You probably saw the announcement in your league chats that WIS is under new ownership. Personally I'm hoping they put more energy in recruiting people to play HD as they do to game enhancements.

What improvements would you'd like to see? I'd like them to add the color buttons from the player cards to the box scores so you can see if that walk-off HR was by one of your top prospects rather than org filler.

Here's their WIS announcement if you haven't seen it:

WhatIfSports has been acquired by Freking Sports, LLC, a Cincinnati-based group made up of avid users just like you. After months of collaboration with the team at SportsHub, we've successfully transferred ownership, and we are ready to breathe new life into WhatIfSports.

I am thrilled to assume the role of President of WhatIfSports. Over the last 18 years, I have played more than 120 seasons of HBD, along with a few stints in HD and GD. Like many of you, it has been a part of my daily routine for years. I am also well aware of the need for feature enhancement and development. We are prepared to invest in the platform and give it the resources and attention it needs.

Whether it's the feeling of logging in to see you've won your Sim League, secured a commitment from a top 100 recruit, or signed that $30M superstar international free agent, I get it. I have been there with you through the cycles. I have set alarms for 3am to check my HBD draft results, I have debated the infamous HBD injury bug, and I have shared stories of my favorite fictional players with friends (to varying degrees of judgment, of course). I am deeply committed to investing the time and energy into improving WhatIfSports.

To start, we have added developer talent and are expanding customer support. In the coming weeks, you will see changes related to the transition away from SportsHub. We will have planned maintenance windows, with plenty of advance notice, and we're committed to transparent, frequent communication going forward.

Most importantly, I want to recognize and thank all of you - our incredible community. Your loyalty, passion, and dedication have sustained WhatIfSports for decades.

As a show of thanks, we're offering a promo code for all users - current, returning, and new.

• To our loyal current users - you'll receive 15% off your next purchase using promo code LETSGO15
• If you're a returning user who hasn't made a purchase in over a year, we're offering 50% off to welcome you back (see below for game specific promo codes)
• As always, there are promo codes for new users on the game specific home pages

Stay tuned - we'll be updating you soon on our next steps, and we're looking forward to making WhatIfSports the best it can be.

Bob Freking, President, WhatIfSports

*LETSGO15 - 15% off any product. 1x use per user. Valid until midnight 12/31/24.
*WELCOMEBACKHBD24, WELCOMEBACKHD24, WELCOMEBACKSLB24, WELCOMEBACKSLBK24, WELCOMEBACKSLF24, WELCOMEBACKSLH24 - Use game specific promo code for 50% off next purchase. Users who have not made a purchase since 11/1/23 are eligible. 1x use per user. Valid until midnight 12/31/24.

Super exciting!! Its a fantastic system they have in place. Looking forward to updates and such. Great news for users in my opinion!

As someone who played HBD for many, many years... then stepped away for several years, and then came back... I was pretty discouraged to see that the game was 100% the same as when I left. Like, the same bugs existed. Very demoralizing.

When I first read the headline, I thought "Oh look, another new owner who will try to siphon off the cash and not give a damn about the game".

But reading the content from WISBob... I am cautiously optimistic for the first time in a really, REALLY long time.

Fingers crossed.

If this is true, Bob is "one of us." Which is about damn time.

WOW! Same experience as sloheim - played a long time and left for a few years then back. VERY discouraged to see NOTHING had changed. So - let's wait and see, but this could be a very good development.

I'm in the same boat of playing-leaving-now back...more disappointing than the lack of game improvements has been the interminably long time to fill leagues...it's the same group of owners handling a dozen teams just to get leagues filled. Love the game, but this has to be fixed, so hoping a big chunk of new ownership's efforts go into recruiting people to play HBD. Having leagues roll over faster leads to the added income needed to improve the game.

Cautiously optimistic about this. Hope they address some long running issues and I'd be thrilled if they put any effort at all into actually marketing the game to bring in new players.

Agreed. Just keep in mind WIS is more than just HBD, so temper expectations about as there’s a lot of people in all different games asking for changes. But that said, I’m looking forward to what the new company brings.

1. Injury recovery; 2. Injury recovery; 3. Injury recovery. If one of the first updates isn't Injury recovery, then i'll immediately question the judgment of the update. It is absolutely the worst part of the game.

There should be little difference between Injury recovery of an early season injury vs. a late season injury. That needs to be fixed immediately.

While I think tlowster underestimates some of the other problems in the game (development engine too predictable is the one I think is the worst), it is a relatively quick patch that would be a good partial solution to the injury problem to simply have injuries recover in the offseason at the same rate as in-season (3-4 cycles per offseason, to a cap of pre-injury ratings, would be appropriate). This is an easier fix than any that can allay my concerns, and would buy time to build a better injury engine.

I am optimistic but don't expect any major changes to HBD quickly. HBD was developed in 2005 and released in early 2006. The underlying software code was written using computer languages/tools current in 2005. The game code and languages/tools that were used then are now so out of date that they are likely not even used anymore to write new programs. While they may be able to tweak a few small things in the old code, any major updates to HBD will require a total re-write using modern computer software/languages. Even with a dedicated staff, it would still take several months to re-write the code and test it before we would see any major updates.

I played this game for a few seasons. Overall, I thought it was a good game. The biggest reason I stopped playing was by far the cost. $25 a season is beyond ridiculous. A person can buy OOTP for $40 and play for 10 actual years without spending another penny and the game is much better.

Posted by dyoungquist on 11/14/2024 9:51:00 PM (view original):
I am optimistic but don't expect any major changes to HBD quickly. HBD was developed in 2005 and released in early 2006. The underlying software code was written using computer languages/tools current in 2005. The game code and languages/tools that were used then are now so out of date that they are likely not even used anymore to write new programs. While they may be able to tweak a few small things in the old code, any major updates to HBD will require a total re-write using modern computer software/languages. Even with a dedicated staff, it would still take several months to re-write the code and test it before we would see any major updates.

I've been a software engineer for over 30 years. I can write code in probably 15 different languages on a half dozen or more operating system, including Powerbuilder and mainframe COBOL / IDMS.

Code that is 20 years old is not some mystical thing that cannot be understood in modern times.

it's not the coding per se

it's the comprehension

when they fix something, they fail to implement the may i say 'true intentions' of the original program

their enterprise modeling sucks

i am hoping the new guy because he's one of us will get it right



meanwhile, back at the ranch, has any one ever heard of him

can anyone vouch for musketeer22

Supposedly, the programmers have been working on transitioning over to a more up to date code. I believe this to be true because things change, unfortunately without any info or confirmation from Admin. They have been doing things and found unexpected results, however, they have never acknowledged this. Yet it's the only way to explain why methods and systems I've used for many seasons no longer work the same. Not sure why things have been done in this manner. Moving forward, giving us a heads up and excepting input from us would be greatly appreciated.