Last updated: 19 January, 2024
This article explains the mechanics behind the FemaleCS.com ranking.
A. Scoring Points
Teams can gain points in two ways:
1. Winning Matches
This is the predominant way of gaining points. For each win, a certain number of points are assigned to the team, depending on:
- Event Stage (League, Groups, Upper Bracket, Lower Bracket, Final)
- Event Tier
- Match Format (Single-Map or Multi-Map)
2. Losing Matches
A small number of points will be given for losing. This is meant to reward teams for being active and participating in events. This will help more teams get ranked and active teams will achieve a higher ranking than less active teams.
B. Base Points System
Below is the base table for assigning points:
1. Events Logic
The list of events used in the current ranking can be found here. The list is dynamically updated based on the date of the most recent ranking update. The tier system attempts to reflect the entire CS:GO scene rather than focus on the female scene only. “Reference events” are used to assess events and place them in an appropriate tier. These are examples of reference events used for the base points system:
LAN
- Tier 1: Valve Major, ESL One Cologne, IEM Katowice
- Tier 2: Blast Premier Season Finals
- Tier 3: ESL Challenger
- Tier 4: Fragadelphia
- Tier 5: ESL Impact LAN
- Tier 6: Copenhagen Games Fe
- Tier 7: GirlGamer Esports Festival (World Finals)
- Tier 8: WESG Fe
Online
- Tier 1: ECL (EU)
- Tier 2: ESEA Advanced (EU) / ECL (NA)
- Tier 3: ESEA Main (EU) / Advanced (NA)
- Tier 4: ESEA Intermediate (EU) / Main (NA)
- Tier 5: ESEA Open (EU) / Intermediate (NA)
- Tier 6: ESEA Open (NA) / ESEA Main (Other)
- Tier 7: ESEA Intermediate (Other)
- Tier 8: ESEA Open (Other)
2. Tiers Logic
The tier system is a dynamic concept: events can move up or down tiers, depending on factors explained below.
Prestige
Prestige is a relative concept and considered to consist of:
- Prize money
- Tournament status on the calendar
- Reputation of the tournament organiser
Participating Teams
Both the quality and quantity of teams in an event impact its tier. Example: Despite a larger prize pool, GirlGamer Esports Festival is rated below Copenhagen Games, because it has a more restrictive format in terms of teams that can play in the event. (CLG Red never had a chance to qualify for the event, for example.)
Frequency
An event that takes place every month offers more opportunities to score points versus an event that takes place quarterly. Especially for online events, this can create regional discrepancies in the number of matches per team. Because of this, some events will be “downgraded” to compensate for frequency differences between regions. Example: The Latin-American Liga Gamers Club are intentionally rated lower than ESEA, because these leagues take place every month, whereas ESEA is four seasons per year. They also have a different playoff structure.
Format
An event’s format will also influence its rating. Some tournaments are league/group-heavy but have a short playoff format. Other tournaments are group-light and more playoff-heavy. Some events consist only of a single-elimination bracket, whereas other events use a double-elimination system. The tiering system tries to balance out events based on the different format factors.
3. Points Logic
The base number for the points system is the number of points for winning an event (“Final”). The general logic for the event tiers is as follows:
- Tier 1 is twice as valuable as Tier 2
- Tier 2 is twice as valuable as Tier 4
- Tier 3 is twice as valuable as Tier 5
- Tier 4 is twice as valuable as Tier 6
- Tier 5 is twice as valuable as Tier 7
- LAN: Tier 7 is twice as valuable as Tier 8
- Online: Tier 8 is twice as valuable as Tier 9 and Tier 9 is twice as valuable as Tier 10
Event Stage Points
The number of points for any tier event are derived from the “Final” points:
- Playoff - UB points = 0.5 x Final points
- Playoff - LB points = 0.375 x Final points (75% of Playoffs - UB points)
- Group points = 0.25 x Final points (50% of Playoffs - UB points)
- League points = 0.625 x Final points (125% of Group points)
- Event Invitation points = 0.125 x Final points
- Event Qualification points = 0.375 x Final points
Notes:
- League points are higher than Group points, because leagues are considered to be more balanced in competition. A league with a (quasi-)Swiss system, such as ESEA or WINNERS LEAGUE, will match teams with a similar record. Events with a group-stage round-robin typically contain a mix of stronger and weaker teams.
- A Third Place playoff match is considered as a single Lower Bracket match (between the two losing teams of the semi-finals), and scored accordingly.
Forfeit Wins
No points are given for wins by forfeit (FFWs).
Single-Map vs. Multi-Map
The base points system is based on a single-map scenario (BO1). In the case of multi-map matches (BO3 or BO5), points will be multiplied by 2. The distinction between single-map and multi-map is administered separately for each event’s league/group stage and its playoff stage. Example: ESEA regular season matches count as single-map matches, but the playoff matches count as multi-map matches.
Notes:
- There is no distinction between BO3 or BO5 for multi-map matches, because BO5 matches are rare.
- A BO2 format, such as the one used at WESG Finals, will count as two single-map matches rather than as a multi-map match.
- When there's a split format, e.g. BO1 upper bracket but BO3 lower bracket, then multi-map scoring is applied. However, an upper bracket BO1 win will be recorded as "0.5" to offset the multi-map multiplier.
