Only in this STUPID game ...

TO SUM UP:

There are unusual results that have caused owners to question the programming of the game.

Some owners insist that this is just conspiracy thinking.
Other owners have done extensive research and data tracking to come up with noteworthy red flags.

We know from what STRAT has told us (per discussions with BERNIE) and extensive research, that STRAT has used various "Normalizers" in the past.

It appears that these modifiers/normalizers, have one thing in common---they make it easier for newbies to compete with the pro owners, and make it easier for newbies to win championships early on.

Per NEVDULLY'S note, he was told specifically that there is a "black box" and that information will not be shared by STRAT. So we will never know for certain either way. As we pay to play this game, my personal view is that we should have access to this information but it is clear that is not going to happen.

So we have limited choices. We can continue to play this addictive game in face of these possible manipulations, or we can stop participating altogether. I love the game, its a great distraction from what is happening in the world, and I thoroughly enjoy playing it.

There is another side to this for me--- one of my good friends, who began with ATG1 just as I did, has now left the game, it looks to me like he won't be coming back, he has accumulated data that is pretty damning. I am considering doing the same, particularly as I get more data that indicates that something is afoot.

Another option would be to petition STRAT, i.e. get a large number of owners to sign a petition asking for transparency. I don't think this strategy will work for a number of reasons---STRAT won't respond to it, it will cause ill-will and if indeed there are modifiers, one can sense what might happen.

So, we either play ball or move on. I for one, am on the fence at this point.....

that says it......

it is disconcerting to pay money for something and not have access to the level of fair play probability.

is it like the secret source at Mcdonald's ? Obviously Strat has the right per there business module to manipulate outcomes to support there ability to support and grow there business. They make no advertising claims upon signing up for the service that this is a level playing field, nor is there anything signed between the customer and supplier in this case.

decisions, decisions, -- i guess in the end, right now for me the entertainment factor is enough to off set the negative side of this online game. Of course there are nights when i get my butt kicked that I vow to never play this game again...lol.

that says it......

it is disconcerting to pay money for something and not have access to the level of fair play probability.

is it like the secret source at Mcdonald's ? Obviously Strat has the right per there business module to manipulate outcomes to support there ability to support and grow there business. They make no advertising claims upon signing up for the service that this is a level playing field, nor is there anything signed between the customer and supplier in this case.

decisions, decisions, -- i guess in the end, right now for me the entertainment factor is enough to off set the negative side of this online game. Of course there are nights when i get my butt kicked that I vow to never play this game again...lol.

I guess for me the last paragraph speaks for me..for now...also Strat will never acknowledge if there are things that do influence the outcomes of games...I think they are willing to loose a few oldtimers if it means bringing in new blood

Strat will never acknowledge if there are things that do influence the outcomes of games

Except that they do. They have a whole help page devoted to which max rules are on and which are off. There is no reason to believe their statements about transparency are about anything other than the max rules, which are a black box whose existence they acknowledge but whose dynamics they will not describe in detail. The only reason to think their statements about "secret sauce" refer to double-secret unlisted black box rules is one's own priors.

It appears that these modifiers/normalizers, have one thing in common---they make it easier for newbies to compete with the pro owners, and make it easier for newbies to win championships early on.

How on earth would a home run normalizer (still don't understand what that is supposed to be but sounds like some kind of throttle) help new players in particular? Or a momentum modifier? A momentum modifier in which past results affect future results would absolutely murder poor teams and make good teams even better. This thread is littered with rumored settings that would be of no particular benefit to new players.

As far as the rumored settings that WOULD benefit new players...You guys do realize how it looks to believe in these unlisted settings that just happen to flatter the veteran players by suggesting that new players having success at their expense are merely the beneficiaries of shadowy behind-the-scenes forces? Just checkin...

Strat will never acknowledge if there are things that do influence the outcomes of games

MaxPower wrote ******Except that they do. They have a whole help page devoted to which max rules are on and which are off. There is no reason to believe their statements about transparency are about anything other than the max rules, which are a black box whose existence they acknowledge but whose dynamics they will not describe in detail. The only reason to think their statements about "secret sauce" refer to double-secret unlisted black box rules is one's own priors.*****
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What MaxPower doesn't understand is the game's past...Guess who got the Max rules and pages posted?...It took a bunch of us YEARS of Bitching and Complaining and getting dragged by the kool-aid drinking Strat apologists to get those pages created...yeah created...they didn't exist until some of us in the community pushed hard for them...There was NO WIKI PAGES...THERE WERE NO PAGES of ANY MAX RULES, ANYWHERE, Years into the release of this online game!!!!!

And I've never come to these boards to brag or pat myself on the back, (in part bc I lose as much as I win but I will now...I fought as long, and as loud, as anyone, if not more...and made plenty of enemies along my way, to get so much stuff done, that needed and should have been done years earlier.

This game started out as "All-Time Great Teams" the best "team" from each franchise...27 teams maybe 25 players from each team, maybe 700 cards in total.... We've got how many cards in ATG now, 12 million (well it just seems like it) And it ALL changed when many in the community (on these boards that have long been a ghost town) Asked, begged, and argued, over the course of TWO YEARS, for an (one) Ernie Banks card to be added....See Banks wasn't in the original set on that ONE particular Cub team that Strat choose, and the community just had to have Mr. Cub...From that long battle of asking and complaining came a Banks card...and years later all what we have now (all these cards)...combine that with our fight for transparency of rules, to changes in the bullpen (what a battle that was and I worked for months with Bernie, test after test after test...to get BPV2 completed, etc etc...and here we are....and we're here, for a better or worse, by only a handful of us, pushing relentlessly.

I’m not sold on the conspiracy theories, but …

Please bring back Bullpen v 2!!!

I’m not sold on the conspiracy theories, but …

Please bring back Bullpen v 2!!!

YESSSSSSS

What MaxPower doesn't understand is the game's past...Guess who got the Max rules and pages posted?...It took a bunch of us YEARS of Bitching and Complaining and getting dragged by the kool-aid drinking Strat apologists to get those pages created...yeah created...they didn't exist until some of us in the community pushed hard for them...There was NO WIKI PAGES...THERE WERE NO PAGES of ANY MAX RULES, ANYWHERE, Years into the release of this online game!!!!!

And I've never come to these boards to brag or pat myself on the back, (in part bc I lose as much as I win but I will now...I fought as long, and as loud, as anyone, if not more...and made plenty of enemies along my way, to get so much stuff done, that needed and should have been done years earlier.

By all means pat yourself on the back, sounds like great work you guys did. It's important for players to know which settings are operative and which are not. And you're right that I don't know the history.

Just spitballing here, but maybe Strat was in no hurry to post the max rules in part because they knew that even after they did, people would still claim there were yet more unlisted settings in effect that Strat was refusing to acknowledge? Or they were just lazy. Either way, well done getting them to post them.

Still, they DID post them, and the help page as it reads now explicitly claims that the 365 engine is essentially the same as the Windows engine, and that card results are only altered by max rules. And nothing I've seen in this thread or in the leagues I've been in has made me think that the help page is lying about that.

NEVDULLYS--as always, thanks for all that you do. it is truly appreciated by those that know.
we hold you in very high esteem.

MAXPOWER: do you get free credits for all this?