Developer Chat

Hey guys! Thanks in advance for taking the time to submit your questions and suggestions. I've got quite a few to get through so let's get this show on the road.

Are there going to be records in the HOF (besides players) like there are in real baseball? Eg. Highest Single season B.AVe, HR's, etc. That would be interesting to see.... (7Yankees7 - Hall of Famer - 12:02 PM)

We are currently working on something very similar to what you are suggesting. It is still in the very early design stages, but it has a lot of potential.

We know you're planning to make players eligible immediately upon retirement, which is good, and I believe you said we'd vote for candidates chosen by the computer, similar to awards voting. I think that's generally a good thing, but I'd like to see some mechanism to make additional players eligible by popular demand, sort of like a veterans' committee. Thoughts? (travisg - Hall of Famer - 12:06 PM)

While it would be possible it would be more efficient to have the AI select the candidates and then have the owners vote for who they want to induct.

How are you going to treat some of the early Great Players in HBD that were old when HBD began, and were only able to play a few seasons. And, Is there going to be a minimum season requirement for players? I think it should be 10 seasons, and maybe 4 for Early "Old" players.... (7Yankees7 - Hall of Famer - 12:09 PM)

The early, great player's probably won't qualify for the HOF based on the statistical requirements. However, we may be able to make an exception. This specific area has yet to be discussed in great detail.

At the end of the season when awards are posted (top 5 in each category) why don't you list HR King, and Batting Champ with the others. It would make sense that they should all be in the same place. I'm not saying you need to list things like RBI, Runs, etc, but the two I mentioned are the most important.. (7Yankees7 - Hall of Famer - 12:10 PM)

We can look into adding such a feature in the future.

More of a suggestion than a question. I would keep a tight limit on the number of entries at the outset. A guy who may be in the top 3-4 in an all time category in season 10 could easily not be in the top 20 after 20 seasons. (ttnorm - Hall of Famer - 12:14 PM)

Yes, I agree. Any player that qualifies will have to have been exceptional during is era in the world. All of the stats will be compared to the relative strength of the world at that time.

A-It needs to be a priority (and I asume this means it is) as we have been playing long enough to have guys with numbers that are HOF worthy. B-I think a formula is the best way to go. Voting amongst owners is too unpredictable...and PLEASE don't use the HEAVILY Bill James-influenced system employed with the absentee awards voting...there is more to the game than RC!!!...A certain number of HR, RBI, Hits, Wins, etc could guarantee election...maybe with a spot per season being voted on in some way (?). (joeymillman - Hall of Famer - 12:16 PM)

We want to make it as interactive as possible, so it will be similar to the award voting interface. We will also have guaranteed elections, like you mentioned.

Can I write the acceptance speech when my player makes the HoF? Or, even better can I write his post-career bio...or do it up in a "mad-libs" kind of way? (nfet - Hall of Famer - 12:18 PM)

I currently have this in the design document. It's a neat feature and I hope that we can get it in there, but we also don't want to have to edit and maintain thousands of user generated player biographies. If it makes sense and we feel that it adds a great deal to the experience I would expect it to be in there.

Can you fix the site so it works in firefox? Most importantly the World Drop down Navigation box? (gmlear - Hall of Famer - 12:19 PM)

Hmmm, I'm not sure what you are referring to. All of us use Firefox as our main browser and we have no issues with it. Could you send a support ticket with the details? Thanks!

i'd suggest that career stats are considered a lot more than awards and hardware. my best pitcher for the past ten years has a career ERA of 3.54, 1.24 WHIP, 149 wins. but he's never won the cy young (though been nominated a couple times) and only made the all-star game twice. i think he's a good candidate, none the less. (god_mike - Hall of Famer - 12:20 PM)

Yes, I agree. The design document currently has career stats as the most important criteria for determining whether a candidate is eligible or not.

