Talk:Elo rating system/@comment-4827540-20120208212719

I would argue that elo hell does indeed exist. The distinguishing part of elo hell is not that you CAN'T get out, but rather that it's much harder to adjust your elo accurately. Instead of every (or close to every) game reflecting partially your skill (your team still counts, but if you play better than your elo, you have a better chance of winning), you win only about 1/9th more than random chance. This makes it very slow to creep out after you have a losing streak of 15-20 games. It's very much not impossible to get out, but it is slower, as the majority of games you play is effectively a coin toss, and the coin just happens to be SLIGHTLY in your favor.