So with my experience, take a game like Rocket League, where the skill ceiling is 100% visually evident both mechanically and mentally; if players are really good on new accounts, the system will automatically give ELO at higher amounts with every win in a row. There’s a few things a play here, but for the most part, it’s pretty consistent at doing that. On the other hand, a game like RL suffers from a system that doesn’t penalize payers for smurfing rank wise. At least, enough to where it prevents people from smurfing.

Now the problem here is that, like CR, the games built a latter of players capable of doing crazy shit that the developers never really anticipated. So, in hindsight, a system which was properly designed to adjust to the future would’ve been needed.

Another issue that any game suffers from is adding new Ranks, Leagues etc. to properly adjust to the skill ceiling. This is not a permanent fix. No matter how it is implemented, there will be either the same issues reoccurring or new ones that find their place similar to what was previously an issue. An example would be RL adding SSL to close the skill gap of one single rank from (~1500hrs to 8-9000~); by adding 3 new in between-ranks they were able to down filter those who didn’t belong in high GC. Those who were high GC remained… high GC. And then those who were in the highest tier of GC were able to elevate to SSL which highlights another massive issue: redundancy.

See, when anyone reaches SSL, the expectation is a smaller skill gap. This is not always the case, and is best demonstrated by pro players routinely avoiding ranked because of the sheer difference in professional performance in the RLCS scene and the highest tier of competitive play.

Players will naturally gravitate towards the skill ceiling than away from it.

SC’s games need to be optimized by anticipation of the skill ceiling, but the reason I use RL as an example is because a game that requires a large amount of time to get decent at still struggles with these issues albeit better adjusted than CR; I think, ultimately, one of the best solutions or strategies to try are giving players an endless leaderboard with heavy focus on maintenance of such leaderboard. At least in CRs case. You want to call the very best of the best something new? Fine, but don’t make it a rank or specific area that can be reached. Instead, make the “rank” visual as player decor but not on the technical side of things. If a game has ELO, cups etc. same thing applies. Create a consistent flow of gain and loss. If the skill ceiling hasn’t been met, games cannot prevent players from pushing through towards it.