Trust Busting

[Beaver]

After the first season of the very scary agent experiment I think we can mostly agree that it is a popular service that has considerable demand and that the dangers and concerns were overhyped and mostly have not come to fruition.

However a new issue that I've noticed has arisen - only one agency is still standing. With the considerable barriers to entry that HO erected to ensure that it would be difficult to start and maintain an agency and that only site regulars could do so, we saw only two agencies created and one of them has already died off despite having player interest. This may be by design as a backdoor way of banning agencies but if it's not then I would suggest lowering the requirements (or at least restructuring them) to be an agent ever so slightly so that there is a bit more competition in the realm of agents. The fears and concerns about player agents that we had so much hand-wringing about are much more likely to occur if there is only one agency than if there were multiple vying for clients. HO's stated position is that agents are fine but

[table border=\\\'0\\\' align=\\\'center\\\' width=\\\'95%\\\' cellpadding=\\\'3\\\' cellspacing=\\\'1\\\' id=\\\'QUOTE-WRAP\\\'][tr][td]QUOTE [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\\\'QUOTE\\\'][!--QuoteEBegin--][i]f not regulated, we have the potential for an agent to benefit one team for their own sake, rather than focus on what best benefits the principal.

Having 2 or 3 agencies to choose from would undoubtedly be better for the principal and would weaken the power of an agent to influence the landscape of the league according to their own bias/machinations.

Right now the requirements, after a series of increasing restrictions, as I understand them are:

1. Agents are not allowed to have any affiliations with teams in the NSFL or DSFL
2. Agents can not have any players in the NSFL or DSFL
3. Any such agency relationship will be terminated
4. Having these things along with being an agent creates a conflict of interest, which would clearly fall under tampering
5. Any communication between and agent and GM regarding a player must include said player. Including, but not limited to: contract, trade, and general inquiries.
Basically, if an agent is talking to a GM, there must be a player included in the communication as well.
6. Each agent must have a license from Head Office to act as an agent. License fee is $10mil per season (Ultimus to Ultimus).
7. An agent may have a league job to offset costs, they may take part in Twitter. Media date=]to meet our concerns of inexperienced/undedicated users in agency roles

Rule 9 takes care of the inexperience concern and if an agent is undedicated then that problem will sort itself out quickly. I can understand why HO didn't want the first wave of agencies to be run by new users who didn't know what they were getting into but now that we have an established agency running it's time to lower the cost to potentially introduce some competition. If someone that doesn't have a big bank wants to try out being an agent between players, let them. If they find it's not for them then no harm, no foul we're in the same exact situation we are now as one of the two original agencies closed within a season. If they find that they do like it, then great we have some competition and maybe HO can sleep a bit better at night knowing that @iamslm22 doesn't have a monopoly.

If HO thinks that lowers the barrier to entry too much then I would focus on strengthening Rule 9 (a restriction that makes sense) rather than taxing agencies into submission.

"But Beaver!" you shout aloud, your fingers flexing as you ready your reply. "Agents can just get a job and write media to pay for their agency fee!"

Indeed they can. In fact HO defended Rule 6 by laying out several ways to obtain $10m:

There are many ways to earn 10 million in the league, such as:

- 2 league jobs
- 1 league job and 2500 words of media
- 6000 words of media

To which I ask: why in God's name do we want agents holding league jobs?? Those jobs should be open for users, especially newer ones that could really use that money to purchase equipment and improve their player. So long as there is a considerable agency fee, taking up a league job will be the best, most popular, and most efficient way of defraying that cost. As HO noted, it's more expensive to maintain a player purchasing multiple pieces of equipment per season than it is to maintain an agency so players need those jobs more than agents do.

So, to summarize, in order for HO to achieve its regulatory aims it needs to reduce or, ideally, eliminate the agency fee and perhaps look at strengthening the tenure requirement as a trade-off. Something like: at least 7 seasons as a player, at least 3 seasons holding a league job, and a player that has reached at least x TPE (800? 1000?).

7 seasons on the site as a player is just over a year in real life time - I think that's a bit excessive since users regularly ascend to more important league roles than agent (HO, GM, etc) in less time. However, it requires potential agents to have a bit more experience on site and would ultimately help them as they would have more connections and relationships through the league. I think the current 5 season requirement is fine - I highly doubt anybody is going to retire their player after 5 or 7 seasons to become an agent so this is a bit superfluous but does prevent new users from biting off more than they can chew.

