Thoughts On 75 Second Limit For Online Drafts

[Money]

I personally voted for the 60 second clock. Now after reading Dan's thoughts and participating in the NFBC XII last night I agree with him. We had numerous rollbacks, mostly the same culprits. Possibly we look at the roll back language in the rules. One team was allowed to time out twice (on the same pick) then hitting on the third time. He literally had 5 minutes (when you include the stopped time) for 1 pick. His explanation was he was looking for Kendrys Morales who happened to have been picked a few rounds previous.

I was running that draft Joe and a lot of that was due to people timing out. Would more timeouts occur if we went to 60 seconds? That's possible. However, having moderated nearly all of our online drafts this year my initial thought is we had fewer rollbacks this year than last after reducing the time to 75 seconds. That doesn't mean the same trend would occur if we went to 60. It's possible more mistakes would happen like Dan and Steve suggest. I do know the two Fast/Slow Drafts we held where people were asked to make their picks in no more than 60 seconds seemed to go smoothly. I don't recall any issues for either one.

I do think most people are good at adapting to whatever time they are given. The key is to keep an eye on the clock and not allow it to dwindle to the last couple of seconds before making a selection. However, baseball drafts are more labor intensive than football and like Steve said there's more work to be done searching for players due to the larger rosters and more positions to fill etc. Maybe 65 seconds is a compromise to look at for next year?

Very good points Tom. I thought last night was fine, the rollbacks are bit aggravating, especially went bunched together. For $1,000 and 75 seconds you have to come prepared. I usually spend the from round 10 on, loading my q with possible upcoming selections. If you're unorganized and unable to keep up, you shouldn't be entering this level of contest. Timing out and rollbacks for lack of organization should not be allowed. It's still a great system and probably the best around. If this is all we can pick on we're in very very good shape!!

[Quahogs]

It most likely has to do with the stakes Tom. The fast/slows were $150. There was no time for research or strategy. You just picked using your pre adjusted draft room queue.

ME's , XII, supes, Ults, you don't want to screw them up. I can't see how 60 seconds helps with the thought process. It's possible a person's edge is to create pressure time-wise. A 5 second pick will do that. Is that the type of strategy you want to propagate ? For the higher stakes I don't see why a 4 hour draft is the be all end all.

[Tom Kessenich]

It most likely has to do with the stakes Tom. The fast/slows were $150. There was no time for research or strategy. You just picked using your pre adjusted draft room queue.

ME's , XII, supes, Ults, you don't want to screw them up. I can't see how 60 seconds helps with the thought process. It's possible a person's edge is to create pressure time-wise. A 5 second pick will do that. Is that the type of strategy you want to propagate ? For the higher stakes I don't see why a 4 hour draft is the be all end all.

Good points Steve. We don't want people to feel rushed, regardless of the entry fee. I think the key here is finding the proper balance between an acceptable time frame to complete the drafts and an acceptable amount of time for everyone to make their picks.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Agreed Steve. Changing the time is barking up the wrong tree.
One addition that would save me time is in our turn a box appears, with the words 'You are drafting (box here)
I spend 10 seconds highlighting two names to make sure the right name is drafted.
With this addition alone, time would be cut from all drafts.
In changing the time, you're concentrating on the two that'll take max seconds every pick.
Instead, make it easier for the others and the draft will go faster.
Once it becomes easier, then reduce time.

[ToddZ]

My $.02

Having done a few of these....

As has been mentioned, some are going to take the full time, regardless of the amount. I knew right away over the weekend that when multiple drafters took over 45 seconds for their first round pick it was going to be a long draft, and it was. But, that is their right - not complaining.

There is nothing that can be done about that - it is what it is. It sounds almost silly, but the way to speed things up is to make it easier for those that want to go fast at their pick to be able to go fast at their pick.

Facilitating the ability to set one's own ranking list is huge. That said, it is still up to the owner to do it, and then during the draft, to keep a bunch of names in the queue - guys they are considering for their next turn as well as their sleepers for later in the draft.

