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6/9/01
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Dan
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» Game Design Dictionary |
I have a confession to make. I hate the Zip. The dreaded Zip that
dominates draft boards across America. I have a goal in life. That
is to prove, statistically, the evils of the Random Reverse Order
a.k.a. the Zip. Let me spare you the torture for now and lets just
focus on the most (lowest) common denominator as the version we
will use for our random draft leagues. Well, with a couple of twist
(I could not resist).
Here is a very quick overview of how a Zips works. Positions one
through x (size of league) are assigned to teams by your favorite
method like cut of cards, dice roll, or a random number generator.
If you are in a retention league, try
to keep the same method each year. What ever slot that team is assigned,
they retain the same slot for the entirety of the draft. A 12-team
league example: Team Action Jackson gets the third pick in all odd
numbered rounds and the tenth pick in all even numbered rounds.
This is suppose to be "fair" in that whoever gets the last pick
in the current round gets the first pick in the next round. The
ones who are really kissing the pooch are the poor slobs stuck in
the middle of the Zip. (Rant, Rant, Rant, Rant) But I digress.
Even in this limited system, we can find attempts to balance the
luck of one draw. Here is a suggestion for a modification that could
add more fun to the most exciting day of the fantasy calendar. Divide
your draft rounds by 4. Every fourth round, another random order
is determined. 12-team league example: Team Action Jackson gets
the third pick in rounds 1 and 4, the tenth pick in 2 and 3. Action
Jackson then has the seventh pick in rounds 5 and 8 while taking
the sixth pick in 6 and 7. And so on.
Another design consideration in this theme: Do you set the order
of the entire draft board; or do you have a 15-20 minute intermission
every 4 rounds while you recast the random order. Those who prefer
trading would favor knowing all draft pick placements as soon as
possible. It is impossible to trade a draft pick in a round that
the order has not been set. To promote the trade faction, you need
to determine all draft pick positions and have rules in place to
address the inevitable slow-downs that trading while drafting cause.
This is only one of many variations. Think about ways to nullify
the initial luck of the draw and see if that can be incorporated
into your draft design.
Trading During The Draft
And speaking of trades, do you allow the trading of picks DURING
the draft? You need to have that answered, in clear language, long
before the first team gets on the clock. Many Internet leagues avoid
this problem by drafting early and giving each team a 24-hour window
to make a pick. This is plenty of time to work a trade. If you are
doing a chat room draft, the complications increase so much that
a general No Trade Clause during the draft will save you
many headaches. Why, the Assembly cries?
Think of 10 people on line and the invariable loose connection (or
two) is dragging the draft down to a crawl. People are chirping
about the 3 to 5-minute time limit while a few owners are having
ISP problems. Then, General Manager Scrub Parcells wants to hang
everyone up while he entertains a few trade offers. Take a few moments
to reflect on all the hassles in life you CAN avoid and then review
your draft trading rules.
On Local Leagues, I usually impose a general 2-minute per pick time
limit. If this limit is exceeded by one second, the next team gets
to jump the pick. Teams can trade and I have break periods (20 minutes)
between the time the draft order is determined and the first pick
as well as a similar break twice or three times (depending on how
many rounds we are drafting) as the event proceeds. There have only
been a few draft day trades in this scenario. Most draft pick trading
occurs in retention leagues and they are made in advance of the
actual draft itself.
Local League Drafting
Finally let me touch on a few aspects of live draft requirements
that are uniquely Local. Never will Internet leagues compete with
Local League Drafting. Fanatical Local Leagues are the best fantasy
football has to offer. I encourage everyone to have at least one
Local League.
We know putting on a draft is more work than picking up a bag of
chips and calling a couple of friends. Supplying the materials for
the draft board, preparing a space for a dozen or so closet rowdies
and the responsibility of pushing the agenda to completion are all
the victory laurels of a good fantasy Commish. Be sure to clear
up any rules questions and collect all initial league fees before
the first draft pick is made. If someone thinks you are being a
horse's arse about this issue, they don't belong in your league
anyway. Start looking for a replacement, you have recruited a bum.
