A group effort to get more people to play HD Topic

jayhawks2130
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Since fox isnt marketing it at all why dont we all chip in with ideas to expand this great game, any idea's?
1/19/2011 11:45 AM
oldresorter
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the most important thing to expend the game is to understand what type of person would play this for an extended period of time.  A short list of some things I would guess at

1 - enjoys video sports games, i.e. madden, march madness, etc

2 - somewhat techy, math oriented

3 - somewhat competitive

4 - basketball playing and / or coaching background

5 - college sports fan

6 - attended college (some portion of this gamer base wants to coach at their favorite school / alma matter)

probably dozens, but once you know who you are targeting, just have to figure out how
1/19/2011 11:52 AM
courtmagic
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Myself, I've been pitching it to my Fantasy Football and Fantasy Basketball guys over on Yahoo. I have a buddy who has done this on and off, but can't do it full time because of doing the adult college thing and he gets buried in homework, but I have been trying.
1/19/2011 11:54 AM
oldresorter
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Posted by courtmagic on 1/19/2011 11:54:00 AM (view original):
Myself, I've been pitching it to my Fantasy Football and Fantasy Basketball guys over on Yahoo. I have a buddy who has done this on and off, but can't do it full time because of doing the adult college thing and he gets buried in homework, but I have been trying.
for d1 coaches especially, expanding that first window of 2 hours to 5, 8, or even 14 hours would help, letting everyone start recruiting on equal footing, rather than give a big edge to those who have time flexibility around the supper hour
1/19/2011 11:57 AM
courtmagic
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Posted by oldresorter on 1/19/2011 11:57:00 AM (view original):
Posted by courtmagic on 1/19/2011 11:54:00 AM (view original):
Myself, I've been pitching it to my Fantasy Football and Fantasy Basketball guys over on Yahoo. I have a buddy who has done this on and off, but can't do it full time because of doing the adult college thing and he gets buried in homework, but I have been trying.
for d1 coaches especially, expanding that first window of 2 hours to 5, 8, or even 14 hours would help, letting everyone start recruiting on equal footing, rather than give a big edge to those who have time flexibility around the supper hour

In conjunction with what you just said, I have to agree but for a different but just as important reason. Myself, I work in the restaurant industry (meaning I work 2nd shift) and that means my work hours are predominantly 2-10/3-11 EST. and other than this season (season 46 in Allen), I've never been able to be there for the 6PM and 8PM recruiting cycles and have missed about half or a little more of the 11PM cycles. So basically I don't get to start until the 2AM cycle (the 4th cycle) and I start behind the curve just about every time and because of this there are some players I can never get (not talking about the ones above my prestige level) that I would be able to compete for if the first or second recruiting window was a little longer. I would suggest making the first window 6 hours (6PM to midnight) than go with the 3 hour cycle after that. This way guys who are in a situation like me can still make the first window and still get some of the better guys before they are gone or considering 2 or 3 other teams and you either don't have the budget to compete or just don't want to because the other team/s are above your prestige level already.

1/19/2011 12:15 PM
reinsel
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I think the proper target for this is people who are playing fantasy NFL/NBA/MLB type stuff.

ESPECIALLY MLB type keeper leagues...those are super mathy, and this is kinda the same, but with no offseason and no stupid injuries that kill your season.  Plus the game is on every day.
1/19/2011 1:10 PM
jayhawks2130
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I think that people who play this game should spread the word throught the internet and post it where they go and try to tell at lest one person a day. I hate that there are so many sims teams in d3 wooden
1/19/2011 1:34 PM
jetwildcat
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Posted by oldresorter on 1/19/2011 11:52:00 AM (view original):
the most important thing to expend the game is to understand what type of person would play this for an extended period of time.  A short list of some things I would guess at

1 - enjoys video sports games, i.e. madden, march madness, etc

2 - somewhat techy, math oriented

3 - somewhat competitive

4 - basketball playing and / or coaching background

5 - college sports fan

6 - attended college (some portion of this gamer base wants to coach at their favorite school / alma matter)

probably dozens, but once you know who you are targeting, just have to figure out how
i know i'm the 5th person to mention this but fantasy sports might be the the biggest factor.


so, what would the plan be? crews of people go out and recruit from the yahoo fantasy/espn.com/rivals.com/realgm.com/gamespot.com message boards?
1/19/2011 1:43 PM
davis
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I'll beat the drum again for some type of free "starter leagues."  Like spring training leagues in SLB, these would be free opportunities for new users to play the game just enough to learn about it and get interested in it.  I think that when we do get new coaches, they are likely intimidated by the sheer volume of stuff to do.  When they inevitably lose a bunch of games in their first season or two, they're gone.  If there was a free (slightly simplified and with a ten-game season or so) "spring training" version of the game for them to learn the nuts and bolts before shelling out any cash, it could be immensely helpful.  "Learn for free" as opposed to "pay to learn and lose while doing it" seems like a good idea to me.
1/19/2011 2:14 PM
girt25
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Posted by courtmagic on 1/19/2011 12:15:00 PM (view original):
Posted by oldresorter on 1/19/2011 11:57:00 AM (view original):
Posted by courtmagic on 1/19/2011 11:54:00 AM (view original):
Myself, I've been pitching it to my Fantasy Football and Fantasy Basketball guys over on Yahoo. I have a buddy who has done this on and off, but can't do it full time because of doing the adult college thing and he gets buried in homework, but I have been trying.
for d1 coaches especially, expanding that first window of 2 hours to 5, 8, or even 14 hours would help, letting everyone start recruiting on equal footing, rather than give a big edge to those who have time flexibility around the supper hour

In conjunction with what you just said, I have to agree but for a different but just as important reason. Myself, I work in the restaurant industry (meaning I work 2nd shift) and that means my work hours are predominantly 2-10/3-11 EST. and other than this season (season 46 in Allen), I've never been able to be there for the 6PM and 8PM recruiting cycles and have missed about half or a little more of the 11PM cycles. So basically I don't get to start until the 2AM cycle (the 4th cycle) and I start behind the curve just about every time and because of this there are some players I can never get (not talking about the ones above my prestige level) that I would be able to compete for if the first or second recruiting window was a little longer. I would suggest making the first window 6 hours (6PM to midnight) than go with the 3 hour cycle after that. This way guys who are in a situation like me can still make the first window and still get some of the better guys before they are gone or considering 2 or 3 other teams and you either don't have the budget to compete or just don't want to because the other team/s are above your prestige level already.

