BuzzerBeater Forums

Let me simplify and solve the challenging of teams.

Volunteer = team willing to schedule all games if necessary as they have plenty of tokens - 8 in total (see previous list).
Non-volunteer - the other 8 teams

Below is what we can go with:

1. I have taken into account the 8 managers/teams who have 'volunteered' to schedule all their matches. I have bolded each of their team names where they came up against a non-volunteer.

2. Now, each of these 8 volunteers also plays the other 7 volunteers. So, we can't split it evenly. Therefore, considering these volunteers already have enough tokens for every game, I don't think it matters if 4 of these volunteers schedule 4 games while the other 4 volunteers only schedule 3 games. We are splitting hairs.

Here is the finished and fair schedule taking into account the volunteers and non-volunteers:
[....]
So, these are all the games where volunteers are involved. As you can see, it still leaves games where non-volunteers v non-volunteers. This means that all non-volunteers will still have 7 games to schedule. I will go through next those games and distribute them as fairly as possible.

With the above list, all volunteers are now scheduling either 11 or 12 games. That's as even as I can get it. Given we volunteers all have enough, whether it is 11 or 12 seems irrelevant.

I will now fairly distribute the non-volunteer games and finish the schedule.

It seems you already took a strong initiative (and took an effort to bold most teams on the list), so we can solve it like that if (and as) it works that way.

I agree it's totally irrelevant whether volunteer uses 11, or 13 tokens - they are volunteers for a reason.

In order to possibly save trouble for the forthcoming seasons, after you finish your work, I'd appreciate if you'd take a loot at my previous message (324689.509) and see what you think of that solution, as it is at least to me very clear what my responsibilities would be using that strategy.

Benefit of using your strategy is token usage being more evenly distributed, but as you mentioned, that's hardly a problem for any of us volunteers (as I can easily use 15-20 tokens each season for HGL).

On the other hand, my proposition (for possibly used in future) would include the benefit of not having to mark (bold, etc.) those teams responsible for sending challenge to league schedule. I don't know how it is for supporters, but at least for non-supporters BB text editor is a pain to use when adding anything but basic text as it doesn't accept formatting as is if copy-pasted from another source (if you want to bold or underline something and need to do that regularly, it'd be something that's better done somewhere else than in BB text edtor).

Another, possibly a major benefit (if that system I proposed works) would actually be the uneven distribution of tokens required, so it would be possible to make exceptions to accept teams with currently very little tokens.
Like I mentioned in a previous messages (link above), "a non-volunteer" list would only challenge themselves, so requiring at most 7 (the uppermost team of the list) and for that bottom team on that list would require no tokens at all to complete the whole schedule for the season. So based on the situation/request we could then position teams based on their possibility to use tokens. What do you think of that for future use (not for this season)?

I did read your previous thinking regarding scheduling, however, given we are only a few weeks away from starting, and rather than continue to debate every little detail, I thought I would just create the schedule taking into account those teams who have volunteered to use their tokens, while evenly distributing all factors as fairly as possible. The end result is a very neat version of who will or won't schedule each game. Those who volunteered are scheduling 11 or 12 games, while those that didn't volunteer only have to schedule 3 or 4 games. I'm sure everyone will be happy with this.

With that said, if this proves cumbersome and problematic then please go with your version in season 2. I just think we are getting close to the start of the season, and we hadn't finalised who was challenging who...now it is done.

Once you decide on a set time, which you are determined to do, then we will almost be ready. [we can agree to disagree on this...however, as Commissioner, you can just make the call].

We still need everything to go to plan; the real challenge with this PU system. We still need everyone to actually schedule their respective matches.

I am confident we will get there. However, as Gccsteel and others have noted, we are discussing perhaps too in-depth every little detail.

If you feel strongly about something, Wagner, as Commissioner, just do it and we will accept it...with a smile

Here's the important question though: if we would make the official/declared time of the match to be 4.30PM for all, how does that seem in a box score when you view it from another country? (Wagner)

No idea. And to be honest, I'm not sure you are going to get all the answers you need from managers to do this accurately within the time we have. This is why we either:

1. Don't have a set time (I know you disagree with this); or
2. Just decide on a time and it is done. We will follow your choice whether we agree or not at this point.

Time is ticking and we still have to remind everyone about what to do, check their schedule, make sure they are ready with their tokens, make sure they are ready to issue challengers...and things we haven't even planned for yet that may arise...

Last edited by MrJ at 3/18/2025 8:27:48 AM

So, the finished schedule!
[....]
Volunteer teams are either scheduling 11 or 12 games.
And non-volunteer teams or scheduling 3 or 4 games.

I am sure you will agree that this is as close to as equal as we can get.

Given that all teams were asked to save tokens and should easily have a minimum of 4...we are done and ready with this schedule.

