FPG Open Thread: 2015-16

[whammy007]

Hey everyone. Price is wrapping up its season and proceeding to the summer repeats starting on Friday. Likewise, FPG has finished its season, so we close with the traditional open thread.

This open thread takes on a bit of a different character than previous ones, due to all the drama which took place in December and January. Without going into the gory details, suffice it to say that I never imagined at the start of the season that I would be  coming into June as the interim host of FPG. You all have been very supportive of me as I did my best to clean up the mess, and I thank you all for that.

In the few days since the end of the season on the Friday past, I have been in conversation with Prizes and cu, and they have decided to remove the "interim" tag and name me the full-time host of FPG for the 2016-17 season. I can't guarantee that I will be able to host nearly as long as either Fireball or Willy have done, but I will promise you that (barring some extreme and unforeseen emergency) I will not abandon the game mid-season.

In the half-season or so since I took the reins, I mostly tried to stick to the pre-established rulesheet, in order to maintain some level of consistency throughout. Now, however, the time comes for me to leave my own mark on the game, and for that I need your help. I have a few points of discussion that I'd like to throw in the table regarding potential changes for 2016-17, and I would appreciate it if I could get input from as many players as possible on as many of the topics as possible. All that being said, here we go...

1. How can I improve as host?

It may sound like I'm beating this one to death, espeically after the mostly-unused FPG Suggestion Box thread was opened, but I really want to know how you all think I'm doing as host. I want to improve the FPG experience all around, and the hosting quality plays a large part in that. Give me an honest opinion, even if that opinion is "you really suck." Any legitimate criticisms backed by sufficient reasoning/details will be welcomed and considered.

2. Is the spoiler policy still working as intended?

We have had a fairly large number of spoilers this season, more often than not due to special episodes. In fact, one game of FPG even had to be cancelled outright due to spoilers (thanks for that, NFL). I haven't really heard anyone complain about the spoilers policy this season, but I would like to know if you have any ideas to improve it.

3. Does the playoff structure need tweaking?

If I had to pick out one thing that really needs some TLC, it's the playoffs. The main thing that becomes readily notable on a quick glance is that strong performances in the regular season for not rewarded at all. Sure, we pay lip service to the top points and cash scorers, but they don't get anything that the games-played wild-card players don't get - every one of them is in the playoffs, and that's all. Here are a few ideas I had:

> Cut the set of points qualifiers to four, and give them each a bye through to the quarterfinals.
> Do the same thing for cash and pick out the next four highest dollar amounts - they don't get a bye, but their route to the next round is made easier. Two ways to do that might either be giving them a point bonus in Round 1 or just having them fight amongst themselves for two spots in the quarters (essentially a 50-50 chance to advance).
> Everyone else slugs it out in the qualifiers for a limited number of spots in the quarterfinals.
> Future rounds can either be done in the traditional free-for-all style or as a knockout tournament. Personally, I'd like to try the latter, but I don't know how well it would work without some testing and refining.

I'm not saying up front that there will 100% be changes come next season, but I want us to do some hard looking at this, so please share any thoughts you may have.

4. Would you like to see changes to the Play-Along?

Another thing I noticed when looking back at the season was that the Play-Along games, supposedly set to be every fourth game, got all kinds of jacked up with the midseason issues. For example, we had seven games between two PA tilts and then two back-to-back at the very end as a result of cancellations. Now I'm not saying get rid of the Play-Along by any means. What I AM saying, though, is maybe we could retool Play-Along into an every-week feature. Again, a rough draft...

> Every player gets to pick their one lucky slot of choice each week (down from two, to compensate for it being more often).
> Play-Along cash from that chosen slot gets multiplied by your MP score for that slot. Pick well in that spot, win lots of cash... whiff on that game, miss out on the money.
> ALL-IN calls would probably be retired if Play-Along went to every week, especially if there's already a possibly that your PA pick results in a zero.

As with the playoffs, I'm not promising change, but I want to get a sense of the playership on if this would be something that might interest you more than the current model.

5. Would you like to see the "Prank Game" (as used on April Fools' Day) return in some format?

For those of you who don't recall, the "Prank Game" allowed players to choose an extra game/result combo to supplement their lineup. If that extra game appeared in the show in question, if would be inserted into the player's lineup in a fashion that would give the maximum MP/CP boost. Three players took advantage of it on that show, with two rising more than ten positions each on the week's leaderboard as a result.

