I got a name, and I got two numbers

[mattgslater]

Edited for brevity.

Does this make sense?

1) Name Changes. Every player has a name. You may change the player's name, or give him a title or nickname, if you meet one of two criteria and e-mail the group to let us know. The two criteria are:

1a) A player's value add for improvements is 90k or more: you may give the player a name change, title, or nickname, once per rank.

1b) If you lose a match, you may nominate one player on the opposing team with 6 or more SPP for a title, nickname, or name change of your choice. The player's owner must agree to the nickname. You have one week after losing to make the nomination.

2) Objections. Any coach may object to a player's name on grounds of profanity or mean-spiritedness. If this happens, the coaches hammer it out, take it to the coordinator or some other third party, or put it to a vote. Note that if nobody minds that you name your guy f**kface, or if some other coach takes it in good stride that you name your niggling AV6 Linerat after him, then who cares?

3) Numbers. Every player has two numbers: a Roster Number between 1 and 16 and a Jersey Number that can be up to two characters of any sort, so long as no two players have the same Roster or Jersey Number; one player may be unnumbered. If you would randomly select a player on the roster, use Roster Number. Jersey Number must correspond to the identifying marker of the figure: it may or may not correspond to the Roster Number. You may change a player's Roster Number between matches, or his Jersey Number if you have an appropriate model, by sending an e-mail to the group advising of the change. Your Roster and Jersey Numbers must be accurate on the clean roster you submit to your opponent each match. Your players must be sorted by Roster Number.

[alternat]

why?

[mattgslater]

We retain players returning from season to season, but not always teams. We play with a rule that if you get somebody else's player, you can't rename him, which adds a little more fun to the mix. We also have a lot of coaches who like unusual numbering schemes, but we roll d16 for MVP and stuff.

[Darkson]

#3 we've been doing for years, without the need to write half a page of rules...

[mattgslater]

Uh, #3 is two paragraphs. I could totally shorten it to one. My first draft is always wordy. Back when I played with a bunch of lawyers and engineers and amateur game designers, we'd run into problems like these. There was this one guy who lost an Ogre to a coach named Darryl, and he hired a new one named Duck U. Farryl. Darryl's buddy took exception, even though Darryl thought it was funny, and it led to a nasty spat. Another time, there was a bit of a controversy when I started using a Varag model for a ST4/Block/Frenzy Orc Lino, and hired a new guy with the old number, right before the playoffs. The opponent mistook the new guy for the old guy, took an unnecessary dodge, and suffered a Casualty that almost certainly knocked him out of contention in the match. My new group is much more even-keeled, but if we expand that may change: best to work it out in advance.

Edit: I edited the top post, knocking about 40% of the verbiage out with about a 2% reduction in content.

Also, who cares how long the rules are? Rules are good if a) they make sense, b) they're short enough to read, c) they almost never get in the way unless there's a legitimate dispute, and d) when you need them they do what you need them to do and then go hang out and wait until there's another problem to solve.

[Darkson]

So glad I game with the guys I game with - the guys you're (stuck?) with sound liek the sort of people I avoid like the plague!
Rules for naming and numbering players?

[mattgslater]

Ouch. It's not my current crowd. It's just been my experience that when you gotta take who you can get it's always best to eliminate conflicts before they come up; until then, we can file them under the "whatever" category. And it's not like the rules are onerous or anything: I mean, they basically say you can't have two players with the same number, duh. Oh, and two digits have to identify the player, so you can show diagrams and stuff. I guess you could have more digits and just use the first two or last two to identify them, but nobody here has the time or the hands for that.

See, I thought #1 would be fun. You can identify your heroes by their titles, which take some doing to earn: doesn't that help develop a sense of history? #3 has always been an unwritten rule down here, but there have been misunderstandings in the distant past.

[Darkson]

See, I thought #1 would be fun. You can identify your heroes by their titles, which take some doing to earn: doesn't that help develop a sense of history?

