Team Manager vs. Athletes Go Live

[Shiloh]

I've worked for startup software companies my whole career (not on tech side). I don't think this is fixable without a rewrite ($$$$$). Whoever scoped this out, didn't think this through. The UI is terrible, and the bugs should be worked out by now. The fact that they feel like they are still in beta after all this time is troubling. I don't want to invest too much effort and time into something that will probably be replaced in the market soon.

On a side note, someone at the Alliance (or many people) are certainly making money on the AGL requirement. If no money is exchanging hands, they would have went with GC/TM since over 90% of the teams already scored games that way. Something doesn't smell right.

100%

Not fixable. And because the video has to be streamed from the server, with a real-time scoring overlay, they likely won't ever do it.

Don't remember where I saw it, but Mike Stith's wife (don't remember her first name) was listed as the head of marketing for AGL. Stith runs the OCBB and The Alliance. So, yes, not a coincidence and almost certainly money is changing hands. AGL barely had any traffic - just a few teams in the south - until The Alliance started requiring everyone to use it instead of GC. No reason AGL couldn't import stats from GC for sanctioned tourneys.

To be fair, real-time streaming with a scoring overlay and stats is a really good idea. But closed-loop systems are always problematic. What happens in a couple years when The Alliance displaces PGF and AGL becomes required everywhere within the softball world? What incentive will the company have to improve functionality then?

 

[benjey]

My question is what is the alliance going to do when the scoring craps out in the middle of a game. Do they say the game doesn't count. I gave up using it for scoring because I could not get through a game without such a long lag at some point that you get too far behind to ever catch up. DD's team earned a Tier 1 bid already so we are definitely going to OKC for the AFCS in July but my understanding is seeding will be determined by your games all summer long but they must be scored in AGL. I am dreading it already.

 

[CalvinBall]

FWIW, AGL’s development roadmap does include being able to score games without being connected to the internet.

 

[TXJames44]

FWIW, AGL’s development roadmap does include being able to score games without being connected to the internet.

So we can score the game in real-time with GC/TM and re-input into AGL after game completion. Awesome lol.

 

[TXJames44]

My question is what is the alliance going to do when the scoring craps out in the middle of a game. Do they say the game doesn't count. I gave up using it for scoring because I could not get through a game without such a long lag at some point that you get too far behind to ever catch up. DD's team earned a Tier 1 bid already so we are definitely going to OKC for the AFCS in July but my understanding is seeding will be determined by your games all summer long but they must be scored in AGL. I am dreading it already.

That is what happened to us this past weekend. Although, these were not official TFL games, you could still get points for playing other TFL teams. Did we miss out?

 

[benjey]

That

Although, these were not official TFL games, you could still get points for playing other TFL teams. Did we miss out?

As far as I understand you absolutely did miss out. We were told we would receive points in Alliance events and anytime we played other Alliance teams but only if we scored with AGL so if that is correct you missed out on earning points when you played TFL teams but did not (could not) score the game with AGL.

One other thing....It was mentioned the IOS app was different/better than the Android App. This makes no sense since the AGL camera is an Android device. Why abandon the android app when that is running on all their cameras.

I'll try scoring on an IOS device cuz at this point they got me held hostage and I will try anything to make it work better... but it certainly leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the Alliance, which I had such high hopes for.

 

[erniekru]

@TXJames44 @benjey
Yes, points are accrued every time 2 Alliance teams play.. However, the points earned from single games are worth so little. They are using an ELO points system, I don't know the ins-n-outs of how points are accrued, but the jist is beating teams with higher rankings than your team nets more points that beating lower ranked teams. Either way, the points from an individual game is not substantial.

With regards to scoring, most times when there is a glitch it revolves around a substitution. Substitutions are not inherently difficult, they're just categorized. There's lineup changes (aka friendlies/showcases) and theres defensive subs (which entails actually following sub rules). Anyway, I've had it happen that the wrong batter will be at the plate. Simply hit skip batter all the way around to get back to the one that is right. There's a couple more things that I use when it really hits the fan... But at the end of the day, just make sure the inning scoring is correct. This is easy to "fudge" if you get lost in the woods, aka sally gets walked, andvances on error to score and repeat to get the half inning score right.

Defensive plays are easy peasy and intuitive. The most complicated plays are fielders choice (the app doesn't assume which out is made, so you have to click which runner is out). Again, just a different methodology to what other are used to with GC.

 

[benjey]

With regards to scoring, most times when there is a glitch it revolves around a substitution. Substitutions are not inherently difficult, they're just categorized. There's lineup changes (aka friendlies/showcases) and theres defensive subs (which entails actually following sub rules). Anyway, I've had it happen that the wrong batter will be at the plate. Simply hit skip batter all the way around to get back to the one that is right. There's a couple more things that I use when it really hits the fan... But at the end of the day, just make sure the inning scoring is correct. This is easy to "fudge" if you get lost in the woods, aka sally gets walked, andvances on error to score and repeat to get the half inning score right.

I know it's not your app and you were not responsible for requiring it to be used to earn Alliance points so this isn't directed at you just quoting your description of what needs to be done to make this app work for scoring a game because it highlights how absurd and unacceptable it is for this app to be required for all teams to use in Alliance games.

Getting the score of the game correct is the most basic function of scoring the game and if you need to "fudge" the app to get that right don't even think about actually using it to keep accurate stats which I am sure is functionality many/most teams are currently using GC for.

 

[CalvinBall]

One other thing....It was mentioned the IOS app was different/better than the Android App. This makes no sense since the AGL camera is an Android device. Why abandon the android app when that is running on all their cameras.

I'll try scoring on an IOS device cuz at this point they got me held hostage and I will try anything to make it work better... but it certainly leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the Alliance, which I had such high hopes for.

No idea on that one. Streaming works fine on Android but scoring is junk because they had not updated the app in a while. Substitutions were especially painful. I just checked the Google Play store and it does look like they finally updated it 6 days ago.


WHAT'S NEW
New Features:
- Option added to search for opponent teams by AGL ID & coach

Bug fixes:
- Fixed out of the batter's box logic
- Fixes for substitution from the Game scoring screen

 

[TXJames44]

Here we go again. Tournament this weekend and this is the TFL communication we received -

"Utilizing AthletesGoLive for this event will be critical to ensure that you receive appropriate points for your league standings. All games need to be streamed and scored by each team"......"It is critical your scorekeeper receives this information".

And on queue, the AGL app is crashing hard today.

Question: Why force teams to use a scoring app that is unproven and clearly not ready for primetime (when 95%+ of teams use GC/TM)?

Answer: Someone (or many many people) are making a lot of $$$$$$$.

We will try it again this weekend. If it fails again, we will remove our team from the TFL and move forward.