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Jstepsox
I play in the Vida Blue League and the Josh Gibson League. Both good leagues and in particular the VBL which has had little team owner turnover in the time I have been in it. My biggest complaint about this game is the top teams are too good and the bad teams are too bad. It is common in both leagues to see at least one team with a winning percentage over .700 and at least one with a winning percentage under .300.
This is not realistic, unlike many parts of the game. Since 1950 only three teams in MLB have finished with a winning percentage under .300; the 62 Mets .250; the 03 Tigers .265 and the 52 Pirates .276. Likewise only three teams since 1950 have posted records north of .700; the 54 Indians .721; the 01 Mariners .716 and the 98 Yankees .703.
The problem this creates, in my opinion, is pennant races that lack excitement. By having such a wide gap, all of the teams in the middle of the league often find themselves out of contention by mid-season. If the top teams won .600 - .650 the teams in 2nd, 3rd and 4th would find themselves in the hunt more often.
I don't know if others feel the same way but it's worth considering as a general enhancement to the game itself. Don't get me wrong, I'm a baseball nerd and I thoroughly enjoy Sim Dynasty but would like to see some consideration to improve this for the betterment of the game.
Can of Worms
November 01, 2013 at 01:53PM View BBCode
I wanted to start a dialogue about my biggest complaint with Sim Dynasty. I have been playing the game for a few years now and have found it to be the most realistic simulated baseball game I have played with the possible exception being the old APBA board game, not to date myself.I play in the Vida Blue League and the Josh Gibson League. Both good leagues and in particular the VBL which has had little team owner turnover in the time I have been in it. My biggest complaint about this game is the top teams are too good and the bad teams are too bad. It is common in both leagues to see at least one team with a winning percentage over .700 and at least one with a winning percentage under .300.
This is not realistic, unlike many parts of the game. Since 1950 only three teams in MLB have finished with a winning percentage under .300; the 62 Mets .250; the 03 Tigers .265 and the 52 Pirates .276. Likewise only three teams since 1950 have posted records north of .700; the 54 Indians .721; the 01 Mariners .716 and the 98 Yankees .703.
The problem this creates, in my opinion, is pennant races that lack excitement. By having such a wide gap, all of the teams in the middle of the league often find themselves out of contention by mid-season. If the top teams won .600 - .650 the teams in 2nd, 3rd and 4th would find themselves in the hunt more often.
I don't know if others feel the same way but it's worth considering as a general enhancement to the game itself. Don't get me wrong, I'm a baseball nerd and I thoroughly enjoy Sim Dynasty but would like to see some consideration to improve this for the betterment of the game.
ballmark
This "tanking" methodology has been addressed via two different methods that I know about: one is the "Winning Percentage Modifier" which limits ICs for any team that finishes below a .460 Winning Percentage. Most leagues have this turned off.
The other attempt to limit tanking is a "loss penalty league." The Bill Lee League is an example of this. They have a draft lottery, but if your team loses - I want to say 110 games - you *cannot* draft in the top two slots, and if you lose 120, you cannot draft in the top *four* slots. I'm sure there are others similar to this.
But what I think you're also talking about is somehow limiting the number of games that can be won? Or is it limiting the number of games that can be lost, which would have the same effect?
I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about that, other than making EVERY league a loss penalty league. Some owners simply don't have a handle on how to develop players, what constitutes a good player grade, and how to judge the bundling on skill attributes. I know I struggled when I first signed up. I had played fantasy baseball for 20 years and thought this would be a snap - it wasn't. Took me SEVEN Dynasty League seasons of hard lessons to finally begin to understand all the nuances of the game. And I'm still learning.
I think the root of your question is, "how can we make the Sim even *more* like real life baseball?" That is, indeed, a worthy discussion. Now that Chris and Tyson seem to have the site's security issues in hand, they have begun looking at improvements to the code so I've been trying to push people over to [url=http://simdynasty.ideascale.com/]Idea Scale[/url] to get the best improvement ideas voted to the top of the list.
