Ensuring Fair Play: The Importance of Match Validation on DUPR
DUPR
April 21, 2024
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At DUPR, we're committed to providing accurate ratings and a fair playing field for all pickleball players. That's why we've recently made changes to our match validation process for recreational games. In this blog post, we'll explore the significance of validating your matches and how these changes enhance the integrity of our rating system.
Understanding Match Validation
Validating matches is vital for maintaining the credibility of player ratings. By requiring validation from all players involved, we ensure that only legitimate results contribute to ratings, fostering fairness and accuracy across the platform.
How Match Validation Works
Upon entering a recreational match on the DUPR platform, all participants receive a notification via the app, alerting them to the logged match awaiting validation. For the match to be validated and impact player ratings, all participants must affirm the match outcome. This consensus approach ensures that the match results are accepted by everyone involved, reflecting a true and fair outcome.
Improved Validation Process
With our updated validation process, a recreational match is considered validated only when all players involved have confirmed the results. This change eliminates any ambiguity and ensures that matches are accurately recorded on our platform. If you notice that your match hasn't been validated yet, it simply means that one or more players still need to confirm the results.
Managing Validation Status
If only one participant validates the match, it remains in a "pending validation" state. During this period, the match does not affect any player ratings and waits for further action from other participants. In cases where a participant disagrees with the match entry, they have the option to reject the match. Upon rejection by any participant, the match is automatically removed from the platform to ensure that only consensus-approved matches impact player ratings.
Streamlining Communication
To streamline the validation process and expedite communication with other players, we've introduced a convenient group chat feature within the app. Initiating a group chat allows you to easily coordinate with your fellow players and confirm match results.
Simply follow these steps to start a group chat:
Tap on "My DUPR" at the bottom right corner of the app.
Click on the chat icon located at the top right, next to the settings icon.
Add up to four players to the chat and discuss the match results.
By validating your matches and participating in our updated validation process, you're contributing to the accuracy and reliability of our rating system. Together, we can uphold the integrity of pickleball competition and ensure fair play for all players.
If you have any questions or need assistance with match validation, don't hesitate to reach out to our support team. We're here to help and ensure that your pickleball experience on DUPR is seamless and enjoyable.
The DUPR Reliability Score gives players more insight into how close they are to achieving a reliable rating. If your Reliability Score is above 60%, your rating is reliable, and you can be confident that you’ll have a competitive experience playing with others at a similar level. If you’re under 60%, whether that’s because you’re a new player, or you haven’t played in a while, it means you have more playing to do! But don’t worry, there are a variety of ways to reach a 60% Reliability Score, and, for overachievers, progress from 60% to 100%.
Here are some paths you can take to get a good reliability score. Each match represents one game. Matches with more games will count more and progress you to reliability faster because there will be more information input into the rating system.
Remember, the biggest takeaways are playing frequently (and inputting your results!) and playing with a variety of players.
Reliability Progression Paths
Just starting out or have less than 10 games under your belt? Here’s how to get to a reliable rating (60% Reliability Score).
These paths assume the following:
Opposing player or team ratings are all within 0.5 of your player or team rating.
Teammates and Opponents are reliable (ie have a 60% Reliability Score).
Matches are with 2 or more unique partners (Doubles only) and against 6 or more unique teams.
Matches are each one game.
Note - There are many ways to achieve a Reliability Score of 60% or higher. The biggest takeaway is more is better! Play more games, play more with similarly rated players, play more with players who are more reliable than you and play with a wide variety of players. Those are the key factors in improving your Reliability Score.
Already have a reliable rating? Here’s how to achieve a 100% Reliability Score
These pathways assume:
Players and opposing teams are all a similar level (ie within a 0.5 range)
Teammates and Opponents have a 60% Reliability Score (or higher)
Doubles matches are with 4 or more unique partners
All matches are against 12 or more unique teams
Matches are each 1 game
Note - The biggest takeaway is more is better! Play more games, play more with similarly rated players, play more with players who are more reliable than you and play with a wide variety of players. Again, these are the key factors in increasing your Reliability Score.
We're pleased to share an important step forward in our efforts towards global accessibility. DUPR, already available in English and Vietnamese, is now accessible in more languages on both our web platform and mobile app. Users can now navigate DUPR more easily and comfortably in the following languages:
Simplified and Traditional Chinese
Spanish
Did you know that DUPR is the world's only global rating system? With over 3,500 clubs in more than 158 countries, DUPR provides accurate pickleball ratings to everyone, regardless of age or gender.
By expanding our language options, it's easier than ever for users worldwide to engage with DUPR. It’s important to us to create more opportunities for everyone to benefit from the platform. It's all about bringing people together to play the game we all love: pickleball.
We're not stopping here! Our team is already focused on adding additional languages to enhance our global presence. Stay tuned for future updates!
How to Use the Feature
Switching languages on DUPR is easy! Whether you're using our website or mobile app, simply click on your profile to find the settings menu in the upper right corner of the page. Then, locate the language option, and select your desired language. Make sure your app is updated to see the available languages.
