Why I Suck at BF2

After an exhausting and not too productive BF2 session last night I decided to analyze some of the high scorers in hopes of finding that “secret formula” whereby enemies fall to my whirlwind of death. Last night I took the following snapshot –

Rank	Player	Score	Date Joined	Last Battle	Days Elapsed	Hours Elapsed	Hours Played	Commander	Squad Leader	Squad Member	Lone Wolf	Saturation (% of Day Spent Playing)	Avg Hours / Day Spent Playing	Scoring Efficiency (Points / Hr Played)
1	[redacted]	538326	2005-06-11	2006-09-05	451	10824	1568.33	106:12:01	284:28:30	1115:28:30	62:10:59	14.49%	3.48	343.25
2	[redacted]	488329	2005-06-10	2006-09-05	452	10848	3055.13	646:21:22	1587:04:28	737:33:51	84:07:51	28.16%	6.76	159.84
3	[redacted]	480398	2005-06-28	2006-09-05	434	10416	2324.23	113:40:17	1247:56:25	747:22:09	215:14:58	22.31%	5.36	206.69
4	[redacted]	478214	2005-07-09	2006-08-24	411	9864	2712.17	1333:30:15	406:21:04	263:27:33	708:51:24	27.50%	6.60	176.32
5	[redacted]	452897	2005-06-14	2006-09-05	448	10752	2035.86	121:51:07	321:57:29	1476:42:21	115:20:41	18.93%	4.54	222.46
6	[redacted]	451964	2005-06-24	2006-09-05	438	10512	1837.52	5:02:47	55:40:34	506:49:49	1269:58:08	17.48%	4.20	245.96
7	[redacted]	412752	2005-07-25	2006-08-28	399	9576	2731.70	219:31:41	974:57:58	1014:44:05	522:28:21	28.53%	6.85	151.10
8	[redacted]	411175	2005-07-19	2006-09-05	413	9912	2876.69	315:52:50	1343:31:17	714:15:11	503:02:12	29.02%	6.97	142.93
9	[redacted]	406171	2005-06-22	2006-09-05	440	10560	2272.09	206:29:56	1187:14:24	479:45:17	398:35:36	21.52%	5.16	178.77
10	[redacted]	404467	2005-06-10	2006-09-05	452	10848	1799.59	209:30:31	987:02:07	581:02:09	22:00:40	16.59%	3.98	224.75
104396	squozzer	25851	2005-12-09	2006-09-05	270	6480	371.18	0:00:00	137:01:32	135:56:22	98:13:00	5.73%	1.37	69.65

I didn’t know at the time there already existed stat scrapers for all sorts of games -- I’m just old enough to NOT Google everything first. The few I visited had neither the stats I wanted nor all of the top 10 scorers anyway.

To be sure, the stats presented here don’t tell much, except that some people seem to have a lot of time on their hands. All of the top 10 average at least 3.5 hours / day playing time. That’s an average over every day since they began playing BF2. Some players, especially #2, #4, #7, and #8, have made it a full-time job.

Here are some other conclusions:

1) All of the top 10 began playing very soon after BF2’s introduction, which I believe was May 2005.

2) Most have played within the last 24 hours.

3) No correlation exists between a player’s preferred position – Commander, Squad Leader, etc. – and their score. Most however, tend to favor squad or commander action to Lone Wolf -- #6 excepted.

4) All of them had scoring efficiencies WAY higher – at least double – to mine.

5) There may be a correlation between average playing time and scoring efficiency somewhere between #104396 and #10, but within the top 10 a correlation is weak at best. Of course, 10 players do not a representative sample make.

Questions that remain:

1) What factors contribute to high scoring efficiencies?

a. Kits?

b. Vehicles?

c. Combat Scoring?

d. Teamwork Scoring?

e. Commanding, especially with high winning percentage?

f. Maps Played?

g. # of Players on Server?

h. Skill, as measured by Accuracy or Kill Ratio?

i. Aggression, e.g. tendency to capture points or engage multiple enemies solo?

j. Relative skill of opponents? Is it possible to shop for a server full of noobs?

k. Tactics, e.g. spawning into a contested point vs. a safe one?

l. Factors outside the game, e.g. PC performance, network bandwidth, gamepads?

2) Can someone REALLY average 7 hours per day of playing, i.e. without running bots or shifts?