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Subject: SSB Changes. . . must read
Posted by: Flying Polack
- [168212121] Tue, Nov 12, 2002, 00:09
Important Update for November 11, 2002
To all players:
The Basketball game has come to an important crossroad. This document contains important information about a few significant changes that will be made. Please read it carefully. Before describing the changes, I will provide the relevant background information that has brought us to this point. Ultimately, I believe that these changes will add an interesting new dimension to the game while further promoting its long-term survival.
Background:
As everyone is aware, the traditional internet advertising market "fell out" a good while back. In response, websites started employing more and more pop-ups, pop-unders, and interstitials. Today, every "free" site that I visit tends to use at least one form of these intrusive ads, while many employ more than one. We have chosen to shield our users from these forms of advertising, and the current plan is to continue this practice.
You may also be aware that the basketball game is the financial "black sheep" of the SimulatedSports.com family. It simply does not pull its weight financially. In fact, it's a fair statement to say that it would not exist in its current form without its big brother.
Some things that you probably are not aware of concern my personal life. You have probably noticed the recent lack of modifications/additions to the game. This is largely due to some medical issues that have been nagging me. For quite a while, a bulging disk in my neck really just about prevented me from doing anything but the bare minimum to keep things going. I am still battling that problem, and might have to forever. However, it is currently much more tolerable and I am confident that it's something I can learn to manage. I am currently more concerned about another issue, but I won't get into details since I really don't have many myself at this point. As far as non-medical issues go, I am currently having a new house built and enjoying watching my 2 daughters grow up (1+1/2 and 3 years old).
The conclusion of the previous points is that I am at a point where I cannot justify continuing to operate the game on a loss or break-even basis. At this point, while I enjoy running the game, it is about as profitable as any of my other hobbies (and I sure don't get paid much to play golf). However, there's no way that I would/could spend as much time on my other hobbies as I do on the game. I don't think anyone with family responsibilities could. Rather than closing up shop, I intend to continue running the game. However, I need to make an attempt to make it more financially viable. This is not to say that I need/hope/expect to get rich running this game. That simply isn't going to happen. And, I think it's important to mention now that I intend to provide the ability to play for free.
Details of Changes:
Starting with the weekend of November 16 (when leagues 8 and 17 will rollover), each league will start its next season under a new set of rules. The rules are detailed herein, and this document supercedes the site's other sources of documentation until the other pages can be updated. No changes will affect a league until it starts a new season on or after November 16.
Every team will now be required to declare itself a "Lower", "Middle", or "Upper" tier team. This election will take place each season, and it will be clearly visible for all to see. Each team election is independent, and conferences will be composed of a mix of tiered teams depending on the individual elections (i.e., your conference makeup will not change....its makeup depends on how the 8 member coaches decide to run their teams). The effects of this election will have certain effects on the team. The following list outlines these election-dependent issues, as well as all other rule/procedure changes:
Base recruiting points. Lower/Middle/Upper tier teams will start each season with 66/75/83 Recruiting Points, respectively.
Scholarships. Lower/Middle/Upper tier teams will have 12/15/18 scholsrships available each season.
Visits. There will no longer be an explicit visit limit, nor will there be any concept of carryover visits.
Recruiting Actions. In fact, there will no longer be a Read/Write/Call/Visit (1/3/5/8) structure. Instead, you will be able to spend any integral number of RPs between 1 and 17 on a recruit.