Thanks for helping out with the schedule! When you (and everyone else) can take a look at my previous, alternative way to solve this in future seasons, if it works in their opinion (post found earlier), please do.

However, now to the more essential things:
While above list shows who is responsible for sending challenges, do not start booking/arranging/organizing matches before we/I have reached a decision on fixed time issue. You will lose those tokens if and when a fixed time for matches is applied as a new rule/practice of HGL, so patience, please. We are not in a terrible rush here yet.

Here's the important question though: if we would make the official/declared time of the match to be 4.30PM for all, how does that seem in a box score when you view it from another country? (Wagner)

No idea. And to be honest, I'm not sure you are going to get all the answers you need from managers to do this accurately within the time we have.

Well, let's wait if I get a response, but in the case not, let's try it with a Pickup game challenge. You have a lot fewer tokens, but if you want to spend one here you can also send me a PU challenge at 3.30PM EET which is like 45 minutes away, and I'll anyway send you challenge for a PU match starting 3.00PM, that is about 15 minutes away. Then we'd at least how they would look like in both of our schedules.

Here's the important question though: if we would make the official/declared time of the match to be 4.30PM for all, how does that seem in a box score when you view it from another country? (Wagner)

No idea. And to be honest, I'm not sure you are going to get all the answers you need from managers to do this accurately within the time we have.

Well, let's wait if I get a response, but in the case not, let's try it with a Pickup game challenge. You have a lot fewer tokens, but if you want to spend one here you can also send me a PU challenge at 3.30PM EET which is like 45 minutes away, and I'll anyway send you challenge for a PU match starting 3.00PM, that is about 15 minutes away. Then we'd at least how they would look like in both of our schedules.

Okay. Let's do it.

Here's the important question though: if we would make the official/declared time of the match to be 4.30PM for all, how does that seem in a box score when you view it from another country? (Wagner)

No idea. And to be honest, I'm not sure you are going to get all the answers you need from managers to do this accurately within the time we have.

Well, let's wait if I get a response, but in the case not, let's try it with a Pickup game challenge. You have a lot fewer tokens, but if you want to spend one here you can also send me a PU challenge at 3.30PM EET which is like 45 minutes away, and I'll anyway send you challenge for a PU match starting 3.00PM, that is about 15 minutes away. Then we'd at least how they would look like in both of our schedules.

Okay. Let's do it.

Only problem...

I just tried to do that but there is no option for any particular time-zone. I can choose a date. I can choose a time. But I cannot choose a time-zone.

Okay. Let's do it.

Yes.. You have a request waiting that will expire in... 8 minutes. :)

EDIT: First match successfully organized, but even though I have accepted your invitation (at match starting 15.35 local time) , and getting a red confirmation text on top of Friendly matches-page to confirm it has been successfully organized, it still doesn't show up in my Schedule (first match shows correctly immediately after accepting).

EDIT 2: Still, even after our first match has started, even if I repeatedly go to Friendly matches page and accept your request (at 15.35) and it confirms it has been successfully organized, I can't see a match starting at 15.35 on my team schedule.
This could be a very worrying sign...

Last edited by Wagner at 3/18/2025 9:04:10 AM

So, the way around this...

You say 3:30PM EET and you say it is 45 mins away. You posted this at 8:50 roughly (my time)

So, 45 mins from now would be about 9:35pm my time...which should be about 3:30pm EET for you?

I will try that and we see how we go.

Did you get my invite?

So, the way around this...

You say 3:30PM EET and you say it is 45 mins away. You posted this at 8:50 roughly (my time)

So, 45 mins from now would be about 9:35pm my time...which should be about 3:30pm EET for you?

I will try that and we see how we go.

I responded to all in my above post 324689.522 in form of adding EDIT's to make this even a bit less forum cluttering conversation.
Yes, message was sent couple of seconds before 2.45PM my (EET) time, so yes, I meant 3.30PM, and I got your challenge, and accepted it almost immediately, and have done so maybe 5 times after that, including after our first match had started. However, it doesn't show up on my schedule, only the one shows up that we are playing now.

First match shows in my schedule 15.00 which is correct for my local time. How does it show up in your schedule? Which part of Australia (East, west, middle) are you located in terms of time zones?

EDIT: Let's try this, in order to try to confirm what is the problem:
I will send you 1-2 offers for PU match, ranging from time when this match at 3PM is still supposedly under way, say at 4PM EET, and other when it's supposedly ended, for example at 6PM EET.
Please try to accept each challenge now in order of starting time, and separately after each acceptance (before accepting the second request), check out your team schedule if the new match can be seen by you.

If this is not possible for you to accept challenges, then it's really worrying, as it might imply that other matches can't be accepted before previous PU match is played.


Last edited by Wagner at 3/18/2025 9:19:46 AM