What is Elo? Understanding how rankings work in gaming

There are so many games with multiplayer elements. And most of those have some sort of ranked or competitive mode. That's where you play to climb ranks and leaderboards to earn rewards and prove who is the best, and that all comes down to your Elo.

So, what is Elo? That's what we will explain for you here. It is a ranking system that was first introduced into the world of chess, named after chess master Arpad Elo. He devised a system that is now used in games of all types. Let's go into more detail.

The simple answer is that Elo is both referred to as the rating system and the number you are rated in a competitive game. It represents your skill level, with it going up or down depending on the results of the matches you play.

Some games take other things into account outside of wins and losses. Winning and losing is the most important factor in raising or lowering your Elo in gaming, but performance matters. Did you carry your team or did you only contribute a little bit to the victory?

Did you play against similarly rated players? Higher ones, lower ones, or a mix? In most competitive video game ladders, all of that matters. You'll gain more points to your Elo rating if you absolutely decimate a team of decently rated players rather than just scraping by against a team of those rated lower.

While gaming, you may come across the term MMR as opposed to Elo. They work hand-in-hand, but MMR is your matchmaking rating. These are more specific to the game you are playing, whereas Elo is the general system used across the board.

And most of the time, you'll find that your MMR is completely hidden compared to your ranked Elo number shown on the leaderboard. It could be used to create skill-based matchmaking in some games, or to just keep things fair in the actual rank you're in.

So, the TLDR version is that MMR is an often-hidden matchmaking rating you're given in competitive games. You could have a super high MMR compared to a low Elo, in which you may see your Elo go up quicker to try and match where your MMR sits.

If you play any game with a ranked mode, then you probably have encountered an Elo rating system. Since we are esports.gg, it makes sense that several esports games have this in place. Here are several you are probably familiar with:

This is clearly a non-exhaustive list, but just some of the games you'll see us cover on our site. But truthfully, if there is a game you play with a ranked mode, where you gain or lose any sort of points, it has an Elo system in place.

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