November 01, 2013 at 04:00PM View BBCode
Of course, the difference here as opposed to MLB, is that here we have owners actively TRYING to lose to put themselves in a better draft slot ... sometimes for years. Aside from the Miami Marlins that doesn't really happen in the Bigs.This "tanking" methodology has been addressed via two different methods that I know about: one is the "Winning Percentage Modifier" which limits ICs for any team that finishes below a .460 Winning Percentage. Most leagues have this turned off.
The other attempt to limit tanking is a "loss penalty league." The Bill Lee League is an example of this. They have a draft lottery, but if your team loses - I want to say 110 games - you *cannot* draft in the top two slots, and if you lose 120, you cannot draft in the top *four* slots. I'm sure there are others similar to this.
But what I think you're also talking about is somehow limiting the number of games that can be won? Or is it limiting the number of games that can be lost, which would have the same effect?
I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about that, other than making EVERY league a loss penalty league. Some owners simply don't have a handle on how to develop players, what constitutes a good player grade, and how to judge the bundling on skill attributes. I know I struggled when I first signed up. I had played fantasy baseball for 20 years and thought this would be a snap - it wasn't. Took me SEVEN Dynasty League seasons of hard lessons to finally begin to understand all the nuances of the game. And I'm still learning.
I think the root of your question is, "how can we make the Sim even *more* like real life baseball?" That is, indeed, a worthy discussion. Now that Chris and Tyson seem to have the site's security issues in hand, they have begun looking at improvements to the code so I've been trying to push people over to [url=http://simdynasty.ideascale.com/]Idea Scale[/url] to get the best improvement ideas voted to the top of the list.
tworoosters
That being said while it tends to create better playoff races it still hasn't eliminated the gap between first and last place from being generally greater than in MLB, and the % of 100 win/100 loss teams is still much higher than in MLB. As an example over the past 10 seasons of MLB there have been 15 teams lose 100 or more games, and only 6 win 100 or more games. With 30 teams in MLB 10 seasons roughly equates to 19 seasons of SIM, the last 19 seasons in the BHL have produced 44 100 game winners and 60 100 game losers.
I don't think that given the development process in SIM and the limit on potential prospects that there is any real way to eliminate the gap between top teams and bottom teams, even when teams aren't consciously trying to lose the talent gaps are just too high.
November 01, 2013 at 05:01PM View BBCode
In the Bob Horner League we employ every possible tool to try and recreate realism: the "Winning Percentage Modifier" and a "loss penalty" plus we add in a draft lottery to make it even less advantageous to lose games. The league also uses variable development, no CPs and maximum injuries to try and replicate the MLB experience as closely as possible, but it still comes up short........way short.That being said while it tends to create better playoff races it still hasn't eliminated the gap between first and last place from being generally greater than in MLB, and the % of 100 win/100 loss teams is still much higher than in MLB. As an example over the past 10 seasons of MLB there have been 15 teams lose 100 or more games, and only 6 win 100 or more games. With 30 teams in MLB 10 seasons roughly equates to 19 seasons of SIM, the last 19 seasons in the BHL have produced 44 100 game winners and 60 100 game losers.
I don't think that given the development process in SIM and the limit on potential prospects that there is any real way to eliminate the gap between top teams and bottom teams, even when teams aren't consciously trying to lose the talent gaps are just too high.
Admin
Tyson
November 01, 2013 at 10:56PM View BBCode
It would be a difficult thing to address without impacting other areas. For instance, you could make all players play closer to the mean of baseball statistics. This would help the worse teams play closer to .500. But all player stats would also get closer to the mean, which may not be desirable.Tyson
chrisandlainey
November 15, 2013 at 02:41AM View BBCode
I've often thought that one way to dissuade tanking would be to have a more level draft. Unfortunately, because the draft is so top heavy, it creates an incentive. For most drafts, there is a pretty big gap between the first few players (3 to 5), then there are about 10 that are interchangeable in the middle, then another ten to fifteen that will be marginal players. And then on e you get past the second round, it's mostly just waiver wire material. So it's generally a fight to get into the top 5 or so, or else you are a middle team drafting about the same caliber as the rest of the league.
tworoosters
November 15, 2013 at 04:34AM View BBCode
System 3 minors and variable development are also useful in that they mitigate against the "top heavy" draft.Pages: 1