To learn more about our recent updates, visit our blog on reliability score!
We are excited to release the DUPR Reliability Score, our newest metric to help you better understand your rating. Players will now have two numbers on their player profile: their DUPR Rating, which provides an assessment of your current pickleball skill level, and the Reliability Score, a percentage that indicates your progress towards achieving a reliable rating.
What is the Reliability Score? How is it different from my DUPR rating?
Your DUPR rating provides a real-time assessment of your pickleball skill level based on your match results. The Reliability Score indicates how far you have progressed in achieving a reliable rating. Your rating reliability depends on a few things – how many match results are in our system, how recently you’ve played and the variety of players you’ve played against. A higher reliability percentage means you’re a player who is consistently uploading match results in the system, while someone with a lower score means that there is some catching up (i.e. more playing!) to be done.
A player’s Reliability Score is calculated as a percentage between 1 and 100. Players who have a score of at least 60% have a reliable rating.
Both singles and doubles ratings have a corresponding Reliability Score.
What does it measure?
The Reliability Score measures a player’s progress in achieving a rating that is a dependable representation of their skill level. It looks at a number of factors, including how recently you’ve played, who you’ve played against, the types of matches you play and the recency of your results. New players will have lower reliability scores as they are just getting started on DUPR, players that have more results and play frequently will have higher reliability scores.
What is a good reliability score? A good reliability score is 60% or higher. That means that a player can be confident they will have a good, competitive experience when playing others at the same level or finding events at that level. Reliability scores that are lower than 60% are a sign that a player is still progressing towards reliability. This likely means they need to play more and enter their results. A rating of 100% is considered to be fully reliable, but anything above 60% is a good reliability score.
How does the Reliability Score help players?
A reliability score shows how close you are to achieving reliable rating. When you have a reliable rating (60% or above in your reliability score), you can be confident that you will have fun, competitive play with others at a similar level. Players who have more results in DUPR will have higher reliability scores because there are more match results to analyze, offering a more in-depth view of your ability. A player who is just starting out will have a lower reliability score because DUPR does not have as many results to analyze. As players play more and share their results with DUPR, their rating becomes more and more reliable, and their reliability score will go up.
For example, a player who consistently plays and enters match scores will have a more reliable rating than a player who has played once or twice, or only plays against the same person. As you progress in your pickleball journey by playing more, consistently entering your scores and playing a broader range of people, your reliability score will increase. .
What will reliability score be used for?
Players can use the reliability score to have more insight into their rating and a better understanding of their current rating. Clubs can use the Reliability Score to better evaluate players, and may even use it as a threshold for event eligibility to ensure players have a good, competitive experience.
How can I make my rating more reliable?
Play more matches! Your match count and the recency of those matches are a big component of your Reliability Score. But not all matches are equal in how much new information they provide to the dependability of your rating. In order to make your rating more reliable, focus on playing matches that satisfy the following criteria:
Play with various partners and opponents
Play against similarly rated opponents
Play Club/Tournament Matches
Play against highly reliable players
How should I expect my reliability score to move over time?
Each match you play will increase your score, but the amount it goes up will depend on many factors that consider how much new information we are getting from the match. Your Reliability Score will decrease over time if you are not recording matches.
What are the steps I can take to get a good Reliability Score (60% and above)?
There are many ways for a player to reach a good reliability score (60%). The key here is that there are many paths you can take to make your rating more reliable, but some paths might require more matches than others. The biggest takeaway is to play frequently and against a broad group of players. If you’re new to DUPR, we have some sample pathways to help you get on the road to reliability. If you’ve been playing for a while and want to increase your reliability score, we have some ideas for you to go from 60% to 100%.
How do I maintain a good Reliability Score?
Keep playing and play with a broad group of competitors. Your reliability score will decrease over time if you do not record new matches. To maintain your reliability score, we encourage you to log matches on a consistent basis.
For example, a player with a 100% Reliability Score (100%) could decrease to 60% over the course of 6 or so months if they don’t enter results. . A 60% score can drop to 30% over the course of 3 months without entering results.. A 30% score can drop to just under 10% over the course of 6 months if a player does not continue to enter results.
This is because DUPR’s rating places more emphasis on more recent matches as that provides an assessment of your current skill level. Older matches do not have as much impact on your rating.
Is my Reliability Score or my rating more important?
Your DUPR rating is a real-time assessment of your skill level. The reliability score is a supporting measure that showcases your progress in achieving a dependable rating (ie how frequently you play, how recent your results are and the pool of players you are playing against).
As players begin to play and enter scores into DUPR, ratings can fluctuate early on in their DUPR journey as they play different players. As players continue to play and enter more scores, the confidence in their assessment increases. Players who are new to DUPR will have lower reliability scores than players who are consistently playing and submitting results.
How often will my Reliability Score update?
Your Reliability Score will update weekly on Tuesdays.