Bonus RPs. Every team will be able to earn bonus RPs based on last season's performance. The bonus RP amount will be determined at the season's rollover (as indicated, they depend on last season's performance), and that amount will be alloted each week for the entire season. However, it's possible that the bonus could turn negative and result in a penalty. The formula isn't really that complicated. If we divide the 256 teams into thirds, and target the middle position of each third as the "target finish" for Lower/Middle/Upper tier teams, respectively, we achieve our performance barometer. These target finishes (based on final Power Ranking) are 213, 128, and 43 respectively, for Lower/Middle/Upper tier teams. Your team's final Power ranking will be compared to its target finish. The difference (target - actual) will be capped between -80 and 80. This adjusted value will then be divided by 80 to produce a number between -1 and 1. This number is multiplied by 5 to produce the Bonus/Penalty amount (use standard rounding). If you work through some hypotheticals, you will see that the Middle tier teams can have bonuses between -5 and +5. Upper tier teams have more downside potential, with a range of -5 to +3. Similarly, Lower tier teams have slightly more upside than downside, from -3 to +5.
Activity Points. There will currently be no concept of activity points.
Cost. Players will be able to play as Lower tier teams for no cost. Upgrading to the middle tier will cost 300 credits per season, and the Upper tier team will cost 500 credits per season. Along with your payment to upgrade to the optional levels will come the crediting of "pseudo-credits". These will be just like regular credits except that they must be spent during the season, or lost (i.e., they will not rollover), and they cannot be transferred to another person. With the Middle tier upgrade, you will receive 150 pseudo-credits. You will receive 300 at the Upper tier level. The main purpose of this twist is to not over-tax the coaches that already purchase game credits for scrimmages, recruit names, play-in, etc.
Recruiting. Recruits will now express their preferences in 3 categories: (1) desire to stay close to home, (2) desire to play for a winner, and (3) desire to be able to come in and have an immediate impact. "Winning" programs will be measured from season's ending Power Ranking. The ability to have an impact will be measured in a similar manner, assuming that players will have the most impact on lower-ranked teams. Along with this new system of preferences, the hometown and regional preference will no longer be automatic. It is fully represented in the "close to home" rating. The ratings scale, while not yet fully determined, will likely be Exc/Good/Fair/Poor/None for consistency. Regardless of the actual labels, bear in mind that it will be a continuous rating system (i.e., some "goods" are stronger or weaker than other "goods"). Recruit decisions will weigh the various factors accordingly. Note that RPs will still be the most important factor. The "close to home" preference, where applicable, will represent a desire to stay in-conference, with possibly more favoritism to the hometown team. The distribution of players preferring "winning" vs. "impact" will not vary too far from evenly split, but I am anticiapting building in a moderate tilt towards winning.
Recruiting Report. The Upper tier teams will have access to a slightly expanded recruiting report on recruits. I don't have all the details yet.
Sponsor Class. In addition to the 3 classes already listed (Upper/Middle/Lower), there will be another class titled "Sponsor". This class, to be honest, is mostly for those that have the desire and the financial means to be a stronger supporter of the game. While I expect low utilization of this class, we should all be appreciative of anyone that opts into it. They will be doing us all a favor by strengthening the game's finances. The cost of this class will be 2500 credits per season. Along with its election will come the extra Recruiting Report access available to the "Upper" class (expanded just a little further for Sponsors), 3000 pseudo-credits, special recognition as a "Sponsor" of the game, 90 Base RPs, and 25 scholarships. In anticipation of anyone becoming too nervous about the benfits of this class, let me point out that it will likely be an extremely rare election. Also, even if 1 or 2 teams per league were to utilize this feature, I don't see that tilting the balance dramatically. Plus, as mentioned previously, anyone electing this class deserves our thanks for supporting the game.
I realize that the changes are numerous and will take some time to digest. However, I want to thank you in advance for your attempt to understand, incorporate, and embrace them. I admit that I was hesitant to make this jump until I rationalized it in the following way. Even electing the Upper tier classification only results in a charge of $5.00 every 2+ months. That's just a single trip to Subway, McDonalds, or the video store once every 2 months. But, I realize that for some, even that is too much. For them, there is still the free option, ripe with the challenges of being a Lower tier team in a world with teams of all sizes.
Hopefully, this will provide the long-term financial strengthening the game needs. If indeed it does, I commit to you to get back into the groove of improving the game on a regular basis. There's never a shortage of good ideas around here. Thanks again for your support.
