FIX THE LOTTERY SYSTEM GODDAMMIT

[Gustav 6,081]

Time to finally go off about something that's been on my mind for a good while, though I've never decided to actually talk about it here. I'd say most with any reasonable amount of experience know exactly what I'm talking about, but for those who don't, let me explain. 

 

Currently, the VHL (and VHLM) uses a system called the "lottery" to encourage discussion on its game threads. Every week (for some small reward, and every month for some bigger ones), a random game is selected, and from that game, a random comment in that game's thread is randomly selected as well. Whoever made that comment is eligible for 3 TPE, if chosen in the weekly lottery, and if chosen in the monthly lottery, can end up winning a doubles week and 16 uncapped TPE if they win all three drawings. 

 

Great, right? Sure! It certainly made me want to make a few comments, especially last season, when I commented on most of Houston's game threads, and this season, when I plan to comment on all of Malmo's, for no reason other than that the lottery exists. I even won a doubles week last season from doing this. 

 

And, let me tell you, I hate the fact that the system works this way. The tipping point, for me, was when a few people began to comment on every thread for the lottery. I mean Every. Single. One. This type of thing isn't the "discussion" that the league wants to see--it's spam, and it's being rewarded. 

 

Allow me to preface the rest of this article by saying that, to the few people who have figured out how to play the system this way (you know who you are), I have absolutely NOTHING against you in particular. Hey, I'm even somewhat guilty of it myself, though I'm too lazy to take it beyond my own team's games in most cases. You've figured out how the system works, you've figured out how to play it, and you play it because it works. There's nothing wrong with that--to be honest it's damn smart. This is about a broken system, one which has potential but works in the wrong way entirely. I've gotten to know the few people who are guilty of this in my time in the league, and I'll say that they're some of the nicest people I've met on this site--I'd never write an article to complain about them. The lottery itself is what sucks.

 

Now, how can we fix it?

 

The tricky part here is to encourage discussion without encouraging spam. If discussion in game threads is something that's actually very important to the league, then there should be some sort of reward for doing so--our Thunderdome is just about dead, because there's no real incentive to post there (and no, I'm not suggesting that there should be, though I'd like to see that be a bit more active as well).

 

One possible solution is to have a sort of reviewing-like system, making constructive comments on game threads an activity that can be completed for capped (or, if you really want to see some threads blow up, uncapped) TPE. But this won't work, in my personal opinion--we'd just end up with every game thread having 10 general statements about the result. This would also be hell for whatever updaters take the time to read reviews first--they'd effectively have a lot more reviews to read. 

 

Another, perhaps a more promising one, keeps the lottery, but moves it elsewhere--similar to the VHLM Fantasy Zone, a separate thread can be created, or perhaps an entry on Google Forms, which allows everyone who enters the lottery to enter exactly once. No spam, but it does reward activity in that those who are active enough to notice and post in the thread are those who are in general active in the first place. This eliminates the whole "league discussion" part of it, but again, there isn't really much league discussion going on in the game threads that isn't purely lottery-motivated.

 

I'd also like to point out that it is my opinion that comments here and there, and really on a regular basis, will not die if the lottery is moved elsewhere or discontinued altogether. I made comments in some (though not all) of Houston's game threads last season, before I knew the lottery existed. And when I did find out about the lottery's existence, about halfway through the season, that was still before most of my teammates, many of whom dropped by threads here and there beforehand to make comments and were actually interested in talking about the games, TPE be damned. In fact, I'd argue that game threads will be a good deal more supportive of conversation without the lottery in place, because someone posting there would feel quite a bit more free to respond to a comment, without wondering if that comment was put there by someone who actually cares about what happened. 

 

The broken lottery system is what we have right now, and, though I enjoyed my doubles week last season, please, let's change things.

Edited May 11, 2019 by GustavMattias

[Smarch 2,939]

Lol check the Lottery thread. I ran a system where you voted and got entered and people didn’t like it. 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Smarch

[Gustav 6,081]

Just now, Smarch said:

Lol check the Lottery thread. I ran a system where you voted and got entered and people didn’t like it. 

...I would anyway. 

That's just me though. I'm curious as to why nobody liked it--did anyone give a reason?

[Smarch 2,939]

2 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

...I would anyway. 

That's just me though. I'm curious as to why nobody liked it--did anyone give a reason?

I think cause they didn’t win, . I mean at least this way people had a chance rather than spam. That’s why I didn’t agree with the spam you needed to do to earn the old practice facility as well. It’s mostly nonsense 

[K1NG LINUS 145]

How dare you attack my spam thoughtful discussion of every single sim

[Gustav 6,081]

2 minutes ago, K1NG LINUS said:

How dare you attack my spam thoughtful discussion of every single sim

Again, absolutely nothing against you or anyone else who does this. I just have a burning hate for the system.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

i feel we should just be able to comment on our own team game threads rather than everyone commenting on every single thread. when i click view new content. its rather annoying to see one person take up the whole thing with 100 comments

[Radcow 63]

Aside from the spam instead of discussion argument, I think this also forces everyone else to take the time to go through every thread and make meaningless comments just to be able to compete. We then end up having alot of members (me included) who otherwise would've had the lottery encourage them to comment on a few threads when they think of something meaningful to say, who now see no point in commenting on anything knowing they have no chance when there are guys who comment on literally everything who will most likely win the lottery every time. I think it actually discourages anyone who has a meaningful comment to say anything.