3 seasons holding a league job just requires a track record of having dedication to the league beyond simply updating a player. The number is fluid, of course, as there's nothing magical about the third season but that is 6 months of regularly working to make the league better and helping it to run smoothly so it ensures that agents have a bit of a buy-in already.

A TPE requirement on a previous player goes hand in hand with the first two requirements but from a slightly different angle. If I were to implement this restriction, I'd put it high enough that a player that simply does PTs, ACs, and Trainings can't reach it and only users that had consistent dedication to updating their player as well as holding down a job or jobs and/or pumping out media in order to pay for equipment.

The three of those are all very similar and overlap quite a bit but in conjunction I think would assuage HO's concerns that someone inexperienced or undedicated would open an agency even without a $10m agency fee requirement.

--

Beyond this, have there been any issues with agents in the first season that weren't covered by the first three rounds of regulations? With a new mechanic like this that, as far as I know, hasn't been implemented in this fashion in other sim leagues I think it's good to review what went well, what went poorly, what was expected to but didn't occur, and what did occur that was unforeseen and amend the rules and regulations accordingly.

[manicmav36]

There's a to unpack here, so I'll address a few things that really jumped out at me.

the dangers and concerns were overhyped and mostly have not come to fruition.

I would like to think that the reason this has occured is two-fold.
#1) We have an agent that is a great ambassador for the position.
#2) We have many common-sense rules in place to protect both the players and teams. Many of which you agree with.

Rules 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 are all basically the same and are fine. I'd still allow agents to have a player but that's not a hill I'm willing to die on.

The reason agents aren't allowed to have a player is because of a conflict of interest. People want their player to do well. They've invested a lot of time into them. What's the best way to ensure your player does well? Surround them with other good players. If you're an agent, you can easily sway other players to join your team with your unlimited access to said players. It would essentially be a pass to tamper whomever, whenever you please.

I don't understand the point of Rule 10 but it seems fine and I doubt it's restricting anything.

The same reasoning as above. The agent gives a GM direct access to a range of other players. Another opportunity tamper.

To which I ask: why in God's name do we want agents holding league jobs?? Those jobs should be open for users, especially newer ones that could really use that money to purchase equipment and improve their player.

A fantastic point. However, the truth of the matter is, we struggle to find people to fill jobs as it is. So, if an agent wants to work a job, I will not stop them. It helps fill a league need and everyone is better for it. Hopefully, we some day reach the point where we have too many people looking for jobs, and not enough openings. Today is not that day, however.

Beyond this, have there been any issues with agents in the first season that weren't covered by the first three rounds of regulations? With a new mechanic like this that, as far as I know, hasn't been implemented in this fashion in other sim leagues I think it's good to review what went well, what went poorly, what was expected to but didn't occur, and what did occur that was unforeseen and amend the rules and regulations accordingly.

There have been a few rumbings and grumblings from a few of the GMs, but it's to be expected with something that makes their job that much more complicated. Overall, I personally, am happy with how our first season with agents has gone. As you stated above, we're most likely the first (and still only) sim league to implement agents, which means there's a learning curve to go with it. As time goes on and we're able to gather more data about interactions and feedback from agents, I expect adjustments to occur. I appreciate your concerns, and just know that HO is constantly looking at, and evaluating, the situation.

[caltroit_red_flames]

These are some great takes Beaver. Nothing over the top, just good evaluation and suggestions on the situation!

[SwagSloth]

I personally don't see any need for the $10m fee outside of having it just to add another obstacle. The only reason to have an agent at this point would be that it's something you enjoy and you don't actually net anything from it (aside from enjoyment). It would be different if agents got a percentage of the contracts they negotiated, but at this point, you're paying to do something you enjoy and not receiving any kind of compensation in return.

Outside of that, all the other rules make sense to me.

[iamslm22]

PREACH - the agency fee especially is insane and pointless.

Agents are supported by at least 70% of the league and do a big service to the league. Some GMs don't like it (and give HO a lot of shit for it) but that shouldn't mean we have to have these absurd hurdles.

[DeathOnReddit]

Go off king. I agree with everything you said.

[ValorX77]

#AbolishTheAgencyTax

[bovovovo]

@Beaver actually HO created the agency in order to give a false sense of player freedom and negotiating power when really the agency is controlled by big brother HO who use it to twist the landscape of the NSFL to suit their profit-driven goals and to keep the power hungry GMs in line. Wake up sheeple

[Duilio05]

I think beaver makes a lot of sense. Remove $10M fee and restructure other requirements to be an agent.