If enough people would like to see this concept return, I might envision it becoming an on-demand feature similar to the non-car-for-a-car picks. You would only get a few uses of it per season, but you would be able to choose when to deploy it for the greatest effect (say for example when you're waffling on two particular games). Tell me if you would like to see this return, and if so... come up with a better name for it. 

I think that covers most of what I wanted to get out there. Again, any and all comments are welcome, discussion between players even more so. I look forward to seeing what you have to say as we move towards Season 45, in order to make FPG an even better game going into 2016-17.

[whammy007]

So... *crickets*

100+ views, seven days, five discussion points, zero response to any of them. I know it's the summer and people are busy with stuff, but it would be nice to have at least SOME discussion going about the coming season.

Just remember, if I don't hear anything, I'll have to start making stuff up as I go. You probably don't want that. 

[Hag]

I think you're doing fine as the host. You came in under difficult circumstances, and I have no complaints about how well you've done (and will do) the job.

No complaints about the spoiler policy either. There are going to be spoiled games, nothing can be done about it, it can only be handled as well as possible, and you've done the best you can with that.

To be honest, I don't pay that much attention to the playoff structure, so I'll go along with any changes that might be made, or even if things stay as they are.

I do like your ideas for Play Along, particularly mutiplying the cash by MP score. I would go along with those changes, if you made them.

I liked the Prank Game concept. I'd be up for seeing it return, along with the Sleeper Six, which I'm a big fan of.

Keep up the good work.

[Schfifty]

1. You're doing a good job as the host. I appreciate how you create the threads a little bit more ahead of time and how you list the pricing games already played in the week, not to mention the good quality of your Picks/Frequencies/Results/Leaderboard images. It would be wonderful if all the submitted picks can get posted the morning of each game, but I guess I can't control your work schedule.

2. I'm indifferent on the spoilers policy, but we should keep the Spoilers thread and the "three strikes" rule.

3. Nothing really to say here, other than I'm unsure if we should keep inviting MSTieScott, Rogerdob, etc. to play in the playoffs, because they pretty much don't ever play FPG. If it's tradition, then I understand.

4. I'm in favor of the ideas you suggested for Play-Along. It could give some of the not-so-strong players a chance to do well.

5. I've had a little trouble understanding the Prank Game feature, and I never personally found it interesting, so I'd probably remove it in favor of the new Play-Along rules if they ever get implemented.

Like Hag said, keep up the good work!

[JustBecause]

1. Your hosting has been great. Whatever you’ve been doing, keep doing that since its working .

2. The spoiler rule is fine as is; spoilers are a part of the FPG experience now and until someone comes up with a better rule, no point in fixing what’s already in place.

3. I actually like that there are no bonuses for regular season performance. It’s like sports in general; regular season glory means nothing if you can’t convert in the playoffs. That said I like the idea of going to a knockout tournament instead of free-for-all. Also, there should be no automatic berths whatsoever. You either qualify or don't; simple as that. 

4. This HAS to become the P/A rule next season; brilliant idea. Ideas like this are why you’re a great host .

5. The concept works; if it doesn’t come to fruition though, I wouldn’t lament it not being a regular feature.

All in all, FPG is in a good solid place, and should continue under your leadership whammy. 

[Teddy]

1. I think you're doing a great job as FPG host.
2. I like the spoiler rule, and there's no reason to change it as it is.
3. I'll touch on your ideas here. I'm on the fence on reducing the qualifiers to four, but I like the idea of giving the top players a bye in the quarterfinals. And the knockout tournament is a good idea, and it goes along with the idea I had, in that anyone who is eliminated from and during the tournament cannot play again until the start of the next season (as I don't do it anyway after I've been eliminated).
4. I'm all for making Play-Along a weekly thing, although I'd prefer it be every two or three weeks instead.
5. The Prank Game would make a great feature for when the episode falls on Halloween or April Fool's Day; otherwise we shouldn't play it at all.

Those are my thoughts, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for Season 45.

