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**RomanesEuntDomus** · 01-10-2020, 01:46 PM

This is part two of my article detailing the current situation regarding the Hamilton Steelhawks and their use of the Passing-gap exploit. If you want to read part one, the Case for Hamilton, you can do so here. And now, let’s get to the second part, the one where I will be…

Making the Case against the Hamilton Steelhawks

1. There might not be as much smoke as we think, but there definitely is still a fire

Alright, so I am sure you have all read Part One of this, where I write 2000 words going on about how this exploit isn’t as big as you guys think and how it might not even exist at all. You did, right? Right? Okay good, now let me start this off by saying:

Of course the exploit exists.

Test-sims might have come to varying, sometimes inconclusive results or have been overinterpreted, but there is still a clear trend in most of them: the problem exists, we just don’t know how big it is exactly. I have criticized the available data repeatedly mostly because the underlying parameters have often not been made clear, and because there has been little to no meta-research so far due to the data being so scattered. But there have still been enough tests to at least know there is something there. This also builds on my argument from the previous article that described how it has been common knowledge for a long time that SC is likely better than passing. We have all known this to be a problem for a long time now, we just didn’t dare try to find out how deep it actually goes.

The tests that have been posted back when this thing first came out last-season and that people have already talked about in the STHS forums show some crazy and extreme results. These results will not be replicable outside of a purely experimental scenario. We will never see those kinds of crazy numbers in our actual sims because that’s not how reality works, teams will adjust and adapt to these new circumstances, new rules will be made and things will start to even out quickly. But the thing is: We don’t need extreme results for this to be a problem. A somewhat average-sized impact on our “meta” is already enough to give a team a significant edge over their competitors who can’t or don’t want to use the exploit for various reasons. It already changes our league significantly and makes building a player even more boring than it actually is.

Simply put, Hamilton shouldn’t be as good as they are based on total TPE and roster structure. They have only 6 players above 1000 TPE, with only three of them above 1200. Buffalo had more than that. Manhattan had more than that. Wildcard teams with 20 points less on the season had about the same (Winnipeg) or more as well (Panthers). Now some of that can be attributed to shrewd coaching and GMing of course plus the fact that they have a much better goalie than all those teams I just mentioned. But that doesn’t explain it all. A team with only three 1000+ TPE forwards shouldn’t lead the league in goals scored, with only one other team coming close, and that was a team with a whole top-9 of 1000+ TPE players playing in what was likely the weaker Conference. Test sims suggest (thanks @hotdog, among others) that this wasn’t just a fluke this season but also was a common occurrence in long-term, high-volume testing.

There is strong coaching and then there is consistently being better than you should be even with auto-lines and the like. At this point it’s not about coaching anymore, it’s about having built your roster in a way that abuses certain weaknesses in the sim and that nobody else can really adjust to unless they do the exact same thing, no matter how well they are coached. I don’t know if and how vehemently Hamilton has actually denied the usage of this, I haven seen some of it, but not a whole lot, but the truth is: The are definitely using this exploit, almost to the max of what is possible under the current set of rules.

2. This isn't enough, HO.

Talking about rules… I praised HO a bit in my previous post but sorry guys, I’m gonna have to take most of it right back. Because most of the people around the league are right, you have basically made S51 (and S52, if things stay as they are) a lost season. I know last off-season was tough for you guys with this exploit being discovered and adding a ton of extra work on top of the usual off-season stuff, all the while the user base grew anxious and even outraged at times. You took some measures to prevent the worst excesses of the exploit usage but it wasn’t enough. In fact, while well-meant, it basically cemented the advantage Hamilton would have through this exploit for the foreseeable future. You didn’t force Hamilton to fully revert all the PA-SC based shenanigans and at the same time, you more or less prevented everyone else from being able to adjust and catch up to them. Basically Hamilton got to keep most of their advantage but everyone else was gonna be stopped from getting it as well. That’s not fair or productive at all. Also, easy and quick solutions like setting a max gap of around 15 points weren’t implemented. Apparently there are talks behind closed doors about forcing teams to add passers to each line, but I don’t know the details of those plans and don’t think they sound super exciting to begin with. There sure seem to be easier and more effective methods out there.

There is a reason why video game developers put out patches and hotfixes if an exploit is discovered in one of their games (and this league is a video game) and if certain metas turn out to be too strong. If they don’t do that then the overall health of their product is at great risk and they will start bleeding players fast. In such a situation, it also doesn’t matter if the people who discovered the exploit acted in a moral way or not. Their actions are harmful to the overall community so quick changes are needed before everything spirals out of control. Whatever patches and fixes come out have to address this overall health of the community first and foremost and that means that people who used the exploit are likely to lose stuff. Items that they bought with in-game currency because they were so overpowered might suddenly not be useful anymore or things they did and own will actively be removed from the game or reverted back to a pre-patch state, leading to a loss of time and ressources. But guess what? Too fucking bad. That’s the risk you took when going all in on something that you probably knew would benefit you personally but have a negative impact on the community as a whole. You don’t get to cry if you have to carry some of the cost of fixing things if you were involved in breaking them, knowingly or not.

