Text Sim Hot or Not #1: Round by Round Free Agency

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Depending how this thread goes, I am hoping we can turn this into a series so we can discuss what goes into making successful text sim. I think the central question usually comes down to Which do you think provides the best balance between fun and realism?

Admittedly, I don't know all of the games so I am sure the polls might be somewhat incomplete.

If you have suggestions for other thread topics in this area, let me know.
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I think there are two major flavors to Free Agency/Recruiting: A round by round approach (FOF FBCB) or a day by day approach (OOTP).

Which do you think provides the best balance between fun and realism?

[Izulde]

Isn't round by round vs. day by day simply a matter of semantics? I'm not sure that's the right question to be asking.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Perhaps not. Perhaps I should have started with personality and interaction with the media. Maybe I will do that if this isn't interesting enough.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I will say I find the OOTP day by day free agency monotonous and much prefer the streamlined approach of the other games.

[PurdueBrad]

The only reason I put day-by-day is that, at least in OOTP, there are many more days meaning that you can be more responsive and dig a bit deeper. Otherwise, it is kind of semantic so I basically prefer having more.

[Izulde]

I think fewer rounds is better for football and more rounds is better for baseball and basketball, given the number of players involved.

[Izulde]

By the way, DDS:PB also does day by day.

[gstelmack]

Whatever is appropriate for the sport. FOF's "rounds" work well, since they match "weeks" in the sport calendar, and given that leagues often shrink those by combining the late weeks, I think it's fine. As mentioned, there are more players in baseball, so more "rounds" may be needed, but day-by-day may be overkill.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I think fewer rounds is better for football and more rounds is better for baseball and basketball, given the number of players involved.

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Whatever is appropriate for the sport. FOF's "rounds" work well, since they match "weeks" in the sport calendar, and given that leagues often shrink those by combining the late weeks, I think it's fine. As mentioned, there are more players in baseball, so more "rounds" may be needed, but day-by-day may be overkill.

Maybe I am missing something here, but wouldn't football have more players involved than any other sport? Each team carries 53 players during the regular season, while MLB carries...what...25? The NHL carries 23, and the NBA carries even fewer (not sure of the exact amount). I would think football would have more rounds than what is actually the case.

[Julio Riddols]

For multiplayer games, I like rounds divided into weeks. The way FOF works out into 52 sim weeks works out pretty nicely. I think once you try and sim day to day, you are going to make it hard to keep a full league of owners interested due to the monotony of it all. Day to day is better as an option for those who really want to immerse themselves in a single player experience.

[TRO]

Where is FOBL's Bid with Discount system?

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by RomaGoth

Maybe I am missing something here, but wouldn't football have more players involved than any other sport? Each team carries 53 players during the regular season, while MLB carries...what...25? The NHL carries 23, and the NBA carries even fewer (not sure of the exact amount). I would think football would have more rounds than what is actually the case.

NBA is 12-15.

And the key is here between fun and realism. It's a pain in the ass to have to manage a 53-60 man roster every offseason, so more rounds would add to the tedium.

Whereas small rosters are easier to manage and, because they're smaller, each potential addition or subtraction becomes that much more important to the overall success of the team, so a slower play is necessary IMO.

[SteveMax58]

My first thought was similar to Izulde's in that the difference is semantics.

But if the question is more along the lines of simulating weeks (rounds) vs days(day-by-day) of free agency...I think I'd go with rounds. I'm ok with the possibility of missing out on a free agent if I dont get my best offer to him. Or hoping to get another shot at the free agent in round (or week) 2.

Day by day is a little more tedious & feels more like "work" to me. While I like pretending I'm the GM of the team...I don't actually want to do a GM's real job. Just the parts that I feel are interesting without having to do real research if I don't feel like. I can just roll the dice once in a while.

[korme]

This is like the same thing to me

[Ben E Lou]

Yeah, the only difference is semantics. Voted "other" because of that.

[General Mike]

Other. EHM system.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by General Mike

Other. EHM system.

EHM does day by day free agency.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Yeah, the only difference is semantics. Voted "other" because of that.

+1. The underlying functions and purpose are the same. To me, the differences between the two are pure window dressing.

That said, I favor an FOF-style format because I like having the free agency function condensed to a more-or-less single tasks without a lot of other distractions. Day-by-day like OOTP may seem more realistic, but it gets monotonous compared to FOF to me.