Losing interest...

The only way to attract new and younger blood is to have an app game (not a pay per card view app). When I was young I used to play Life, Risk, Monopoly on the kitchen table, now those games stay alive by apps. My kids friends only play those games by passing around an ipad.

Completely the same in my house, the iPad apps got my girls playing Life, Monopoly, Risk, Catan, etc..but we play the board games now instead of the apps. If it wasn't for the iPad apps they wouldn't have built an interest. My youngest even plays rummy and spades on the ipad because she wants to beat Dad face to face

We also have a "device time" rule in the house so we force them off of the screens (evidently we are archaic and draconian compared to the other parent's in town...words from my 14 year old, damn schools are good in my town)

Totally agree, build out the game engine on iOs and Droid, GREAT point ratioman!!!

And if you haven't tried the Mystery 1980s set, it is a lot of fun, and one thing you can NOT do with the CD-ROM.

61 times, but thanks for the offer

The only way to attract new and younger blood is to have an app game (not a pay per card view app). When I was young I used to play Life, Risk, Monopoly on the kitchen table, now those games stay alive by apps. My kids friends only play those games by passing around an ipad.

Completely the same in my house, the iPad apps got my girls playing Life, Monopoly, Risk, Catan, etc..but we play the board games now instead of the apps. If it wasn't for the iPad apps they wouldn't have built an interest. My youngest even plays rummy and spades on the ipad because she wants to beat Dad face to face

We also have a "device time" rule in the house so we force them off of the screens (evidently we are archaic and draconian compared to the other parent's in town...words from my 14 year old, damn schools are good in my town)

Totally agree, build out the game engine on iOs and Droid, GREAT point ratioman!!!

Robert,
I salute you on your excellent parenting!

I showed my nephew my cdrom strat game, first thing he said was "the graphics are so outdated". Of course, WE know that isn't the point of the game, but it does seem to be huge with the younger generation.

4 years ago , I received an offer to play a free team online when I purchased my new CDROM game. Without that, I would have never known about this online game, and I've played Strat since 1969. Why aren't they doing this every year? It is proven to hook new players. In fact, just the fact alone that I was completely unaware of the online game shows how poor their marketing has been.

It's like when one of your parents starts showing the signs of old age and you know their time is near. You love and treasure the years you spent together, but you realize that the future prospects for them are fading away, and it's very sad. You feel powerless to do anything that can reverse the natural course of events. I firmly believe SOM is in a dying business, and they are not doing enough to improve its financial prospects in the months and years ahead as its core group of customers become senior citizens - without replacing them with a younger generation of fans. It's not a matter of if this business will fail, but when.

You guys sure are depressing.

I for one have not lost any interest in this great game and will be playing till whenever they pull the plug. Online SOM has been a part of my day for so many years now there would be a hole in my day if it were gone.

You may think me a loser with no life. Who knows, maybe that is true, but online SOM still brings me enjoyment and interest each and every day.

League messages and the boards have changed dramatically and I've been doing this since the end of ATG 1.

The boards used to be vibrant and engaging. Nowadays I'll check them maybe once a week at the most.

Interleague messages (unless you have an "ATG Buddy" in the league) are basically non-existent. I had a league end about a month ago. In the final night of the season there was a three team race for the Division or Wildcard, can't recall, but I sent a message to the entire league commenting about how great a finish this was going to be. When I went to write the message, I was amazed to see that it was the first message all year. 159 games and not a single message had been sent, at least not league wide. Guess what? Not a single person replied.

Another thing that has changed the boards is the proliferation of leagues at different caps and player sets. In early ATG days, EVERYONE played with the same conditions. (caps, league sets, etc)
So it was in everyone's interest to discuss whether Felipe Alou or Ellis Valentine would be the best RF choice in Polo34.

Now, I play theme leagues almost exclusively, so getting the community's advice on certain cards, strategies, etc, is not as important as it used to be, and close to irrelevant.

Hi Everyone,

I have to say that my immediate reaction of seeing the title of this thread terrified me. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose interest in strato.....I'm a bit OCD so it could happen, but golly that is a scary thing. It's my end of the day (central time zone for me) kick back and relax elixir. I play wherever I am in the world, whether Asia, Europe, or various parts of the US, and I it's absolutely fantastic to help get through a 15 hour flight from DTW to Zhangou or someplace by killing 6 hours or so of those hours strato team building - assuming I'm lucky enough to have internet over the Pacific (sometimes yes, sometimes no).

Anyway - a key aspect of these posts as to do with message board content. I know I almost always enjoy the (if any) league banter. I post occasionally (perhaps too frequently, too frequently - I don't know how to gauge that), but admit to feeling a bit anxious when I do post as I'm not sure if anyone else in the league gives a hoot what I might have to say. 'Try to keep it light' I guess is my primary axiom.

Perhaps the most fun I had was by picking a crazy team name and waiting for the league to guess What The Heck I was talking about. I tried the very rare 'from the city of my home team' newspaper report thing with levity but that seemed possibly off putting except to the 1 other person who also engaged.

However - I did join a 'keeper' league for the first time where the 4 managers have committed to 4 consecutive seasons based on an 'inflationary' model (some on this thread are in that I believe), and I hope that will lead to some banter and quasi relationship building. I think maybe some of us are rather nerdy (my wife and kids find me guilty of this in any event) and maybe dialogue isn't our thing.

Last (thankfully) - I didn't know about the online game until about 2 1/2 years ago. I was impressed by the depth of the database, and the opportunity to play with NEL stars - kind of giving them their fair due finally - was an awesome discovery for me. I've shown a few baseball-philic nephews the game, and my son, also a lover of baseball but busy doing his on track and field thing, and the overall reaction was one of amazement - but also intimidation. They are familiar with Fantasy sports - one nephew deemed Strato, 'Fantasy Baseball on steroids' (funny, that) - but I just didn't feel they could relate to the 'complexity.'

Maybe we 50-60 year olds are the Greatest Baseball generation. It's not fantasy baseball to me --- it's an opportunity to actually commune with the Legends of my youth, as well as some of the legends to be of today. Anyway.....sorry for the blah blah blah.

Ptolemy

The online game is about 15 years? Ive been here for most of that time. Im still interested but it comes and goes. More emphasis on smaller cap leagues might help individual managers keep interest.