A Suggestion for Activity

[Mic’haglh Autófil, SMC EiP]

Hi all,

I had an idea the other day for a way to perhaps help keep people checking in on the regular -- I am aware that Talossa has a (fantasy) football league, or at least did in the past. This is a similar idea, but it's not fantasy sports, but rather...fictional sports, if you will?

Long story short, there are programs out there called "scorinators" -- basically, they'll simulate pretty much any sport you want. Put in your teams, give them skill values, and it will generate semi-random results. Granted, these are teams that exist only on paper -- there are no rosters, no real people serve as managers, no trades to be made. But I guess I was just thinking that if nothing else we could have a league of some sport or another where each province has a team, something people can hang their hat on and hope to see do well (and more importantly, maybe want to check in on occasion to keep tabs on).

As an example -- using my favorite sport, naturally: hockey -- I came up with teams for a Liga Talossan de Hachi:

Capitais d'Atatürk                   (Atatürk Capitals)
Aquilas da Beniuto                   (Benito Eagles)
Bombardas da Cézembre                (Cézembre Bombers)
Republicans da Fiôvâ                 (Fiôvâ Republicans)
Pastours da Florencia                (Florencia Shepherds)
Soleiglhen da Maricopa               (Maricopa Suns)
Lachistaes da Maritiimi-Maxhestic    (Maritiimi-Maxhestic Lakers)
Rexhitais da Vuode                   (Vuode Royals)

Go easy on me, I'm still getting the hang of pluralization...

[Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP]

Hm, the Scorinator idea is really interesting. I wonder if you could implement Talossan Football for one of those...

[Mic’haglh Autófil, SMC EiP]

Hm, the Scorinator idea is really interesting. I wonder if you could implement Talossan Football for one of those...

I have to imagine it's possible to write "custom" sports templates. The whole thing is pretty text-based as far as customization goes.

Given the picture on the wiki very much resembles a game of Gaelic football (as someone who's played as part of a hurling club, I know a Gaelic sports goal when I see one), I would wonder if it's possible to tinker with the file I have for that as a starting point.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I love this idea. I also think it should be accompanied by gambling.

Maybe we wouldn't want to use the provinces for teams, necessarily... maybe organizations or individuals could also sponsor teams? Like the Royal College could sponsor the Heralds, or the FDT could sponsor the Democrats? Would that be okay?

[Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP]

Maybe we wouldn't want to use the provinces for teams, necessarily... maybe organizations or individuals could also sponsor teams? Like the Royal College could sponsor the Heralds, or the FDT could sponsor the Democrats? Would that be okay?

Not sure if having political parties sponsoring teams is that good an idea, considering that so much already revolves around politics... And considering how dead the provinces are in general, basing the teams on provinces instead would hopefully help with regional identities.

[Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP]

In other news, I've actually looked at the first-best scorinator I could find (Xkoranate) to check how customisable it is. Turns out that you need scoring probabilities with each score type, and since Talossan Football not only has 5 regular types of scoring (as well as a special one) but also has never been played in real life before, figuring out how probable each type of score is or how high the expected total score of a normal game would be is pretty difficult.

Any ideas?

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Maybe we wouldn't want to use the provinces for teams, necessarily... maybe organizations or individuals could also sponsor teams? Like the Royal College could sponsor the Heralds, or the FDT could sponsor the Democrats? Would that be okay?

Not sure if having political parties sponsoring teams is that good an idea, considering that so much already revolves around politics... And considering how dead the provinces are in general, basing the teams on provinces instead would hopefully help with regional identities.

But shouldn't we build on activity where it exists? If we allow any group to sponsor a team, then we'll be able to build on success anywhere in the country as it happens. I guess I don't feel too strongly about it, but it's what makes sense to me.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, SMC EiP]

Maybe we wouldn't want to use the provinces for teams, necessarily... maybe organizations or individuals could also sponsor teams? Like the Royal College could sponsor the Heralds, or the FDT could sponsor the Democrats? Would that be okay?

Not sure if having political parties sponsoring teams is that good an idea, considering that so much already revolves around politics... And considering how dead the provinces are in general, basing the teams on provinces instead would hopefully help with regional identities.

But shouldn't we build on activity where it exists? If we allow any group to sponsor a team, then we'll be able to build on success anywhere in the country as it happens. I guess I don't feel too strongly about it, but it's what makes sense to me.

No reason we couldn't do a bit of both, though I would prefer we avoid parties sponsoring teams and have provinces do it as a minimum, precisely for reasons of provincial identity/pride/bragging rights.

