Why Do You Like the Guardian Game?

Post by **Flyman** » 31 Mar 2006, 23:51

Folks, I'm not intending to create a 'Game X vs Game Y' thread here, but having played the Guardian game for the first time this season I have no intention of playing it next.
However, reading your posts here it is obvious many of you passionately enjoy the game and I'm somewhat mystified as to quite why? It's not that I don't understand the appeal of fantasy footy, please believe me, I do, rather I have failed to see the joy of this game in particular.
Therefore, as the season draws to a close, I invite you each to eulogise on just why you think that The Guardian Fantasy Chairman is the dog's danglies and why you'll sign up again next season.
Over to you.

Post by **quizking** » 01 Apr 2006, 01:52

it's just great - am v drunk right now, will endeavour to explain how wonderful this game is tomorrow. maybe.

Post by **Flyman** » 01 Apr 2006, 02:13

quizking wrote:see next thread up - discussing what can make it EVEN BETTER for next year - just back as ever from pub, so no way i'm going to work out url etc right now, not hard to find - but it's just the best game - memo to self, must try harder to win next year.

edit - mr flyman, have just read your location , it made me laugh enough to wake me up. so as to apologise for not properly explaining the joys of guardian game, and to remind me to keep travelling 'round the world to big cities, and not to far flung corners of our own sceptred isles - cornwall, highlands and islands, dagenham etc. if am sober and on line tomorrow, i may elucidate, though possibly not. and so to bed.

Sleep well in The Smoke, quizking!
I have read the thread above, in fact, that is what prompted me to ask. Honestly, folks, I'm not being arsey here, I genuinely want to know where you each feel the 'hit' in this particular game is.

Post by **quizking** » 01 Apr 2006, 02:15

astonishing timing - i'm (so ) out of here....zzzzzzzzzzzzz

and i can't let it lie - 100 transfers for a start - that's so fantastic! the ability to follow trends as on stock market - not everyone's cup of tea, but for those who can "get" how it works - magic. it's like a drug. except without having to go to a dodgy pub loo and sort stuff out, allegedly.

loads of reasons, whatever. and the distant chance of winning 10k.

to bed.....perchance etc etc

Post by **wabu** » 01 Apr 2006, 09:07

Like Top Gun this is the best of the best. A lot of fantasy football is down to luck, will a player score will that team concede? But fantasy chairman lets you anticipate demand so you have 2 forms of income, performance and demand. Also I like the way you make money rather than points.

With a lot of fantasy football games you tend to do bad and then give up where as with this one with 100 transfers there is a massive scope for catching up. Detailed stats on players (eg demand graph) is an appeal too which adds to the fun.

Also with something like the Sun Dream team you get 250,000 entries but with this you get 9000, so you have a decent chance of winning or getting on the leaderboard at least. The fantasy fiver spices things up to, all in all a much more interesting game, admittedly a high maintenance one and not for everyone but that is what makes it so satisfying when things pay off.

I am a HUGE fan of this game, I love it. It often sparks pub debate about which way demand will go on a Monday and who will get the negative fantasy fiver etc, so that can only be a good thing too!

Post by **Salte** » 02 Apr 2006, 11:32

Part of its appeal is that it's very simple, and yet not as much down to luck as a lot of other FF games.

I usually only need to change my team once a weak, so i don't have to spend a lot of time on it, yet still it's possible to do relatively well if you plan a little bit ahead and make some shrewd transfers.

Post by **wabu** » 02 Apr 2006, 14:46

Salte wrote:I usually only need to change my team once a weak, so i don't have to spend a lot of time on it, yet still it's possible to do relatively well if you plan a little bit ahead and make some shrewd transfers.

Salte, how well are you doing? Are you on the leaderboard?

Post by **Madchester** » 02 Apr 2006, 20:26

Flyman wrote:Folks, I'm not intending to create a 'Game X vs Game Y' thread here, but having played the Guardian game for the first time this season I have no intention of playing it next.

same here.

tried it, don't like, won't be playing it again.

Post by **Steph** » 02 Apr 2006, 22:28

I haven't played the other fantasy games for a few years now, but never did well at all. This season I was attracted to the Guardian game because it promised something different.

That difference turned out to be that skill actually seems to matter (not just luck masquerading as skill). Yes, luck still plays a big part, but I think if you play properly, it is reasonably easy to be in contention for the (monthly) prizes. In terms of enjoyment that makes a huge difference to me. Clearly, the overall award takes a great deal more skill (in particular, the ability to resist making transfers - something I have never mastered).

I also think it is brilliant how in the first half of the season you simply have to buy certain players, not because they are good, but because you know everyone else will buy them too (Essien, Crouch, Fowler).
Much of the skill comes down, not to predicting football results, but to predicting the other players' behaviour. (Take the following thought process as an example: "Crouch hasn't scored for 24 hours... hmmm... he is bound to score soon!"; It doesn't matter that this is classic gambler's fallacy... The fact that many others think like this (or perhaps think that others will think like this??) promises a big demand based pay-off, plus a potential bonus fiver if by some wonder he does actually score).

I also think it is very funny that it should be the Guardian (not the Times, or the Telegraph, or the Financial Times, but the Guardian) that comes up with the idea of a stock-market based fantasy football game.

Anyway, I am going off on tangents; so, why do I really like this game so much? Basically, because I think it is more dynamic, interactive, skilful, and therefore more exciting, than other fantasy football games.

Post by **Salte** » 03 Apr 2006, 10:11

wabu wrote:
Salte wrote:I usually only need to change my team once a weak, so i don't have to spend a lot of time on it, yet still it's possible to do relatively well if you plan a little bit ahead and make some shrewd transfers.
Salte, how well are you doing? Are you on the leaderboard?

It's my first attempt at this game, and in the first couple of months i made a lot of mistakes and used too many of my transfers (and was waaay behind the leaders). After I got the hang of it I've been steadily climbing, and now I'm in 70th. I hope I'll get into the leaderboard before the end of the season. Next season on the other hand...

Post by **Flyman** » 04 Apr 2006, 16:48

Thanks for all your responses so far folks. I'm following your replies with interest.

FISO