Losing interest...

Part of the reason I have loved this game over the years is the back and forth banter on league boards. That activity has died a slow and painful death. Leagues can go entire seasons without a single message post. If I wanted to just run numbers, I could pull out the CD and play to my heart's content on my laptop.

I have a handful of credits left - not sure how far I'll continue once those are done. Is there a reason everyone has stopped saying anything on their league boards? Too many arguments? Not enough interest? Are live draft leagues any better on the league boards?

I've noticed the exact same thing and wondered why. Is it primarily a spillover effect from when the SOM brass canned Bernie and buttoned down the discussion boards so tightly? Or is it primarily due to a different personality profile of the younger generation of managers that has replaced many of us old timers? Whatever the reason, the difference is too stark to be mere happenstance.

Kevin A

It is primarily SOM and their approach to the boards and customers. Look at their "communication" with us: Garcia's locked blog. Plus they made it clear after TSN dumped them that they wanted controversy-free, vanilla boards which is what Garcia models in his blog. However, I get plenty of interaction with people in leagues and have made friends with more than a few of the newer folk. That said "the community" is not what it was and the boards have been utterly boring for a good five years now, but they are relatively free of conflict and bickering. I try to make an interesting thread now and then but mostly don't bother because of the apathetic response. Things also changed after Bobby Moretti quit the game. His personality and event sponsorship did a great deal to create a sense of community here and that void was never filled after he left. Also the muzzling of Bernie and his presumed eventual departure didn't help either. For all his screw-ups, he clearly did care about the game and the community and was accessible. Garcia, not so much. Finally, I don't think there is a younger generation of managers, just more guys in their fifties/sixties and beyond that somehow found the game more recently.

I agree with Druid.

Especially, that it seems that most players here are 50+ (I'm 53)

I really think the solution you are looking for is an INFUSION of newer.....younger blood like the 30 to 40 somethings........BUT ALAS........I don't think they care about numbers and stats.......long term I'm afraid STRAT is doomed!

Unless someone at HQ can come up with a VISION PLAN to bring the generation xers into the game.

Agree.
i think there is great opportunity here, and STRAT has not yet embraced it....

to get new owners, you have to give them a chance to play the game and get involved.

here are some suggestions as to how to do that:

1) Give each new first time owner, a free season to start with. can't hook 'em if you don't have bait.
any person who is a baseball fan, and gets the opp to play this game, will want to play. a lot.

2) include free season coupons with each board game sold. (see above)

3) given any existing owner, a real bonus for each new owner they bring on-board that plays at least 3 seasons--like 3 credits or something. use your existing customer base to sell for you.

4) establish a "World Series" of the STRAT board game, double elimination, best of 7 game series, to take place in NYC and/or LA, with a entry fee that creates a decent prize pool, get the media, TV and print, to cover it.

5) Offer every Major League player, a credit to play the on-line game. make that offer 2 weeks after the world series is over (when they have time to kill). you get MLB players playing the on-line game, and that will create buzz, get them talking about the game, that will get the Media interested, and then the public.

6) Social Media Marketing. This is a slam dunk.

bottom line---create interest, incentivize sales, create media coverage and buzz, get the athletes interested, reward your loyal customers and make them effective sales people

I see Treyomo's post as being as much about intra-league chatter as anything, and the responsibility for that lies squarely on us, the players. Some leagues I'm in are vibrant, some less so. I've certainly met a few like-minded folks I'm become friendly with thanks to interesting discussions within leagues.

I share the fears for the future. I've only been playing for about 15 months but I've dived in with both feet and love this game. I'm 41, and almost always the youngest guy in a given league. (I'm already preparing myself emotionally for the day when the community is too small to be sustainable.) The problem as I see it is a big picture one - declining overall interest in baseball; the development of amazingly sophisticated video games that are becoming professional sports in themselves. Most of us here, it seems, grew up on the board game. Who is doing that now? I'm a pessimist, but I do appreciate blineimages ideas, which are good ones.

One thing we can do as a community is to make the league chats interesting and to make new players feel welcome. -matt

We need the passion Bernie had to get these forums and the game thriving again. We need Garcia, if that is all we have, to actually talk to us and not just a once a month locked blog. Bernie had great ideas, not always filled but he kept us engaged.

I got a friend to join. He entered my name as the guy that got him to join. That was supposed to be a $5 credit for me but I never saw any credit at all.

Also part of the over 50 club, and part of the losing interest club as well. Not losing interest in SOM, but primarily in the Online game. I've probably cut back 90% of my spend in the online game over the last 2 years. Instead, I've joined a number of other leagues using the PC game, play by email, net play, and run my own leagues. The same challenge is there as the online game, but with more variety and at a more affordable price point. Even considering trying a face to face cards and dice tournament.

For me there is a lack of variety in the online game. After a couple of teams in the 20xx sets each year, since the GMs here are so knowledgeable, the card/salary values get figured out quickly and the leagues for me get a bit predictable. Yes, it can be mixed up with trying a variety of team building approaches, but at $20+ per team, it can get expensive to experiment. In the mystery game, SOM took away a very useful tool a few years back (the blank lineup) and I kind of focused more on ATG and 20xx instead. In ATG, there are about 5 or 6 very strategy's that work reliably and the Daily game still needs a bunch of fixes.

I do still really enjoy some of the theme leagues, and that's where the majority of my interest in the Online game is now.

I would be playing more if more individual seasons were made available or if there was an option to manage the game AB by AB.

Also looking forward to SOM Football making it to 365, if that rumor is true I'd be back to buying 5 credit packs right away.

Not down on SOM, just lost interested in the Online game some.

There is a live draft 1980s League this Friday (Sept. 1st) night at 9:00 pm, we only need five more... And I know for a fact these guys like friendly banter... 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.... I hope you join us.

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. My old board games collect dust. No use lamenting the past nostalgically - it is what it is. If those game companies did not build an app and take the leap to charge $5 for an electronic game which they used to sell exclusively for $25 at Toys R Us, I really don't know how they could survive to the next generation. I have offered SOM many ideas for game apps that would bring in a younger generation. The apps don't have to be the entire game which SOM sells as a PC download for 10x the price, the app can be a mini version, perhaps the top 4-8 teams per year. Imagine a football game where you can play 8 past Super Bowl teams on your ipad. Buy more teams as in app purchases. There's nothing like that. Or similar for baseball. They have to build an app game to stay relevant.

And they should show us more love. Rosie spends so much time putting together lists of desirable cards, and then we are limited to a couple. Just add them. I asked SOM to add the World Series teams every year to the mix, which would give something for every cap, but they ignore me.

My fear is they view me as criticizing the company when I am only trying to see it THRIVE. My company spends a lot of time begging customers for feedback to improve.

Well, I hope to continue to see you all in leagues and on the boards.