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Matchmaking with Xbox 360

Chances are most strangers aren't like you. At some point in your life, you figured out that the world is full of some wacky people. But you have friends, right? (We hope you do. If not, see our Friends article.) Maybe it took years to find the right ones. You'd probably be pretty frustrated if it took that long to find great games online.

Ever want to play someone at your own skill level? Or maybe find people to play your favorite map or track? What if you just wanted the first available game? Xbox Live® lets you decide.

• Let's say you're a dominating force in capture-the-flag, but a bench-warmer in football. Flip a few options and Xbox Live will pair you with the fastest snipers in the world but keep you learning with the pigskin rookies.
• Tired of those people who quit your game when they're losing? We know that stinks hardcore. Now you can avoid them.
• What about bullies who prey on newbie blood? Xbox Live tags everyone with a reputation, because no one likes a cheater or a poor sport. It's your call how you act—but people will know if you've been naughty or nice.

The possibilities are endless, but one thing's always for sure—we find you fast connections to your preferred games.

Because we have a centralized system, scores and stats are all kept in a single, safe place. It's also where we store other people's feedback about you. We can also tell you who's playing in the games, how long they've been playing, the current score, and how many open slots are left. Dive right in if there's a slot free. If not, there are plenty of other fish in our sea.

Of course, maybe you're not so picky. Maybe you just want to find a game—any game—right now! Xbox Live understands your impatience and gives you Quick Match. A couple of button presses and you're playing.

About TrueSkill

The TrueSkill™ ranking system is a skill-based ranking system for Xbox Live developed at Microsoft Research. The purpose of a ranking system is to both identify and track the skills of players in a game in order to match them in future competitive contests.

What sets TrueSkill apart from other ranking systems? It looks at two different numbers to define "skill":

• The average skill of the gamer
• The degree of uncertainty in the gamer's skill

By monitoring not merely a player's average skill but the uncertainty of the data informing his or her skill ranking, the system can make big adjustments in its skill estimates early in a gamer's career and small, refining changes after a gamer has shown consistent performance across many games. As a result, the TrueSkill ranking system can accurately assess the skills of individual gamers from just a small number of games.

TrueSkill weighs the outcomes of more recently played games more heavily than it weighs outcomes of older games. So, when you play a set of players of the same skill level multiple times, a late win counts for more than an early win.

For More Info

For information about the TrueSkill ranking system, see What is the TrueSkill Ranking system? and Microsoft Research's TrueSkill FAQ.