I am curious why it is that I can only change my budget allotments incrementally from year to year. I am a long time owner and it seems to me if I want to have 20 mill for Intl scouting one year and only 0 the next, that that should be my prerogative. (mosley80 - Hall of Famer - 12:21 PM)

It is not realistic for a club to go from being the Yankees to the Marlins in one season. That is why we have the incremental additions and subtractions in place.

Will guys that go into the Hall of fame be designated by team? If so how is that determined if the player played for multiple teams? (jfja76 - Hall of Famer - 12:23 PM)

In its basic form the Hall of Fame will be on a world by world basis. I have two other parts to the design that include a franchise HOF and an all HBD World HOF. Whether those two pieces get in there have yet to be discussed. What team player's will show up as playing for has yet to be discussed, it could either be their last team or the team that they played the longest for.

Any thoughts of using something like the Bill James Hall of Fame monitor scoring system as at least the beginnings of a baseline for Hall of Fame achievements? The system is outlined here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/leader_glossary.shtml#hof_monitor Generally 70-130 is a grey area, 130+ is almost automatic, below 70 has very little chance. (goosegoslin - Hall of Famer - 12:24 PM)

We will surely take a look at this and see if we can make it fit. Thanks!

I believe you mentioned that you were examining whether defensive player projections were being reached frequently enough. Any results from that study? (tcolonial9 - All-Star - 12:25 PM)

Not yet, we will be looking at a lot of data next week and we will have more information then.

I understand that owners get insentitives for winning..my question is, like in MLB, is there anyway in the future we can add bonuses to our players contracts for winning awards. Cy Young, MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, etc. Alot of major league players has contracts loaded with bonuses to cut off the bottom line... (phillyfan33 - Hall of Famer - 12:25 PM)

Performance bonuses are not going to be a part of HBD any time soon.

Wondering what the chances are of making the Amateur Draft a live draft. Even if it was going to be just the 1st and 2nd round I would like to have a little more control over who I pick. (mfoster55 - All-Star - 12:26 PM)

I would love to see this too, but it just isn't feasible at this time, sorry.

Why is it the vast majority of players do not come close to their projected numbers, even if they have great makeup. What are the biggest factors in getting your players to achieve their greatest potential. (oddson - Hall of Famer - 12:29 PM)

Remember, each player will mature at a different rate. So, a player might not reach his true potential until his mid 30s, while some player's might reach their potential at 27. Also, just because we stop showing the projected ratings line at 27 it does NOT mean that he stops developing. The biggest factors (in no particular order) are proper promotions, playing time, coaching staff, and makeup rating.

Just want to put in my two cents to not generate stats for players who have pro years before the world started. That in my opinion would really taint the Hall of Fame. Only stats that occur during the world should be used. (plague - Hall of Famer - 12:29 PM)

So far this is what we have planned.

Will some estimation of what players did before HBD season 1 be thrown into the mix? I would think this should happen, as we are currently in season 10, and have some great players with 16 years of MLB experience, for example. If not, it seems many of the stars of the first decade of a world will have trouble being honored. (goosegoslin - Hall of Famer - 12:29 PM)

I do not think that this is going to change.

There has been a lot of concern over franchises tanking for multiple years. Why not have a option where a management team could be fired after consecutive 40 or 50 win years. I don't seen anything wrong with being bad (60 wins) if it's necessary to rebuild, but multiple 40 wins years would never be tolerated. (tcolonial9 - All-Star - 12:30 PM)

This will no longer be tolerated, if you have examples of this please send in a support ticket and we will resolve the issue.

Will Hall of Fames be for individual Worlds or for all of HBD? (goldenboy00 - Hall of Famer - 12:32 PM)

I think I touched on this earlier in the chat. Right now, it is a world by world HOF. I have the All HBD HOF and the Franchise HOF in the design document whether it makes the first or final cut has yet to be determined.

Any thoughts on putting some extra days at the beginning of the season to allow for more trades? Currently there is just not that much time to move players who are arbitration eligible or who have contract options that get exercised. Could the signing of coaches be moved up to offset the slow time? (rdenorma - All-Star - 12:33 PM)

We aren't really interested in prolonging the off season at this time we all feel that it is about as long as it needs to be.