For the time, I think it almost HAS to be 60 seconds plus the average time it takes for stickers, which is likely something over 5 but less than 20 seconds. The reason being, anytime you have an overall competition, the playing field has to be as level as possible. Trust me on this one, I know first-hand, if something were to happen in an on-line draft that was considered inconsistent with the live drafts, good or bad, it would be all over the boards - not a good thing in general, the boards should be dedicated to bitching out Bobby Valentine that first week.

With respect to roll-backs, i don't know the percentage, but at least in the drafts I was in, it had to do with Internet connection issues, the software freezing, etc. When this happens, you are never sure what you are clicking on and what is being "remembered" by the software so occasionally, the wrong player was awarded. I'm not sure what can be done about this, the Internet gets better and computers get more powerful every year so hopefully this is less and less an issue as we go on. That said -- it is my experience that they more you ask a program to do something, the more that can go wrong, freeze, crash -- etc. So my humble advice is to minimize the suggestions that add extra bells and whistles.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Let me just state that the whole goal behind this discussion is to make the online draft experience as good as it can be. Some folks are passionately posting as if we're debating the 60 seconds or 75 seconds with the draft room EXACTLY as it is today. Sure, if we don't make any improvements or enhancements to your player default list or the Que or other items, then I think we should keep it at 75 seconds too.

But this discussion is about finding ways to improve the tools we have in the draft room and making it easier for you folks to make your picks in a quicker fashion. As Tom has stated, we used to have 90 seconds per pick and today things are running very smoothly at 75 seconds. We are definitely rolling back fewer picks per league with just one DRAFT button (the two buttons did confuse some folks) and I think for the most part things are running well. But I think we can make the draft experience even better and in turn a little quicker.

I've watched 12-team Online Championship drafts finish in 2 hours and 30 minutes and last night one lasted 4 hours and 15 minutes. There's a happy medium inbetween, I'm sure.

I'll focus on the technological ways we can make the selection of picks process easier for you. If we can perfect them in football then we'll make a smart decision in baseball. 75 seconds may be the way to go next year rather than 60 or 65, but if we advance technologically maybe 70 will be the right number. We'll see. Give us time to perfect some things and we'll go from there.

All good feedback. As always, it helps us make decisions later on. Thanks all.

[joshguy]

One bug to work out next year...Im not sure of the exact sequence of how it happens(it happens to me too but I know how to remedy it-but I think people who are drafting for the first time dont) is that when you have a guy in your que or the player is in the draft box, it always doesnt work(the red draft button becomes lighter in color). You need to re-highlight the player to make the draft button red again. I think newbies think they are frozen out and then their pick times out. I think that could be one of the bigger reasons for roll backs.

I dont think changing the time really does much. It would be nice if some drafted with a little more consideration. I have had guys drafting in front of me let it go all the way down under 10 seconds on seemingly all their picks. Its not too hard to say get your top 5 guys lined up 5 picks before your pick. Then just whittle it down. I have found doing that makes me feel more prepared and not left dumbfounded if the guy I wanted gets taken right before then I have to start the thought process all over, then I feel rushed and all confused!

[rockitsauce]

One bug to work out next year...Im not sure of the exact sequence of how it happens(it happens to me too but I know how to remedy it-but I think people who are drafting for the first time dont) is that when you have a guy in your que or the player is in the draft box, it always doesnt work(the red draft button becomes lighter in color). You need to re-highlight the player to make the draft button red again. I think newbies think they are frozen out and then their pick times out. I think that could be one of the bigger reasons for roll backs.

You are absolutely correct here. If you haven't experienced it I can see where it'd be confusing as to why you are unable to draft a player.

I voted for 60 sec's but was thinking more of satellite drafts, tho I'm in no rush to be honest and could care less if a draft takes 4 hrs or 5. I agree w/ Steve & Dan in that what's the rush, this is high stakes fantasy baseball, give'em the xtra 15 sec's if they want it. I mean, who wants to dash outa Vegas anyways