Squatters / Cheaters

Hosting a league, I have noticed many managers who join but do not select drivers. They do not intend to participate in the races..I believe they do this because car development continues even if you do not race (design goes on ). I'm tired of having to kick these squatters. I suggest that design development be limited to participating managers. Or that these squatters at least form their own leagues to squat in.

i didn't even know this was possible 

This is sadly a common problem Leslie. It would be good if all the hosts were as active as you; working to keep the leagues for active players.

Yes I agree with Leslie and Edwin.  Managers need to be more active but there should be some stricter penalty for not actually setting up your cars - or employing drivers.  This is an exploit that needs to be sorted, if it is happening the way Leslie says.

Trying to fill the last slot in my league I have had to kick 6 "players" in the last two days when they joined but did not select drivers. It is a real nuisance. This became apparent to me when I started my league with a two week lead time to the first race. Five of the first eight "players" that joined had not selected drivers by the start date. Since then I have probably kicked ten "players" for the same reason.

I didn't know about the car development thing, but in my experience, these squatters also join in order to demote the rep of the league, because every single one of them that's ever joined my league were all far below 5000 rep. My league is also the top or second 50% public league in the game, another reason i'm certain that these squatters aren't just joining to develop cars, as the one's i've had to boot haven't raced in months.

All of mine have been new level 5000 teams. No drivers ever selected so their rep stays the same because they are never entered in a race. If they can squat for three weeks by moving all of their workers to design they can have 1D car design available before their first race.

EDIT:

Further ramifications of this exploit have occurred to me. If you have not raced you can withdraw from a league without penalty. If you squat for long enough you could move your design slider all the way to next season from the beginning of your participation thus having a car with maximum development at the start of the second season.

Leagues really need an "invite" and "request invite" system. This would at least help, in some ways, against the immediate squatting in a league. Passworded leagues would be open to anyone that has the password.

I think the other problem is new players. As a recent new player I felt that finding and choosing a new league... I was not presented with the best of choices. I did not want to race against Rookies that were much higher than me. I wanted to learn. iGP should have several dozen leagues open to the public that have a level-join-requirement so that new players can come in and learn something. Only players between lvl 1-3 perhaps.

Some people that I have needed to be kicked from leagues weren't always squatting, they can sometimes be trying to find a new league because they cannot find one - e.g. keep getting kicked or are perceived as someone who is squatting. There needs to be a home for players starting out. Also, it seems to me that new players aren't always so happy in some leagues and just leave after a few races. I think some players just 'dont get it' when it comes to playing through a whole season. Perhaps they are disappointed to see that the league has a low race cadence, and instead want something that is daily + 25% distance? Lots of indecision amongst players.

Hopefully this isn't derailing your thread here but I tend to look at it with another perspective :)

I understand. I have not completed my first 17 races and have been in three leagues. I understand that there is some searching at first. I also know that this game is not for everyone. It is very analytical, not action packed. Quite a few players come and try it for a few races and then just walk away. But in every online gaming experience that I can think of there are always the exploiters. Their game is to find a way to get an unfair advantage through loopholes that the game designers did not foresee when they made the game. GT-5 had this kind of problem and most other games have to adjust their games to account for exploiters. It is not surprising, just disappointing.