What I am proposing is having an in-lobby player statistics screen that can be viewed by everyone without having to, say, look up each player on Demigod's stat page. This system would be based largely on the one present in the first Dawn of War series (and is likely seen in other RTS's, too). Those of you familiar with that game already have an idea of what I'm talking about; for the rest of you, read on.

What this system would do is put an additional information button next to a player seen in the custom game lobby. Clicking on this button would reveal a series of statistics about that player. These stats are intended to give the other players an idea of who they're dealing with. Below is a list of what I have come up with that would be relevent to Demigod.

• Experience (i.e. the stat that factors in who we get matched up with in a skirmish match)
• Total Games
• Games Won (followed by a percentage)
• Favorite Demigod
• Average Sim Speed
• Longest Winning Streak
• Number of Disconnects

Why this will be a welcome addition.

Demigod is still in its relative infancy, and one of the ways in which it needs to expand is how competitive it is in nature. Frogboy has already listed some ways in which Stardock and GPG are intending to improve Demigod in this light, and I think this would be a fine addition. Having these statistics would allow for players to play with a desired audience and would eleminate the need for "PROZ ONLY" or "NUBZ HERE" type games. It will also give an indicator of spotting the "problem child" type people by listing the number of disconnects someone has or what their sim speed tends to be. This can also prevent "noob bashing", whereby one team stomps on a team of clearly less experience. Players will get better on the whole by being able to constantly play against people on their own skill level.

Potential Problems/Propositions

1.) Having stats that no longer accurately represent you. Let's say you get a new computer, or you've moved/gotten a new ISP, or simply that you've gotten a lot better than you used to be. You're going to want your stats to reflect this. My proposition to this is a hard reset option on your stats. This would allow people to start over in a new light that fits their new circumstances. The catch is, your account's stats can only be reset once every three months, and every reset archives your old stats into Demigod's currently existing stat page. This would allow people to do some background research on a player that they may be suspicious of, or allow a good player to reference people to their archived stats to prove that they aren't completely green.

2.) Comp Stomers and Rage Quitters. I put these two in the same category mainly because my proposed solution would deal with both of them (and should actually be considered even if this statistics interface is disregarded). People that comp stomp (play with human allies against a purely AI team) can rack up free wins that don't accurately reflect their skill in an online environment. Rage quitters attempt to leave games via induced disconnects to avoid a loss. My proposition would eliminate the worry for comp stompers and nearly eliminate the worry for rage quitters. Here's how it would work.

For the first 10 minutes of the game, Demigod would be monitoring the "human" presence on both teams (i.e. checking for pings that aren't 0). In the event that either team becomes completely AI-controlled within the first 10 minutes, the game would become forfeit, in that its outcome is automatically disregarded and no wins OR losses are given to anyone (I also considered not giving favor points to anybody who finishes the match, but that is debatable). However, after those ten minutes, the game's outcome will be recorded, even for somebody who disconnects after that point (the AI associated with your account name would have its match results sent to your stat page). Having this solution also solves the "My game started and two of my teammates were immediately AI controlled" problem: just have your whole team disconnect and nobody has to suffer, and all without fear of loss on your own part.

3.) Inaccurate Statistics. This one kiiiinda falls purely in Stardock/GPG's lap. I would not advise implimenting ANY of these statistic features until favor is fixed for everyone, connection issues are fixed for (mostly) everyone, and the stats page updates accurately (which, as I understand, it currently does not).

So, that's about it. Please post your thoughts/suggestions (keep it civil or we'll get nowhere), especially any additional potential problems you see. I'll try to update this main post with any noteworthy information. Also, if I have the time to get DoW Soulstorm reinstalled, I'll post some pictures of their stats interface to accompany the bullet points above for any of you confused on how this might look.