New Player Award

[Darren Rook]

The New Player Award should be decided by previous winners.

Asking the community to decide on an award which is the future of the site is wrong. In my experience, people chuck out votes depending upon who they like and whose in chat - which is wrong.

I'm pretty sure people dont take time to evaluate the award - but imo it's one of the most crucial awards for the site. You only get one chance to win it - and people don't evaluate it accordingly. imo.

The current players (logged in last month) would be:

20 Lisa Strummer
21 Karl Smythe
24 Regina Moore
26 Radio Face
27 Patrick O'Malley
28 Patrick O'Malley
30 Kris Krueger
31 440 Racing Barn
33 Kinclaire Farm
35 Anthony Name
36 Pete Vella
38 Glenn Larson
39 Erica Olson
40 Dahil Emata
41 Ryan Whitehead
42 Steve Leavitt
43 Glenn Escobar
46 Cate Lynn
47 J.r. Lewis
48 Jurgen Ver
50 Rochelle Zahacy
51 Emmie Kay
52 Brandon Schultz

I'm sure this rabble could get together and make an informed decision based upon what they achieved in order to award it to the appropiate player. Allowing the masses to vote opens the gates to un-informed voting.

I think it would also make bonds between players, it could also open the gates for a discord channel or similar.

TLDR: New Player Award winners decide Future Ones.

Shame on all the Y37 voters.

Shame. Shame. Shame.

(im not bitter)

[Gavin Guile]

It’s a popularity contest and probably would be with any group, just how the voted on awards go

[Mr. Lord Rich]

Woah Patrick O’Malley is pretty elite, he won the new player award 2 years in a row!!!

[Dylan Christensen]

The problem is some people on there won it because of the popularity contest and they would just feed into that anyway, i know some people who really got screwed that deserved it 110%

[Cleo Patra]

Maybe we should be able to ask Spencer about all the applicable metrics for specific simmy awards

[Glenn Larson]

It's interesting because there are no guidelines or metrics defining what voters should use to decide their vote. Given that it's up to individual voters to determine what criteria makes sense to them, how does one decide that a player got screwed over? Some voters choose to vote on number of wins, some vote on earnings, some vote on earnings/race, some vote on overall contribution to the community, but all voters get to choose their own criteria.

[Steve Leavitt]

When I won in Y42, Ryan Whitehead suggested that I make my stats public, as I had them hidden at the time. For all I know, Ryan may have been the only vote!
When I vote for the New Player award, I take the readily available stats into account, but never their social networking/chat/forum skills. What was their win percentage? OTB percentage? How many stakes wins did they have (if any)? How tough was the competition in their wins? Did many of their wins come in fields of three or fewer? (While this certainly is an indicator of smart and thoughtful placement, if one of the other players had similar stats while often facing larger fields, I might give the nod to them.) I don't always vote for the player with the highest win or OTB percentages, but it certainly is a part of how I decide.
As for the notion I may have won a popularity contest in Y42, I DID have a better rep back then, AND a cooler name!

[Regina Moore]

Given that it's up to individual voters to determine what criteria makes sense to them, how does one decide that a player got screwed over? Some voters choose to vote on number of wins, some vote on earnings, some vote on earnings/race, some vote on overall contribution to the community, but all voters get to choose their own criteria.

Exactly. Plus, even if there were guidelines, everyone would interpret them a little bit differently.

Having said that, though, I can certainly relate to being bummed or even perplexed about a voting outcome. I've certainly experienced voting situations, in various avenues of life, where I felt unfairly overlooked. I'm sure just about everyone on Earth has those sorts of experiences. I know one past prominent player in SIM has declared that all players are idiots because they didn't vote for his "obvious" best mare however many SIM decades ago. Just like losing a bet on a horse race when the winner doesn't make any sense -- except to those who bet on it -- so it goes it with awards.

I'll also add that whatever one's stats, popularity, or contribution, there's things that turn off voters, causing them not to vote for someone when they otherwises might have. Some get annoyed when players beg for others to vote for them or their horse. Arrogance -- "I'm entitled to win" -- can also be a turnoff for some.

[Glenn Escobar]

You should have asked those of us on the original list if we would even be willing to do such a thing.

Because on top of what everyone else has said, I simply wouldn’t want to take the time every SIM year to sit down and evaluate all the new players. Not interested in that.

[Louise Bayou]

It's interesting because there are no guidelines or metrics defining what voters should use to decide their vote. Given that it's up to individual voters to determine what criteria makes sense to them, how does one decide that a player got screwed over? Some voters choose to vote on number of wins, some vote on earnings, some vote on earnings/race, some vote on overall contribution to the community, but all voters get to choose their own criteria.

Uh right? Just mind blowing is all I'll say...

[Danny Derby]

I think they should just do away with this award all together, and only allow Hall Of Fame trainers to vote on the other Simmy categories.

[Darren Rook]

It’s a popularity contest

It's only like this because of the system in place. Change the system.

Woah Patrick O’Malley is pretty elite, he won the new player award 2 years in a row!!!

Quality years inside the newbie scene.

i know some people who really got screwed that deserved it 110%

Yep. Me.

Maybe we should be able to ask Spencer about all the applicable metrics

I heard he's a VisiCalc guru. So maybe.

It's interesting because there are no guidelines or metrics

For the New Players award - there should be.

When I won in Y42, Ryan Whitehead suggested that I make my stats public, as I had them hidden at the time. For all I know, Ryan may have been the only vote!
When I vote for the New Player award, I take the readily available stats into account, but never their social networking/chat/forum skills. What was their win percentage? OTB percentage? How many stakes wins did they have (if any)? How tough was the competition in their wins? Did many of their wins come in fields of three or fewer? (While this certainly is an indicator of smart and thoughtful placement, if one of the other players had similar stats while often facing larger fields, I might give the nod to them.) I don't always vote for the player with the highest win or OTB percentages, but it certainly is a part of how I decide.
As for the notion I may have won a popularity contest in Y42, I DID have a better rep back then, AND a cooler name!

There's a long bar and and enter key. Give it a whirl.

all players are idiots

The greatest thing you've ever said.

I simply wouldn’t want to take the time every SIM year to sit down and evaluate all the new players.

You won the award yourself - giving a little time back is a nice thing to do. There's even a New Player list to go-from if you don't have the time.

Uh right? Just mind blowing is all I'll say...

I'm sure there's more...

I think they should just do away with this award all together, and only allow Hall Of Fame trainers to vote on the other Simmy categories.

This. It takes one to know-one kind of mindset. Much like my initial point of previous winners awarding future ones.

Thanks for the replies.

In all jest - I think it's an award that could do with some guidelines and criteria. It's easy to say stuff years down the line, but it matters to the people involved and sometimes people lose sight of that and become engrossed into their own situation. That's understandable - I think some kind of of something would be a good thing moving forward.

Happy racing.