The all-time stats are decent, but will there be a top 30 or top 50 all-time home run list, wins, etc? Be nice to extend past 5 places. Speaking of will this ever be available for GD, both for divisions and the schools? (chadrader - Hall of Famer - 12:35 PM)

We can look at expanding the records to 10 players, but I can tell you right now it isn't high on the priority list. Oh and sorry, I can't speak for GD, you will have to suggest that feature to jconte.

In the coach hiring process. For example, if your AA hitting coach leaves and you have no other replacements, you should be able to offer your HI-A hitting coach or even your LO-A hitting coach the AA job. This would go for all coaching positions. (ACEROTHSTEIN - Hall of Famer - 12:36 PM)

I agree and we are trying to come up with a plan to make coach hiring a lot more enjoyable and easier.

Would it be possible to add some extra time between the rule 5 draft and setting spring trainning rosters? (rdenorma - All-Star - 12:37 PM)

We just added a small change in the last update that makes your roster available as soon as the Rule 5 Draft has concluded. That should give you an extra 8-10 hours to set your ST squads. As for adding more time, again we don't want to prolong the offseason at this time.

HBD revolves around ratings. Focusing on contact and splits against RHP & LHP, can you explain how a hitter with an overall rating of 54, contact 21, power 99, vs LHP 50, vs RHP 38, batting eye 89 - equals stats - thru 400 AB's this season, 41 HR, 106 RBI, 69 BB, 105 SO, a .276 AVG, .354 OBP. 3 year career, 1400 AB's, 125 HR, 319 RBI, 183 BB, 354 SO, .267 AVG, .354 OBP. I would not target a guy with these rating in a draft. If I knew he would produce these numbers, he would become a prime target. (mileininger - Hall of Famer - 12:39 PM)

You will have to submit a support ticket with the player's name and/or link to his profile so that I can look at it more closely.

In last week's Dev Chat concerning upocoming changes to the Amateur Draft, you did not mention a timeframe for when we might see those changes. Can you give us a rough idea? (tecwrg - Hall of Famer - 12:40 PM)

We are going over a lot of the details today. Initial design documentation will start on Monday and coding should start sometime mid to late next week. All of that is subject to change, but that is what I know now.

How will HOF candidates be generated? Who will get to vote? Which team/franchise will be represented when and inductee gets added to the HOF? (zoobaseball - Hall of Famer - 12:41 PM)

Candidates will be generated by the simulator based on several different criteria. All of the owner's in the world will get to vote on who they think should be inducted. Representation hasn't been discussed yet, but it will be ironed out soon.

Is there any way we can get a difference column on the development report that shows the difference between start of season and current? (wafairb - Hall of Famer - 12:42 PM)

Sure, we can look into adding this in.

Will it be possible to suggest retirement for a player with HOF-worthy numbers but decreasing ratings? (zoobaseball - Hall of Famer - 12:43 PM)

No, this will not be a possibility.

When will there be consideration given to removing the penalty for transferring funds during the year? (desanders - Hall of Famer - 12:43 PM)

The penalty will always be in place.

Are you going to have statistical criteria based on the player's league and ballpark. e.g. the number of hits an average player would hit in that ballpark and league, in 1250 home games plus 1250 road games? (TBill7 - Hall of Famer - 12:44 PM)

We are going to make sure that everything is taken into account. The strength of the world at that time are going to be huge indicators of how good a player truly was.

How many HBD seasons after a player retires should we expect them to be considered for the Hall of Fame? And how will players from Season One of a world be reflected if they were in their mid-30's from the get-go and weren't able to accumulate the same body of work as someone who had been around in the league for 10+ seasons, but might have had a few better individual years? (r0b0t - Hall of Famer - 12:46 PM)

Players will be eligible the first season after they retire. As for the first player's in the world we haven't discussed it yet, but we will make a decision soon.

