I’d like to get some feedback on people’s thoughts on whether they think there is an appetite for a league composed of fictional players versus the tradition nhl named players. I’m thinking there are pros and cons to having nhl named players in a league. It seems although everyone knows the players are rerated in ways that does not always allow players to perform at the same level as their nhl namesakes and that can lead to frustration. For instance, it can lead to frustration when your goaltender, Roberto Luongo, rerates to a lesser ability than another netminder like Martin Biron. It seems to happen at a much accelerated pace when it comes to draft picks. Since rerates influence their development so greatly, the up and coming nhl namesakes are often much better (or worse) than their sim counterpart because rerates influenced how they turn out.
Having said that, the flipside of the argument is that you lose that familiarity of having nhl names in the league if you use fictional named players.
I’d just like to get some peoples feedback on if they think there’s an appetite for a sim league using fictional named players.
NHL or Fictional named players
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Mr.Shill
- New in Town / Le Ptit Nouveau
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:19 pm
- Location: Montreal
Re: NHL or Fictional named players
I've been running a fictional named league since early 2003 (8 completed seasons), only now in the midst of a lengthy break since I'm in the process of converting everything to STHS.
From experience, what I can tell you is this:
The average fictional league tends to fold faster.
This is mostly because it's more difficult to recruit good GMs in the early goings than with a NHL-based league (retro or contemporary).
There is a definite draw to being able to have your favorite players in your team, and a fictional league doesn't have that.
This certainly was a big recruiting problem for me during the first two seasons. I had to find and fire a huge amount of GMs (that's true of most leahues of any kind, when it starts, but it's more evident with fictional leagues).
However, because I was running a quality league, I did end up with a high quality group of GMs by season 3 - and nowadays, I don't even bother keeping a waiting list since, well, no GM was replaced in well over two years (not seasons. Years).
After a few seasons, the fictional players start to develop their own reputations, among the GMs. Philippe Matteau generates points like a metronome every season, Petter Hoen can be great, but he's too streaky, Mikhail Karin always shows up for the playoffs, etc, etc.
They earn nicknames as well, from "Superstar" Jason Graham, Slava "Albino Assassin" Mrazek, "Salty" Casey Wetzel, Julien "The Barbarian" Salvatore, etc, etc.
I never thought, when I started my league, that these fictional players would eventually become so "real." It's really quite surprising.
Obviously, not all GMs get to that point, where they literally invent personalities they exploit in the league forums, but many of my GMs do. It takes some getting used to, and you need to take tthe time to "get to know your fictional players." And not every GM is prone to doing that.
Still, after a while, the players become real, somehow.
Additionally, in NHL-based rosters, the players are created with great care. Granted, not everyone agrees with how each individual player may look like, but overall, you can always tell a good amount of work has been invested in creating the rosters, and it shows.
More often than not, the rosters of fictional leagues have been randomly generated. You don't know their names (and often, their names seem odd), and their stats feel less logical as well.
I had always disliked the results generators gave me. So I created my fictional players one by one, with as much thought as NHL-based players would get. So, yeah, I've individually created well over 2,500 players by now, but it was entirely worth it.
It gives you players with much clearer roles - danglers, speedy checker, enforcers - that seem more logical - the kind of clear roles you'd see in reality-based rosters.
There's another long term advantage to fictional players in running a league. Think the players are becoming too good in your league? Make a draft that's lower in talent for a season or two. Do the opposite if the league's talent level is dropping. Gives the commish more control over the rosters, I think.
Is there an appetite for fictional leagues? Yes.
But definitely not as much as there is for leagues based in reality. It definitely takes more time to get the league fully going.
There's an appetite for any type of league you can think of; retro, junior, contemporary, rerated based on NHL performances, heck, even a women's hockey league. They might not be as popular, that's all.
And while a mediocre nhl-based league will survive (and potentially thrive), a mediocre fictional league will sink. It has to be a high quality league, otherwise it might not last too long.
GMs interested in fictional league aren't as common as GMs looking for a contemporary NHL league, but they definitely exist. You just have to take the time to find enough of them.
From experience, what I can tell you is this:
The average fictional league tends to fold faster.
This is mostly because it's more difficult to recruit good GMs in the early goings than with a NHL-based league (retro or contemporary).
There is a definite draw to being able to have your favorite players in your team, and a fictional league doesn't have that.
This certainly was a big recruiting problem for me during the first two seasons. I had to find and fire a huge amount of GMs (that's true of most leahues of any kind, when it starts, but it's more evident with fictional leagues).
However, because I was running a quality league, I did end up with a high quality group of GMs by season 3 - and nowadays, I don't even bother keeping a waiting list since, well, no GM was replaced in well over two years (not seasons. Years).
