Ranked Rating Adjustment

To keep Ranked play as fair as possible, Critical Ops has a system that adjusts player ratings after a match—but only if it's later found to have been unfair. These adjustments help make sure no one benefits (or suffers) from cheating or other unfair behavior. Ranked compensation is only applied in matches where a confirmed hacker or ghost was present. In matches where there was a griefer or someone went AFK, compensation will not be applied. This is the intended use of the feature to prevent abuse and ensure fairness in ranked play.


What Makes a Match "Unfair"?

A Ranked match is considered unfair if, after it ends or during it, one of the players is confirmed to have been cheating. This includes:

  • Hacking – using unauthorized tools or modifications.
  • Ghosting – feeding your team live info about the enemy (like their positions or strategies) from outside the match or by playing on the opposite team.

Even if the cheater’s team loses, the match is still flagged as unfair—because the competition wasn’t clean for either side.


So, How Does My Rating Change?

It depends on whether you were on the winning or losing side:

  • If your team won against a confirmed hacker or ghoster, your rating will go down, since the win wasn’t earned fairly.
  • If your team lost to a cheater, your rating will go up—to help offset the unfair disadvantage.

How Big Are the Rating Changes?

The system looks at how much your rating changed in the original match and adjusts accordingly. But there’s a limit:

You can’t gain or lose more rating than you originally did in the match.

Example: If you lost 20 rating points in a match, and it’s later flagged as unfair, the most you’ll get back is those 20 points.


Will I Know When This Happens?

Yep! If your rating is adjusted, you’ll see a notification the next time you log in. It’ll show you what changed.


What If I Surrendered Against a Cheater?

If you surrendered a match and the enemy was later confirmed to be cheating, your rating will still be adjusted like normal. Surrendering doesn’t affect whether the match counts as unfair.


What If I Didn’t Know There Was a Cheater?

Doesn’t matter—you’ll still be included in the rating adjustment once the system confirms unfair play. Every player in the match is affected, not just those on the cheater’s team.


Why Did My Rating Go Down Even After Losing to a Hacker?

This can happen if you were involved in multiple matches that were later flagged as unfair.

Let’s say:

  • You lost one match to a cheater and got compensated (+15)
  • But you also won two unfair matches where a cheater was on the enemy team, and got penalized (-25 total)

In this case, your overall rating change would still be negative.


Can I See Which Matches Were Adjusted?

Unfortunately, no. You won’t be able to see:

  • Which specific match was adjusted
  • The total number of adjusted matches
  • Or the name of the banned player, especially if it was an older match

The system works quietly in the background to keep things fair over time.

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