Suggestions for changes next year?

Post by **Doogal** » 31 Mar 2006, 09:55

In my elevated role as Group Moderator, I thought I'd start a thread where people could say what they liked and didn't like about the game this year and any changes they'd like to see next year. I know the Guardian people/Mr Green read this site, so now's your chance to try and influence them. I'm assuming (very much hoping) it will be run again next year, as to my mind it has been a great inovation.

My own thoughts are:

1. I'd scrap free transfers. I think all transfers should cost something (0.5% as at present is fine). This adds to the skill level, and makes people think twice about decisions such as eg taking Henry in and out quickly, which is too easy at present.

2. I'd like to see Chairman of the week prizes back - even if only token prizes (I presume they were stopped for finanacial reasons). This would help to even the market out across the month - at present most of the activity seems to be crammed intoi the first week. It would also help to sustain interest and get people to buy new teams regularly throughout the whole season.

3. The difficult one is the Monday 10-30 scramble. People seem to be getting upset about the time it takes to get in, etc, as well as the problem of those who have to work at 10-30 on a Monday! I have one suggestion, although I don't know if it is technically easy to do. This is that from say, Sunday midnight to Monday lunchtime, the transfer market remains closed, but Chairmen can type in instructions to transfer players at the price they have reached after the weekend games. In other words (just like a stockbroker collecting instructions to buy and sell shares) the transfers during that period would all be saved up, and all activated at once by the Guardian people at a given point. Nobody would know what anyone else had decided to do during this period, and all trades for a particular player would have been commanded at the same price. From then on, the market would open and operate as normal. This would greatly reduce the two problems i've referred to.

Well that's my few pennies worth. Anyone else agree, or have other ideas?

CHRIS: Any chance of making this a 'sticky' for a few weeks? Thanks. (Or do I have control over that myself?)

Post by **Steph** » 31 Mar 2006, 11:49

My main most important message, and one that I hope we can all bring across strongly, is that we love this game and want it to carry on!

Despite our whingeing when things are slow on a monday morning, most of us do enjoy this game very much and want it to continue. It is original and in my opinion much more fun than any other fantasy football game.

In terms of suggestions for improvements, I think runners up prizes in the main league would be the thing to do. At the moment there are 4 monthly prizes, 10 2006 league prizes, but only 1 overall prize. I'm not sure what the budget is, but even some relatively low prizes, say £1000 for second, £500 for third and £100 for 4th to 10th would give people something to play for for longer.

I also like the idea of the weekly prizes.

Not so sure about tinkering with the transfer rules. If people want to blow their transfers quickly because they are free then so be it. They always pay at the end of the season or month anyway. Also, high-value players iwll become even less popular in the game than they are already because it will cost so much to sell them. I.e. people will simply stick with the Marlon Harewoods, Darren Bents, etc. I think this could distort the game in some ways.

If they could fix the slowness on monday mornings then I personally don't object to the 10.30 monday opening of the market. I actually enjoy the mad rush - it sort of wakes you up

. However, I can see how it can unfairly affect people without access to a computer, and perhaps put those people off from playing the game.

ps: there was a recent thread of this sort; if people want to refer to other previous comments (http://fantasyfootballuk.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4237)

Post by **Flyman** » 31 Mar 2006, 12:29

Could LORD DIPBAD AND HIS DESPERATELY UNFUNNY TEAM NAMES be limited to one capital letter per word, please?
That is all.

Post by **Steph** » 31 Mar 2006, 12:33

Flyman wrote:Could LORD DIPBAD AND HIS DESPERATELY UNFUNNY TEAM NAMES be limited to one capital letter per word, please?
That is all.

Post by **Doogal** » 31 Mar 2006, 12:37

Thanks for the link to the other thread, spjws - sorry, I missed it. I've repeated the link below so people can go to it direct (I couldn't click on yours for some reason):

http://fantasyfootballuk.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4237

I seem to have independently come to some of the same conclusions as on that thread - eg there seems some support for forward buying and selling, as well as a general wish for more prizes (even if only small prizes like football shirts) - weekly, and especially some reward for runners-up in the main comp - to maintain interest when one is too far behind to catch the leader. £10,000 or nothing is very tough on the second placed player who has fought valliantly all season, and quite unusual in newspaper competitions.

But again the message comes through loud and clear - this is a great game and it has a lot of very loyal devotees.

Keep the comments coming, and we'll see if we can get some thoughts from Mr Green later.

Post by **wabu** » 31 Mar 2006, 12:42

I think its ok as it is, but just need to make the servers more robust, and move the commision free day to later in the week to take the pressure off mondays.

Last year was kind of fun guessing/debating who would get the fantasy fiver on monday, with it awarded on Tuesday. You could gamble on making money this way. Maybe they should bring that back.

Outlawing capital letter teams is a genius idea, I think everyone is sick of Dipbad and Nitcoot.

