Talk:Elo rating system/@comment-3968334-20120104225204/@comment-217.120.178.21-20120122104301

No, it does work that way. The graphic assumes that you yourself are a good player (if you're bad, you deserve to be at a low Elo score, so "Elo hell" does not apply to you). Let's assume the Elo system treats skilled players and poor players the exact same way, as you're supposing. There's only 4 slots on your team that are determined by this random selection, but five random spots on the enemy team. True, you could be unlucky and be teamed up with poor players against a team of skilled players. But statistically, because your team *always* has one good player in it (you) whereas the other team does not, if you play enough games you will eventually move up to a higher Elo score. It's only at the point where you stop being a good player but become an average one (i.e. when your Elo score is what it's supposed to be, reflecting your skill) that you no longer have the advantage and should statistically stop moving up.