For those of you wondering what the ranks next to a player's name in Gears of War 2 multiplayer mean, Epic is here to explain everything.

Turns out, the system is much smaller than the ranking systems in Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4.

There are 5 ranks (see picture), which are determined by Microsoft's TrueSkill system. There are two hard and fast rules:

• Rank is only affected by Public Xbox LIVE matchmaking games. It is not affected by Horde or Private games.
• Quitting games early will lower your rank.

The actual ranking is based on a player's expectations in a game versus the outcome. If you get matched up against a team of higher ranked players and win, you'll rating will increase more than beating a team of evenly matched opponents. This is because the higher ranked players are expected to win.

Likewise, higher ranked players will not gain as many "points" by beating lower ranked opponents, but stand to lose more "points" to lower ranked teams with a loss.

For the record, I am currently rank 3. What are you?

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