Automated Draft Project - Need feedback

[prospectorgems]

As some of you know, I am in the works of an automated draft that will work similar to fantasy drafts, but in the lines of our Case breaks. I will need to work with the group break facilitator and FCB to see what we can do in terms of drafts. Once I have it up and running, I will run a mock draft and see if I need to make any revisions and whatnot.

The autodraft will run exactly like a fantasy draft, however the group break facilitator will still need to do the initial random draft to see who has what spot in the draft and to come up with a preterimined ranking of cards in the set. Only then would I take over and input all of the people in the break, draft spots and cards. It will have an autodraft feature that if you cannot be present at the draft will draft in order of the predetermined ranking. Then of course if you wanted to join the draft already in progress, the autodraft would be turned off. Like I said, think of any online fantasy drafts you have ever done and it will have the look and feel to it.

Unfortunately I don't have enough god given programming talent to create this on my own and am getting some help from a programmer/web designer so this tool will not be free, but it will not also deter anyone from using it either.

Someday I will man up and get my own webcam and run my own breaks (with the approval of FCB of course). But anyone running other breaks will still be able to use the auto draft tool if they would like.

Quite honestly, I would like to use this tool as an Exclusive to FCB only. So if it gains popularity, maybe that will mean more people will come to this message board.

The feedback I am looking for is based on the following:

How much would you pay as a participant to use this tool? It would be in addition to whatever you would pay for the slot.

What should the timer be set to? Is 2 minutes too much or not enough time?

In the future, I would also like to work on a tool that will allow us to auction teams or players. This was talked about before briefly, but we weren't quite sure how we would run it unless we did it off of eBay. Would anyone be interested in the feature as well?

Also, please any comments or questions or any concerns you may have as I am going through development I will be sure to look into every possible detail.

 

[nyc3]

Why would someone pay for this? Don't random.org do all this for free? I don't think box breaks need more of an expense.

 

[mredsox89]

Why would someone pay for this? Don't random.org do all this for free? I don't think box breaks need more of an expense.

I believe his program is the entire draft process. Like he would input the entire checklist, and after each person makes a pick, it updates the players still available.

 

[Bill Menard]

Why would someone pay for this? Don't random.org do all this for free? I don't think box breaks need more of an expense.

::facepalm:: Do you ever have anything positive to say? ::facepalm::

Ryan,
I think this is a great idea as we discussed before. I do hope you are able to get this functioning as it will be a great aid to the overall player draft type case breaks. Even if it were somewhere in the $30 per use range, it would only add about .18 cents onto the overall cost of a slot in these type of breaks, which I don't think most people would have a problem with. I guess it would depend on what a programmer would charge you to set it up, but he would have to take payment in installments I think unless someone fronted the fee and then got paid back by the breaker when s/he uses the program.

It's a good idea. I'd still like to think through the auction type breaks with you as well at some point.

Timer: 60 seconds should be PLENTY.

Bill
Bill

 

[jbhofmann]

Why not just pre-rank your picks and no time limit would be needed? Fantasy drafts have worked this way for years. The whole draft would be done in 1 second. Just a thought though.

 

[prospectorgems]

Why would someone pay for this? Don't random.org do all this for free? I don't think box breaks need more of an expense.

I believe his program is the entire draft process. Like he would input the entire checklist, and after each person makes a pick, it updates the players still available.

Correct. Just like a fantasy draft, only with cards.

 

[prospectorgems]

Why not just pre-rank your picks and no time limit would be needed? Fantasy drafts have worked this way for years. The whole draft would be done in 1 second. Just a thought though.

Good idea for those that don't want to pick, but best part about drafting is the actual drafting. I can name so many countless times that some people will just join a Fantasy Draft for the thrill of seeing who they can get and then ignore the team for the rest of the year. It's not that they didn't have a good team, they just enjoyed the draft so much that's really all they cared about.

 

[prospectorgems]

Why would someone pay for this? Don't random.org do all this for free? I don't think box breaks need more of an expense.

::facepalm:: Do you ever have anything positive to say? ::facepalm::

Ryan,
I think this is a great idea as we discussed before. I do hope you are able to get this functioning as it will be a great aid to the overall player draft type case breaks. Even if it were somewhere in the $30 per use range, it would only add about .18 cents onto the overall cost of a slot in these type of breaks, which I don't think most people would have a problem with. I guess it would depend on what a programmer would charge you to set it up, but he would have to take payment in installments I think unless someone fronted the fee and then got paid back by the breaker when s/he uses the program.

It's a good idea. I'd still like to think through the auction type breaks with you as well at some point.

Timer: 60 seconds should be PLENTY.

Bill
Bill

Hey Bill, I don't expect to incur too much overhead on cost. I figure within a certain amount of time the little bit extra added to the breaks will cover the cost. I am going to front the entire fee myself because I have hopes of sometime in the future doing my own breaks. Once this project gets finished, I think I may have a better idea how to set up an auction tool for doing the auction style of breaks and yes, we do need to take some time to discuss all the variables and ideas behind it.

 

[Johan Santana 57]

I can't wait to see it man.

 

[jbhofmann]

Why not just pre-rank your picks and no time limit would be needed? Fantasy drafts have worked this way for years. The whole draft would be done in 1 second. Just a thought though.

Good idea for those that don't want to pick, but best part about drafting is the actual drafting. I can name so many countless times that some people will just join a Fantasy Draft for the thrill of seeing who they can get and then ignore the team for the rest of the year. It's not that they didn't have a good team, they just enjoyed the draft so much that's really all they cared about.

First of all, thanks for taking your time to help out everyone else and make this run smoothly. However I know I don't have time to sit and wait on a full draft. I do have time to pick a fantasy team because I will have that team for the year and possibly longer with keeper leagues. If people are in mulitple drafts in the same week it then becomes a time burden. Most likely there are a handful of players that people actually want, the rest is the rest. Just my two cents.