ParallaxView and I were discussing the problem with the online scoring system last night. We considered some alternatives and I posted a suggestion on the YuPlay forum.
Here's a copy of that post for those who might be interested. Maybe you can think of further ideas to make it better.
From YuPlay:
"Here's a suggestion to improve the scoring system for online dogfight play. There is a fair amount of complaining about people crashing, other pilots stealing kills, etc so that people are not properly credited for their kills. This might help.
First, each plane has a damage score assigned to it between 0 and 100. 0 means no damage, the plane is perfectly flyable. 100 means plane is shot down, unflyable. As a plane is shot up its damage score increases and the player who is shooting the plane has his score increase by the same amount. Two or more players who shoot at a plane increase their respective scores by the amount of individual damage each does to the plane. If the pilot crashes the remainder of his damage score is subtracted from his score for this match. If he bails out instead he still punished, but not as badly. Only one half his remaining damage score will be subtracted from his match score.
Best to understand this with some examples. So player Loser is being shot at by players Ace1 and Ace2. Ace1 shoots 50 points of damage into Loser's plane. Ace2 shoots 20 points of damage. Loser crashes. Ace1 gets 50 points added to his match score. Ace2 gets 20 points. Loser has 30 points (100 - 50 -20) subtracted from his match score because he crashed.
Another example. Same as above, but Loser bails instead of crashing. Everything the same except Loser has only 15 points deducted from his match score.
Another example. Newbie's plane is undamaged, but he crashes. 100 points are deducted from Newbie's match score.
So everyone is rewarded proportionally for the contribution to the kill. Crashing and bailing out are punished. More fairness and less complaining all around.
Negative scores will have to be implemented for individuals total match score. Some people will be happy when they finally achieve a positive score. Other times, during those drunken party matches, when nobody can keep their plane in the air, the person with the least negative score wins.
Sorry if something similar has been posted before, but it probably doesn't hurt to mention it again. If you feel this idea has merit, please feel free to add suggestions to help make it even better."