I've always been opposed to the idea of incorporating Live Play into HBD, but it looks like they've been pushing ahead with it and are almost ready to roll it out.  I received the following sitemail in my inbox this morning.  I guess I'm intrigued enough to give it a shot, though I'm still pretty skeptical about the whole concept and that it's going to really f-up the integrity of the game itself.

Just curious to see who else received this and will be participating?

Good morning.

As one of the longtime customers of our Hardball Dynasty baseball simulation game, you have been selected to participate in a very exciting addition to the game that we have been working on for a long time . . . LIVE PLAY!

LIVE PLAY will allow you to manage your team during game play in real time against a live opponent. This gives you the ultimate ability to control such in-game decisions as pitching changes, pinch hitting, bunting, base stealing, hit-and-run, playing the infield in, etc. YOU have total control of the game! Think you can outsmart and outplay your opponent? It's time for you to step up to the plate and prove it!

We have been extensively testing LIVE PLAY in-house for the past few months, and are now ready to roll it out to a select group of our most respected HBD owners for a couple of weeks of beta testing. Once we have 32 confirmed participants, will will open up our beta-world, which has already been fully pre-populated with teams and rosters, and is paused at the opening day of it's regular season. We hope to be able to have this activated on Monday, April 4 at 10:00am EDT. We anticipate that the beta-program will conclude on or around Friday, April 22

If you are willing to participate, please click on the below link and you will be directed to our beta-site where you will confirm your interest in helping us test this exciting new feature. By agreeing to participate in this special beta-program, you are also agreeing to offer feelback and answer a handful of surveys to the HBD development staff at various points during the test period. Finally, as a special thanks for your participation, you will be offered WIS credits that can be used towards any of our games at WhatIfSports.com.

Full details can be found at our beta-site when you click the below link.

(link deleted by me)

Thank you!

WhatIfSports

Me.  Not sure if I'll do it.   If I do, it will only be so I can repeatedly state that the commish of a world should have control over whether it can used in that specific world.

I signed up; pretty jacked.

This probably explains why there hasn't been an update in months.

That was the first thing that I thought of when I read the message.  It's been REALLY quiet in that regard.

Figures. I ***** in a couple of tickets about the AI's stupid substitutions when it comes to defense, so of course they shut me out of the live play beta where I could make the subs myself.

Vindictive bastards. I hope it crashes.

OMG NOW WAYS !@!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!!@!@!@!@!@@!@!@!@!@!@!@

Posted by antonsirius on 4/1/2011 9:59:00 AM (view original):
Figures. I ***** in a couple of tickets about the AI's stupid substitutions when it comes to defense, so of course they shut me out of the live play beta where I could make the subs myself.

Vindictive bastards. I hope it crashes.

You have 12 completed seasons.

And you have a broken sarcasm detector.

Good point.  I'm guessing that only those owners who have a fair amount of seasons under their belts have been invited.

Yeah, looking at the sitemail again, it says "longtime customers" of HBD right in the first paragraph.

It also says "most respected" in the third paragraph.

anton = disrespected

It must suck to be a nobody.

THE ELITISTS WIN AGAIN!!!!!

I feel slighted though.  I guess I don't make the top 32 HBDer list

I'm sure they sent it to more than 32.   So you probably don't make the top 70.