your post would get you punished by your parent, expelled/suspended/sent to the principal's office at school, or fired from work, it may achieve the same result here. Individual posts inside threads will receive more leeway than objectionably entitled threads themselves, but not much.

4) Don't post walls of spam when leaving a negative review of another player.

Failure to follow these posting guidelines may result in warns or bans, not only for the alt you use to break the rules, but also for any other accounts that are identified as belonging to you.


Gameplay Guidelines:

The following is a partial list of proscribed actions/behaviors that will get you warned or banned. This is not a complete list. Do not think that, just because a specific item is not listed, that it is allowed. The spirit of the rules will be enforced, not just the letter of the rules. When in doubt about whether something is actionable, I would strongly advise you to err on the side of caution. One of the original rules that Ryan had for Kdice was to "be nice". If you are contemplating something that may give you an unfair advantage, it is probably not "nice" and may result in a warning or a ban. Be advised that penalties for illicit activities will be assessed against the player(s) engaging in the actionable activity, not simply against the alt(s) used at the time. If you get busted, the penalty will be applied to any and all accounts that are identified as belonging to you. My policy is that alts do not commit offenses, players do. If you commit a serious offense, then you should be punished across the board, not simply by having a throw-away alt banned.


1) Shared accounts are against the rules, so don't create or use them. Any account that is used by more than one individual, for whatever reason, is a shared account. Any account that is found to be shared will be permanently banned. In addition, all of the known accounts of the players determined to be using the shared account will be banned. This policy applies to both intentionally and inadvertently shared accounts, so protect your log-in data by keeping it secret. Don't give it out for any reason to anyone, unless you want the account (and all your other accounts) to be banned.

2) Don't steal, disseminate, or use other player's log-in data.

3) Don't create accounts that impersonate other players and appear to be intended to make other players believe that the original player is operating the fake.

4) Don't PGA. If you choose to play with your Old Trusted Friend (OTF), don't engage in team play with that person. Blatant, undisclosed OTF behavior is the same thing as PGA and is an punishable offense.

5) Don't use hate language, go on obscene, vitriolic rants that continue unreasonably, or otherwise spam the chat box during games.

6) Don't conspire with other players to game the system and create a disadvantage to the general player population.

6) Don't use proxy IPs.

7) Don't funnel points.

8) Don't use exploits, loopholes, or hacks of any kind.

Note that none of the above rules or guidelines prohibit cut-throat playing. You are still free to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women. You want to farm? Cool. You want to back stab? Do it. You want to cut the crap out of someone. Have fun. You want to screw someone's game just for the hell of it? Indulge your wildest fancies. All of that is transparent, self-regulating, and within the bounds of the game.

However, if it is against the rules, DON'T DO IT. If you think that it might be against the rules, DON'T DO IT. You may very well get away with the scam for a long while, but if you are caught, you will suffer harsh consequences. If you choose to cheat, or to abuse the system in whatever fashion, then you do so with the full knowledge of what the punishment will be if you are caught.

Be advised that that my rulings and those of my fellow mods will always be subjective. When we make a ruling and take action, we are interpreting both the letter and the spirit of the rules. We will always seek to act impartially and fairly, but our interpretation of what is fair and impartial may differ from yours. Make your life (and ours) easier by simply playing fairly.

In the end, if you disagree with any ruling, you may always appeal to the ultimate arbiter of justice: Ryan.


GL and HF

Thanks to chloe for starting to assemble this list. It's a great addition to the current FAQ which is not as easily editable: http://www.kdice.com/FAQ

Concerning the 4-stack and 16-stack updates:
1) What's with the 4 stack and 16 stack tables?
Ryan implemented tables that have maximum stacks of 4 and 16 instead of 8.
4 stacks tend to:
- Be fully stacked sooner
- Get to end game faster, though the games can be very long, especially if there's a bottleneck
- Have fewer vflags
- Require more aggressive attacks
16s tend to:
- End game slower
- Stack slowly
- Require being conservative

2) So are the maximum reserves the same for all tables, or are 4s +16 and 16s +64?
Nope. All the tables have +32 for maximum reserves (for now at least). Several people have suggested changing it to +16 and +64, so it may be a change in the future.

3) There's a 5 stack on a 4 stack table. wtf?
Starts aren't limited by the stacks, so you can start with a 5 stack, but once it is moved, it'll never stack to a 5 again.



Concerning general gameplay:

4) What's a vflag?
A flag stated in the chatbox, but not actually posted in game (eg, green says "blue I flag to you").
There's a lot of excellent information about flags and vflags here: kdice.com/blog/48

5) Is trucing illegal? What about backstabs?
No. Trucing is a legitimate strategy that is completely within the rules. Backstabbing is also completely legal.

6) What's a PGA/PGE?
PGA stands for pregame alliance, which is considered against the rules. PGE is "pregame enemy" and means that, for example, if I PGE Loobee, I would target her whenever I played with her. My goal those games would be to make sure she loses, not to actually win myself.



Tournaments:

7) How do I join?
You can see a list of upcoming tournaments at http://kdice.com/tournaments. An hour before a tournament is set to begin, you will see a join button in the top right of your browser, and if you qualify to join, you can press it. Then, it'll change and say "Joined" and once the tournament starts you'll be seated at a tourney table.

8) My "You've been seated" pop up didn't pop up (or got covered up). How can I know what table to go to?
Underneath your name in the top right, it says what table you are currently sitting at. Click that link, and you'll be there! There's a delay between the tournament start time and the actual start of the games so you'll have plenty of time (two minutes, iirc) to get there.


Levels:

9) What purpose do levels serve?
Levels are a quick reference to career rankings (essentially). They are calculated based on your total career points PLUS your current month points. You level up when you reach a certain number of points. Here's a list of the number of total points required for some levels:
| 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 15 |
| 3 | 35 |
| 4 | 60 |
| 5 | 90 |
| 6 | 130 |
| 7 | 170 |
| 8 | 240 |
| 9 | 310 |
| 10 | 410 |
| 20 | 3400 |
| 30 | 15000 |
| 40 | 47000 |
| 50 | 120000 |
| 60 | 260000 |
| 70 | 510000 |
| 80 | 930000 |
| 90 | 1600000 |
| 100 | 2600000 |

Miscellaneous:

10) Can I change my username?
Nope. You can re-register, with a different email address. The only way to change your username is if you are a facebook or twitter user, and you change your fb or twitter name.

11) Is it possible to change the email address associated with an account?
Not easily. Your only option is to email ryan@rdews.com and hope you get a response.

12) Can I mute someone in chat?
Yes! Just type in "/mute username" in the chatbox and make sure you have the proper capitalisation for the username.


13) What's a roll off?
When it's difficult for two players to fight each other (eg all the way across the board from each other), but they both want the same position and are roughly evenly matched, sometimes someone will propose a roll off. In a roll off, each player rolls an 8 (or a 4 or 16) and the person who rolls higher wins the position.

14) What do people mean with "sit for 2" or what is "fighting 1/3"?
"Fighting 1/3" means that the winner of that fight will take first, and the loser will take third. This is useful when the person "sitting for second" could interfere and throw the odds heavily in one direction or the other. It's also good for the person in second, generally- because if he/she starts fighting one of the 1/3 people, that person can flag to the other 1/3 person and the person sitting for 2 might end up in third instead of in second.