Sorry in advance for the wall-o-text, but these are things I have been thinking about for awhile, and today's dev chat along with this post finally motivated me to put everything down on paper.
I have been in many progressives, and even ran my own. While we did have a decent amount of defections, the main reason I did not continue running my league was the amount of work it took to run a draft on a year to year basis. Streamlining this process would definitely help progressive leagues as a whole.
All of your suggestions are good firecapt, and I would like to add some things to them, and add some more of my own.
Quote: Originally posted by firecapt on 7/01/20091. When keepers need to be posted instead of posting in the forums, your team could be already connected to our league. All players would be automatically moved up 1 year. DL players would be listed but marked as DL. You could then cut any players from your roster.
This is obvious, and makes total sense. However, I am not sure where things would fit within WIS's current architecture. Possibly creating something like a progressive league lobby might make sense. It would have to be a new creation, but would handle advancing player rosters (triggered by the commish), marking DL players, and allowing cuts. All players are assumed as keepers, until they are cut by the owner. After the cut date, the number of picks each owner needs could be calculated.
Quote: Originally posted by firecapt on 7/01/20092. Available player lists could be generated for on screen viewing or printing.
Also obvious and makes perfect sense. What I would love to see is the ability to expand a player's career from the available players list. For example, a league is heading into the 1927 season, coming off 1926. The available players list will show all of the available players' 1927 seasons. There would be an additional button somewhere that would allow you expand and display all of the remaining years, starting in 1927. This would apply to both 1927 rookies, and players that had been cut. Some other metrics, like total career salary, career salary/season, career OPS+ (or ERC+), etc. could definitely be useful when trying to do player comparisons.
Quote: Originally posted by firecapt on 7/01/20093. A updated draft feature would be used to conduct the draft. The present WIS draft program is not bad but has some faults. No ability to do proxies or no draft queue. (I have not used the WIS draft utility in a while, if these things have been added, sorry)
Disclaimer: I too have only used the draft utility once, and it was also awhile ago, so some changes may have been made.
I think the biggest issue with the current draft utility is not allowing proxies. Essentially, giving someone a list of players you’re interested in and having them draft your highest ranked player is just a draft queue, which was mentioned. This could be handled similar to the way some fantasy draft engines handle things, where every available player is given a ranking, and if you aren’t around to make your pick, your highest ranked player is chosen. However, this relies on a default ranking system, which is internally generated by the draft engine, which could be easier said than done. An easier approach would just to allow people to enter a 5 (or 10) player list for a SINGLE pick, if they won't be around to make it. For example, I am going to miss my 3rd round pick. So, I submit a list of 5 currently available players (with draft priority), and when my pick comes around, my highest ranked player is taken. If they have all been taken, no pick is made (or one is made based on the internal player rankings, if such a thing is implemented).
Quote: Originally posted by firecapt on 7/01/20094. (more draft features) The ability to view instant player availability lists, all team rosters and needs. The draft utility could handle traded picks, time slots and sitemailing upcoming picks. No more picking out of order or selecting a previously picked player.
Traded picks would probably have to be handled manually by the commish, but that seems simple enough. Just give the commish access to the draft order after it is generated but before the draft actually starts, and he can make edits as needed. Auto-sitemailing for upcoming picks is a great idea.
Quote: Originally posted by firecapt on 7/01/20095. At anytime during the process you can pay or transfer an empty draft center team to cover your team.
This would also need to be addressed, but this seems simple enough as well.
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A few other items:
A: Be able to handle multi-year progressives (1920 and 1970 playing together). This could be a league where both the 20s and 70s are mingled together (more common) or a situation where the AL is 1920 and the NL is 1970, or something like that (less common).
B: Be able to handle a minors system, where people are able to keep more than 25 players. This could be addressed by just forcing leagues that have more than 25 keepers to use the AAA slots.
C: The ability to define a formula for draft order based on previous season standings probably wouldn't be bad, but this is easily handled by the commish.
D: The ability to make your league public or private. This would allow anyone to view your league, past draft histories, current draft orders, etc. if so desired. I know one of the complaints that I heard when many leagues went to private forums was that it was harder for people to look at past drafts to see where certain players were going.
F: The ability to schedule a draft start date and time, but allow picks to be made off the clock ahead of time (which is what happens in just about every progressive draft).
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With all that said, there are a few drawbacks.
What using the forum offers commissioners is unlimited flexibility. League rules can be whatever anyone comes up with. Things like regressive/progressive leagues could be more difficult to handle with the above system. A league like DrK's Kings Royal Progressive, that has players from random years all over history progressing year by year would be just about impossible to handle. However, using the forums, this is no more difficult than a standard single year progressive. Any issues that arise, such as a missed keeper, can be handled very simply. Things like that may not be so easy with the above system.
I think the reason the forum draft system has lasted as long as it has is because people have ultimate control. They can create whatever they want, and have the power to fix any errors that pop up. They can make rule changes and the league moves forward (such as adding a DH once the league reaches that point). All of this would need to be built into the new system, and it is a pretty long list. Even if the above system is implemented, I still think there will be a decent amount of leagues that continue using a forum system. As long as there are people out there willing to put the time in to run drafts, there will be plenty of people willing to play.
Also, a variation on the system would have to be developed to handle first season drafts, since there are no previous keeper lists to go off of, etc. This shouldn't be terribly difficult, but it is something that needs to be addressed.
Anyway, those are most of my thoughts on progressives. I will add more if I think of them. Comments and criticisms are welcome.