How to find a good home?

[Killebrew]

Regarding the trade shark versus jealous/resentful GM's...

Originally posted by Lamorak
Why is that the case?
In my experience, a 'trade shark' can quickly destroy an entire league, not only ruining general competition with the construction of a unbeatable uber-mega-franchise, but also by leaving teams he's pillaged in ruins that no new players in their right mind would want to deal with.

Jealous/resentful GM's will (at worse) spread seeds of discontent. But unless other players agree with them, they won't take root.

I have come across Jealous/resentful GM's about as often as the trade shark variety. These guys assume that everyone uses the same player and team strategy value judgements as they do, and when they see a trade they don't like they assume there is trade sharking going on. In some cases these trades will hurt their teams chances and in some cases there is a player involved in the deal that they need badly, and of course they always woulda' given up more in return. I say they are almost as bad as the trade sharks because they can drive off good owners and break up a league as well as the trade sharks can.

Originally posted by Lamorak
If that is the case then the reasons behind these negative feelings are somewhat insignificant. Whatever the reasons for them, the end result is still a disappointed faction who feel they cannot compete with this individual or core group of owners. In some cases this results in a league where only half the teams are constantly owned by the same person and all other teams are mostly vacant. Or at best have a steady stream of 'caretaker' managers, who after a single season quit in frustration.

Yup, several leagues are like this and you will see variations of this theme even in some of the top leagues. When you play against other humans you have to accept that others won't play the game the same way you do or value players the same way you do. Many hardcore solo players struggle with this concept when they first play in online leagues.

[MannyTrillo]

That's very good advice from Killibrew! I remember when I first started playing on-line, I pulled off a trade that I thought was ridiculously to my advantage- I wondered if I had done something wrong, only to find out later that the GM I had traded with was one of the best in the league, and he ended up winning the championship. Since then, I have frequently offered trades that I thought were perfectly reasonable, to other GMs that I respect... only to get responses that suggested the other GM thought I was trying to rip him off somehow. Similary, I have gotten trade offers from good GMs where I can't understand how they would possibly think that I would accept such a deal. The point being- as Killebrew was saying- two very good GMs might value players very differently, and one should always be careful about accusing anyone of "sharking."

That said, I have noticed a tendency on the part of new GMs to want to put their stamp on the new team, and frequently make blockbuster deals before they really understand how the league works and what sort of players are particularly valuable... I've been guilty of this myself once or twice! I would suggest to any commissioner that new GMs be prohibited from making trades for at least a few real-time weeks.