Bring back the weekly prize of a £100 free bet, that was ace. Also runners up prizes is indeed a good idea so you have more to play for.

New teams should not cost more than £5 as that puts people off playing. The more players the better the demand fluctuations.

This is easily the best fantasy game, I pray it continues....

Post by **quizking** » 31 Mar 2006, 14:06

seconded - the only thing i'd like to see is a more robust server. and another quick mention of how i'd love to see a world cup game in this format.

Post by **C.Sativa** » 31 Mar 2006, 15:46

Flyman wrote:Could LORD DIPBAD AND HIS DESPERATELY UNFUNNY TEAM NAMES be limited to one capital letter per word, please?
That is all.

and mine

Post by **C.Sativa** » 31 Mar 2006, 15:57

It looks like everybody is agreed that something has to change about "Monday Torture".Also more awards is a good idea,as mentioned it could be anything,match tickets,shirts,or simple medal etc.(But not pens,mugs etc non-football related

)

Post by **Johnee** » 31 Mar 2006, 17:49

How about making the Monday morning start earlier? Im not sure if the idea of pre-arranging transfers (which is great in theory) is feasible in practice. An 8.30am or 9am start would stagger the server pressure as people wouldnt all log on at the same time.

Mind you, that might favour those who are into work early. But no more than the current system favours those who dont have work commitments at 10.30.

Post by **gynchie** » 31 Mar 2006, 19:29

A techy thought, about the player data on the contribution of performance and demand to his price.

At the moment, this should total the price, but that isn't very interesting to a sad person like me who wants to see roughly how many teams have a player. I'm not sure that I have got this right, but I think that all the pre-season transfers get added in, so it's a gross pre-season plus season demand. I'd like to see the demand net of the pre-season transfers.

Post by **Steph** » 31 Mar 2006, 22:57

Some suggestions for improvements/additions to the info provided on the site:

The player graphics could be much improved. In particular, the scale on the graphs should be clear at first glance (often there are only the lines and no numbers). So it isn't clear whether one is talking changes in the thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands...

Second, some easy and quick-to-grasp measures of immediate demand would be hugely useful; For example ... a) a daily graph for each player(in addition to the weekly, monthly and season currently available); b) an additional player statistic showing level of transfer activity over the past hour; c) an additional market stats view showing which players are the most bought or sold over the past hour.

The last suggestion could be especially useful on monday mornings (although I guess some might argue it could accentuate the market trends too much, and make for lazy and less skillful playing).

Anyway, nice to see some debate about the Guardian game

ps: is there a way to change your username (apart from creating a new one from scratch?); It isn't particularly grabbing is it?

Post by **Flyman** » 31 Mar 2006, 23:04

spjwsmc wrote:

ps: is there a way to change your username (apart from creating a new one from scratch?); It isn't particularly grabbing is it?

Do you mean here on FISO or in the Guardian game, spjwsmc?

Post by **Steph** » 31 Mar 2006, 23:34

I mean here on FISO.

Post by **Flyman** » 31 Mar 2006, 23:37

spjwsmc wrote:I mean here on FISO.

Yes, I believe if you drop a friendly message to Admin they will allow you to change it. Mr. C. Sativa managed it a few weeks ago, I think.

Post by **salew** » 01 Apr 2006, 01:15

What gets on my wick is the multi teams by one player as they have an unfair advantage when it comes to price/demand fluctuations. I think when the transfer period is closed we should be able to place our transfers in advance so that the market is blind to our choices but once it is open then the free for all can take place. What I would say on a more positive note is that it is a brilliant game that has opened my eyes to all the players in teams that I wouldn't ordinarily have paid much attention. There will always have to be changes every year to keep us on our toes, so I for one will be looking forward to the new season.

Post by **C.Sativa** » 01 Apr 2006, 13:03

Flyman wrote:
spjwsmc wrote:I mean here on FISO.
Yes, I believe if you drop a friendly message to Admin they will allow you to change it. Mr. C. Sativa managed it a few weeks ago, I think.

yes(mine was grabbing too much)

Post by **C.Sativa** » 01 Apr 2006, 13:10

salew wrote:What gets on my wick is the multi teams by one player as they have an unfair advantage when it comes to price/demand fluctuations. I think when the transfer period is closed we should be able to place our transfers in advance so that the market is blind to our choices but once it is open then the free for all can take place.

In my opinion that actually might work in-favour of multi entrants.
Imagine how diffucult at the moment for multi entrants to transfer Monday morning.And you are making their life easier with advance scheduled transfers.

Post by **Svendy Ford** » 06 Apr 2006, 12:47

For the 'non-elite' it would be useful to be able to see the teams around yours... fine for those on the leaderboard (which is where I now am

) but if you're below the top 50 then you have no idea how you're doing in relation to those around you.

Post by **Madchester** » 06 Apr 2006, 12:51

don't let people make transfers during a game

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Suggestions for changes next year?

Suggestions for changes next year?