11/8/2008

The fans have spoken... examining the latest survey results

Thanks to those who participated in the site survey, it helps me get an idea of what the power users of the site really want. The feedback was interesting.

The All-Time Greats is the favorite league at 35%, followed by 1970-Present at 25%. Deadball and 2007 picked up 15% each and 1980s got 10%. This means by 60-40, users prefer the leagues with a larger pool of players.

But, interestingly, 60% prefer the decade leagues because it's harder to get a good team via free agency. What this says to me is you want a larger pool of players, but you want more teams involved so you can't gobble up all the best players.

This leads to what you wanted changed most about the Auto Leagues. Most want more games simmed per day (35%), followed by a longer schedule (25%) and then more teams (20%) and wild cards (20%).

Since there was no run-away winner, it seems to me you want richer leagues in general - more games per day, a longer schedule, more teams, etc. It's no surprise that 70% said they would be very interested and active in expanded leagues. (Also not surprising is that 80% would not pay for any features - I understand, after all, most people love this site because it's free!)

What was surprising is that the vast majority are fine with the 10-team limit - 75% said they were fine with 10 teams. This says to me you want quality leagues over quantity of teams.

Finally, regarding the next type of league, you guys were no help at all. It was very split - 35% said modern decades, 35% said team leagues, and 30% said classic decades.

So now I'll try to digest all this and come up with a strategy. The downside to larger leagues is that it could take longer for the leagues to fill. We'll have to test it out and see how it goes. I'm also thinking leagues would get bumped to 120 games with two sims a day. I think the two-month cycle is a good rate (I've been told other sites operate about the same cycle), so leagues would move at the same pace, but you'd have two games a day to enjoy.

I'm also thinking the Team League concept could be a great place to start expanded leagues, where you could keep your franchise for a few seasons, draft fictional amateurs, something along those lines.

If you have any extra feedback after hearing these results, please let me know!
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