Delta Force Matchmaking System Breakdown
Design Goals for Matchmaking System
-Fair gaming experience for players of different skill level and device.
-Engaging matching experience for one player in a long term.
-Good Internet/Communication(Language) experience for people of different region.
-Find match in a short time.
-Take care of suspicious players and new players for a safer matching environment.
-Prevent illegal team-ups.
Existing Matchmaking
Systems
1 / ELO
-Originated from Chess.
-Player rating increases more when beating a higher-rated opponent, decreases more when losing to a lower-rated opponent.
-Assumes strict 1v1 environments.
-Does not account for uncertainty or team-based dynamics.
-Too simple for modern team multiplayer games.
2 / Glicko
-Extension of Elo.
-Adds Rating Deviation (RD) to track confidence in a player’s rating.
-New/inactive players have high RD → ratings change quickly.
-Active players have low RD → ratings stabilize.
-Works better for team games and large populations.
-Still mainly focused on win/loss outcomes, not in-game performance.
3 / True Skill
-Designed for team-based games (e.g. Overwatch).
-Each player’s skill = mean (µ) and variance (σ).
-Tracks both performance and uncertainty → adjusts faster for new or unpredictable players.
-Can evaluate full team strength, not just individuals.
-Handles role differences and smurf detection better than Elo/Glicko.
4 / SBMM
-Not a specific algorithm, but a design approach.
-Matches players of similar hidden MMR or recent performance.
-Used heavily in Call of Duty, Apex Legends, Fortnite casual modes.
-Considers multiple factors: win/loss streaks, K/D ratio, accuracy, input device, etc.
-Protect weaker players, maintain engagement → prevents constant stomps.
-Makes casual modes feel sweaty/competitive for skilled players.
DF's Glicko System
Delta Force is using a Glicko system for matchmaking. Every Player has glicko score, which represent their skill level on that platform.
The Glicko will change when player participate in a fight with real players- rise if win, decrease if lose. (will explain later)
The Glicko score starts high to avoid smurfing, about top 40% of all players.
Map Pool
In Operation mode, there are different maps that player can choose to play in with different level of equipment and reward level. Higher level of one map will require player to bring in equipment that worth certain amount of currency and has more item generated with more values.
For each difficulty level of different map and different platform, Delta Force has a different pool. Player will only be able to match with players of the same pool.
Sorting Barrels
There are different barrels for players with different skill levels, Players with Glicko of a certain range will be in one barrel and they are preferably made match with players of the same barrel.
If the matching time increases, players will be matched with wider barrel or more barrels to decrease matchmaking time.
Barrel range varies a lot for different map and difficulty levels, but players have the one Glicko on one platform.
