Quote:
Originally posted by Lamorak
What kind of league I'd like:
Active, intelligent, fair, open, mature.
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Leagues with younger players seem to be far more active, but frequently that high activity breeds negatives like online feuds & pissing contests, extreme trade sharking, and in absolute worst cases - cheating.
Quote:
Originally posted by Lamorak
What am I concerned by?
Cheating, flame-wars,
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Even though they tend to not be as uber active, I'd strongly suggest a league of older players to avoid these concerns. Cheating and flame wars are far more common in leagues of younger players (sorry kids, dats da facts
). I would not want to rule out modern leagues but the likelihood of young owners increases when the league is a modern day league.
Quote:
Originally posted by Lamorak
constant rule modifications, rule lawyers
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To me rule modifications can be a very good thing if they are the result of game loopholes. There does need to be consistency though - if you are keeping a tight budget because finances are on it would be grossly unfair for the Commish to decide the league goes in no-finance mode next sim
. There need to be some rules to avoid as much unfairness as possible, but rules should never be made just for the hell of it, and the priority should always be the game not the rules.
Quote:
Originally posted by Lamorak
and most of all; owners who live by sucker trades with less skilled players. That last, I REALLY hate.
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This is usually subjective, and I must say I dislike jealous/resentful GM's almost as much as the trade sharking GM's
. There can be obvious trade sharking, even collusion, but in most leagues I think (hope) that is rare. The only leagues I have personally seen that behavior in have folded within a year and a half of starting. The trade shark will eat itself I guess.
Sometimes trades that
appear uneven will be great trades for both clubs, so you can't really call those sucker trades. All that said, here are my trade shark pet peeves:
1) An owner that outright lies about a player. A common old example is saying the player has never been injured. OOTP4 fixed this issue with it's player history logging.
2) An owner that puts the screws (hard sell) on an obviously unexperienced owner. Heavy pressure combined with outright lies will be what the worst trade shark offender does.
3) If an owner combines some sort of league stature (like Commish or League President) with the above two habits that might be the absolute worst shark. Fortunately I've never seen any evidence of that kind of character
.
The best way IMO to prevent sharking is to encourage lots of league communication and to have a league that does not get new GM's every month. I have seen trade sharks reputations ruined so badly that they have to struggle to get anyone to trade with them - in many cases they will have to overpay just to get another deal done. Also, for newbie owners it would be handy to have some kind of anti-sharking guide. It might be wise for a new GM to not make any trades for 1 season, or to run every 1st year trade offer by a league rep.
Lamorak, most of those things you mention might be avoided if you choose a veteran league that has been around 5+ seasons. The length of time usually means the Commish is solid, and the league has retained enough core GM's with a stake in their team, players, and the league that they will police themselves for dishonest conduct, sharking, flaming etc.. Good luck finding your ultimate OOTP league
.