And lastly, as always, communication is spotty and poorly structured, but that’s nothing new of course and pretty much has to be expected at this point. It’s hard to blame you guys in HO for this given how much is going on that you have to keep an eye on and how much trash you have to wade through if you poke your head into some of the topical, high-volume discussions. And there have been some exceptions to this, people in league management who did get involved and continue to do so, including in my threads and posts. But still, it’s rather frustrating for anyone who is trying to be objective and help if basically the best you can get out of people is “we hear ya, shoot me a message if you have further concerns”. At some point that’s not good enough and we either need concrete action or a well visible public explanation for why that action isn’t coming.

3. Stop killing the league, maybe? And stop being dicks about this whole thing too?

The previous chapter was mostly about HO and not the Steelhawks themselves, so let’s get back to our main culprit now for the last and probably most controversial, but also maybe most important chapter.

You do realize you are killing the league right now, right?

Don’t act like you don’t, I know you aren’t that stupid. You know, you just don’t care because your own personal in-sim success is more important to you than the overall health of this place which brings joy to 200 or so people. I can already anticipate the “lol it’s just a game, why so mad argument” but this is pretty ironic considering how you guys seem to be the ones who care so much about your fake internet trophy that you are willing to spend hours on test-simming every day until you figure out new exploits, as the guy in charge of the whole operation said himself, eventually breaking the whole thing in the process which would turn all your Cups and Awards meaningless again. Get some perspective, your approach of “Us above all else” is neither moral nor helpful long-term even for yourself.

Discovering an exploit and starting to use it is one thing, continuing to take advantage of it even after it has been made crystal clear how you are putting the whole league at peril with this, is a whole different affair. I don’t think I even need to make the moral argument here, everyone with at least a little bit of empathy can see how this is wrong. And it’s not like the league didn’t offer you a way out of this, the HO refrained from handing out punishments when this was originally discovered, and rightfully so as you didn’t break any rules. Right there you could have stepped up and recognized how your actions are not good for the overall health of the league, vowing not to actually use the in-sim equivalent of a nuclear weapon - but you didn’t.

Now to be fair, some of this is easier said than done, I acknowledge that. We can’t expect you to, say, put points into passing when you know that this will likely make your player worse, not better. That’s why I already said that we need a rule-based league response to this first, like the redistribution-locks that have already happened and the max-gap limit that we desperately need. We don’t seem to be able to push people towards doing the right thing out of sheer goodwill, so we need the help of the rules for that. But what you could’ve done is change how you communicated about this and the signals you sent to the league and its members. You could’ve stepped up, changed your stance on this and I’m sure people even would’ve applauded the fact that you were able to identify such a potent exploit. You could’ve made public statements vowing that you wouldn’t try to abuse further or even support legislation to curb the worst consequences, given that you were probably the ones who knew about the specifics of this the best.

But you didn’t, or only in a very limited manner, instead prominent people of the Hamilton management-team even doubled down and vowed to just try the same thing again once we switched to FHM, showing an incredibly level of selfishness and disregard for every members enjoyment of this place. This is just a very personal take of mine but in my opinion, even if no rules were broken whatsoever, statements like this are a sign of an individual that we do not want here, certainly not in a position of power, as he has clearly shown what his pathetic motivations are. These are the kinds of people we need to get rid off or at the very least hit with suspensions.

All that doesn’t even take into account the behaviour of a lot of the regular members of the Steelhawks as well. It’s baffling and really disappointing to see how much of a dick not just a few, but a lot of people on Hamilton are when it comes to this thing. So much self-righteousness, so much trolling, so much acting like petulant children who are more interested in getting a rise out of people than making sure that this place we all enjoy continues to exist. Sure, an “us against the world” mentality is tempting in a situation like this were so many people are against you, especially with some parts of the criticism being unwarranted. But you aren’t helping the situation, both the leagues and your own, one bit by doubling-down and being shitty for the sake of being shitty. At the very least, it’s a sign of a broken moral compass, at the worst it’s gonna lead to the downfall of this whole place. Or vice versa, your call.

Alright this concludes my two-part article on this situation, if you thought that this was too one-sided and anti-Steelhawks, keep in mind that there is another, even longer article where I presented all my Pro-Steelhawks arguments. You can find this one here.

Words: 2200

***golden_apricot*** · 01-10-2020, 01:54 PM

Point 3 for sure some of the shit in these threads is just fucking toxic and to claim it isn't is fucking ridiculous.

jRuutu · 01-10-2020, 07:12 PM

Good read, have to agree that it´s really worrying that one team/group is willing to go that far in order to win championship, sounds more like something a group of people who are on their way out of the league will try to do - as in last effort to win something.

I have no doubt in my mind that we will see similar situation again in FHM, hopefully the league is already planning on putting some rules in place, so they can deal with it instead of moving to another sim engine.

**The__Y-man__100** · 01-10-2020, 07:49 PM

I’m really loving these analytical articles. Keep spreading the word Cheers

First ever Yukon Malamute draft pick (1st overall S65)

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