Complaint about duplicate random cities

nsorens · 06-20-2008, 12:25 AM

I'd just like to complain about this again: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...locations.html

In case it's not readily apparent WHY I hate this so much (and it must not be, if it is "working as intended"), let me explain:
- I dislike having two teams from a city that isn't even large enough to support one. I'd be OK with multiple teams from the largest metropolitan areas: Chicago, New York, LA, Houston, Dallas. Not individual New York neighborhoods--2 teams from Queens? Give me a break.
- I dislike two teams having the same team abbreviation. If there are two identical cities generated, at the very least the game should come up with different abbreviations for them, as this can cause major headaches later on in stat tracking if not fixed manually by the user. Why would anyone intentionally design a system to cause these kinds of problems?
- I dislike having to figure out IF there are duplicates. Since there is no way to sort the team list, it is a chore to spot the duplicates. This is my biggest complaint about the system.
- There is no way to generate a new city name for a single team automatically. While I could just type in a new city, I want them all to be random.

mrdrewblue · 06-20-2008, 12:39 AM

Agree with what the OP is saying... I like the feature a lot, but it certainly needs some improvement. Still... what a great game!

The Wolf · 06-20-2008, 12:44 AM

Valid complaint IMO.

theasfl · 06-20-2008, 01:29 AM

I've added it as BZ#1455. I think its been brought up before, but can't hurt to be put in there.

Elendil · 06-20-2008, 02:00 AM

One way to reduce dramatically the likelihood of duplicate cities is to equalize all the city populations in the cities file. Can be done quickly by copying and pasting the data into Excel, then dragging down the new value. Cities with large populations are more likely to be chosen, so equalizing the populations makes all the cities equally likely to be chosen, and there are a ton of cities in the database.

But this is just a workaround, and it would be better to have a fix within the game.

kq76 · 06-20-2008, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elendil

One way to reduce dramatically the likelihood of duplicate cities is to equalize all the city populations in the cities file. Can be done quickly by copying and pasting the data into Excel, then dragging down the new value. Cities with large populations are more likely to be chosen, so equalizing the populations makes all the cities equally likely to be chosen, and there are a ton of cities in the database.

But this is just a workaround, and it would be better to have a fix within the game.

Uhh, he said he doesn't too much mind duplicates of the largest cities, but he does very much mind duplicates of others. Wouldn't your suggestion actually increase the likelihood of generating the very thing he minds the most? I think you might be on the right track, but maybe what he should do is create a bigger spread between the largest cities and the smallest (that is, increase the populations of the largest cities). That way there'd be less chance of the smallest cities getting duplicated.

Either way, it'd be nice to see this workaround not needed as it can be a difficult problem.

EDIT: Yeah, I get it now, the sheer number of cities drives down the chances for all. I must have been thinking of my fictional league where I limit myself to a few dozen cities only.

nsorens · 06-20-2008, 12:50 PM

Actually, what I mind most is having to search out the duplicates. I would be perfectly fine with no duplicates at all.

The chance of duplicates is much higher if certain cities have a higher chance of being selected. If there are 500 cities all with equal probabilty of being selected, the chance of at least 1 duplicate city name is 58.84% (in a league of 30 teams). If there are 500 cities, and the top 30 cities each have a 5x greater population/selection chance than the remaining cities, then the chance of at least 1 duplicate city name is 97.76%. Evening out the chances of selection will always provide the lowest chance of duplication.

But if the designer insists on keeping the possibility of duplicates, I would like to see it restricted to those major cities.

By the way, I have seen 3 Dallas teams generated in the same division.

06-20-2008, 12:39 AM	#2
mrdrewblue Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Detroit, MI Posts: 55	Agree with what the OP is saying... I like the feature a lot, but it certainly needs some improvement. Still... what a great game! __________________

06-20-2008, 01:29 AM	#4
theasfl Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Coral Springs, FL or Orlando, FL (UCF) Posts: 7,988	I've added it as BZ#1455. I think its been brought up before, but can't hurt to be put in there. __________________ All-Sports Fantasy League The ASFL 22 different games, 9 sports. Please check out the website (www.theasfl.com/asfl2/). The league is free- if you're interested please fill out the signup form and/or email the commissioner. Miami Talons (ABL): 2004, 2005 & 2008 Champs

06-20-2008, 02:00 AM	#5
Elendil Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the dynasty forum Posts: 2,318	One way to reduce dramatically the likelihood of duplicate cities is to equalize all the city populations in the cities file. Can be done quickly by copying and pasting the data into Excel, then dragging down the new value. Cities with large populations are more likely to be chosen, so equalizing the populations makes all the cities equally likely to be chosen, and there are a ton of cities in the database. But this is just a workaround, and it would be better to have a fix within the game. __________________ Heaven is kicking back with a double Talisker and a churchwarden stuffed with latakia.

06-20-2008, 12:25 AM	#1
nsorens Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 30	Complaint about duplicate random cities I'd just like to complain about this again: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...locations.html In case it's not readily apparent WHY I hate this so much (and it must not be, if it is "working as intended"), let me explain: - I dislike having two teams from a city that isn't even large enough to support one. I'd be OK with multiple teams from the largest metropolitan areas: Chicago, New York, LA, Houston, Dallas. Not individual New York neighborhoods--2 teams from Queens? Give me a break. - I dislike two teams having the same team abbreviation. If there are two identical cities generated, at the very least the game should come up with different abbreviations for them, as this can cause major headaches later on in stat tracking if not fixed manually by the user. Why would anyone intentionally design a system to cause these kinds of problems? - I dislike having to figure out IF there are duplicates. Since there is no way to sort the team list, it is a chore to spot the duplicates. This is my biggest complaint about the system. - There is no way to generate a new city name for a single team automatically. While I could just type in a new city, I want them all to be random.

06-20-2008, 12:50 PM	#7
nsorens Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 30	Actually, what I mind most is having to search out the duplicates. I would be perfectly fine with no duplicates at all. The chance of duplicates is much higher if certain cities have a higher chance of being selected. If there are 500 cities all with equal probabilty of being selected, the chance of at least 1 duplicate city name is 58.84% (in a league of 30 teams). If there are 500 cities, and the top 30 cities each have a 5x greater population/selection chance than the remaining cities, then the chance of at least 1 duplicate city name is 97.76%. Evening out the chances of selection will always provide the lowest chance of duplication. But if the designer insists on keeping the possibility of duplicates, I would like to see it restricted to those major cities. By the way, I have seen 3 Dallas teams generated in the same division.