How will you measure strength of a World? (jwelsh1023 - Hall of Famer - 12:47 PM)

Details have yet to be discussed, but it will be based on the average stats of that world during the player's career (tentatively)

You answered earlier "either the team they played with last or the team they played with the longest". It would resemble real life more if it were based on where the player had the higher level of success (team and individual) - is that possible to program? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 12:48 PM)

Hmmm, sure, why not.

Tell us more about proper promotions! Useful details, not that general, true, and useless stuff you usually say! :-) (baldric - Hall of Famer - 12:50 PM)

A lot of the game is personal preference, so my preference is to generally give my really good players a promotion every season and then let them get really close to their projections in AAA. It's probably a different scenario for all of you, but in general don't let a player sit at the same level in the minors for more than two seasons.

Is there anything in the works to increase the incentive for someone to take over (and then keep) the most decimated franchises in a world? Taking over these teams can be discouraging and takes more patience than many people seem to have. (bourbonmoon - Hall of Famer - 12:51 PM)

We can certainly discuss something, I think that it would be worth it and I'm sure tzent does too.

What exactly will the Hall of Fame icon look like? (drobinjak - Rookie - 12:52 PM)

Awesome

I would like to play the teams in my division mlore than those in the other divisions. Any chance you'll take a look at that? (torrone - Hall of Famer - 12:53 PM)

This is already part of the game.

Will the Hall of Fame take non-statistical factors into account? For example, will winning post-season awards and making All Star teams play a role? (madelman1 - All-Star - 12:53 PM)

Sure, awards will definitely play a role in coming up with candidates. It won't be the defining piece, but it will be a part of it.

Are our HOF players' pictures going to get bronzed? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 12:54 PM)

I thought about this and it would be neat, but I don't think our designer would want to bronze thousands of heads. We'll see, but I'm not optimistic.

will the hall of fame be retroactive? Will players who retired previously to the initiation of the Hall of Fame be eligible? (muckfizzou - All-Star - 12:54 PM)

Yes, or at least that is the way that the design document has been written.

Would it be possible to get the "your world's season has ended" email pushed back 12-24 hours? In our world series last week I was winning 3 games to 2, looking forward to reading the play by play of game 6 in the pm2 cycle. At 730, I get a notification from gmail that I have a new email, and its from whatifsports. I knew immediately that I had won game 6, and the world series. It took away all the drama for me. I'm sure this has happened to many people, on both the winning & losing ends, many times. (sharkeyke - Veteran - 12:55 PM)

We'll see what we can do.

I know this is off topic but does a pitchers pitch type matter. In other words is a 80 fastball get the same results as an 80 curveball? (gratepool - Hall of Famer - 12:55 PM)

Pitch type is purely cosmetic.

Will coaches be eligible for the Hall of Fame? (r0b0t - Hall of Famer - 12:58 PM)

No, actually they aren't.

Will fielding statistics and gold gloves be taken into account come hall of fame voting time?? (DodgerBlue13 - Hall of Famer - 12:59 PM)

Of course.

Will users be able to visit the HoF from a world they are not in or will access be restricted to the users in the world? (kalikgod - Hall of Famer - 12:59 PM)

This page will definitely be open to the public.

Could you add a column in a report somewhere indicating how long a player has been at his current level (rookie, HiA, LowA, etc) ? (mileininger - Hall of Famer - 1:00 PM)

Well, you can already see this information by opening up the player profile and looking at his stats.

auto re-fresh in the chat has to go, cant you just turn it off? (gratepool - Hall of Famer - 1:01 PM)

I agree with you, I hate when pages refresh on their own and it doesn't work for this. I will try to pass this along to the right people.

How long will a player remain eligible for election to the HOF, if he isn't voted in the first time? (firechief - Hall of Famer - 1:03 PM)

Tentatively, I would like to see those player's be eligible for election indefinitely.

Will there be an "induction ceremony", where the candidates make "speeches" about careers (drobinjak - Rookie - 1:03 PM)

Hmmm, no I don't think it will be quite that extravagant.

