Should "Tanking" be a punishable crime in RML?

By: Michael Minella

Tanking has been around since any sort of rookie draft that rewards mediocre teams with a high draft pick began. These draft picks are very valuable as they give users a try at potentially top end talent. However, many Madden leagues have rules preventing users from tanking, taking force losses, etc. The reasoning for this is to keep league members active and involved in their games as much as possible. This system crushes the lower-middle talented tier of any league. Teams are expected to win as many games as possible to keep the league as a whole going smoothly, but crushes a teams long term potential at acquiring top talent in a draft. Although some divisions are more winnable than others, in powerhouse divisions such as the AFCN or NFCN making the playoffs is no guarantee. Users in these divisions are expected to be happy with an above .500 record while missing playoffs and being stuck in RML purgatory for a season or more. If tanking were to be allowed users would be much more compliant with wasting a whole season due to the potential reward acquired at the end of the season, top draft picks. Regardless if the user drafts with the picks or not, pick #2 is much more valuable than #20 (trust me, i acquired both). Tanking gives users who are on the brink of making playoffs or just a few pieces away from a championship a chace to acquire the talent necessary to put them over the hump. I believe that tanking actually will make users want to stay in RML due to their ability to focus on the future. People will argue "tanking will ruin the league, everyone will be fighting over force losses". I do not believe this is the case. I believe that tanking only benefits users who are in loaded divisions with multiple users jostling for playoff spots, and will not apply to majority of users. If two tanking users do collide in season, fair sim it! May the best CPU lose. Let teams get what they want, and if that is a force loss the last 3 weeks of the season then so be it.