It's unfortunate that the current system encourages people not to play. There are so many people that are afraid to lose points that they resort to smurf names or just refusing to play with people.
I suggest that Ensemble erase the point loss idea. Sure that would end up with "grade inflation" to an extreme, but it _rewards playing_ and there's no need to hide behind smurf names. People that are inactive for long would be quickly erased from the top as the top scores inched up.
What do others here think?