Will the HOF be recognizing exceptional single game accomplishments, i.e., no hitters, 4-HR games, etc.? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 1:04 PM)

Unfortunately, no, this won't be a part of it because we don't track all of those accomplishments for a player's career.

can we add something on the world front page when a trade offer you proposed has been acted upon, i.e. rejected or accepted. (victorzhao - Hall of Famer - 1:05 PM)

This is on our list as a low priority item.

For the HOF, how about a two-tiered voting system? First, people could submit any and all potential inductees to a larger list that everyone in a world could submit a certain number of votes. This would generate a smaller list of finalists to vote on in round two. Is that too much? (bourbonmoon - Hall of Famer - 1:07 PM)

It is definitely an interesting approach and it could work. I've added it to the doc for now, we'll see how that all plays out.

This may not be a proper Hall of Fame question, but will the ballpark the player plays in come in question. for example Coors , What if sports field, or another other extreme hitters park? (phillyfan33 - Hall of Famer - 1:08 PM)

Yes, ballpark will have an impact as well.

Since each HOF will be specific to each world, why not let each world have full control over who gets in? Why not put every player with 10+ ML service years on the ballot? (overeasy - Hall of Famer - 1:10 PM)

We could do that, however, we also want to avoid the inevitable with this approach and that is to change it every five seasons because the new owners don't agree with it.

1 HBD HOF, or 1 for each world? Or both? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 1:12 PM)

Without a doubt we will have one for each world. Tentatively we are hoping for one for each franchise and an HBD HOF that encompasses all worlds.

If an owner doesn't cast a vote, would the AI cast a vote in their place as in awards voting? And a followup - if that would be the case, how would a situation be handled in which an owner specifically chooses not to vote for anybody? (tecwrg - Hall of Famer - 1:13 PM)

Right now the AI would cast the vote just like it does for player awards. We could add something for when an owner doesn't want to cast a vote, but for now the AI will vote for you if you don't.

how will the HOF voting being calculated? Will a player need 75% to get in like the real HOF? Will it be 75% of the votes cast or will AI award votes based on stats? (captain10a - Hall of Famer - 1:13 PM)

Yes, it will mimic real life wherever it can.

This is off topic, but can we get asian born internationals to have asian first names (about 95% of them have names like "gus matsui") (dherz_263 - Hall of Famer - 1:14 PM)

Ha! Yeah, we'll fix that.

How important is owner voting? I think the proper statistical criteria can be much more accurate that owner voting. (TBill7 - Hall of Famer - 1:18 PM)

Owner voting is what will get the player into the HOF. The AI will only compile a list of eligible player's.

Will coaches and owners be eligible for the Hall of Fame like they are in real life? (prezuiwf - All-Star - 1:18 PM)

It would be neat to have an owner's HOF that would include you guys and I think that could come before the grand HBD HOF. As for coaches, I just don't think it makes sense here.

Is the Hall of Fame going to be world specific. If my vote counts I would vote yes please to world specific and not a global hall of fame. (plague - Hall of Famer - 1:19 PM)

At launch the HOF will be world specific.

Are there going to be separate records for regular season and postseason stats? For instance will we know who is the Mr October of our world? (tamadrumr - Hall of Famer - 1:19 PM)

I'd love to see this and if it is technically possible we should do it.

Will the HBD HOF frown upon closers and designated hitters? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 1:20 PM)

It shouldn't. If their stats are good enough they should be on the ballot.

In order to vote on the HOF, will an owner have to be a member of a league for a certain number of years? (bjb2378 - Hall of Famer - 1:20 PM)

Hmmm, that is very interesting. We'll have to discuss this further, for now there is no requirement, but that may change.

are we going to have actual owners in the hall of fame? (Fregoe - Hall of Famer - 1:21 PM)

I like this idea more and more...

Can we give players numbers so we can retire them if we want to? (muckfizzou - All-Star - 1:22 PM)

This was originally in the design document, but then we would have to generate and track all of the numbers. So, no, this won't be a part of the game.

