PlayTheGame

I really do think that next year there should be a charge for playing and therefore small cash prizes for each league. This would help eliminate the problem of inactive sides who have turned this season into a bit of a non-event for a lot of leagues where there are only 2,3 or 4 active teams.

I disagree entirely, one of the main reasons my friends and I (11 in total) have a league with playthegame is that its free.

Thank you Tom and Oliver for your feedback. All comments on PlayTheGame are appreciated.

This is the best Fantasy Game available and one of it's strengths is the fact that it is free. For more of an incentive, make seperate arrangements with the players in your league - the permutations are far greater if you do it yourself.

Congratulations to the Times for delivering a game with an original format.

Could the game remain free for active teams but inactive teams incur a charge if they are inactive for a set period of time e.g. 10 games? Players would agree to this when originally signing up etc.

If I were to even consider paying, PTG would need to make it much easier for me to manage my team. For example, petr cech has been injured for a long time, but there's no exclamation point next to his name, and he's not on the list of injured players.

I don't think the charging for inactive teams idea is workable. However, the number of inactive teams has devalued the game. Perhaps next year if a team is inactive (ie manager not logged in) for 1 month then perhaps that team becomes void & the players are put back into the pot to be available for transfer.

As for paying - I think it should stay free but maybe a way can be found so that the prize is more skill based rather than top 3 then chance.

Has PTG considered winners' leagues for next season, i.e. leagues that can only be joined by players who won (or placed top three, say) in their league the previous season? This uses historical behaviour as a guide to future behaviour.

Making people pay to play is no guarantee they'll stick around.

Making them pay if they drop out is highly suspect, and anyway would just lead to people benching one player every other week to avoid the fine. Plus, the second-placed team in my league (ten active players out of twenty) hasn't made a single change since the initial allocation. Are we going to punish him for having a great draft?

I have never played P.T.G. before and think the format is easy to follow could do with a little more player news maybe!Pay to play no way.Enjoying the game as it is, well thought out format.It's not all about prizes,which we all like,but more about interest and enjoyment,well done.

give active players in leagues this season a password to join hardcore leagues next season, no slouchers! transfers need rethink, hardley anyone does so in my leagues (8 in total!!!). Inactive (for 1 month) teams should be void and their players put back into a draw.

It is great because its free. And top three winners is good for prizes. One suggestion I can make is that over all, throughout the year, it would be good to see how many times you have been top and give you a kind of Overall score (or tally) as well as they system that is currently in place!

I like the idea of the winners league - sort of like a European Cup competition (so I suppose we could see entries for the 2 and 3rd placed finishers too). It is more likely that these leagues would be made up of 20 active sides as well, given the managers' track records.
I don't think we can make people pay for inactivity, but is there a not overly difficult way to run both pay, and no-pay leagues? That way peple could choose which format they wanted to go in for and the pay leagues could include a guaranteed prize for 1st place (and 2nd maybe).
I entered a random league this year and wouldn't have the time or inclination to arrange for 19 friends to form a league with me just so as to arrange our own side bets. Would be happy to pay to enter a prize winning league though.
Whatever the changes made, I'll be back next season (hopefully in a league winners place) as this is by far the best fantasy football style competition I have ever seen or been involved with.

I like the idea of a winners lagues that way you will have more active leagues. This should be easy for PTG to set up as they will have the data and can send out invites at the end of the season. This will breed loyalty from the userbase.


Like the format though

I like the idea of winners leagues being set up as it would make for a better game next season. The game takes a lot of time and commitment to play over a full season and I did not feel it was as bigger a challenge/reward as it should have been for those who did take the time to play. I also think that features like transfers were never really utilised in any of the 4 leagues I played in, due to the inactivity of most of the teams.
I would like congratulate PTG though on a very good game format which if utilised by all who play within it will make for a great game.

I think that if managers are inactive for 1 month then the players should go back into the allocation pot for other teams.