Everyone must toe the line if you are running a money league, unless
you want to be held accountable by the group for the shortage in
funds.
How much you should prepare differs with the level of experience
of the group you are forming. If it is a fresh or new league, bring
more stuff, any stuff that may appear useful. Bring lots of spare
materials, pens, papers and toss in any early published fantasy
magazines you may have purchased to get a football fix. I usually
print out a couple of the cheat sheets from the Internet for my
Newbie groups to introduce them to some good sites on the web. If
it is an experienced group, then just a few extra pens will be enough
and the group can keep its own order. You will still be stuck with
providing the draft board materials. Bring a stopwatch to keep an
accurate count, a plain old wristwatch is not going to be good enough.
If you are lucky enough to have a significant other from heaven,
he or she may condescend to help you on this most important of days
by actually MC-ing the draft.
I like to prep a number of large boards with the slot numbers within
a grid. As each team makes a selection, they must announce the player
by voice within the time limit and then they will go up to the board
and write their player name in the proper slot. Again, try to arrange
3 or 4 breaks so that the enthusiasm level stays high. I will refrain
from the subject of beer or wine with the only comment that it should
reflect the intent of your league.
Intent
Stop for a moment. We need to look at intent. As the Commissioner,
you set the tone for the intent of the league. Is the league to
have fun with friends, to provide a place for acquaintances to compete
and display knowledge, or to establish a pen to populate with sheep
that you and a couple of core members intend on sheering. All of
these and many more exist out there. I never hear anyone discuss
the intent of the leagues they are promoting. Grasp the concept
now and use it as a weather vane or compass to help you make your
design decisions and decisions on which leagues to join.
In forming a Newbie grouping, my intent is to provide as uncomplicated
as possible arena for the Assembly to learn more about NFL players
and their statistics. Very few exotics are necessary as the group
is still learning how to manage and draft a team. If there are Newbies
in your draft, I suggest the following rule - a one time, do-over
rule. This comes from my real word experience.
Sam is a friend of mine. I recruited him into the very first local
league I ever designed. On draft day, Sam was using some older cheat
sheets and did not checkup on the latest news. Specifically, it
was the year that Terry Allen (with the Vikes at the time) blew
his knee out a few days before the draft. Sam selected Terry Allen
and I looked around the room. Of the other 6 owners, 3 or 4 gave
a knowing glance and I did not say anything until later. Maybe my
intervention would not have changed things since Sam's team was
cursed with injuries for the rest of the year. But starting off
with a second round bust pick and the rest of us letting him do
it, just turned Sam off of fantasy football entirely. That was the
last thing I wanted to happen.
"Too bad "I hear the hard-hearted cry. To you I say: such selfishness
has reduced our community by one member. We are not so many as we
should insult, offend or allow the failure of our Newbie population.
Commissioners are the only ones who can serve in the caretaker role.
I have regretted, to this very day, that I did not stop the draft
and allow Sam a do-over. My own greed obscured the intent of my
league.
In Newbie Local Leagues, I strongly suggest you implement a Drafting
Do-Over Rule: The first time someone selects a player that has been
recently seriously injured, cut, or retired, the Commissioner will
halt the draft temporarily and announce that the selected player
is in question. The Newbie has one half of his time allotment to
select another player, with the warning that the group will not
cover for him or her a second time.
With experienced members, my intent is to provide a richly complex
design with lots of choices for the fantasy GM. There is no need
to provide draft day cheat sheets to this crew. They fashion specialized
list of their own making. I like to add lots of exotics and make
the leagues unique in some manner.
With a Big Money League, which should only be populated by experienced
players, then we enter the hard core zone where rules must explain
every facet of the game in league-al-ese. No do-over rules for this
group and if a situation like this does occur, it probably reflects
that you have not recruited the league properly. Newbies should
be discouraged from joining a Big Money League, unless your intent
is just to take their money. We will focus more on intent in the
next series.
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