BuzzerBeater Forums

One of the really strong things about this game is that Supporting is purely about supporting and not at all about gaining in-game advantages. Opportunity for success is not affected by Supporter status, you simply cannot buy help here at all. If it were any other way, I would never have lasted more than a couple of seasons here.

If non-Supporters have to spend cash to do something, there absolutely cannot be a way for Supporters to do the same thing without spending cash since, as far as I am concerned, that constitutes an in-game advantage. That's how I personally feel about it, even for an extremely minor thing like this. Hopefully all non-Supporters will really and fully come to appreciate how rare it is to find a game that's as great as this one that isn't spoiled by the ability for players who have a little more real-life cash being able to buy advantages in the game, and that in itself makes this game more worthy of supporting than those other sorts of games.

If non-Supporters have to spend cash to do something, there absolutely cannot be a way for Supporters to do the same thing without spending cash since, as far as I am concerned, that constitutes an in-game advantage.

I fully agree with this.
But you may not have understood my point: I want team/arena name change to be ONLY for supporter. So it cannot give an in-game advantage since nobody, supporter or non-supporter, would pay.

Ah, it wasn't totally clear to me, but I think I get it (I think...). In this case, I think the current system is okay. I think the option to change names, etc., should be open to everybody, and at the same cost. I don't see why it is an attraction for Supporters to be able to change names from time to time, but I like the idea of the option be available at a cost. By attaching a cost to the changes, it pretty much means that in order to make a change that a manager has to really want to make the change (it is not capricious), and that a team has to have enough disposable cash to afford to do it (which will prevent most newer teams from doing this). But I like that you're thinking about how to make the fun parts of this game more fun.

I personally can't see what in-game advantage it is to be able to change team name for free. How can your team be better just by changing the name of the team?

In Hattrick you can buy to give nicknames to your players and this is for me comparable to that. A non-relevant issue for the game itself. More like a meaningless thing like piercing your player like you can do in Footstar.

Yes, I understand the suggestion better and I agree that the name doesn't create an advantage.

As for changing team names, I think there is a preference for maintaining continuity and seriousness (or whatever) to the game, and teams changing names might not be in that spirit, or something like that. Okay, I'm reasonable. I wouldn't be opposed to the idea that a team can change it's name, as long as it isn't a regular thing. Maybe once every, say, 8 or 10 seasons. I can understand that sometimes a manager will have a personal reason for wanting to change it, and if a manager is around so long then this is the sort of manager that is really part of the community, probably not the sort of change teams capriciously. The Washington Bullets changed to the Washington Wizards because of the owner's personal reasons (he suddenly hated that his team was named "Bullets"). The Supersonics became the Thunder after a season in Oklahoma City. Now the Sacramento Kings will be moving to Seattle and they'll be the Seattle Supersonics. I get it. Maybe we have managers here who move to a new city, want to name their team after a new girl friend, or something. I'm now down with this, and I even like the idea for non-Supporters, too.

And who says I'm not reasonable?

But I'm not so into the giving nicknames to players idea.

I hear what you're saying about maintaining some continuity, that's the reason why I talked about a minimal number of seasons between two changes (I said 5, but it could be 8, 10... whatever the BB want it to be).
And I agree that it doesn't HAVE to be in the supporter package, but I think it suits it very well. Changing team/arena name goes with team logo, jersey numbers,...

FAs sell for 180~400% what normal players do in bidwars etc.

Where did you get these particular numbers?...
I think it's quite the opposite.

I would very much prefer that you had to request to GMs to change team name and that you had to have a valid reason for do so. Maybe because I am too conservative and really wants to recognize teams over time.

As it is not the case that you have to apply for new team names I certainly prefer if it would be more costly than today. That is also why I suggested that you actually have to pay with real money instead of just wasting a part of your teams budget. Obviously this part is not that high as pretty many teams change name now and then.

I fully agree with Wolph that team names like "Free Agent" and "Retired" should not be possible to chose or change to. It is difficult to create a filter that stops all attempts of unreasonable names and I would rather see a warning or punishment for misuse of team names in such a way. If it is not already clear enough in game manual I would recommend that this is added in game manual so that a punishment is in accord with game manual. It would also make sense to inform about it in game news so that those who misuse team names like this can't say that they did not know. It is unreasonable to expect users to continously read the game manual to see if there are some changes.