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| 1 | RecycledSpinalFluid
ID: 211013916
Tue, Nov 12, 2002, 00:09
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Read it earlier. To compete you must pay.
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| 2 | beastiemiked
Sustainer
ID: 298152019
Tue, Nov 12, 2002, 01:25
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It was bound to happen. Wonder if it's possible to make the NTT without paying anything.
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| 3 | Flying Polack
ID: 168212121
Tue, Nov 12, 2002, 07:17
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After sleeping on it, it's actually not a bad deal. It's $5 (500 credits) for an upper tier team. You get 300 credits for scrimmages, etc. So it basically only costs $2. IMO, that is very reasonable.
I will probably keep playing for at least a couple seasons as an upper tier team.
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| 4 | J in Va
ID: 27104479
Tue, Nov 12, 2002, 12:10
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I just kinda skimmed through this...An upper tier team, does that mean your record must reflect that or just the amount you're paying?
And, is the current Lg 4 season going to end early on Friday? Do we start over from scratch? Do we start over from the beginning of this current season?
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| 5 | Toral
Sustainer
ID: 2111201313
Tue, Nov 12, 2002, 12:18
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Existing seasons finish under old rules; new rules start next season.
Tier status is solely based on payment or non-payment -- but upper tier teams that underperform suffer an RP penalty.
Toral
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| 6 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 710321114
Tue, Nov 12, 2002, 19:16
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If I was still playing regularly, I'd pay for sure. But I probably won't. I'm thinking about getting a Sponsor season and letting the Gurupie public control it.
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| 7 | Matt G
ID: 1379269
Wed, Nov 13, 2002, 11:21
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I'm gonna try paying for a season or two, see what happens. I haven't been as active the last few seasons, with work and what not, but if I can get a good recruiting class this year and then go into upper teir, I'll be more competitive then most teams. Maybe it'll help me from getting screwed in recruiting
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| 8 | Raz
ID: 397283118
Wed, Nov 13, 2002, 20:00
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I'll probably pay for one of my teams to be upper tier, and continue running my other team as a lower tier. Now to decide which one to pay for...
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| 9 | Twarpy
Leader
ID: 17103822
Thu, Nov 14, 2002, 00:34
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Well talking about SSB changes, this just in about Clifford Seaman (J's former POY and #3 overall SIMBA draft pick)... He's been charged and found guilty for lighting fire houses on fire. At only 19, and only one year out of college this is truly sad. Also contrary to what you people initially might have thought he appears to be white.
This just proves that Carlos Lawhorn is that much better...While Seaman may light it up outside of the game, Lawhorn lights it up everygame in the game.
Seaman Arrested
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| 10 | Raider Guy
ID: 3910261118
Thu, Nov 14, 2002, 03:23
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LOL
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| 11 | kev
ID: 11438306
Thu, Nov 14, 2002, 05:47
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Looks like he has been on the Shawn Kemp diet too!
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| 12 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 710321114
Thu, Nov 14, 2002, 18:43
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Still not as good as Paul Hardin. Or Deandre Ragan.
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| 13 | Flying Polack
ID: 168212121
Fri, Nov 15, 2002, 19:26
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That's the funniest thing I've read in a while. Great job Twarpy.
Can we get a league 4 vote going as to plans with the new system?
I'm going with a UTT team.
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| 14 | Toral
Sustainer
ID: 2111201313
Fri, Nov 15, 2002, 19:34
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Good idea, FP.
I've got a good 8-0 team now, and my seniors are nothing, (i.e., I am losing little next year) so I don't want to give up on it right now. I plan to continue, maybe even be an UTT team for as long as this freshmen class is around. But as soon as the class graduates and I get a bad recruiting class, I'm dropping my team entirely.
