I love this game. I enjoy my hobby and hope this game is still around next year.
There is a decline of interest and worlds seem to take forever to fill. So my question is what can I do to generate more interest in this game or do we just watch it go away?

Best thing we all can do is tell our friends and hope they are like us. I have told my friends and family and some have joined, but none have lasted. This game is not for everybody and takes a lot of effort to build a franchise the right way for the long term.

I've been sending tickets in to WIS about this issue. they are planning on a doing a marketing campaign in the coming weeks to bring new blood into the system. I'm commish of Mauer and yes it's extremely hard to fill a world right now. I've been asking for a an update of some kind from them, with any hope that will happen in the coming weeks/month as well.

Keep the general population in the loop and most owners will stick around. It's not good when we are not informed of what is taking place. People get grumpy and start leaving. Give a little update and create a buzz that something is happening to the good for HBD.

If this is true it would be welcome news. I quit playing a while ago and check in now and then to see if they have done something to update or improve the product.

The best thing that could happen to this game would be WIS slashing half of the worlds. No more mergers, and say that a world has to fold if it can't fill in a week. Get back to a point where there is more demand than supply.

Posted by njohnson78 on 1/13/2020 12:30:00 PM (view original):
The best thing that could happen to this game would be WIS slashing half of the worlds. No more mergers, and say that a world has to fold if it can't fill in a week. Get back to a point where there is more demand than supply.

I'm pretty sure doing something like that would kill the site and have everyone in an uproar. You'd probably have 1-2 worlds Max alive if you implemented the ideas you just put forward.

I think that is a good idea. I am not really sure there is less people playing then when I started.

Posted by hockey1984 on 1/14/2020 9:32:00 AM (view original):

Posted by njohnson78 on 1/13/2020 12:30:00 PM (view original):
The best thing that could happen to this game would be WIS slashing half of the worlds. No more mergers, and say that a world has to fold if it can't fill in a week. Get back to a point where there is more demand than supply.

I'm pretty sure doing something like that would kill the site and have everyone in an uproar. You'd probably have 1-2 worlds Max alive if you implemented the ideas you just put forward.

There are more than 1-2 worlds that fill quickly. Maybe not many worlds, but the better worlds still fill fast. The worlds that struggle to fill are the ones with super teams and tankers. They end up with 8+ openings and with a bunch of teams that no one wants.

Posted by strikeout26 on 1/14/2020 11:34:00 AM (view original):

Posted by hockey1984 on 1/14/2020 9:32:00 AM (view original):

Posted by njohnson78 on 1/13/2020 12:30:00 PM (view original):
The best thing that could happen to this game would be WIS slashing half of the worlds. No more mergers, and say that a world has to fold if it can't fill in a week. Get back to a point where there is more demand than supply.

I'm pretty sure doing something like that would kill the site and have everyone in an uproar. You'd probably have 1-2 worlds Max alive if you implemented the ideas you just put forward.

There are more than 1-2 worlds that fill quickly. Maybe not many worlds, but the better worlds still fill fast. The worlds that struggle to fill are the ones with super teams and tankers. They end up with 8+ openings and with a bunch of teams that no one wants.

But not always. My point is 'consistently' season over season. I'm currently in Riley, back when the world rankings took place Riley was one of the fastest to turn over season to season (I think it even won for fastest one year). But there have been seasons when we waited a month or three months as well. 1 or 2 spots won't fill. People leave, others come back.

If you had worlds folding in a week if they couldn't fill, eventually a lot of worlds would fold. I do think they could put a cap on how long you wait before Admin merges worlds for you. If I had a team I had been molding for 20-30 seasons or more and my world folded I'd be pretty ******.

Posted by hockey1984 on 1/14/2020 1:26:00 PM (view original):

Posted by strikeout26 on 1/14/2020 11:34:00 AM (view original):

Posted by hockey1984 on 1/14/2020 9:32:00 AM (view original):

Posted by njohnson78 on 1/13/2020 12:30:00 PM (view original):
The best thing that could happen to this game would be WIS slashing half of the worlds. No more mergers, and say that a world has to fold if it can't fill in a week. Get back to a point where there is more demand than supply.