Also, I would like to see how other leagues are doing and compare my points to that of other leagues. This brings me onto my final point which is regarding the prizes.
I think prizes should be for the highest scoring team of that month, then lesser prizes in a prize draw for all league winners.
I can imagine a team being in 3rd position and not being active all season winning the monthly prize and that would be unjust.

They are the only things I would change on what is a great fantasy football game, congratulations on the first season.

I think the league is brilliant as it is. My only question is this: Are prizes only available to those in England? I noticed that all the prize winners so far seem to be from England and as an Irishman I was unsure if I was eligble to win or not.
It will not affect my playing of the game I was just curious.

PTG: Six of the winners have been from England so far and one from Scotland. Prizes can be won by any eligible entrant over 18 who finishes in the top three of their league. Terms and Conditions of prizes may stipulate specific conditions that need to be met, for example prizes that involve a flight need to depart from a UK airport.

Hi, i'm in a public league of 20, yet only 3 teams have bothered to play and since the new year there's just the 2 of us, which is a real shame. We're 1st and 2nd so there's a battle going on. It is the most time consuming fantasy league and possibly therefore the most absorbing. Not sure about the AGF though, my teams scored twice as many goals as everybody else but has only 10 points, simply because no other teams are playing and therefore not using as many players.
A winners league is a great idea.

Do i get a prize for starting this debate off?

Roll on the winners league, good idea that one.

i disagree with the rule concerning playing a position only 38 times - does it happen in real football? as I now field a team with no midfield - would Fergie put up with that!? So much for team rotation.
Is there skill in this game - no one will transfer players and in my league I am top but am the only one to have accessed the site on a regular basis the manager in second place is only 3 points behind me and hasn't accessed the site since August!!

PTG: It is the position, not the player that can only be used 38 times, so in fact this is exactly like real football. Fergie can only fill the GK position 38 times in a Premier League season and the same is true for a PTG manager.

This has been the most absorbing fantasy football experience ever and I've been playng FF from the off.
Some observations:
1 Initail draft ranking was confusing and very time confusing.(conseqeuently i paid it little regard) Therefore became a game of chance.My lack of application not withstanding,a simpler format would be appreciated.
2 In my league there only really 2 of us playing,the leader and me who is 5th.
3 second place has not touched the site since the beginning.
4 Inter team transfers are non-existant.
to solve some of this i humbly suggest the following:-

1 Draft Ranking,
You are alloctaed a league based on past points performance.
Newcomers are put in leagues together.
Then...
Initial draft you shoud have a set amount of money to spend.
You bid for players to that maximum.
WHOEVER BIDS THE MOST GETS THE PLAYER.(In that league)
Points 2 3
If a player has not been moved out of a managers squad for a period of time he is automatically rested to the bench (due to either fatigue or international callup). (squad rotaion Rafa)

Point 4
You should be able to request a player and if you get no contact,within a specified period,that player becomes yours as the team that owns him has shown no interest in keeping him.
You would have to swap a player with the same position
The player you offer becomes theirs...proper punishment, Ronaldo for Lee Mculloch for example!

Major headache for The Times1
Any thoughts?

Love the idea of a winners league and I too am a little disappointed by the lack of involvement in my league (there must only be 4 of us competing).

What about a ranking system whereby all players have a profile, winners would be given 'trophies' on their profile so other winners could join a set of winners when they are looking for a league to join.

I think the format is fine the way it is and the only thing I would change is the automated draft, the pre-ranking of players was too difficult without any data to compare. I feel a live draft for those interested as well as an automated or offline draft would be a better option with an average draft rating and better profiles of players in an easy to read statistical format. I'm not that keen on an auction type league (as suggested above) as I have seen these in other sports go horribly wrong and people drop out very quickly.

I will be playing next year though and look forward to a stiffer competition from some of you winners out there (hopefully).

I think the format is great particulaly the stats. info.
A suggestion for next season would be to have a team manager & coach. With the coach being able to log into the system but not directly make changes, only the manager could do that. I have friends who live some distance away who would like to be involved with a particular team but not manage one.