Sniping

[robinhoodnik]

Can you (Clay) put in an easy method of determining when "sniping" has taken place? I am tired of being sniped and having to pore over all of the players in a league to determine the who and when. Could you add a section to the FA section that would show, to within 5 minutes of bidding closing, who was signed and by whom and if there was a previous bid on him? This way it would make it faster to determine who was doing the sniping and let EVERYONE in the league know what went down. I mainly ask because I am tired of doing all of the research on the players who don't get a look from other GM's and when I offer a contract, some $#@%^&* vulture comes in , checks to see what I saw after spending time looking, and snipes the guy :mad: . Please add a feature to help stem this activity.

[petrel]

Here's an idea, although I don't think it can ever be implemented.

Blind Bidding.

The problem with sniping is that it takes a lot of realism out of the game. I've never seen any free agent in baseball say, "okay guys, it's an open auction, I'll accept any bids until 11:59:59, then at midnight I go to the highest bidder."

Under a blind bidding system you can bid on free agents - but no one knows what you've bid.

If another team comes along to bid after you and fails to match your bid, they would receive a message - "Your bid has been rejected." They would then have to wait ONE HOUR (or some other suitable time limit) to bid again, and would NOT be told what the leading bid is. This keeps snipers from waiting until the last minute and adding the minimum amount to the last bid.

If another team comes along and outbids you, the winning team would receive a message, "your bid has been accepted". The team that was outbid would receive another message - "you have been outbid". The outbid team would then get a chance to immediately counteroffer, i.e., they would not have to wait one hour.

I don't know if this would work or not. I'm just proposing a solution.

--Pet

[robinhoodnik]

Or that would be a nice option too. Just make the lazy gm's start to do some work for themselves. The stars are obviously going to be bid on heavily. As I earlier pointed out, I'm mainly concerned with the lower peak guys. I recently did my own personal test and found that there were a few guys I would like to add to my team. I put in reasonable bids (not the asking price but not the minimum either), waited overnight, waited some more, then when it looked like I had a couple of guys, I checked, and Nope, some one swooped in and grabbed my "diamonds in the rough". Coincidentally, the guys that I also found who were similar in peaks and abilities, are STILL unsigned and unbid on. This really is a big problem and with no absolute way to stop it (league rules only work if someone actually sits and watches, obviously.) people will continue to risk getting caught and hosing the really good, and active gm's. It's nothing but a reward for laziness. Just wait until somebody does all the work, then come in at the last second, and collect all of the benefits of my work and you'll do well.

[robinhoodnik]

I'd like a sealed bid option if it is at all possible. No response until the deadline has passed. Then you'd find out who the more skilled gm's were.

[Sturge]

I'd suggest only bidding at the last minute yourself and adjust your max bid if people are blatantly feeding off you.

[robinhoodnik]

No, I'm just not going to bid on the guys I research. I'll sign them after the bidding period. I'd like to see some kind of commish. option that would reduce the likelyhood of sniping. Some leagues have "No Sniping" rules, but it's very hard to enforce these without a LOT of time being spent on it. Just a sealed bid option would cure it. You make your first, best offer then wait. Again, this would be ONLY a league option for those leagues that ban it.

[Cipster]

Sniping happens, yes it is annoying but just put a max you are comfortable with and move on.
Oh and please nerf your sig, its really huge.

[SFSteveG]

Sniping happens, yes it is annoying but just put a max you are comfortable with and move on.
Oh and please nerf your sig, its really huge.

Check out some of the old timers (high posters) here. They have half page "Ads" in their siggies or lifetime BMO stats.

[robinhoodnik]

Sniping happens, yes it is annoying but just put a max you are comfortable with and move on.
Oh and please nerf your sig, its really huge.
I've edited mine for now. You should see the animated sigs that some commishes run. I'll be re-editing it as I see fit though. Commishes need to do this to attract players to leagues.

[peiklk]

Can you (Clay) put in an easy method of determining when "sniping" has taken place? I am tired of being sniped and having to pore over all of the players in a league to determine the who and when. Could you add a section to the FA section that would show, to within 5 minutes of bidding closing, who was signed and by whom and if there was a previous bid on him? This way it would make it faster to determine who was doing the sniping and let EVERYONE in the league know what went down. I mainly ask because I am tired of doing all of the research on the players who don't get a look from other GM's and when I offer a contract, some $#@%^&* vulture comes in , checks to see what I saw after spending time looking, and snipes the guy :mad: . Please add a feature to help stem this activity.

For the record, he was NOT sniped in the situation he's complaining about. I stumbled upon this player with 15-20 minutes left and bid. He'd already put in his high bid and got beat. He acts like he's been wronged in some way, the but truth is he was not. I did not lurk and wait for him to turn green and nab him. I came along, decided to look for a pitcher and there he was. It's stupid that this much griping is going on when the player was taken fair and square. (and BTW, the pitcher in question has not performed well, so I did him a favor :)).

The solution is put in the highest bid you want to pay and then if you get beat, you get beat. Everyone knows this and no one seems to have a problem with it. I've bid on many guys where the price got too high and backed off.

If someone bids during the processing time, then that is sniping and SHOULD be resolved. A flag for "processing" should be set when processing starts and ALL buttons should check for the flag and not allow any changes during that time. Roster moves, bids, trades, etc. A simple message "League processing at this time, please wait." would suffice.

[Bgsexy66]

For the record, he was NOT sniped in the situation he's complaining about. I stumbled upon this player with 15-20 minutes left and bid. He'd already put in his high bid and got beat. He acts like he's been wronged in some way, the but truth is he was not. I did not lurk and wait for him to turn green and nab him. I came along, decided to look for a pitcher and there he was. It's stupid that this much griping is going on when the player was taken fair and square. (and BTW, the pitcher in question has not performed well, so I did him a favor :)).

The solution is put in the highest bid you want to pay and then if you get beat, you get beat. Everyone knows this and no one seems to have a problem with it. I've bid on many guys where the price got too high and backed off.

If someone bids during the processing time, then that is sniping and SHOULD be resolved. A flag for "processing" should be set when processing starts and ALL buttons should check for the flag and not allow any changes during that time. Roster moves, bids, trades, etc. A simple message "League processing at this time, please wait." would suffice.
Well a simple solution would be to hold a blind Auction every year. However this would take time and most likely a league pause would be in order. It also states what a player is seeking when you check out his stats page and based on his performance and your judgement on that player make a bid you feel is the "right price tag" and if you get him thats great, but always have a back up plan, or two or how many ever you might think you need.

[SFSteveG]

Well a simple solution would be to hold a blind Auction every year. However this would take time and most likely a league pause would be in order. It also states what a player is seeking when you check out his stats page and based on his performance and your judgement on that player make a bid you feel is the "right price tag" and if you get him thats great, but always have a back up plan, or two or how many ever you might think you need.

I don't see why this is such a big problem. If you bid the most you would be willing to pay and someone beats you then they were willing to pay more and that should be that. If you bid less than you are willing to pay in this style auction you deserve to lose the player.