I was talking to some buddies about Call of Duty: Black Ops the other day. One common question that kept coming up was, "What is your KDR?" For those of you who don't know, KDR is short for Kill Death Ratio, or the amount of kills you get per each of your own deaths. For example, if you get 15 kills, and die 5 times in a match, your KDR for that match was 3.0, as 15 divided by 5 equals 3.
This stat has kind of become the "end all" stat. This stat has become the sole stat in showing how good of a player you are at a certain game. (At least in deathmatch modes. In objective based modes it's not as important.) However, I have come to find out differently.
Now, the KDR is an important stat. If you have a positive (greater than 1.0) KDR, then you are helping out the team. Negative KDR means that you actually hurt the team. I would much rather have a guy with a 2.0 KDR on my team than a guy with a .95, for instance.
Here is where it gets hairy. When looking solely at the KDR stat, it would appear that a person with a 3.0 KDR is 2 times as good a player as the person with a 1.5. But there are so many variables to look at. It's possible that the person with a 3.0 KDR killed 3 people, and died 1 time, earning the team 3points, but losing it 1point for a net gain of 2 points. And the 1.5 KDR person could have 10 kills and 4 deaths, earning the team 10points, and losing 4points for a net gain of 6points. So, who is the better player?
This is why I like HALO's score keeping better than COD's. In HALO, it shows you your K/D spread, instead of ratio.
On a side note, I hate when I go my usual 1.25 KDR (normally about 10/8) in COD, and then there is someone who does something like 20/20 and then he calls me bad, because he has a higher score, when in reality he didn't help the team out at all in net gains. But that is a whole different rant for a different time.
Back to KDR. My idea is to no longer ask people, "What is your KDR?", but rather ask them, "What is your Kill Spread?" This will give a much better picture of how much they will help out your team in each game. I have a lot more anecdotal evidence and number crunching, but I think I've made my point.
- Sapper Woody
My K/D ratio for Halo: Reach is .9. This is my page: http://halo.xbox.com/en-us/stats?gamertag=zeroand09&x=0&y=0
ReplyDeleteI fair about the same in CoD. I'm the first to admit I'm not a strong player, but I'm inclined to agree with your view point. If you killed 20 guys and died 18 times, that's 1800 points you gave to the other team. That's why MVP usually goes to the guy with the biggest spread.