Would the "franchise HOF" be similar to the idea of retiring a player's number? (iain - Hall of Famer - 1:23 PM)

Yes, without the number of course. Basically, you will have the ability to induct a player or two at the beginning of the season, very similar to what we will have in place for the world, but these player's would be at your discretion.

How about running the amateur draft's first 5 rounds over the span of a week so we can adjust our needs based on what happened in the previous round. (jwelsh1023 - Hall of Famer - 1:23 PM)

Again, I'd love to see this, but it just isn't feasible at this time.

Does that mean factors like OPS+ and ERA+ are going to be determining factors in HOF selection? (pfontaine - Hall of Famer - 1:23 PM)

It could.

in addition to the tanking concern addressed earlier, i am also concerned with owners that have built up devastating teams who win 110+ games every year, i.e. the Charlotte Dukies in Squires and the El Paso Alpacas in Riley. Any way that you can address those concerns by holding a dispersal draft for the best players on those teams? (victorzhao - Hall of Famer - 1:27 PM)

Any changes to the policy will not be retroactive. We just don't want to see teams winning 30 games a season for several seasons just to stockpile draft picks. There is no reason that your ML team can't win 60 games and at least be somewhat competitive. We know it's not fun for you guys and that is why we decided to try to put a stop to it.

I have had a few owners complain about the fatigue factor this year has there been any major chages to the rating. I have also noticed it. (beerbellys - Hall of Famer - 1:28 PM)

No major changes at this time to player or pitcher fatigue. If you have a specific example feel free to pass along a support ticket and we will review it.

There was a great suggestion in the forums a week or two ago regardng International players and bidding. The idea was something like this- One single bid per team. Seven real-life days. Highest bid submitted at the deadline wins. Any thoughts on possibly looking into this change? (madtown - Hall of Famer - 1:30 PM)

That is interesting (and somewhat intriguing) but I don't think this area of the game is going to change.

any idea what some of the criteria for HOF consideration might be. (Fregoe - Hall of Famer - 1:32 PM)

I'm still compiling a lot of it but here is what I have so far: - Automatic qualifiers (3K+ career hits, 500+ career HRs) - How good was the player compared to the rest of the world - How good was the player when compared to other player’s at his position - How difficult was it to accumulate stats during his season (i.e. the strength of the league at that time)

Has there been any thought given to being able to change the pitches that a pitcher throws? For example, if I have a pitcher with a pitch that's a 20, I should be able to tell him to take it out of his repetoire, and I should be able to instruct my pitching coach to try to teach young pitchers new pitches. (prezuiwf - All-Star - 1:34 PM)

Your pitching coaches already have pitchers drop a low rated pitch (it is rare but it does happen). The teaching aspect that you speak of isn't in the game and unfortunately probably never will be.

It seems players ratings begin diminishing around age 32, shouldn't they be able to maintain ratings with little decrease up to about age 35? (t2bott - Hall of Famer - 1:35 PM)

Again, it is different for every player.

Postseason stats...why do we not have a list of top performers in the playoffs? We have career and single season, any chance of adding postseason? (tamadrumr - Hall of Famer - 1:36 PM)

Like I said if it is technically possible then it should be added.

why have the owners vote when some of the owners(most likley a high %) won't have ever played against the players being voted on. (Fregoe - Hall of Famer - 1:37 PM)

Good point. Retention rates are still high and we hope that by implementing some of these types of features, owners will stick with a world or a franchise much longer than they used to.

I've notcied that players' development slows toa crawl or becomes non-existant after 4 seasons of playing time. I can understand that horizon for colelge players, but is it realistic that a player stops developing at 21 or 22? I find that I can almost disregard projections for even young players if they aren't near them after 4 seasons. (pfontaine - Hall of Famer - 1:38 PM)

Please send a support ticket with more information. I'd be happy to take a look for you.

