How was fantasy baseball created?

[noseeum]

Why is a goal of fantasy baseball to precisely mimic the job of a GM in baseball?

If that were the case, you'd have to create a bot that occasionally threatens to take your job away, then vetos a trade you're proposing because he hates the other player you're going for, then talks bad about you in the press, i.e. a baseball owner.

Fantasy baseball is it's own thing. You do what it takes to win FLB, not what it takes to win MLB.

[shortsavage]

Ok then, why is fantasy baseball what it is? If we agree that we know fantasy baseball began with Okrent's exercise to mimic the role of a GM, when did modern day fantasy baseball come around?

And why are people happy with games like roto 5x5 when they can be so misleading in understanding major league talent?

I guess my baseline assumption with fantasy baseball is that fans want to learn more about how players rank against eachother. Does 5x5 roto do the job?

[shortsavage]

Why is a goal of fantasy baseball to precisely mimic the job of a GM in baseball?

If that were the case, you'd have to create a bot that occasionally threatens to take your job away, then vetos a trade you're proposing because he hates the other player you're going for, then talks bad about you in the press, i.e. a baseball owner.

I think you're going a little too far with the concept of mimicking a GM.

[noseeum]

Ok then, why is fantasy baseball what it is? If we agree that we know fantasy baseball began with Okrent's exercise to mimic the role of a GM, when did modern day fantasy baseball come around?

And why are people happy with games like roto 5x5 when they can be so misleading in understanding major league talent?

I guess my baseline assumption with fantasy baseball is that fans want to learn more about how players rank against eachother. Does 5x5 roto do the job?

Your assumption is wrong. I love that some players can be very valuable fantasy players and fairly mediocre real players. Stolen base guys, for example. I don't want it to be exactly the same. I want it to be fun.

[shortsavage]

Amendment: I assume that fantasy fans either want to be able to compare players fluently or attempt to take on some of the duties that major league GMs have.

[chris8]

Amendment: I assume that fantasy fans either want to be able to compare players fluently or attempt to take on some of the duties that major league GMs have.

This may be true of some of the more dedicated fantasy fans, but I suspect that the majority of Fantasy baseballers play it for, as noseeum said, fun.

What makes it fun varies from person to person (see the H2H/Roto debate, for example), but I doubt 'comparing players fluently' is a big factor for the majority.

Anyway, I don't want to put words in others mouths, so I will speak for myself.

I enjoy Fantasy Baseball as a leisure activity based around my favourite sport (even more than soccer). It adds excitement to the season, I have the fun of drafting a roster before the season and then tweaking it throughout the season as my players typically fail to live up to expectation, and it has actually helped me become more knowledgeable about baseball in general. But the key factor is fun!!

[noseeum]

Why do you assume that? Why can't they just want to play fantasy baseball? For a real baseball reason to play fantasy, it forces me to pay more attention to a sport I like to pay attention to anyway.

Other than that, I want to win against my friends, prove my fantasy genius (that for some reason, only I'M convinced of!) and win some cash.

Why would you ever play a game in order to be able to compare players fluently?

[shortsavage]

Books were written about and stastistics were created for determining if Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth was the better baseball player.

A bigger question that I'm getting at is: why don't more people question traditional fantasy scoring systems?

[noseeum]

Books were written about and stastistics were created for determining if Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth was the better baseball player.

A bigger question that I'm getting at is: why don't more people question traditional fantasy scoring systems?

There's on need to question them. Every popular site lets you customize. The idea of "traditional" is getting less and less solid. I haven't played in a straight 5X5 league in a long time. Not because I don't like them, but because there are so many options available that my long time friendly leagues continue to tweak them to how we like them.

[Tavish]

A bigger question that I'm getting at is: why don't more people question traditional fantasy scoring systems?

Why don't people question the rules for Monopoly more often? If they changed them some they could create a more realistic property ownership game.

People like standard rules, default settings, and vanilla ice cream. For those that don't there are plenty of oppurtunity for variation. But for most people, the standard rules make a fun game that doesn't require any more investment to get started than a few hours and $10 for a couple of fantasy mags before the draft.