Imagine every hockey zone player with a price tag, their value determined by their skill or perhaps a rating system, in a league where captains could buy, sell, and trade players using a virtual budget. If you think about it, this would copy real life actual sports leagues, complete with team budgets and player contracts, which would make sense for a spaceship game that is based on a real life sport.
But is it doable or just a pipedream?
Regardless of how you feel about it, I believe that you can have a conversation about it. There’s something intriguing about the idea of Captains needing to consider whether investing heavily in a star player is worth it, or if it would be smarter to spread their budget across a balanced roster.
Such a setup would add a whole new layer of competition to Hockey Zone. Imagine the conversations and negotiations happening off the ice, the rivalries formed as players are traded between teams, and the sense of value and recognition players would feel as they see their contributions measured in an in-game economy.
However, with this new system, we’re also introducing new headaches. Setting player values isn’t straightforward. Veterans like BG have argued that player ratings are inherently biased; how can you objectively rate skill in a game where individuals hold grudges and might try to undermine each other’s value? In a competitive game like Hockey Zone, personal rivalries can easily spill over into the rating system, with players potentially inflating their friends’ scores or downgrading those they’ve had a bad interaction with in the past.
It’s easy to forget that this isn’t just about stats—it’s about relationships, loyalties, and long-standing feuds, and resolving this adds a serious obstacle to any idea of a Salary system.
There’s also the issue of consistency. Should a player’s value fluctuate based on their recent performance? How do you handle inactive players who might suddenly reappear for a season? I offer myself as an example. I came back to Hockey Zone and joined Beer League after being gone for years, and was evaluated to a low veteran rating by Alastria that came to bite a lot of teams in the ass later on. As a beer league player, I surprised Alastria and the vet system by becoming a top goalscorer for my team. In fact, I started doing so good that Alastria started to get flack for having given me such a low vet status to begin with. But how could he have known? I could have just as well sucked ass and faded quietly into the background, as many returning players do. But I just so happened to find my stride.
So how do you find a balance? Who gets to decide what a player should be ranked at?
Recently, I reached out to Lawn Dwarf, or “LD” as he’s known, to hear his thoughts. As a seasoned player and community figure who once tried implementing a rating system, LD has seen firsthand both the potential and the pitfalls of such a system.
Here’s what he had to say.
Interview with Lawn Dwarf
For reference, this is the sheet: link to the aggregated rating sheet
And that concludes our interview!
In the end, as Lawn Dwarf himself pointed out, “it’s never going to be perfect no matter what you do.” But maybe we don’t need a perfect rating system to make this work. Maybe all it takes is enough people willing to roll up their sleeves, test things out, and adjust along the way.
And you know what? Maybe this is less about building a flawless ratings system and more about keeping Hockey Zone dynamic, giving captains and players a reason to stay invested. At the end of the day, isn’t that our goal? Player retention?
Also, I’d like to point out that I agree with LD when he says we need to give more grace to the volunteers that are actually putting in time and work to try and make our little spaceship community a better (and funner) place.
The behind-the-scenes people who are willing to try out new systems, take on projects, and yes, even risk criticism, are the ones who keep this game from dying. They take a lot of heat from the community sometimes, but they’re at least trying to introduce new ideas and projects. The alternative would be boring as hell and a dead game.
So, here’s to the people willing to put themselves out there, knowing they might face criticism but doing it for the good of the game.
Whether some kind of Salary League becomes a reality in Hockey Zone, I guess we’ll see! Stay tuned for more news on RSHL and the Hockey Zone community 🙂 – I’m your RSHL.blog correspondent, Navi, until next time!
Thanks for reading