A sense of history? All for it.
Rules for name changes? Please god, no - I'd be lynched by my lot if I suggested rules for it (I wouldn't). The names of our players change as needed (especially on our Chaos-league teams as they mutate), and we often suggest names for opposing players based on games played (such as "No-hands" Nick, a rather unsuccessful Catcher on what was an otherwise successful human team), but we don't need rules to tell us when and where we can do it - at the end of the day it's a) the coaches team and b) (hopefully) a set of mates playing, to which if they can't sort out minor issues other names without recourse to a set of rules over and above the rules of the game, probably shouldn't be allowed to play with others!

[mattgslater]

Ah. I see.

So how would you propose a system of titles or other individual player benefits that felt like it meant something? What other forms of individual player recognition bear a similar recognizability and significance? I mean, championships are for teams. Individual player awards tend to get forgotten unless they have attached mechanics, and I don't like that.

What about giving every player a field for earned titles or nicknames? So if you add +90k improvement value or get nominated by an opponent, you can give the guy a name in the second field, which otherwise just stays empty. That's got its drawbacks too.

[Darkson]

So how would you propose a system of titles or other individual player benefits that felt like it meant something?

I wouldn't "propose a system", I don't think it needs a "system". All I think it needs is the coach(es) in question to do what fills right for their team. If I want to have players named Tom, Dick & Harry (etc.), that's my choice - it shouldn't be for the commish and/or opponent coaches to decide how I name my teams. Also, if I want to give stately names to 0 SPP linemen (Lord Pergegrin "Orcslayer" Toomsworthy the Third) that's my choice.

By all means, allow leaguemates to make suggestions, but if rules are needed, then it seems that the fun has already been removed, not increased.

[mattgslater]

I'm not proposing you shouldn't be able to name your players whatever. I'm looking for a recognition mechanic.

[Darkson]

I'm looking for a recognition mechanic.

There's already a "recognition factor" - it's called the coaches.

[mattgslater]

That's great when you don't have any turnover. But when you have to build a sense of tradition and are almost certain that most of the coaches who will be there in two years aren't there now... the funny thing about memory is that if you weren't there, you ain't got it.

[voyagers_uk]

My suggestion would be to have a solid league fanzine and provide new members with the previous seasons copies, that way they get a sense not only of the nicknames but also the background...

[mattgslater]

A 'zine sounds like a great idea, but it's too much work. I'm not going to write it. I do everything already. Until we have a solid base of coaches, I'm not going to get anybody else to write it either. I don't know how it is where you are, but if you want to pay San Diego rent on San Diego wages, you spend a lot of time working and not much time doing anything else. I got one guy who could probably find the time, but he's severely dyslexic and can't use a keyboard.

Oh, duh. A Hall of Fame would do what I'm trying to do with Rule #1, with a lot less potential for controversy. A Pro Bowl might also be a fun way to go, but that would be hard to engineer.

How about this instead of Rule #1?

The Hall of Fame
At the end of the first day of the two-day postseason tournament, each coach in attendance nominates up to four of his players for the Hall of Fame. These players must have 100,000 gold in improvement value, or must have performed some significant feat, such as leading the league in an SPP category, killing a couple of notable players, or whatever. The coaches then vote on the list of nominees, three votes per coach, voting for up to one player from each team. The top X vote-getters are admitted to the Hall of Fame, and get the Hall of Fame skill, where X is half the number of coaches in the league, rounding up. This does not affect Team Value.

Hall of Fame (Extraordinary): Players in the Hall of Fame get a band of fans following them around, and can build their reputations even beyond this by continuing to play matches after earning their position in the Hall. For each player with Hall of Fame on your team, add +1 to your Fan Factor. Hall of Fame players may purchase the skill Fan Favourite on a normal skill roll; players with Fan Favourite may not use the Hall of Fame skill, though they retain it on the roster.