Court, while I agree with your suggestion, until there's a change I think you need to make due and have someone help you with that first cycle of two of recruiting. Heck, I'd do it for you. But I've been working/travelling/out/etc many times where I needed/wanted to hit a recruiting cycle, and simply got someone else to do it for me.
1/19/2011 2:43 PM
girt25
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Posted by davis on 1/19/2011 2:14:00 PM (view original):
I'll beat the drum again for some type of free "starter leagues."  Like spring training leagues in SLB, these would be free opportunities for new users to play the game just enough to learn about it and get interested in it.  I think that when we do get new coaches, they are likely intimidated by the sheer volume of stuff to do.  When they inevitably lose a bunch of games in their first season or two, they're gone.  If there was a free (slightly simplified and with a ten-game season or so) "spring training" version of the game for them to learn the nuts and bolts before shelling out any cash, it could be immensely helpful.  "Learn for free" as opposed to "pay to learn and lose while doing it" seems like a good idea to me.
I agree with the free "starter league", which should be very abbreviated and not have a postseason. Just enough of a teaser. I also think there should be a handful of vets in there to answer questions, etc.

I have once again taken up the cause of setting up a more formal mentoring program for new coaches, matching them up w. a veteran coach. I have a dialogue going with seble on this right now. I honestly think this is the single best thing they can do to retain new users (and also build the sense of community, which is a key to the games's overall health and longevity).
1/19/2011 3:06 PM
wsut
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I write a column for OperationSports.com (sports video gaming website). I've been thinking about writing a column about HD for awhile now. Perhaps that could help. 
1/19/2011 3:07 PM
jetwildcat
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Posted by girt25 on 1/19/2011 3:06:00 PM (view original):
Posted by davis on 1/19/2011 2:14:00 PM (view original):
I'll beat the drum again for some type of free "starter leagues."  Like spring training leagues in SLB, these would be free opportunities for new users to play the game just enough to learn about it and get interested in it.  I think that when we do get new coaches, they are likely intimidated by the sheer volume of stuff to do.  When they inevitably lose a bunch of games in their first season or two, they're gone.  If there was a free (slightly simplified and with a ten-game season or so) "spring training" version of the game for them to learn the nuts and bolts before shelling out any cash, it could be immensely helpful.  "Learn for free" as opposed to "pay to learn and lose while doing it" seems like a good idea to me.
I agree with the free "starter league", which should be very abbreviated and not have a postseason. Just enough of a teaser. I also think there should be a handful of vets in there to answer questions, etc.

I have once again taken up the cause of setting up a more formal mentoring program for new coaches, matching them up w. a veteran coach. I have a dialogue going with seble on this right now. I honestly think this is the single best thing they can do to retain new users (and also build the sense of community, which is a key to the games's overall health and longevity).
i think there are too many people out there that would be shy about having a real-live mentor help them. perhaps selectable built-in mentoring systems that guide you through each of the pages? say, if you have <100 career wins, you can have a mentoring system active, that gives you a few bullet-point tips for each gameplanning page, etc.
1/19/2011 3:20 PM
jetwildcat
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Posted by wsut on 1/19/2011 3:07:00 PM (view original):
I write a column for OperationSports.com (sports video gaming website). I've been thinking about writing a column about HD for awhile now. Perhaps that could help. 
the bill simmons column was huge for the site, i imagine
1/19/2011 3:21 PM
mduncanhogs
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Posted by oldresorter on 1/19/2011 11:57:00 AM (view original):
Posted by courtmagic on 1/19/2011 11:54:00 AM (view original):
Myself, I've been pitching it to my Fantasy Football and Fantasy Basketball guys over on Yahoo. I have a buddy who has done this on and off, but can't do it full time because of doing the adult college thing and he gets buried in homework, but I have been trying.
for d1 coaches especially, expanding that first window of 2 hours to 5, 8, or even 14 hours would help, letting everyone start recruiting on equal footing, rather than give a big edge to those who have time flexibility around the supper hour
I agree with you on that bigtime.  I just started playing HD a few months ago, but I'm addicted.  My biggest issue is that I travel a lot for work and there WILL be times that I will be on an airplane for that entire 2 hour first cycle and that can be killer when you are trying to get a jump on figuring out who is willing to be pulled down.  They badly need to lengthen that first cycle, and really I would be all for lengthening all of them to 6 hours.  I have some days where I am in meetings all day for work (literally 7am until 6pm) and have zero time to get on a computer.  It hasn't happened yet, but I know I will eventually have a recruting class that gets hurt by my lack of ability to get to a computer when I need to for recruiting.  I've tested doing it on my iPhone just to see if that is an option, but it is just not fast enough.  I usually get a few minutes in the car between my meetings and I have a driver, so I can use that time to do it, but especially in the first cycle it just isn't fast enough to work well.
1/19/2011 7:28 PM
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