Getting paired up with an inactive, especially one whose actual rating is much higher than the system now believes it to be, isn't great for the other player. If they win actually, their win doesn't contribute much to the accuracy of their rating as the system believes it to be much easier of a win than it actually is; if they win by boot, the game either inflate their rating (if the inactive comes back and repairs their rating) or just wastes time (the inactive's reduced rating in the future means that the win was too predictable to matter). If the player comes back and they lose, the system treats it much harshly than it should. Given that accurate ratings are key to good matches and a fun ladder, this alone should be a good reason.

And if you're the player who got booted because something unexpected came up and you didn't have time to leave the ladder (or even just forgot to), your rating accuracy gets hurt too. Both of you are also stuck with an unnecessary and likely time-consuming game that just clogs up the ladder.

It's best to minimize scenarios like this. So it'd be nice if players were auto-removed from any ladder they were in after getting booted in a single game from that ladder. The game they got booted in, of course, would still be counted- this isn't a way to game the ladder- but we'd just avoid the mistake of their adding many games to the system that just clog it up and annoy people.

Edited 8/27/2015 01:30:58

I think this already is the case. e.g. They have to rejoin the ladder.

(But you saying it made me unsure.)

Edited 8/27/2015 02:28:18

Doesn't seem to be the case for this player: https://www.warlight.net/LadderTeam?LadderTeamID=332

You are right. And I could easely find more examples by looking at players who had rapidly dropped in rank. I guess only the RT ladder offers this "protection".

Edited 8/27/2015 03:23:51

This is the case after 14 days.

I think Math Wolf is correct, but it should definitely be less. I will 99ish% surely win this game by boot, causing my rating to inflate.

https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=9351116

^ Yes, that's what I was thinking of. I also recently ran into a former top 10 whose rating was severely deflated by boots. Now he's awoken and, given that most of his games are expired, if I lose to him it's going to throw my ranking off a little bit (he's rated lower than me so it's going to look like a decent upset) until/unless he recovers. Fortunately doesn't happen to me often- just once every 20 games or so.