I handle some of the commish duties in Mays, one of the public worlds on the list. We've requested to go private in the past with the same rejection everyone else has received.

Mays was one of the first worlds formed when this began, and I think just about everyone at the time just wanted to get into a world and start playing, without considering public vs private implications. This would have been the same for any of the initial public worlds.

I do agree that the only way to make this work for both sides is to implement some sort of requirement - that way it really does take the decision making out of the hands of WIS and they can fall back on the requirements to decide any issue.

Hopefully, tec, you've submitted this idea to them. I know they oftentimes read the threads and they've likely read this one, but a ticket would guarantee its been seen.

It is in a ticket, I'm awaiting their response.

Public world owners want their world to go private. Private world owners want to go public to fill faster. Carousel Dynasty, anyone?

Good private worlds don't need to go public to fill.

I think you have a stronger case at 60%, tec. Taking 8 teams out of the pool is a big concession - taking 3, including one that (?) didn't have any openings at rollover - is minimal.

As for the larger issue, my first HBD experience was in sandlot, since contracted. I'm leaving one league (Puckett) for another (Ron Cey), keeping my team level at 4. I am searching out leagues with a high level of competitive balance (as I define it), commitment to the active management of minor leagues, and strict anti-tanking guidelines. After figuring things out, I now know what I want from my HBD experience. And, as a consumer, I'm gonna do anything I deem necessary to my enjoyment of the product. I feel bad, sometimes, for losing the chance to compete with owners in my old leagues. But I lose no sleep over it. When sandlot did not fill and no one recruited for it, it was time to leave.

Contraction works. Having standards and rules helps differentiate "the product" and supply currently exceeds demand. If a league is open for more than a month, it should be given a "5 day notice" that it has to fill or it'll be contracted. All league participants on that 5th day will retain their rosters, but not historical stats, and be put into the "open pool". Once there are 32 teams in the open pool, they'll be grouped in a new world, starting "year one".

If a league cannot fill in 35 calendar days, it does not deserve to live. Keep the customers with one and two teams playing the game.

I think that any world requiring to go Public to fill should stay public to fill the void for Public worlds that want to go Private.

There's your potential solution to the problem they have. Public worlds with committed owners shouldn't be forced to deal with bad owners as they come up just out of bad luck.

And Private worlds that fail to fill the world in a timely manner don't deserve to stay private if being private is seen as somewhat special.

I think there should be some criteria for going private. Mantle has a pretty impressive history of retention and it'd be nice to have a chance to either screen some owners who want to be in the league or allow franchises to trade cities. Heck I moved my squad from the crazy city of San Fran to Salem. The people of Washington loved the move... although they've yet to see a pennant since we packed up the semis.

If you are a private world and you can't fill after a certain period of time then you should be considered public. Some of the worlds who can't fill for a month obviously don't have the network of WIS addicts that the leagues who fill in a couple of days do.

Quote: Originally posted by tecwrg on 9/14/2009Good private worlds don't need to go public to fill.

There doesn't seem to be an alternative at the moment. I'm sure there are others in the same situation as Harold Reynolds. We rolled over in about a day after switching from Season 9 to 10. We've been sitting about 10 days now since moving to Season 11, and the commish has now decided to go public. Our classified ad received no replies.

We just lost users with 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 10 seasons in the world. This wasn't a series of one-and-done owners, and these guys didn't take their business elsewhere. Not one of them has added another team since dropping HR.

Perhaps HR wasn't good enough.

It looks like a purely supply and demand thing. If I ran this site, I would be checking out how the competitors are doing to see if the reduction in season purchases is due to reductions in discretionary spending or if it's due to losing customers to competitors.

WIS can contract worlds, or they could offer more incentives for multiple-season purchases. They could also offer a larger reward for referring others. I'm not one to complain about the size of rewards, but offering a 20% kickback on a first purchase (only) doesn't amount to much when someone comes and tries the site at the intro rate of $15 for their first season. At $3 per referral, the incentive to refer new guys isn't a huge motivator. I would consider offering the incentive for the 2nd purchase - not the first, since it appears to me to be very addicting once you get involved. That would absolutely increase the motivation for current members to refer others to the game.

Just my .02 (or less)

Two, three bucks isn't much of an incentive for anyone with a job. Incentives don't really work for HBD. It's time consuming. You either enjoy it or you don't. Saving $3 for the next 90 days isn't going to be a deal-maker.

It's definitely a supply/demand problem. Not sure if I mentioned this in this thread but there's a serious lack of demand. I'll just use MGraham as an example. Most of HBD considers it a top world. And, because of this, we don't have an issue filling. Owners have waited 4 seasons to get in. We're not the only world where this occurs. This needs to happen far more frequently.

Right now, an owner can pick between 9 public worlds and, just ballparking, 20 private worlds. So that's around 130-150 openings. There's no way to supply that with $3 incentives. If supply was cut, a demand would be created. As I mentioned earlier, I'd just start with the newest worlds. I'd let them know they have 7 days to fill and, if they can't, they'd be subject to contraction.

FWIW, I have no issue with anyone remaining private for months on end. The guy who's willing to wait 4 months to keep his team isn't likely to just join another world if that team is taken from him.

But, once you go public, I'd give you 7 days. Everyone would know the risk of going public. And there would be no going back to private. And, because of this, I'd give every public world the option to go private. No standards or guidelines. Tell every public world that, at next rollover, they have the option of going private or risking contraction.

Firm, but fair.

That's me.

WifS should take a stand. They have a problem and it needs to be addressed. They'd take a hit, a rather substantial one, but they'd have stronger, better product once it's done. The hardest part would be saying "We made a mistake. This is how we're going to fix it" and stick by it when all the complaining starts.

The plan:

1. Tell every public world that they have the option to go private at next rollover(and give the same option to all current open public worlds). Advise them, if they choose to remain public, that they could be subject to contraction if they don't fill in 7 days(or 10, whatever).

2. Make sure private worlds understand that they would be subject to contraction if they go public.

3. Contract public worlds based on tenure/demand. If a new demand is created, open public-wifs controlled worlds as needed. But make sure everyone who joins this new world that they are subject to contraction should demand decrease and they can't fill in the 7-10 days.

I think this would lead to owners getting into "good" worlds and staying(sort of the point of "Dynasty"). I think private worlds would think twice about flooding the public market because they have "no other option".

WifS could probably do themselves a PR favor by issuing $5 credits for each season played in a contracted world. This might lessen the sting of losing your 130 win team in 'tard world.

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