Ranked is for competition

written 2026-05-08

In multiple game communities (Prismata, AoE 2) I've seen people claim ranked matchmaking is for casual play (with bad policy implications), even though both games have unranked matchmaking (though it has fewer features than ranked). They claim tournaments are the real place for competition. This view is flawed:

If ranked matchmaking is for casual play, then what is unranked matchmaking for?

If tournaments are the only place for competition, then there is *no* place for competition whenever tournaments aren't running. On the other hand, if ranked is for competition, there is still a place for casual play.

Tournaments often have limits on who can qualify, so most people can't play in them.

Tournaments are often a slightly *different game*. For example AoE 2 tournaments usually have systems for drafting and banning civilizations, and maps that aren't even in the base game.

In both games, the unranked matchmaking queue is relatively empty, which proves that most people are interested in something ranked matchmaking provides that unranked doesn't (it's not equal-skill opponents, because in Prismata the community was so small that ranked didn't provide that, and in AoE 2 the unranked mode actually uses a rating, it just doesn't show it). In Prismata, you could even queue for both at the same time, making it even more clear that anyone who queues only for ranked specifically wants competition. And the people making this argument never queued for unranked. Huh. It's like they didn't really believe what they were saying, they just said it because it was convenient for policies they wanted.