Networking - 1on1 based on Player's level

Hi all

I was thinking about converting my game into an online one like FIFA. I practices doing a simple game where x amount of players can join 1 game and play together. But im stuck on this FIFA idea. This is what its supposed to do…

a) All players start on level 1.
b) On each level they play 5 games of 1on1.
c) When they win x amount of games, they get promoted to play with level 2 players.
d) Loop from b)

Question is, how do I go about doing this…in terms of:-

  1. Separating the players so they play a random player from their own level.
  2. And anything else I need to know?

Consider an Elo rating system instead of levels. Elo gives you finer control, and responds to players actual skill. Your level system as described could produce some heavily biased results.

Start your matching off by looking for players within 50 Elo points. If none are found after a defined time interval stretch it out to 100. Then 200 and so forth. The exact time interval will depend on the number of players you have available.

Im going to try this logic:

  1. After successful login, save the username and use it to look up the database to see which level player is on.
  2. When I search for hosted games, if the players are not on the same level as me then I will quit the game and continue searching