Competitor-Unit Attribution

Defining the competitor unit

Arena rating is attached to a defined competitor inside a defined match context:

(competitor, match context) -> rating

The competitor-context rating model explains why Arena does not rate a player in general. This page focuses only on the first half of that pair: how Arena decides what the competitor is.

A competitor unit is the player or group that a format treats as the owner of a performance. It is the unit whose results can accumulate into a rating.

The attribution principle

The competitor unit is defined by the competitive question behind the format.

Arena formats are pre-defined match environments. Each format is designed to test a particular kind of performance. Once that question is defined, the natural competitor unit is the unit whose performance answers it.

From a designer’s perspective:

competitive question -> natural competitor unit

From a player’s perspective, this means the competitor unit is format-dependent. Arena does not decide the competitor unit with one fixed rule such as “always an individual player” or “always a team.” The result is attributed to the unit whose performance the format was designed to observe.

Example: 1v1 symmetric

In a symmetric 1v1 format, the competitive question is:

How good is this player in the standard role-alternating 1v1 format?

Because both players play both roles inside the match structure, the match is not asking only how good a player is as Killer or only how good a player is as Survivor.

The natural competitor unit is therefore the player.

Example: 1v4 quartet

In 1v4 quartet, the competitive question is:

How good are this killer player and this survivor team in standard 1v4 competition with voice?

The format asks players to declare their side at queue time, so their in-match roles are already fixed before the match is formed.

For the killer side, the obvious competitor unit is the killer player. The killer player enters as the single player responsible for the killer-side performance.

For the survivor side, the format assumes a prepared survivor team coordinating at a high level with voice. The result is not cleanly evidence about four independent solo survivor ratings. It is evidence about the team’s shared performance.

The natural survivor-side competitor unit is therefore the whole survivor team.

What to take away

Arena does not use one universal competitor unit for every format. The format’s competitive question decides the unit.

In simple individual formats, the competitor can be the player. In coordinated team formats, the competitor can be the team. Rating dimensions then define the context in which that competitor’s results accumulate.