Automatic MatchMaker
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The Automatic MatchMaker (AMM) system, devised by Blizzard Entertainment for Warcraft III, is extensive and has undergone several changes throughout the numerous patches that have been released for the game. The basic goal of AMM is to match players of comparable skill level, which is determined by keeping records of games won and lost. Players gain "experience points" by winning ranked games on the Battle.net servers. This should not be confused with the experience point system featured in many computer role-playing games, however, in which experience points are largely awarded for participation. In Warcraft III's AMM, experience points are also subtracted when players suffer defeat. This establishes a skill-based game ladder, which is similar in character to the ELO rating system used to rank skill in Chess and Go. In AMM, accounts are ranked from level 1–50 (though the levels are no longer capped at 50). For example, go to [Northrend solo ladder] to check out the current top 1000 European players in 1v1 (or solo).
To match players, the AMM checks the player's last few recorded games to see if the current level of players he or she is playing against is too easy or too hard. It also checks what level the player is and what the player's overall win percentage is. Using these guidelines, the AMM will pit two players of relatively equivalent skill against each other (given the availability of players currently searching for a game of the same type). The goal of AMM is made more difficult by frequent smurfing, in which highly-skilled players create new accounts (that start at level 1) to prey upon new players (often called noobs or newbies), rather than facing stiff competition at the upper ladder levels. This practice is common but frowned upon in the Warcraft III community.
For an in-depth explanation of the current AMM system, see Blizzard's [Matchmaking and Ladder Explanation]
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