I think for veteran HBDers, it should made so that you have to pay for 4-5 seasons that can only be used in the new world in order to get into one.  New users could get in with the usual purchase of one season.  Maybe then people wouldn't have such hard-ons for new worlds

Or, better yet, make it so that new worlds can only have new users.

I can tell you that I have an alias, "choogog".  But I wouldn't use it for that purpose.  I think there would still be a deterrent effect.

It's been brought up before, but the problem with requiring a long term commitment is that you end up with teams being run by people who don't want to play the game anymore.  You can imagine how much attention will be paid to them.  I'd rather spend the little bit of time finding someone who actually cares about the team.

You could take over a team that the first few seasons have been paid for.  A quality commish would find good replacements for those who don't want to be there.  I know that there is an allure to having a team from season 1.  One of my favorite worlds is the one in which I am an original member.  WiS could/should take advantage of that demand by milking 4-5 seasons worth of guaranteed money out of those who are willing to pay, and at the same time, dissuading those who would get into a new world just to leave when their randomly generated team turns out not to be as good as they'd like.  My opinion is that creating new worlds generally makes it more difficult for the average established HBD world to fill at rollover.  I know you are going to say that it's a dog eat dog world, and may the best worlds survive, etc, etc, but people leave average to good worlds to join new ones.  I know that there are "rules" against people doing so, but how is it enforced?  Impossible.

I think what mhustshut is saying is that an owner who has been forced to plunk down $100+ is likely to halfass his team if he loses interest because of real life(like maybe a girl actually spoke to him or something) but keep it just in case he regains interest(like the girl only spoke to him because she lost a bet).   My interest in HBD has waned from time to time but I've kept most of my teams because I figure, sooner or later, that I'd regain interest.   If I had paid for 4 more seasons, I know I'd keep my team.

My question to you is this:   Would having to pay for four seasons right off the bat discourage you from wanting to get in on a new world?

No.   I'm not the "I want to join a new world!" guy(although I just joined one because I was asked).    That's said, buying a 4 pack wouldn't discourage me from joining.   Worst case scenario, I hate everything about the world.   Everything.   So I spend 3 1/2 seasons experimenting.   Or maybe I go all out in payroll.  Simply doing things I wouldn't do under "normal" circumstances.   Of course, I'm also the guy that says "It's a quarter a day.  Quit ******** about the price."

Quarter a day? That's a steal. Cheaper when buying the 10 pack.

In FYC, Season 1, we all paid up front for 5 seasons (FYC = Five Year Commitment) - in fact worked out a deal with WIS where we paid them the full amount for 5 seasons up front (though I recall somehow that got screwed up and they ended up just giving us all our extra 4 seasons of credits back). Anyhow, even with the promise to play 5 seasons and up front money paid, we still lost 3 or 4 owners over those first 5 years. But given how many people were one-and-done in leagues in the very early days of HBD, it was a pretty good success overall.

Posted by MikeT23 on 9/10/2010 11:39:00 AM (view original):

Someone mentioned that before.  I checked and FYC lost owners at pretty much the same rate as every other world those first five seasons.
 

so, in other words, making people commit to more than one season is pointless.

Pretty much.  Was that the point you were trying to make?    Because, if it was, I didn't read it that way.