And you're forgetting that the scoring system is what got you the score you have today, and score preservation or inflation just makes the numbers meaningless. Just ask someone who's trying to get into grad school who came from Yale with a lowly 3.3. Also, hopefully your personal self worth is tied to a variety of things, only one of which is your CC ranking. So roll the die and take your chances.
But here's something interesting I noticed about the scoring... because it's adds the ratio of the loser's scores to the winner's score (20*L/W) it is in your advantage to lose games early and win games later. In other words, from a scoring point of view it's in your best interest if you're about to win one game and lose another to lose before you win.
Don't believe me? Let's say that you, with a score of 800, are playing in two 1 on 1 games (everyone else had deadbeated... surprised?) the first against a player with a score of 400 and the second against a player with a score of 2000. As the dice would have it, you're losing against the player with 400, and winning against the better opponent.
If you take the Colonel down first and delay your loss, your score goes to 800 +2000/800 * 20 = 850 and then when you lose the later your score goes to 850 - 400/800 * 20 = 808.
On the other hand, to lose first and win second your score would go: 800 - 400/800 * 20 = 760 + 760/2000 = 813.
A difference of 5 points. Multiply that by 5 opponents and it could make a difference. Granted, it's not huge, but the moral of the story is that (mathematically if not ethically) you should delay your victories until after your defeats when possible. Not to say that anyone would or should do this, but if you've got someone on the ropes with a score of a couple hundred points beyond your own, you could keep him weak until you've had a few consecutive losses and in doing so maximize the points you take from him when you end him. (Of course if you start winning then your strategy doesn't work... but who cares, you're winning).
Personally though, I can't hold off finishing someone off when the opportunity is there. Hopefully that kill-lust is keeping everyone else honest too.
