Paper short abstract:

The Elo algorithm, extending from chess to e-sports and beyond, revolutionized ranking with its statistical, procedural design. This paper explores its impact, transhistorical evaluation system, and its tendency to centralize ownership and definitions of value.

Paper long abstract:

Developed in 1950 by American-Hungarian physicist Arpad Elo, the Elo algorithm originally served to rank chess players through a groundbreaking quantitative assessment of skill. Since its inception, the Elo algorithm has transcended its initial purpose, finding widespread application in diverse fields ranging from e-sports, online matchmaking, prediction markets, and even the study of animal behavior. This paper theorizes Elo's pervasiveness by attributing its adoption to an innovative procedural design: the ability to generate and sustain a relative value scale within the dynamics of zero-sum games. Additionally, it explores the algorithm's broader implications within the specific contexts of digital platforms and the monopolistic control of data, suggesting that the Elo system not only serves as a tool for relative evaluation but also inherently promotes a centralization of ownership over data, competitors, and the competitive landscape itself.

By tracing the evolution of the Elo algorithm from its chess-centric origins to its applications in platforms like Tinder and games such as League of Legends, this paper illustrates how Elo ratings establish a transhistorical and objective standard of value. It further examines how the Elo system circumvents the pitfalls of inflation, deflation, and data falsification, arguing that its algorithm provides a nuanced replacement to more universal claims to value—as found in, for example, captialist exchange value that structurally require expansion—through an exclusive reliance on statistical functions and closed systems. This emphasis on closedness, versus openness, highlights the value that Elo-related systems provide to a game or app, a platform, or a regulated community.