Ratings systems serve multiple purposes. First, it allows one to determine how good they are at something (relative to others, and relative to oneself). When not playing with friends (i.e. as a social activity), the competitive aspect is the persistent thread throughout the games, keeping it from falling into "casual game" territory (obviously lots of people like casual games, granted).
Second, it provides a means to match users of similar skill. The rating system on Goko (or whatever it wound up being called) was the reason I stopped using the site (as I recall, it was wildly inaccurate, in part due to falling automatically without logging in -- a bizarre mechanic from anything but a pay-to-win perspective).
Third, it provides motivation not to abandon games or otherwise waste someone else's time. For problem users, it also means there's a form of penalty that doesn't require restricting access to the game.
As there isn't a score, rating, or ranking system, people frequently leave games (sometimes on purpose, without actually resigning, as an abusive user just did after complaining about luck and whatnot throughout the game), and I find the games to get kind of mindless. Call me a millennial, I guess (I think I make the cutoff to be called that...).
Second, it provides a means to match users of similar skill. The rating system on Goko (or whatever it wound up being called) was the reason I stopped using the site (as I recall, it was wildly inaccurate, in part due to falling automatically without logging in -- a bizarre mechanic from anything but a pay-to-win perspective).
Third, it provides motivation not to abandon games or otherwise waste someone else's time. For problem users, it also means there's a form of penalty that doesn't require restricting access to the game.
As there isn't a score, rating, or ranking system, people frequently leave games (sometimes on purpose, without actually resigning, as an abusive user just did after complaining about luck and whatnot throughout the game), and I find the games to get kind of mindless. Call me a millennial, I guess (I think I make the cutoff to be called that...).