Dear EGM, can we get an official answer on this player (36177757) as previously asked. I felt it wasn't the case to open another topic on the Bugs forum since many were closed, but the doubt still remains. Is this not a bug?
For an official answer, you will have to ask Marin, only him knows.
If that player is retired, it is likely that he was not fullfilling the minimas to become a FA. I doubt that is a bug. Should the minimas be the lower, it's possible.
Should I contact him directly or ask somewhere in the Bugs forum?
About the bolded. He is the 5th of his generation with potential>=HoF in terms of TSP, I guess it has been a really unfortunate draft for us then.
You can contact him directly, but I would guess his answer will be similar to this, "It's not a bug, he was not fullfilling the TSP". If the main thing you want out of that question is to know if that is a bug, he will be able to confirm to you that is or is not a bug. If you want more informations, I don't think you will get it.
As for the player retiring, for the first 30 seasons, 18 y old would always retire whatever their quality. I don't the new criterias and if they are too high, but they aren't higher than before for 18 y old. I am and has been NT coach in micronations for many seasons now and I personally saved many players by calling them into a NT, sometimes limiting my number of places in the roster. I know it has been used in France NT too, albeit in smaller numbers of course. If NT programs want to keep one in a generation player, the surest way to do so is by calling that player. Better safe than sorry. At least until we know more about the criterias either through the community or Marin.
I sincerely doubt that this player failed the TSP. My best guess is that the owner of the team that drafted the player went bot before the draft since he played as far as I can see the same tactics/lineup since 3/21/15. But then again, the team wasn't demoted as I would have expected a bot would have been. Perhaps they went bot specifically on the date of the season turnover? I presume that might be late enough to avoid the bot auto-demotion, but early enough that the change to a bot processed before the draft and new free agency rules?
I suggested earlier in the thread that this would be the perfect example to post in the Bugs forum.