After a few seasons, the fictional players start to develop their own reputations, among the GMs. Philippe Matteau generates points like a metronome every season, Petter Hoen can be great, but he's too streaky, Mikhail Karin always shows up for the playoffs, etc, etc.
They earn nicknames as well, from "Superstar" Jason Graham, Slava "Albino Assassin" Mrazek, "Salty" Casey Wetzel, Julien "The Barbarian" Salvatore, etc, etc.
I never thought, when I started my league, that these fictional players would eventually become so "real." It's really quite surprising.
Obviously, not all GMs get to that point, where they literally invent personalities they exploit in the league forums, but many of my GMs do. It takes some getting used to, and you need to take tthe time to "get to know your fictional players." And not every GM is prone to doing that.
Still, after a while, the players become real, somehow.
Additionally, in NHL-based rosters, the players are created with great care. Granted, not everyone agrees with how each individual player may look like, but overall, you can always tell a good amount of work has been invested in creating the rosters, and it shows.
More often than not, the rosters of fictional leagues have been randomly generated. You don't know their names (and often, their names seem odd), and their stats feel less logical as well.
I had always disliked the results generators gave me. So I created my fictional players one by one, with as much thought as NHL-based players would get. So, yeah, I've individually created well over 2,500 players by now, but it was entirely worth it.
It gives you players with much clearer roles - danglers, speedy checker, enforcers - that seem more logical - the kind of clear roles you'd see in reality-based rosters.
There's another long term advantage to fictional players in running a league. Think the players are becoming too good in your league? Make a draft that's lower in talent for a season or two. Do the opposite if the league's talent level is dropping. Gives the commish more control over the rosters, I think.
Is there an appetite for fictional leagues? Yes.
But definitely not as much as there is for leagues based in reality. It definitely takes more time to get the league fully going.
There's an appetite for any type of league you can think of; retro, junior, contemporary, rerated based on NHL performances, heck, even a women's hockey league. They might not be as popular, that's all.
And while a mediocre nhl-based league will survive (and potentially thrive), a mediocre fictional league will sink. It has to be a high quality league, otherwise it might not last too long.
GMs interested in fictional league aren't as common as GMs looking for a contemporary NHL league, but they definitely exist. You just have to take the time to find enough of them.
Re: NHL or Fictional named players
Can I know you league website ?
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Mr.Shill
- New in Town / Le Ptit Nouveau
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:19 pm
- Location: Montreal
Re: NHL or Fictional named players
Yes, I guess, but my league has been on hiatus for a while, now.
As I'm focused on preparing the FHL to STHS transfer, I don't really bother with updating it.
Oh, and it's in French.
http://www.alaides.org/rhl/
As you can see, when I created this fictional league, I went all out fantasy - They don't play hockey, they play roller-hockey.
I even made it an inter-gender league with a few female players, Swedish point system, etc. I was making it as different as I possibly could.
And, since I have some drawing abilities, you can tell from the front page that I've drawn a few players over the years.
The last playoff tree is still on the front page, which is adorned with a drawing of the "Conn Smythe" Trophy winner - Also there are portraits of the 4 player agents.
Every team captain (and assistant) also have portraits, but unfortunately, I notice the link to that page is currently broken.
But you can see the 7 other Playoff MVP winners in the archives (last link in the left-hand side menu).
But, I can't tell if said drawings has played any role in making fictional players more "real" to the GMs or not. At the very least, where the usual league would add a photo of Vinny Lecavalier to spruce up their main page, I could add a drawing of Ed Pretty.
Although, I definitely noticed that female player Natasha Sokolova's market value skyrocketed when GMs discovered she was a babe.
As I'm focused on preparing the FHL to STHS transfer, I don't really bother with updating it.
Oh, and it's in French.
http://www.alaides.org/rhl/
As you can see, when I created this fictional league, I went all out fantasy - They don't play hockey, they play roller-hockey.
I even made it an inter-gender league with a few female players, Swedish point system, etc. I was making it as different as I possibly could.
And, since I have some drawing abilities, you can tell from the front page that I've drawn a few players over the years.
The last playoff tree is still on the front page, which is adorned with a drawing of the "Conn Smythe" Trophy winner - Also there are portraits of the 4 player agents.
Every team captain (and assistant) also have portraits, but unfortunately, I notice the link to that page is currently broken.
But you can see the 7 other Playoff MVP winners in the archives (last link in the left-hand side menu).
But, I can't tell if said drawings has played any role in making fictional players more "real" to the GMs or not. At the very least, where the usual league would add a photo of Vinny Lecavalier to spruce up their main page, I could add a drawing of Ed Pretty.
Although, I definitely noticed that female player Natasha Sokolova's market value skyrocketed when GMs discovered she was a babe.