[Mic’haglh Autófil, SMC EiP]

In other news, I've actually looked at the first-best scorinator I could find (Xkoranate) to check how customisable it is. Turns out that you need scoring probabilities with each score type, and since Talossan Football not only has 5 regular types of scoring (as well as a special one) but also has never been played in real life before, figuring out how probable each type of score is or how high the expected total score of a normal game would be is pretty difficult.

Any ideas?

Xkoranate is what I use, I figured we could probably eyeball it some based on other types of football. Who says it has to be particularly scientific? Haha

[Mic’haglh Autófil, SMC EiP]

As a follow-up to this, I've put together a rudimentary Xkoranate file for Talossan football. The odds for each type of score must sum to 1.00, so this is what I used:

• Goals (seven points) are held to be relatively rare, given that the goal is protected by a keeper. Odds: 0.17
• Field Goals (three points) are given the highest odds in the game, based on their prevalence in both American football and the relative "ease" with which they can be scored in other sports (Gaelic football / hurling come to mind, the method of scoring is identical down to the H-shaped goal with a net below the crossbar). Odds: 0.28
• Rumps (one point) are also estimated to be fairly common, as sort of a "cop-out" or "settling" on the part of someone attacking the goal -- it might be tough to put the ball in the net, but batting it between the goal and rump posts should be pretty easy if you can get close enough. Odds: 0.26
• Touchdowns (six points) aren't as common as field goals or rumps, but I get the feeling that most teams would want to defend their goal more than the end zone. I'm willing to lower the odds on this one from where they're at (and distribute the points among the above three scoring types as a result). Odds: 0.22
• Safeties (two points) strike me as being pretty rare, much the same as in American football. Odds: 0.05
• Moats (ten points to the other team) are a score that should almost never happen, assuming the sport is being played by people who have the foggiest idea what they're doing. :P (On second thought, maybe that means the odds on these should increase...) Odds: 0.02

On the first few attempts, two teams with equal skill values produce cumulative scores ranging from about 35 to 50.

[Viteu]

I love this idea. I also think it should be accompanied by gambling.

What do you mean by gambling?

I don't want to poo poo the idea (I like it as well even if I don't play fantasy sports). But gambling on fantasy sports for money may be illegal macronationally.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I love this idea. I also think it should be accompanied by gambling.

What do you mean by gambling?

I don't want to poo poo the idea (I like it as well even if I don't play fantasy sports). But gambling on fantasy sports for money may be illegal macronationally.

I was talking about gambling on fantasy sports for money.

[Viteu]

I love this idea. I also think it should be accompanied by gambling.

What do you mean by gambling?

I don't want to poo poo the idea (I like it as well even if I don't play fantasy sports). But gambling on fantasy sports for money may be illegal macronationally.

I was talking about gambling on fantasy sports for money.

Thanks for clarifying. I did a quick google search on the legality of gambling in fantasy sports in the U.S.  I have not verified the accuracy of the information, but I came across the following:

While federal law permits fantasy sports, they are illegal in Arizona, Louisiana, Washington, Iowa, and Montana. 

Some states may have laws against fantasy sports that lack an enforcement mechanism.

Federal law classifies fantasy sports as games of skill, and therefore gambling is permitted provided there are not bets ont he outcome of an individual game or player's performance.

Several states allow participation in, but outlaw gambling on, fantasy sports. In all states, it is important to look into how the law views gambling among friends as opposed to an organized league.

Not trying to shoot down the idea of Talossan fantasy sports (I think it's great).  Each participant will need to check their local laws to ensure that participation is legal, which I think, for the most part, will not be too much of a headache.  But introducing a betting element will complicate this unnecessarily.   

[Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP]

Federal law classifies fantasy sports as games of skill,

I'm assuming that in proper fantasy sports, players have a tangible influence over how their teams perform (I assume because I dont know for sure), but when you scorinate the results as was suggested in this thread, there is no player input by default, its all randomly generated. So... scorinator gambling is probably less legal than regular fantasy sports gambling.

[Tric'hard Lenxheir]

I love this idea. I also think it should be accompanied by gambling.

What do you mean by gambling?

I don't want to poo poo the idea (I like it as well even if I don't play fantasy sports). But gambling on fantasy sports for money may be illegal macronationally.

I was talking about gambling on fantasy sports for money.

I'm not a fan of the gambling idea, I think it complicates the matter a bit too much and in some cases could drive certain people away from playing for various reasons such as financial, religious, legality.