Points and Tiers
Points are the main metric used on the site. They are represented by a gray star ⭐.
The primary use for points are:
- position on the leaderboard (including filtered leaderboards by category
- calculating CE Rating
- categorising games into tiers
- assigning users a rank
Points can only be earned from completing primary or secondary objectives in games listed on the site.
Points
Games are given a set amount of points for their overall difficulty, then allocated out across the primary and secondary objectives associated with the game in question.
See the "CE Mountain Analogy" for additional detail on the philosophy behind game and objective valuations.
Points in objectives use a linear ladder in steps of 5. The higher an objective is valued, the higher its difficulty is estimated to be.
NOTE
The points allocated to an objective aren't necessarily a 1:1 reflection of the effort required to complete the objectives - multiple circumstances are taken into account, such as the variety and/or nature of challenges, multiplier penalty applied for T6s and T7s, intensity, amount of objectives done beforehand, whether there is a substantial amount of non-challenging content, etc.
The values of games on the site, and especially in the case of high-tier games, are not necessarily supposed to represent a 'correct value'. Indeed, this is not possible, as each person will experience a challenge differently.
Rather, the point values are intended to represent an averaged value amongst the clearers at the time, relative to the effort they put in, not as an estimate of how hard the game would be to non-clearers.
TO ILLUSTRATE
Where a game is only cleared by a single person, the point value will reflect their experience with the game. To the extent this person's experience differs materially to subsequent clearers (e.g. due to the presence of new strategies), there might be a large shift in points following subsequent clears.
A hypothetical example:
A game's first clearer spends 100 hours on a single YOLO run, inclusive of finding new strategies, practice, and attempts. It is evaluated at 300 points.
Two more players clear the game, with one of them taking 50 hours, and one of them taking 200 hours. Not enough information on the distribution of clearers' efforts has been achieved, so the value is held at 300.
Five more players clear the game, with each of them taking approximately 50 hours to achieve the same feat. With this information, we infer that the 200 hour clear was an outlier (of CE clears), and the 100 hour clear a longer-than-average clear (possibly impacted by being the first to find strategies etc).
The game is re-valued at 150 points, or half of the original valuation.
NOTE
This hypothetical example is not intended to directly correlate to how the value of games are evaluated, and is for illustration only.
There will inevitably be a level of nuance and judgement required in valuing games, particularly at higher values. This will vary based on the nature of the challenge.
Tiers
The 'tier' of a game is informed by its total value. Once the total value of a game exceeds certain pre-determined thresholds, a game will be assigned a tier.
Tiers aim to group games of broadly similar difficulties/efforts. Whilst there may be debate as to the total value of a given game, unless a game is right on the threshold of moving up/down a tier, there should generally be a consensus that games of a higher tier will require more effort, or be more difficult to fully complete, than a game in a lower tier.
INFO
For the below definitions, a person new to the category would be considered anyone who has played few or no games in that category before. A category expert would be someone who has completed a few high tiered games in that category or at the “grandmaster” level (1000+ points).
Tier 1
5-15 points -- These games would be considered challenging to most players new to the category. Category experts would find them to be a light challenge in most cases. Games in this range typically take less than 10 hours.
Tier 2
20-35 points -- These games will take noticeably more effort and time than games listed in T1 for players new to the category. Category experts may struggle on some aspects. Games in this range typically take between 10-20 hours.
Tier 3
40-75 points -- Players new to the category will find these games to be brutal. Category experts will find these games to be the perfect balance of difficulty for their skillset. Games in this range typically take between 20-50 hours.
Tier 4
80-195 points -- These games will require a substantial amount of time and effort even for category experts. Games in this range typically take between 50-100 hours.
Tier 5
200-395 points -- Near the apex of challenging games. Players new to the category will interpret these games to be nearly impossible without insane amounts of dedication and time. Category experts will find them to be brutal and not worth the time investment or effort in some cases. An average completion time below 100 hours for a T5 game should be exceedingly rare without extenuating circumstances.
Tier 6
400-795 points -- Extremely hard games. Without extreme dedication, players may not be able to conquer them at all. Games in this category can start taking from 200 hours onwards to clear.
Tier 7
800+ points -- Being above and beyond the apex, these games will demand and monopolize the players' life for an extended period of time. They tend to take more than 700 hours on average. If you beat one of them, you will surely come out of it being a different person...?
Meaning of hours
The hours listed above are not rules but rather general guidelines and averages.
Hours here are defined as the amount of time spent specifically working towards the challenging aspects of the game; the elements associated with casual playthroughs, idling, grinds, or other non-challenge related content are only partially considered, depending on how they expose you to the core mechanics and/or committing the game to memory. The average times are also typically only considered for group members, or those who engage with challenging content often.
It is worth noting that Tier 6 and Tier 7 games have a scalar penalty applied to them where the amount of points that can be earned slowly decreases the higher an amount of hours is required. This is to balance their leaderboards impact (both points, and CR) with games in lower tiers.