OT: Has anyone here played Ottoneu?

[satyr9]

Or really just any site-run keeper/dynasty type fantasy Baseball league? Preferably with some of the stat choice that FG's Ottoneu has? I didn't play a single league last year and I'm pretty sure the 1-2 I played the year before failed before June, which pretty much lead to the end of the free Yahoo! stuff for me.

I really want something more than one year at a time and the year-round part of Ottoneu sounds pretty sweet if it actually happens. I'm also not against paying if someone has advice for whether paid leagues or higher paid leagues are drastically more involved. I have zero interest in sports betting, I see the money as kind of a down payment on participation rather than me trying to win money. If 10,20,50, or 100 bucks is the level at which people stick it out year after year, that'd be fine with me. Id you need more than that to keep a league invested, it wouldn't be worth it to me.

I'm asking, 'cause I just worry with the keeper systems run by sites rather than friends. Don't you end up with tons of dead leagues? I don't understand how they could even fix the problem (I saw you can buy dead teams, but why do that instead of starting a new one?), but I'm hoping I'm wrong.

I know this isn't really Blue Jays appropriate, but if the regulars have experience with paid dynasty/keeper leagues, especially but not limited the FG one, Ottoneu, I'd like to hear your experience and/or recommendations. Feel free to lock if this is over the OT line.

[Nights King]

Yeah i've played in plenty of dynasty/keeper leagues including Ottoneu before. Ottoneu is a crap shoot, both leagues i played in folded in 2 years, one was a "free" $9.99 one and the other $50, on the other hand i know people who have played in competitive Ottoneu leagues since inception now, around 5 years. I personally wouldn't buy dead teams on Ottoneu, those leagues are about to fold, oh and also if you want to implement "advanced" scoring you can do that on pretty much any site so Ottoneu isn't really special in that respect and they charge you as much rake as the top sites do you.

Dynasty leagues in general are a crapshoot though, unless you get people to pay up dues for 2-3 years in advance and have like rolling payouts you'll have a lot of people quitting in the first year. You gotta have the right structure that allows teams to recover from poor decisions in year 1, i find keeper leagues with only a few keepers best able to do this. Dynasty leagues with no mechanisms for creating competitive balance tend to fold very early And also don't even bother with free leagues, its almost impossible for them to be competitive unless they're decades old and have a reputation of some kind.

[satyr9]

Yeah i've played in plenty of dynasty/keeper leagues including Ottoneu before. Ottoneu is a crap shoot, both leagues i played in folded in 2 years, one was a "free" $9.99 one and the other $50, on the other hand i know people who have played in competitive Ottoneu leagues since inception now, around 5 years. I personally wouldn't buy dead teams on Ottoneu, those leagues are about to fold, oh and also if you want to implement "advanced" scoring you can do that on pretty much any site so Ottoneu isn't really special in that respect and they charge you as much rake as the top sites do you.

Dynasty leagues in general are a crapshoot though, unless you get people to pay up dues for 2-3 years in advance and have like rolling payouts you'll have a lot of people quitting in the first year. You gotta have the right structure that allows teams to recover from poor decisions in year 1, i find keeper leagues with only a few keepers best able to do this. Dynasty leagues with no mechanisms for creating competitive balance tend to fold very early And also don't even bother with free leagues, its almost impossible for them to be competitive unless they're decades old and have a reputation of some kind.

Thanks, one of the reasons I asked about their site specifically was that it sounded like the auction-ey type system they had would balance dynasty vs. the need for turnover. The idea of keeper league with only 3-5 keepers feels a little weak, even if that's a far better game, which it is compared to complete dynasty leagues. But I really have almost zero auction experience so I may be overestimating the turnover their system encourages.

So what's your, or anyone else's, most successful (by participation and enjoyment rather than your victory ) dynasty/keeper type set-up so far?

[Waylon Mercy]

I run a 20 team Real GM Keeper League on Yahoo that I started on here a few years ago....

All 20 teams are active and the amount of trades that are made is amazing...I got plenty of reminders
to renew the league on day 1 and GM's are already arguing about trades from last year and I haven't even renewed
the league yet.

There were a few teams that went ghost at first but I actively recruited some Fantasy sharks to replace them
and now the league is awesome. We are entering our 3rd year in Baseball and have 8 Keepers per year with
4 Divisions of 5 teams. About 15 GM's also play in my 20 team Real GM Keeper Basketball, Hockey and
Football leagues throughout the year so they are dependable, active, loyal guys.... Then there is about 5 GMs
per league that I recruited off other leagues I've played or Yahoo's messageboard and they all are active and have
track records.

I'm expecting all 20 teams back except for one team that I'm about 60/40 will renew