The game is about rank. I guarantee someone in the top 10k is enjoying it more than someone ranked around 2m.

My first season playing this in 09/10 I did 64 transfers and got a rank of 1573 so hits are not always bad either.

I dunno. Personally I know I wouldn't enjoy playing that way, there is some sort of pleasure in seeing green arrows instead of red ones. As for Jonty he has a pretty good HOF rank and I think he should take that into consideration. Maybe he's lost his competitiveness because the chips are down?

I find winning fun so my aim is to climb the ranks. Take hits? Don't take hits? It doesn't matter as long as the arrow is green.

I really couldn't play this game the sensible way some do, I would be bored to death. Love taking hits, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't but it's a lot more fun for me personally

My aim is to finish as high as possible or else what's the point. Where the difference comes is I always put in who u wanna put in regardless of hits and don't make moves based on who can hurt me with their ownership. Can take lots of risks this way and keep it fun

I rarely take hits (none so far this season) and generally make the sensible moves, but I still enjoy myself. I'm in a few competitive leagues so it keeps me on my toes and there's some good banter with some of the guys in it.

There are lots of different ways to enjoy the game. It's good that you and Jonty have found a way to liven up yours.

It's a funny old thing. I still listen to the Scoutcast, still argue with people online about the 'best' option, but I just don't feel I have to take it.

For instance, the best option to bring in between Sigurdsson and Alli is Sigurdsson. I know this because the stats tell me so, and taken over 10,000 similar decisions the man who plays such %'s will always come out on top. But i'm choosing Alli anyway, i'm choosing him because i've learned this year that i don't want my pleasure to be derived from the average of 10,000 decisions.

I guess I became a fantasy football hedonist.

Jonty can I ask what your current rank is and has it improved since you have been playing differently?

There is no right or wrong way to play the game. Some people are going to have more fun from taking punts and hits whilst others take enjoyment from seeing their rank improve on a weekly basis.

Some base success from where they place in their mini-leagues, other on overall rank, others on making improvements on previous years.

Good on you for finding your way to derive most fun from playing the game. Personally I've always been motivated to try and have a top 1k ranking, which unfortunately I'm a way off currently! But no doubt within the next few years I'll be taking yours and Jonty's approach to mix things up a bit.

Losing my motivation.. 2 hard weeks for me..
Dropped from top 30k to over 100k with a series of captain fails and bad moves!

this has become one the most interesting threads i have ever read on here

It's different for everyone.

I want as high as rank or possible, or more importantly to win as many mini leagues as possible and in turn as much money as possible.

Having a bad rank and/or losing mini leagues isn't fun for me. If I'm doing badly I won't really change the way I play. I take hits when I think they're worth it, with a good or bad rank.

I'm doing badly again this year but I'm not going to change the way I play I don't think. In November I've taken more hits than I have during the previous 2 and a bit months and I've been slowly getting the green arrows. Doesn't mean I'll start taking hits for the sake of it though, I don't really see where the fun comes with that, especially will likely go badly if you're not setting up for the long term.

There are more than one recipe for fun. Taking hits doesn't equal fun neither does the so called "dullard" way of playing. We all have our own standards for fun. Even in real life we tend to find enjoyment doing the things we love in the most suitable way for us.

Branding taking hits as "fun" and not taking hits as "dullard" is narrow-minded and personally wouldn't mind if we got away from that kind of thinking.

I'm competitive and 2-4 grand is up for grabs in my various leagues every year, as a student there is no greater buzz when my players do well and I know that might mean I am swimming in money during the summer. Overall rank/mini-league position is my motivation.

I take a hit every week and have done for the past three seasons....and I've no intention of changing. I don't do it because i'm crap at this game and decide to go maverick due to a low rank...I'ts my game plan before the season starts and I announce it as such before a ball has even been kicked. In the summer I even try to drum up a bit of support for a "hit a week league"

It works other way round also
I have a fairly mediocre history, couple of top 20k finishes at best. Protecting ML leads stopped it being in top 10k.
I have always taken hits and got to stage I was finding it boring most years when floating about the 100k plus areas.
I had decided I would try and adopt the ronka style and control my hits and rely on my players I selected for longer. Weirdly there is actually some pleasure in trying to control my instinct to buy buy buy.
Result is I still have average rank
Conclusion I am not that good at this game

Great Hot Topic! I have a few thoughts on this too.

I'm always willing to take the odd point hit as I like the 'rush' of it paying off. In a ML, you see someone make 2 or 3 transfers in a week and you're wondering what they've done (or on the flip side, what on earth they're doing). Clearly, you can't be doing this every week if you wish to be competitive, but there comes a time when the teams that are going through a sticky patch show themselves and you can plan your transfers to take advantage of this.

Regarding the "fun" aspect. I think being original or maverick would rank quite highly in the reward stakes, but the success of this site and community means you have to move very quickly to jump on a player that is flying under the radar. I look around my ML's and they're the core players that FFS recommend. It's the nature of the beast; they all know about FFS and it's now a level playing field.

This year has helped enormously by there being so many valid transfer options. If you have an Alli, a Kane, a Mahrez, a Ramsey, a Bale (etc) at £5m that perform consistently then everyone can afford the big hitters and dropping those players becomes a much greater risk to doing well. For me, not doing well equals less fun regardless of the number of hits.

I've also found distancing myself from the site has helped (sorry Mark and co!) - at least until I've made my weekly transfer, as then I'm satisfied that I made the decision and haven't been herded into the FFS mindset (Aguero out anyone? 😉 ).

This season, I'm doing ok. Back up to 23k after being around 10k earlier in the season. Recent hits are paying off nicely:

GW13 - Lukaku(1) + Gundogan(0) -> Austin(9) + Firmino(3)
GW12 - Wilson(2) + Sterling(2) -> Anichebe(13) + Hazard(4)
GW10 - Zuniga(1) + Rashford(2) -> Holebas(6) + Wilson(1)

Obviously hits can backfire; bringing in Wilson for Mid(a) and Sun(h) for him to pick up an injury didn't go so well.

With Jonty, he's clearly a very good FPL manager with a HoF rank far superior to mine. The site and scoutcast in particular are there to provide entertainment and I think Jonty is playing up to this. The "dullard goes rogue" tag line plays really well with the Scoutcast and I'm sure provides amusement to us all, not just Mark and Granville! I'm not sure how much fun Jonty is having though as he's very competitive. In a way, he now has a bigger challenge than in previous seasons in trying to climb the rankings rather than maintain rank.

Do you think he will start Demi?

Anything on Firmino?

Seems to be the only running he's capable of.

lallana back is great news for firmino owners (if he's fit)

Hmmmmmm.

This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about earlier - now tempted to make the Sanchez switch!

they dont have to risk firmino i hope

2 pointer for Firmino then

He will start imo

By Sunday he will be fine

Pretty confident he will start especially with sturridge and coutinho out.