I think it's quite different now for those in BBO who play "social" bridge with human partners and opps and the people who prefer Daylong tournaments with robots. For the latter category the ranking is much more important and something could be done for the improvement of the existing system with BBO masterpoints. Because when you play against robots, the self-improvement is the main "hook" and you have to have a better way to measure it. In regard to the "live" bridge with human pds - I think you just have to invest some time and form a couple of friendships/partnerships. Probably if you have 5 - 10 people which you can trust, then you will always have a partner when you want to play.