 

I think a good solution would be to have everyone who comments on a certain number of game threads (like 3 or something) be entered into the lottery one time, and then pick a random winner out of everyone.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Radcow

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

It's kind of funny to me. I've won that lottery a couple of times, and I'm not even one of these people gaming the system.

 

I've always commented on my team's threads, and did it more often in the past before the lottery even existed.

[K1NG LINUS 145]

28 minutes ago, Radcow said:

I think a good solution would be to have everyone who comments on a certain number of game threads (like 3 or something) be entered into the lottery one time, and then pick a random winner out of everyone.

I actually really like this idea, but I feel like the spam system does encourage actual forum activity rather than every conversation being on discord.

 

Maybe a mix of both would work: Your 1st comment for the day/week gets you 1 entry, then every 10 or 15 after that is another entry. That way there isn't an astronomical advantage to spamming, and people are still encouraged to post in game threads.

[Radcow 63]

29 minutes ago, K1NG LINUS said:

then every 10 or 15 after that is another entry. 

I think there should still be a limit on how many times you can be entered if this is the case, because then people could spend all day commenting and they would comment serveral times on threads with more spam. It's the reason theres a cap on tpe you can earn in a week, so people can't just no life it and force anyone who wants to compete to have to put in an astronomical amount of work.

[K1NG LINUS 145]

18 minutes ago, Radcow said:

I think there should still be a limit on how many times you can be entered if this is the case, because then people could spend all day commenting and they would comment serveral times on threads with more spam. It's the reason theres a cap on tpe you can earn in a week, so people can't just no life it and force anyone who wants to compete to have to put in an astronomical amount of work.

That's a good point, like after that 10 or 15 you get 1 additional entry and then you're capped for that set amount of time.

[rjfryman 1,120]

Ill just leave this here

Honestly, you can even automate the process if you really wanted, with some good old fashion programming.

Edited May 11, 2019 by rjfryman

[BOOM 8,401]

I was planning to spam until I won. But I agree, it should possibly be limited to teams that you are associated with. 

[Rayzor_7 741]

Just make the entries based on your own teams threads. Then make everyone who does so get one entry.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

I liked smarch his way , just never won

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

5 hours ago, BOOM said:

I was planning to spam until I won. But I agree, it should possibly be limited to teams that you are associated with. 

mfw I've won it like 3 times yet have never commented on games that I don't have a player in....

[BOOM 8,401]

I've never been that lucky. 

[Renomitsu 930]

I play the system the way it's meant to be played and I HATE it. Like you're saying, it increases activity in a mindless posting capacity.

 

Currently, if I don't do it the TPE gap between me and top players will just continue to increase and it doesn't feel good that that's the case. But because results are posted immediately and there's no pbp presentation, people aren't as inclined to participate like in the EFL. SBA also does sim attendance but has so many games every couple of days it's not realistic to do PBP.

 

Personally, while I've stood to benefit from the lottery at this point more than most, I'd actually prefer it be done away with entirely over being continued as we search for a solution. 

[Will 4,603]

Id like to test out a lottery with player store cash. Buy tickets with your contract money for chance to win more money or player store items. 

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

The only problem with the old lottery system was that I never won!

[K1NG LINUS 145]

2 hours ago, Renomitsu said:

I play the system the way it's meant to be played and I HATE it. Like you're saying, it increases activity in a mindless posting capacity.

 

Currently, if I don't do it the TPE gap between me and top players will just continue to increase and it doesn't feel good that that's the case. But because results are posted immediately and there's no pbp presentation, people aren't as inclined to participate like in the EFL. SBA also does sim attendance but has so many games every couple of days it's not realistic to do PBP.

 

Personally, while I've stood to benefit from the lottery at this point more than most, I'd actually prefer it be done away with entirely over being continued as we search for a solution. 

I hereby request that Renomitsu be the official PBP presenter if/when the VHL adds it as a feature.

[Nykonax 1,550]

2 hours ago, Will said:

Id like to test out a lottery with player store cash. Buy tickets with your contract money for chance to win more money or player store items. 

VHL GAMBLING

[Renomitsu 930]

45 minutes ago, K1NG LINUS said:

I hereby request that Renomitsu be the official PBP presenter if/when the VHL adds it as a feature.

bahahah the EFL NCAA thing was a one-off out of sheer luck. I don't think my school will be accidentally scheduling me for a 100-hour week again any time soon unless they like making me sad.

[K1NG LINUS 145]

9 minutes ago, Nykonax said:

VHL GAMBLING

When are VHL games going to go up on Bovada?