Rounding
In the ranking, points are rounded to the nearest integer.
4. Points Normalisation
The points in the ranking are "normalised", which means that the ranking doesn't show the actual number of event points for each team. Instead, teams will have between 1 and 1000 ranking points, somewhat comparable to how the HLTV ranking works. The ranking points are still based on the event points, but with an extra calculation derived from the points leader. The idea behind this is to make the absolute difference in points smaller between all the teams, but still maintain an accurate relative difference between the teams. Example As of 14 December 2020, Galaxy Racer Fe had the most event points (points scored from winning games / events): 2393. Their points are then divided by 1000: 2393 / 1000 = 2.393. Every team then has its event points divided by this number to end up with the number of ranking points (points displayed in the ranking):
- Galaxy Racer Fe: 2393 event points divided by 2.393 = 1000 ranking points
- XSET: 2082 event points divided by 2.393 = 870 ranking points
- FURIA Fe: 1977 event points divided by 2.393 = 826 ranking points
- and so on.
Notes
- The number of event points that the #1 team has will be different from moment to moment. The ranking denominator is dynamic and will always be recalculated with each update. If next week's event points leader has 2425 points, for example, then every team's ranking points will be calculated by dividing their event points by 2.425.
- The #1 team in the ranking will always have 1000 ranking points.
- A team needs at least 1 ranking point to be included in the list.
D. Points Degradation
Nothing lasts forever. Any points gained by a team will lose value over time. Currently, points are set to degrade over 240 days in three stages:
- Stage 1: First 40 days since the event
- Stage 2: From 41 till 120 days since the event
- Stage 3: From 121 till 240 days since the event
During Stage 1, a team loses max. 6% (1/17th) of the points it gained from an event. During Stage 2, a team loses max. an additional 23% (4/17th) of the points from an event. Finally, during Stage 3, a team loses the remaining 71% (12/17th) of the points from an event. A simpler way to look at it is on a per-day basis. Each day during Stage 2, the points from an event lose value 2x as fast as during Stage 1. Each day during Stage 3, the points from an event lose value 2x as fast as during Stage 2 (or 4x as fast compared to Stage 1). The purpose of these stages is to place more emphasis on recent results. Degradation happens on map-by-map basis if tracked as part of the Results overview, and otherwise on an event-by-event basis. Example 1: Team X wins 1,020 points from an event. Over the first 40 days since the event, the event’s points value will drop by 60 points (6% of 1,020 points). This degradation happens in a linear fashion: each day, the event’s points value drops by 60/40 = 1.5 point per day. After 40 days, the 1,020 points gained by Team X will be worth 960 points. Over the next 80 days, the event’s points value will drop by an additional 240 points (23% of 1,020 points). Once again, the degradation is linear: each day during Stage 2, the event’s points value drops by 240/80 = 3 points per day. After 120 days, the 1,020 points gained by Team X will be worth 720 points. Over the final stage of 120 days, the event’s points value will degrade to 0. Each day during Stage 3, the event’s points value drops by 720/120 = 6 points per day. After 240 days, the 1,020 points gained by Team X will be worth nothing. Example 2:
- Event: Super Girl Gamer Pro 2020
- Event Date: 4 October 2020
- Team: Dignitas Fe
- Points from event: 48 points
- Date used for this calculation: 31 October 2020
- Days since event (using 31 October 2020): 27 days
This event is still in Stage 1 of points degradation (first 40 days since event). During this stage, Dignitas Fe will lose up to 2.8 points (6%) of the 48 points they gained from the event. Over the past 27 days, they have lost (27/40) * 2.8 = 1.89 points. The value of Dignitas Fe’s points from Super Girl Gamer Pro 2020 is 48 – 1.89 = 46.11 points on 31 October 2020. The value of the points will continue to drop by 0.07 points per day during Stage 1. During Stage 2, the points value will drop at double the rate, 0.14 points per day. Finally, during Stage 3, the points value will drop at double the rate of Stage 2, 0.28 points per day.
E. Points Deduction
In case of a disqualification, the match result(s) of the disqualified team will count as a loss by forfeit. Therefore, no loser points will be awarded to the disqualified team. Points can retroactively change because:
- an event has been upgraded or downgraded on the tier list; and/or
- the base points system has been updated
- matches were added later
- mistakes were corrected
Finally, points can be manually adjusted for specific matches. If a team fields a minority-female roster, for example, the points scoring can be adjusted accordingly. For example, if a team plays an ESEA match with a team of two female players plus three male players, the points for that match will be set to 40%.
F. Team Changes
Teams and organisations change, and this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Teams will not lose points for incremental roster changes, i.e. 1-2 players per time (compared to a previous event).
1. Points Rollover
If a team changes its name or organisation, but maintains at least 3 players, it will retain its points. Only the team’s name will be updated in the ranking.
2. Deactivation
If a team disbands or suspends play, the team will be deactivated in the ranking. This means the team’s points are still in the master spreadsheet, but the team isn’t shown in the ranking. We try to keep on top of what’s going on, but the information isn’t always very clear and obvious, so some inactive teams might still linger in the rankings.
3. Reinstatement
If a team temporarily ceases playing, but resumes at a later point with at least 3 players from the previous iteration, the team will be reinstated in the ranking and retain the points it previously gained (with degradation of course).
- Log in to post comments