Hey folks

I don't play Starcraft myself, just a casual observer, and I have a dumb question/suggestion.

I follow the sub and watch games occasionally, and I don't understand why there aren't more formal player ratings or emphasis on top ladder placements. In many 1v1 sports like chess and tennis, everyone knows who the highest rated person is (Magnus and Serena/Djokovic, respectively). They have tournaments and world champions, but they also keep track of a formal rating. Chess has Elo, tennis has a points system based on the importance of various matches.

Sometimes the highest rated player isn't the world champion. For instance, Anand was the chess world champion for a long time (8 years?), and there was often quite a bit of tension and excitement when he played in the world championships because he didn't always have the highest rating. This year someone aside from Serena won the French Open and it was considered a major upset.

Does it make sense for the SC2 community to put more emphasis on formal player ratings (in formal games) and/or give out prizes for having the highest ladder rating at the end of the season so that the casual fan can have an easier time following the game? For instance if I google for the top SC2 players I get the following links: 1. http://wcs.battle.net/sc2/en/standings -- this gives the standings in one particular series but not necessarily "overall"; 2. http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft2/rankings -- I have no idea how this is generated, is Nerchio really considered #1 in the world right now? 3. Or http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/hots/players#tblt-886-1-5-DESC is ByuN at the top, with Nerchio 200 Elo points lower?

I know the ladder has seasons, and I know there are rankings, but the highest rated player right now is a barcode. Do we know who won the last few seasons of ladder? A quick google search doesn't tell me. Should they be household names?

Part of this is that I'd also like to know how the foreigners actually rank against the Koreans in a formal way. I like watching Koreans play, but if it's someone I've never heard of I'd like an easy way to put their abilities into some sort of context. I'd like to know how much of an upset it is when a foreigner beats a Korean or how surprised we should be when a Korean wins 4-2 instead of 4-0.

I'm sure the more committed fans have a good idea of when results are "good" or "bad", but it might be nice to have a simplified system for the more ignorant and casual folks like myself.

That's all, just a suggestion.