TDMMC FFL 2010

[Pats2006]

Agree, that's why we should have never changed to ESPN. We had no problems with yahoo.

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

I honestly don't find the ESPN site all that confusing or difficult to manage. What are you guys having problems with?

[StL FinFan]

^ I don't know about anyone else but it's not what I am used to so I am being a baby about it.

[fyo]

I honestly don't find the ESPN site all that confusing or difficult to manage. What are you guys having problems with?

I won't pretend to know what's bother anyone else, but for me, the number of menus is pretty annoying. I continually have trouble locating whatever function I want to find. I'm guessing that some designer decided that since the menus weren't really menus (but tabs), it would be fine to have many of them. The intertwined functionality is just a bonus.

[Sunstroke]

ESPN is, imo, the easiest of all sites' fantasy platforms...Yahoo, CBS, etc... No idea about a Facebook fantasy football application, because the idea of Facebook fantasy football is so ridiculous it makes me laugh.

I do appreciate all the feedback though...

[fyo]

As long as we don't play on facebook...

[Pappy13]

Actually the Facebook app is pretty impressive.  This is the 3rd year I have used it and it's gotten better each year.  I guess I just like simplicity over complexity.  It has everything you need without being over complex like the ESPN site is.

[Sunstroke]

I'd say that one man's "over complex" is another man's "please give me more information, dammit."

[Pappy13]

I'd say that one man's "over complex" is another man's "please give me more information, dammit."

It's not simply a matter of information, it's presentation.  If I can't find what I'm looking for then it really doesn't matter if it's there or not.  The problem I have with ESPN is that the simplest things like just setting up your roster and seeing what the projections are for your players and seeing who you're matched up with week to week are not straight forward.  I'm sure that once I get used to the system everything is there, but coming from other sites, I find them much easier to navigate.

Don't take it from me, listen to the others here.  I'm not the only one that thinks it's confusing.

[Sunstroke]

^^^ I can't count Pats2006...he still gets confused on the whole "tying the shoelaces" thing.

Just my opinion, but seeing as how we're into the season with zero chance of changing the host site, any time someone spends up here complaining about how hard it is to find info on ESPN FFL could possibly be better spent by that person in getting familiar with where the info is on ESPN FFL.

[Pappy13]

^^ Only one problem, I can get to the TDMMC forums from work, I can't get to the ESPN FFL site from work.  So I'll try to figure out the ESPN FFL site from home, you're stuck with me complaining about the site during the day. 

Seriously though it's no biggie, I just figured it being ESPN and all that it would be better.

[Sunstroke]

I'm just one person, but this year marks my 35th year of sports statistics-based gaming, from the early strat-o-matic cards of the 70's to virtually every online fantasy sports venue of the last 20 years...except the Facebook app, of course. I've written for a couple (ESPN FFL, DraftSharks.com) as well. I've really never seen anything confusing about ESPN's gaming set-up, and feel that the way they present news, info, camp notes, rumors, etc... to be better than any of the other major fantasy gaming sites.

Just my opinion...

[Pappy13]

^^ I guess a lot of it depends on your viewpoint.  You've had 35 years of doing this so obviously you've spent a good bit of time on it and you want as much information as possible and perhaps if this were a league where I paid $50 to join and was intent on winning, then I might see things differently, but for a no-pay league where all I'm trying to get out of it is have a little fun, I just want to be able to set my starting line-up, see who I'm gonna play this week and see the point totals.

For some more is better.  For others, more is just more.

[fyo]

Pappy, as someone with a LOT of experience with fantasy sports (having actually developed some years ago, in addition to participating in them for about as long as they've been available online), I can tell you unequivocally that ESPN's site is poorly designed. Usability is exceptionally low, it's counterintuitive and just poorly thought out. It reeks of "evolution" in the sense that the interface has evolved over the years by basically having more stuff stuck on.

It's NOT a question of too much information (although there's certainly less opportunity to f*ck up if there's less to present), it's just a poorly designed site.

That said, I'm picky with those things because I've worked a lot with design and usability -- and fantasy sports in particular.

And regardless of the quality, ease of use, "prettiness" or anything else, I refuse to participate in anything that requires Facebook (unless I'm being paid for it).

[Pappy13]

And regardless of the quality, ease of use, "prettiness" or anything else, I refuse to participate in anything that requires Facebook (unless I'm being paid for it).

I got interested in Facebook when my kids started college so I could keep up with them on a day to day basis.  After using it for a year or 2 and really enjoying it for just that, keeping up with my kids, I talked most of my family into signing up as well.  I'm Catholic and come from a fairly large family with 5 brothers and sisters.  I now have all my kids, my brothers and sisters, my mom, all my aunts and uncles, many of my neices and nephews etc hooked on Facebook.  I literally have hundreds of family members as friends.  Very few of my facebook friends are not related to me in some form or fashion.  It's absolutely wonderful just to say "Hi" to them, wish them a Happy Birthday, see some pictures of their kids, share a funny link or two on the internet or let everyone know that the recent bad weather in my area didn't cause any problems.  For that it's absolutely an invaluable tool.  I'm not a twitter person because I just think that 99% of everything that is tweeted is pure junk and Facebook status updates aren't too far behind but I think it's still a step up and I will often find amusment in many postings.

That being said, when I first saw that facebook was going to have a Fantasy Football App, I rolled my eyes and thought what a load of garbage it's going to be, but I had this great idea.  Since I had enjoyed playing fantasy football for years, I thought it would be kinda cool to introduce it to my family (we are pretty sports minded) so I started a league made up of family members only and used Facebook's app.  I was pleasantly surprised by the app.  It's interface was clean and easy to use, not cluttered with a bunch of semi-useful information.  It was fairly easy to customize the app to get what you wanted as far as rules go and yet it handled alot of the mundane work for you like setting up an automated online draft complete with player rankings that could be customized and such.  It was perfect for a what I wanted to use it for, to introduce my family to something that I had been enjoying for years.  And it worked.  The first year I had like 8 owners, this the third year I have 16 and have converted both my Mom and one of my Sisters into Fantasy Football junkies.  At a recent family reunion we had a large discussion on Fantasy Football that had everyone in the family laughing.  Every year Facebook has improved the app and yet it's still just as easy to setup and use as ever.  It's one of the cleanest, funnest, systems I have ever used and it's perfect for us because it's all just for fun and games.

One other extremely cool thing about Facebook's FFL app is that it automatically publishes fun stuff each week, like it will post the score of a really close game or it will highlight a matchup of 2 undefeated teams or just show the top 3 teams in the league.  It also allows you to simply click a button and brag about your Fantasy team for all of your Facebook friends to see.  These are things that don't mean a lot to die-hard Fantasy players, but to just some family members having a bit of fun, they are extremely important.

If you ever get the chance, check out Facebook's Fantasy Football app.  I think you'll be surprised.  I know I was.