Clarification on matchmaking rule set relax expansions

Question

I was going through the first example rule set in the GameLift documentation, which can be found [here](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/gamelift/latest/developerguide/match-examples.html). Then I came across these bullet points:

>* If the match is not filled quickly, relax the player skill requirement to complete a match in reasonable time.
>   * After 5 seconds, expand the search to allow teams with average player skills within 50 points.
>   * After 15 seconds, expand the search to allow teams with average player skills within 100 points.

And here is the expansion portion of the rule set,
```
"expansions": [{
    "target": "rules[FairTeamSkill].maxDistance",
    "steps": [{
        "waitTimeSeconds": 5,
        "value": 50
    }, {
        "waitTimeSeconds": 15,
        "value": 100
    }]
}]
```

My question is, what does it mean when it says "if the match is not filled quickly"? Does this mean after 5 seconds from when a matchmaking ticket is created, relax the match requirements by 50 points for that ticket? Or does it mean something else? Just trying to better quantify the statements above. For example, when it says "after 5 seconds", 5 seconds after what exactly? And for how many tickets, if not all? And will these relax wait times be reset once a match does get found? Thank you to anyone who replies!

rePost-User-5332620 · Accepted Answer

Apologies for the vague statements here. I would urge you to use the "Provide Feedback" link on any pages like this to ask for clarification.

At the heart of FlexMatch is the notion of grouping players into into a session and the rule expansion times are relative to that creation time of a potential match. FlexMatch is evaluating in coming tickets and trying to place them in existing matches, or making new potential matches.

This is the best public statement I could find on what FlexMatch is doing (ticket pool is all the open requests for a matchmaker)

"To find player matches for a regular (non-large) match, the matchmaker makes continual passes through the ticket pool. On each pass, the matchmaker starts with the oldest ticket in the pool and evaluates the other tickets against it to find the best possible matches. A matchmaker's rule set determines (1) how many teams to create for a match, (2) the number of players to assign to each team, and (3) how to evaluate each prospective player. Rules might set requirements for individual players, teams, or matches. For example, a rule might require all matched players to have a certain talent, or it might require at least one player on a team to play a certain character. A commonly used rule requires that all players in a match have similar skill ratings. "
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/gamelift/latest/developerguide/gamelift-match.html#gamelift-match-howitworks

The relaxation rules apply to the potential matches being evaluated ie how long they have been open for evaluation. In each pass over the ticket pool we could create 10s of matches, or non could be created.

So:
* How many tickets? Could be all the tickets in your open ticket pool and any created for x seconds afterwards. Could be just x based on your team sizes and matching criteria.

* Expansion times are on a per match basis. They are related to the creation time of a potential match.

Clarification on matchmaking rule set relax expansions

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