New MMA Tycoon Research

Editorial by Wayne Kerr

Lately I’ve felt somewhat like an alien in the Tycooniverse.  I felt as welcome as a fart in a crowded elevator, a dose of herpes or a trapeze artist with chronic diarrhoea.  It has led me to contemplating the nature of the Tycooniverse and wondering precisely how unusual my own perceptions may be.

In a bid to understand the thinking of other users I published two separate polls over two days on the forum.  My thinking wasn’t entirely unselfish as I had wondered whether a business idea that had been bouncing around in my brain like a moth against a light bulb would be viable and I set out to prove it to myself.  Interestingly, I was proven wrong.

The first of the polls was two questions long, with one key issue behind it.  “Gulagging".  For those not familiar with the term, it is often what happens when a manager refuses a number of fights, and the org owner in their frustration waits for the inactivity period to nearly end before offering a completely unacceptable fight in a bid to maintain contractual control over a fighter whilst preventing them from earning any money.  It is something the UFC does, and often results in long standoffs and significant periods of inactivity for the fighters involved.

The first question was thus “Should managers accept every fight?”.  The rationale was simple.  If managers accepted every fight it would prevent “Gulagging”.  There would no longer be an issue.  90% of respondents voted no.  It was an overwhelming majority which raised the question of whether this position is at the heart of the problem.

To ensure the result wasn’t skewed and I had an idea regarding whom I was talking to, I added a second question.  “Are you….?  An org owner or a manager”.  75% of the respondents were managers, and 25% were org owners.  This was particularly heartening as it meant that of my limited sample, two-thirds of org owners support managers in their decisions to reject fights, suggesting that “gulagging” is a practice likely carried out by the other third.

The discussion was fascinating.  It was a complete mis-mash of opinions, many that I had never even considered before from a mixture of managers and org owners.  The debate was passionate, intelligent and thought-provoking and I would like to thank every person that dropped in to share their opinion.  On a personal note I ended the discussion with three main takeaways that would improve my own relationship with org owners:

1.  Take more time preparing fighters before accepting org contracts - I have been guilty of picking up free agents, signing them to orgs, then realising just how badly an unbalanced build they are.

2. Research the quality of the division when an org makes your fighter an offer - I have habitually accepted the best contract offer for fighters.  I had never occurred to me until lately that there are huge discrepancies in the quality of divisions between orgs.  I had naively been signing many of fighters to orgs to be cannon fodder without realising.

3. Don’t be afraid to ask about the logic behind a match you are not keen on - Indeed it can be frustrating sometimes, but certainly more dialogue here could prevent your fighter from being “gulagged”.

The next day I had the business idea still whirling away in my brain, and quite frankly my brain was beginning to gurgle.  If most managers felt as though they shouldn’t accept every fight presented to them, did it mean that they wished to be more involved in the matchmaking process?  When I first signed up for MMA Tycoon I had hoped that matchmaking would be negotiation, participatory, and really draw me into the gameverse.  Surely I couldn’t be alone in that, especially with what my previous poll had shown.

I decided to ask two more questions on the forum, perhaps pushing my luck with that special kind of charisma that only the anally retentive like me possess.  The first was straight-forwards enough.  “Would you, as a manager, like to have more input in your fighters matchmaking?”.  In my wishful naive heart I was certain that the answer was going to be a resounding yes.  Instead it was a 50/50, an even vote, and the most frustrating MMA result.  A draw.

It opened my eyes and I saw the business idea I had been craving crash and burn in front of me.  The answer said a great deal.  It tells us that org owners aren’t doing a terrible job.  Nor a great job.  But an average job.  It could be argued that “gulagging” is not as common an occurrence as some might claim.  But most of all it says that MMA Tycoon is doing a great job of mirroring the real world.

The last question I asked was related to a discussion I had in the aftermath of the previous days poll.  “Which would you prefer - signing fee, low wages or no signing fee, higher wages?”  75% of respondents opted for a signing fee and low wages which surprised me a little as I had surmised that the importance of signing fees directly correlated with fighter age and experience.

I suspect my days as an MMA researcher are over as poll two had considerably fewer respondents which demonstrated that I had used up all of my goodwill.  It has been an interesting way to gauge general opinions and perceptions about the game, and quite reassuring to learn that the Tycooniverse is much like life, decidedly average.

For a long while I had been wondering about whether there was a place on the market for a more interactive org, where fighters are stakeholders and not property.  Where matchmaking is a uniquely collaborative experience.  It turns out it was little more than fart in the bath.  Once the bubbles reached the surface, all I was left with was a bad smell proving once and for all that Sun Tzu didn’t have a bloody clue what he was talking about.

“Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems.”

Sun Tzu

(Speaker of Bollocks)

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