I'm pretty sure doing something like that would kill the site and have everyone in an uproar. You'd probably have 1-2 worlds Max alive if you implemented the ideas you just put forward.

There are more than 1-2 worlds that fill quickly. Maybe not many worlds, but the better worlds still fill fast. The worlds that struggle to fill are the ones with super teams and tankers. They end up with 8+ openings and with a bunch of teams that no one wants.

But not always. My point is 'consistently' season over season. I'm currently in Riley, back when the world rankings took place Riley was one of the fastest to turn over season to season (I think it even won for fastest one year). But there have been seasons when we waited a month or three months as well. 1 or 2 spots won't fill. People leave, others come back.

If you had worlds folding in a week if they couldn't fill, eventually a lot of worlds would fold. I do think they could put a cap on how long you wait before Admin merges worlds for you. If I had a team I had been molding for 20-30 seasons or more and my world folded I'd be pretty ******.

I don't mean this post offensive at all, but it will probably come out that way and I apologize in advance. Riley does appear to be a great world. You guys only have two teams on pace to win/lose 100 games. That's fantastic! But if you are having seasons where it takes a month or more to fill, the commish isn't doing his job. Doubleday has filled the same day that it has rolled six seasons in a row now. One season, I had as many as 6 openings to fill. MG and Coop are the same way. Opie does a great job there. I don't say that about Doubleday to toot my own horn. I'm just saying that it's not hard to find owners who want to be part of a good world. I'm guessing you enjoy Riley because of the parity. People love to compete. They don't like to play in worlds with a bunch of haves and have nots.

Saying all that, I agree with you. I would lose my mind if WIS folded up a league that I spent 10+ real life years in. I'm not advocating for njohnson's solution. I'm just saying that it's not as hard to fill a world as people make out. If a world is struggling to fill, there is something going on that is damaging that world.

On the other end of the spectrum WIS has to do their job. RIght now, they rely on volunteer commissioners to find customers for them. It's not the paying customers responsibility to bring in more paying customers. They do no advertising at all. It is FREE to advertise today. Social media doesn't have to cost a dime. It just takes time. They haven't posted on twitter since they bought the site. That's pathetic! It takes all of 12 seconds. They have a great product, but no one knows about it.

I actually don’t find the post you made offensive at all. There is for sure a lot of truth to it.

the times it has taken a while for Riley to roll over its because our comish will post in the classifieds and, much like fishing, we wait for a bite. Nothing wrong with that. None of us push to get it done faster (or probably even keep it at the top of the classifieds board to be honest).

it’s like you said, a lot of us there don’t want to do the job of what WIS should be doing. Quite the product they have created where paying customers are doing the advertising for them to bring in more paying customers (where do I sign up?)

I know. I wish I could get my businesses to run like that. I would play golf 8 hours a day.

Posted by hockey1984 on 1/14/2020 6:03:00 PM (view original):
I actually don’t find the post you made offensive at all. There is for sure a lot of truth to it.

the times it has taken a while for Riley to roll over its because our comish will post in the classifieds and, much like fishing, we wait for a bite. Nothing wrong with that. None of us push to get it done faster (or probably even keep it at the top of the classifieds board to be honest).

it’s like you said, a lot of us there don’t want to do the job of what WIS should be doing. Quite the product they have created where paying customers are doing the advertising for them to bring in more paying customers (where do I sign up?)

not many fish left in the pond.

There may have been a time when posting a classified ad would generate enough interest to fill vacancies, but that hasn't been the case for as long as I've been a commish. Building a wait list for a world requires substantial marketing site mails (my average is at least 60 per opening). It takes time from managing my teams but that is the primary role of the commish. If you're in a world that is slow to fill and your commish isn't doing that level of marketing, then you need a new one (or strong marketing partner) that's willing to do it.

There are still around 1800 players of the game...

I am relatively new to this game. I love the game. It seems crazy to me there are only 1800 players. A few ads on fanball, mlb trade rumors, etc, seems like the return on investment would be pretty high, plus the slow rollovers is not helping what if either.