If I did decide to continue long-term, I would drop my team and sign up for a new one -- ideally getting as horrible a one as possible -- and be a LTT team, spending as little time on it as possible and just enjoying the occasional upset of a paying team or fluke good year.
Toral
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| 15 | jeff1137
ID: 376351221
Fri, Nov 15, 2002, 19:55
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I'm goin' UTT. I've spent almost 500 credits each season I've played anyway. Good luck to everyone when the W3/W12 comes out.
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| 16 | RecycledSpinalFluid
ID: 211013916
Fri, Nov 15, 2002, 22:01
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Are the UTT guys willing to share the "extra" recruiting information?
I have a stash of credits built up, so I'll probably run through those between 2 teams (and drop my Lg19 Pasadena Spam and Eggs who are 14-3!).
I think I'll add another team or two in L4 as LTT to act as feelers for recruiting (yes this will be more inportant now) and attackers (target someone hometown recruits, most likely UTT teams. Hell yeah!). OK, those last two things might be a little dirty. Hmmm....
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| 17 | Twarpy
Leader
ID: 17103822
Sat, Nov 16, 2002, 02:38
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Bh... Paul Hardin turned out to be a geek in your image, and produce many boring papers...
Paul Hardin the Geek
and Regan turned out to be a drug dealer and hasn't been heard of since.
Lawhorn!
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| 18 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 22100300
Sat, Nov 16, 2002, 04:08
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That's a different Paul Hardin. He went to Indiana University, home of the Hoosiers. The Paul Hardin I'm talking about went to New York City University, home of the Raptors.
That probably is Deandre Ragan, the guy on drugs. He was always getting "high" scores in the games he played. 32 PPG his senior year.
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| 19 | Raider Guy
ID: 561033155
Mon, Nov 18, 2002, 23:15
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The Lower Tier teams get 68 RPs according to the last update. So, all teams get the chance to have at least 4 maxes.
I know it's a bit early, but I have a question regarding recruiting strategy. For those who are planning to be a LTT, would you still max 4 players using up all 68 points or save some RPs (ie 3 maxes+17 1 pointers)? I'm just not sure what the best way to use RPs is now.
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| 20 | Toral
Sustainer
ID: 2111201313
Mon, Nov 18, 2002, 23:22
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I wouldn't use all 68 on maxes myself, no. Sounds like a recipe for eventual disaster when the inevitable season comes when you lose 4 ties. If I play as an LTT I'll max 3 only.
Toral
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| 21 | Flying Polack
ID: 168212121
Tue, Nov 19, 2002, 00:11
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If I played LTT, which I won't, I wouldn't max 4. Heck, I don't even know if I'd max 3. IMO you build a solid team w/ your sleepers/non-maxes.
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| 22 | balls
Donor
ID: 369321112
Tue, Nov 19, 2002, 18:44
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yeah, 3 at the most and more likely only 2. I won't play w/ an LTT, at least for now.
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| 23 | Raider Guy
ID: 561033155
Wed, Nov 20, 2002, 13:10
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I guess you guys are right. It does seem too risky, but it still looks tempting to me. I guess it's because my non-max backups have often turned out to be duds.
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| 24 | Matt G
ID: 1379269
Wed, Nov 20, 2002, 15:10
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I'm just going to max 4, I've never gotten one of the back ups that I've put points on, and if i do its cause I stop maxing one guy and max someone else for the rest of the season becuase the one guy was like 12/12 or something.
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| 25 | VIDevilRays
Leader
ID: 22947267
Wed, Nov 20, 2002, 15:57
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Think I will go UTT with my League 4 team, although the minus rpe's scare the hell out of me!
I think you could do recruiting all the ways mentioned in this thread. Just be prepared for bad news if all of your maxes are on the most recruited and all of your sleepers are maxed. Of course that can happen no matter how many you max at the beginning.
As far as recruiting:
Teague 6/6
Fritsch:0/0
Zorn 0/0 (think he's a stud)
Elery: 0/0
Life is good!!!:)
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