Just a thought on those players who were already old and great when a world began-- you could have a Veteran's Committee select those players if they don't have the actual stats to make it into the HoF by themselves. Then we get those players in the Hall, but they carry a different distinction than true HoFers so everyone's happy. (prezuiwf - All-Star - 1:40 PM)

Nice suggestion. We could also extrapolate stats out for the players "career". I don't know yet, we'll think of something. If you (or anyone else) has some suggestions regarding this specific topic you can send in a support ticket and we will review them.

Tandems. Can you offer an official position on the way in which they were intended to be used? Or, if it's easier, just tell everyone who gets all HBD purist to stop taking themselves too seriously. (rlahann - Hall of Famer - 1:43 PM)

Again, HBD is all about personal preference so what I say or do is probably different than many of you. I use tandems very infrequently, when I did use them I used them at the Minor League level to compliment a pitcher with low stamina.

would it be possible for owners to nominate players that dont automatically show up on the AI list? Also, if player X doesnt get enough votes, do they remain for future years? (dherz_263 - Hall of Famer - 1:45 PM)

At this time, no there would be no way to nominate player's individually. Player X should be eligible again, for how long has yet to be determined.

As to my earlier question about alloting your budget. Would it be possible to increase the incremental swing so that I could shift more money year to year? My concern is that I might have two Type A free agents and want to let them walk for the compensation and put more money into HS+Coll. scouting. The way it is currently structured it might take me 3 seasons to get to 20 mill if I was at a real low level. Tough to plan that far ahead. (mosley80 - Hall of Famer - 1:45 PM)

This area of the game is not going to change.

Or the team they compiled the largest percent of their stats with? (jwelsh1023 - Hall of Famer - 1:47 PM)

Yes, that is a possibility too.

Can a system be created where the commissioner of each league selects owners to join a committee that selects final nominees each year from a large list of eligible HOF'ers? (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 1:47 PM)

I don't think we want to limit this to only a small group of owners in the world, each owner should have the ability to vote for who they want in the HOF.

As far as voting for HOFers is concerned, my suggestion would be to include a large selection of names from which players can choose, and then only allow for a certain number of awardees per year (something like the NFL system as opposed to the MLB system). This limits the HOFers to the best of the best, but doesn't run into problems of less active worlds having less HOFers. (armst24 - Hall of Famer - 1:48 PM)

Yes, what we currently have in the design document is very close to the approach you are suggesting.

Rather then starting with an empty HOF, you might consider seeding the HOF with some collection of generated players with some reasonable level of proficiency. That would allow the baseline for entry to be understood clearly from the start. (suthsc - Hall of Famer - 1:50 PM)

All of the criteria will be outlined for you and the HOF won't be empty for a long period of time. It won't even be visible until your world can vote on it.

Are there any hidden ratings to give players "off days?" i.e. if a pitcher with 70 ratings across the board is doing badly in the first inning with 100% health, would you, for any reason, want a 60's pitcher to relieve him? (specimen - Pro - 1:52 PM)

Well, no I wouldn't. Just set your pitching staff and settings so that this scenarios is not possible.

I usually promote players one level each season, but I still find players can fall short of projections and they stop developing after 4 seasons regardless of age. Is that realisitc for a high ceiling 22 y.o. to stop developing? (pfontaine - Hall of Famer - 1:53 PM)

Send your player in a support ticket and I'll gladly take a look for you.

Is there any more to the way defense plays out than the visible stats (errors, +/-)? In other words, are there any additional ratings-based plays that are missed/made that don't show up as errors or +/-'s? (kadpcmdcsb - Hall of Famer - 1:54 PM)

Visually? No, I guess not. Statistically, though, you can find a lot of information that will give you a good idea of how well your team is playing in the field.

When do you hope to have the HOF up and running? (jacob20h - Veteran - 1:55 PM)

Schedules and time lines change (frequently) so I am estimating that the HOF would be live in 6-8 months. It could be sooner and it could be later.

Thank you for all of the really great suggestions guys!!! We'll see you again in a couple of weeks.