Hey folks,

I see a lot of misconceptions about the rating system out there and I wanted to clear some things up. First thing is you have to understand what a standard deviation is. Basically, standard deviations are a way to think about variance in a system. The way standard deviations are calculated is fairly complex for the uninitiated, but here's a rule of thumb. 68% fall within one sd of the mean, 95% fall within two sd of the mean, and 99.7% fall within three sd of the mean. IQ, although a flawed system in many ways, uses standard deviations to determine the number someone gets. 15 IQ points =1sd, and the mean is 100. So if you have a 130, you are 2sd above the mean.

One standard deviation in the Overwatch rating system is around 6.5 points, and the mean appears to be around 50.

Therefore, assuming that there's no skew in the bell curve, we should expect to see 68% of players fall between 43.5 and 56.5, 95% of players fall between 37 and 63, and 99.7% of players fall between 30.5 and 69.5.

Surefour, who has accounts at 82 and 84, is more or less a statistical anomaly under the current system. 84 is around 5 standard deviations above the mean. To put this in perspective, consider the smartest person you know. That person is probably around a 145 IQ, or 3 sd above the mean. Surefour's IQ would be around 180 if overwatch skill correlated perfectly to IQ. It doesn't, but this is just to give some perspective on the level of pro players relative to the average population.

It's worth noting that the ranking system likely doesn't match perfectly to a normal distribution, and I wouldn't be surprised if there is more spread at higher SDs. If this is the case, 84 might not actually represent 5.5 sd. If it does, however, I find it highly unlikely that scores in the high 90s will ever be attained.

Please excuse any typos or formatting mistakes, I am on mobile and traveling at the moment.