On Shoddy 1, alts are very prevalent. But I feel they should possibly be banned.
The reason is that the way the ranking system works relies on a single player having a single ranking. With alts that's no longer true. If A, who's main account is a 1600 CRE, has an alt at a 1200 CRE, and they beat B at 1300CRE, then B takes an unfair drop to their ranking.
I'm not sure how prevalent alts are, but I suspect it's enough to wholly undermine the ranking system
We can't ban them on Shoddy 1, but the alternative I suggest for Shoddy 2 is an option in the battle finder, to search for rated battles, unrated battles, or both. Those who want to seriously ladder can select rated or unrated as they deem appropriate, while those who just want to play Pokemon can select both, and play as normal, but in an environment where their CRE actually means something. The finding people of similar rank feature could still be used in the unrated battles, which would let the experts test their more experimental teams against each other, rather than having to test them against those of a lower CRE as is the case at present unless they encounter someone else's alt.
Banning alts would also allow converting the CRE into a meaningful percentile rank. It's a lot easier - and more objective - for someone to understand that they are ranked 20% from top than to understand whether a certain CRE is 'good' or not.
(Yes, I know we can play unrated battles already. But there's no automatic finder, and no tiering.)
The reason is that the way the ranking system works relies on a single player having a single ranking. With alts that's no longer true. If A, who's main account is a 1600 CRE, has an alt at a 1200 CRE, and they beat B at 1300CRE, then B takes an unfair drop to their ranking.
I'm not sure how prevalent alts are, but I suspect it's enough to wholly undermine the ranking system
We can't ban them on Shoddy 1, but the alternative I suggest for Shoddy 2 is an option in the battle finder, to search for rated battles, unrated battles, or both. Those who want to seriously ladder can select rated or unrated as they deem appropriate, while those who just want to play Pokemon can select both, and play as normal, but in an environment where their CRE actually means something. The finding people of similar rank feature could still be used in the unrated battles, which would let the experts test their more experimental teams against each other, rather than having to test them against those of a lower CRE as is the case at present unless they encounter someone else's alt.
Banning alts would also allow converting the CRE into a meaningful percentile rank. It's a lot easier - and more objective - for someone to understand that they are ranked 20% from top than to understand whether a certain CRE is 'good' or not.
(Yes, I know we can play unrated battles already. But there's no automatic finder, and no tiering.)