[TPIRFan2000]

1. You're doing excellently. Keep up the good work.
2. It's fine as it is.
3. I'm fine with the playoffs as they are. Not too big on the idea of a knockout tournament, considering that if two players who performed strongly are matched up against each other, one will still be eliminated. Whereas if two players who didn't perform well are against each other, one can still move on with a weak performance.
4. I like your idea. It helps reward a lot more cash.
5. I may be a bit biased here since I was one of those 3 players who benefited from the Prank Game, but I'm in favor of it returning. Would be a much better alternative to hedging and potentially missing out on a particular pricing game.

One idea I've had - I think that 3 MPs should be given instead of 2 for slotting a game correctly but predicting the wrong result. My reasoning being (with the exception of Golden Road) slotting a game involves much more skill than predicting a game's result.

Anyways, can't wait for the next season to begin. Hopefully I'll do much better at FPG this time around than I did last season.

[Flerbert419]

1. I like the addition of the games played this week in the open thread - it prevents me from having to check all the recaps. The danger is what happens when there is a mistype someday (1WP vs. 1RP for example) and the other game happens to be on the show. Would the whole playing get cancelled? If not, there's a risk in blindly following the post and maybe it shouldn't be done at all.

Having the picks and frequencies on hand during the episode is part of the fun to see who's winning at that moment. I'm sure we can find a volunteer to reliably post them if Prizes is unwilling to commit each week. I know she's ideal since she can also start the thread, but being consistent should be more important. There should also be a clear cutoff time from the participants to make it in that post (say, midnight).

The Super Secret Million Dollar Bonus either needs to be retired or we need to get a hint - I don't think I saw a mention of it once this season.

2. The spoiler policy is absolutely working. It's amazing that we have been able to find a way to still make this game work in this era of constant spoilers. I still think there should also be a "finders fee" to encourage people to post spoilers in a timely manner. The bonus money for picking all 6 games in an episode should also be unavailable in any game with spoilers.

3. I'm fine with giving out a slightly bigger bonus for the regular season champions, but nothing too crazy like byes. They need to perform in the playoffs in order to make it far. Also, people who are out of the playoffs should be able to continue to play and included in a just-for-fun leaderboard.

4. I don't like the idea of an every week Play Along. I actually think we have too much "extra" in the game already between Play Along, NCFC, and Sleeper Six. Not sure why we skipped 7 games between Play Alongs last season but it really should be every 4 playings regardless of episode numbers, spoilers, or anything like that.

5. I'm not in favor of this - see above.

Keep up the good work!

[whammy007]

So, I'd like to start off this post with an apology. I know I've been largely absent the last few months. Some of that has been with work, some with other life events, but mostly... I've just been lazy and not wanting to park in front of the rulesheet and spreadsheet. 

Finally, I've managed to tell myself to and get the jobs done. As a result, we finally have our rules set up for the season starting this week. Most of it is the same, or just reworded slightly to formalize the practices I've started over the course of that partial season as interim host. The spreadsheet is coming along as you read and will be set to go in time for Friday.

As refers to the points I raised here at end of last season... spoiler policy stays for all intents and purposes the same, the Prank Game is not becoming a new mechanic but may return for another one-off appearance, but the one big change for the regular season is that the Play-Along is now an every-week bonus. Check the rules for specifics, but it's going to be substantially as I laid it out here: one PA pick per week, no more ALL-IN, cash earned is equal to money won by the chosen game's player times the MP earned for the game. Whiff on the game, no cash for you, but nail the most expensive one of the day and you're staring down a quadruple haul.

That brings us to the one other point from this open thread that I haven't yet addressed, which is the playoffs. I still want to revamp the structure somewhat, but in retrospect the concept of a knockout tournament, while interesting, does not mesh well with FPG. So let me go ahead and throw out the concept that keeps rattling around my head, and you all tell me what you think:

> Four weeks of playoffs: Round of 16, Round of 8, two-game total-points Final 4
> Initial field of 16 composed of 6 automatic qualifiers and 10 wildcards
> Automatic qualifiers: top 2 in total MP, top (or next highest) 2 in points, top (or next highest) 2 in cash
> Wildcards will be the 10 highest scorers in a qualifying match to be held after the regular-season finale
> To participate in the qualifier, you must either play 75% of games, win a game, medal three times, or be in last year's Elite 8

There are some other details to consider (such as what to do with opt-outs), but this is the main structure I had in mind. We've got all season to hammer at it a little, so please feel free to throw in your collective $0.02 - in the meantime, I'll see you all in a day or two for the regular-season opener!