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+---- Thread: *Thoughts on Simulations and Player Perception (/showthread.php?tid=43275)
*Thoughts on Simulations and Player Perception - wizard_literal - 02-03-2023
Introduction:
Hello! This is my first media post so I wanted to start off with a quick introduction. As you can see to the left of this post I go by the handle wizard_literal, but if you must know my government name is Ryan. I was ecstatic to find an active football sim league as I spent many days in my youth participating in a game some may find familiar called "GoalLineBlitz". Back in those days I went by the handle Cactus72 and was a Co-Defensive Coordinator for one of the Pro League Teams "The Arkansas Naturals". We were never good enough to win a championship, but we did make the playoffs a few times! I think that should suit enough as an introduction for now.
Thoughts on Simulation and Player Perception:
My mention of GoalLineBlitz in the intro was not without reason. I recall joining up very early on before anybody had any clue how the game worked, or what attributes were best suited for individual positions. It was the wild west of testing different builds and seeing what worked. Nobody knew how Agility impacted breaking tackles or blocks, or whether a Wide Receiver should value Hands over Speed early in their career. GoalLineBlitz was designed as a "Black Box" of sorts. That meaning that nobody, other than the Game Creator, knew how the formulas in the simulation worked. It was up to the players to experiment and make best guess assumptions based on the results.
And beyond the black box of the sim was the added veil that player attributes were not publicly viewable. If the Wide Receiver aptly named "Cassius Clay" from the opposing team went off for 250 yards and 5 touchdowns for a knockout blow, it wasn't so simple to copycat the build. Early on there were a number of superstar players that were house hold names because they alone had cracked the black box deduced the inner workings of the simulation. It turns out Speed was BY FAR the most important stat, not just only for a Wide Receiver, but nearly every position. Even an O-lineman without a speed contribution would routinely get outpaced by a Defensive End speed rusher.
As time went on the entirety of the player base became more knowledgeable on the system, and what attributes were best. Either through trial and error, or theory collaboration with teammates whose builds we could see. Still even the most astute of players could never know fully how the system worked. For the nature of a simulation is random. A multitude of formulas and pseudo random number generators could never be cracked by even the brightest statisticians.
And that brings me to the ISFL and player perception on the simulation. The player perception of the simulation is understood through trial and error, assumptions and calculations. But due to the nature of the simulation we can never truly know how to crack the code. For example we know that both the Strength and Tackling attributes helps a defender shed blocks. So we can experiment with a high Tackling build, and compare that to a high Strength build. And through analysis we can come to conclusions on optimal builds. However, we can never truly predict the outcome 100% of the time. The phrase "Any Given Sunday", or in this case "Any Given Simulation" comes to mind. There's always that chance of randomness that makes the game exciting. And through that lens we as the players can only look. A view always obscured by the nature of the simulation.
RE: Thoughts on Simulations and Player Perception - negs - 02-03-2023
I love it! That’s a great way to look at the league and the results. Team Ryan!
RE: Thoughts on Simulations and Player Perception - Twenty6 - 02-03-2023
Quote:The phrase "Any Given Sunday", or in this case "Any Given Simulation" comes to mind. There's always that chance of randomness that makes the game exciting.
Wrong. If you lose, it was a fluke, the sim is bogus, and we should move to Roblox.
(For legal purposes, this was a joke. Welcome to the league, and glad to have you here with us!)
RE: Thoughts on Simulations and Player Perception - wizard_literal - 02-03-2023
(02-03-2023, 03:15 PM)Twenty6 Wrote:Quote:The phrase "Any Given Sunday", or in this case "Any Given Simulation" comes to mind. There's always that chance of randomness that makes the game exciting.
Wrong. If you lose, it was a fluke, the sim is bogus, and we should move to Roblox.
(For legal purposes, this was a joke. Welcome to the league, and glad to have you here with us!)
I agree! The simulation entirely factors Home Field Advantage in too much. Whose to say that our team's simulated fans wouldn't have traveled to the road game giving us the advantage! Why wasn't my fanfic accounted for in the sim!
(Thanks for the welcome, glad to be here!)