Another question about league evolution

[goalieump413]

OK, so I asked before about my "38 man roster", which, due to league evolution, is now part of my league. No complaints necessarily, but two more things have happened that now start to raise some questions...

1. The Milwaukee Brewers moved to Columbus OH and are now called the Metropolitans. They're still in the NL Central, they suck, etc.
2. My league's 15 day DL is now a 13 day DL. That happened at the start of the 2016 season.

I don't necessarily mind the changes, as the Brewers move to Columbus could be considered an ownership change/team move thing. Kinda real world.

But the Major League short DL changing to 13 days seems an arbitrary move, and not based on any sort of logic. On one hand, making a change is just the game's "sandbox mentality" for lack of a better term, taking over. But on the other, in the 4th year of my league's in-game history, 3 pretty notable changes? So in a decade of operation, I should expect 7 or 8 league operational changes? That seems excessive.

I know I could just turn off evolution, or just deselect the options, but I don't really want to hand-pick what to look for.

So, I wonder how continuously other's leagues have been evolving? Is it a viral game response?

[Le Grande Orange]

Yeah, unfortunately the changes initiated by league evolution are basically arbitrary. That is, they don't feel like changes happening in response to conditions in the game world. They're essentially drawn out of a hat. Hopefully in the future this feature can be refined to make the changes which come about feel more 'organic' and a natural result of the particukar conditions existing in that baseball universe.

[The Game]

In my ABF league all the changes so far all happened in the 1st 3 years. I am in 2008 now and since 2002 no changes. I am hoping for expansion soon. One team moved (I moved them back), 38 man roster, player demotion is gone, unless they can refuse.

[JohnHoward]

Interesting. Do you know what other process introduces changes that are completely arbitrary? Evolution.

Note that this doesn't prevent people from trying to find some "logic" behind the changes.

[JohnHoward]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Yeah, unfortunately the changes initiated by league evolution are basically arbitrary. That is, they don't feel like changes happening in response to conditions in the game world. They're essentially drawn out of a hat. Hopefully in the future this feature can be refined to make the changes which come about feel more 'organic' and a natural result of the particukar conditions existing in that baseball universe.

Hmmm, maybe we should rename the feature "league intelligent design" instead of "league evolution"!

[RchW]

Lucky I had a cloth handy to wipe the coffee off my monitor. LOL

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by JohnHoward

Hmmm, maybe we should rename the feature "league intelligent design" instead of "league evolution"!

In theory, neither evolution nor intelligent design are supposed to be random.

[JohnHoward]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

In theory, neither evolution nor intelligent design are supposed to be random.

In which theory? "Random" is kind of a loaded word. In one sense of the word, yes, evolution is not "random", however it certainly isn't teleological, whereas ID clearly is.

[BaseballMan]

Wheres Richard Dawkins when you need him?

[Stealcompany]

I've wondered about the possibility of having the league evolution changes occur as options where the game would present us with two or three potential changes during the off-season and we could choose one or the other or elect to keep things as they are.

I've also thought that it might be useful to have a news item called something like "Franchise watch" which would alert us to possible changes to team locations before they happen. Something like:

"It looks like prospective buyers are circling the Peoria Polecats. Just coming off their third 100 loss season, the Polecats have become a financial as well as artistic failure. Rumours say that inquiries have come from Houston, Las Vegas and Plano about a possible purchase and relocation of the team."

That news item might even trigger a relocation choice where we could pick the city and the team name - which would be pretty cool.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Stealcompany

I've wondered about the possibility of having the league evolution changes occur as options where the game would present us with two or three potential changes during the off-season and we could choose one or the other or elect to keep things as they are.

I've been advocating for some time now the concept of interactive winter meetings, where proposed rule (and other) changes would come up for a vote, just like in real life.

There'd be news articles in advance of the meetings detailing the issues coming up, and an estimate of the likelihood of the vote being yay or nay. After the voting, there'd be news articles describing the outcome for each issue. (You can find this sort of real-life news coverage in the first half of the 20th century in newspapers.)

[goalieump413]

The only real problem I have with defining "evolution" as a arbitrary AI act, is that evolution, by it's nature, is basically a response to changing conditions, not a "try this and see if it works" approach. And, the "evolution" of baseball occurs on a larger time scale than 3 changes in 3+ seasons. That might work for smart phones and tax laws, but it's not the same in baseball.

It just seems like the option in the game is over-caffeinated. You're either assaulted with change, or get no change at all. Is there a modifier somewhere in the league setup?

[RchW]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

In theory, neither evolution nor intelligent design are supposed to be random.

To be more precise Natural Selection is not random but genetic variations via mutations acted on by Natural Selection are.

[The Wolf]

PBS:

"7. Is evolution a random process?

Evolution is not a random process. The genetic variation on which natural selection acts may occur randomly, but natural selection itself is not random at all. The survival and reproductive success of an individual is directly related to the ways its inherited traits function in the context of its local environment. Whether or not an individual survives and reproduces depends on whether it has genes that produce traits that are well adapted to its environment."

[SunDevil]

Originally Posted by Stealcompany

I've wondered about the possibility of having the league evolution changes occur as options where the game would present us with two or three potential changes during the off-season and we could choose one or the other or elect to keep things as they are.

I've also thought that it might be useful to have a news item called something like "Franchise watch" which would alert us to possible changes to team locations before they happen. Something like:

"It looks like prospective buyers are circling the Peoria Polecats. Just coming off their third 100 loss season, the Polecats have become a financial as well as artistic failure. Rumours say that inquiries have come from Houston, Las Vegas and Plano about a possible purchase and relocation of the team."

That news item might even trigger a relocation choice where we could pick the city and the team name - which would be pretty cool.

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

I've been advocating for some time now the concept of interactive winter meetings, where proposed rule (and other) changes would come up for a vote, just like in real life.

There'd be news articles in advance of the meetings detailing the issues coming up, and an estimate of the likelihood of the vote being yay or nay. After the voting, there'd be news articles describing the outcome for each issue. (You can find this sort of real-life news coverage in the first half of the 20th century in newspapers.)

I like these ideas and hope that this is something added in a future version.