Sabermetrics is the analysis of baseball through objective evidence, especially baseball statistics. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research. It was coined by Bill James, who was among its first proponents and has long been its most prominent advocate known to the general public.
From David Grabiner's Sabermetric Manifesto:
Bill James defined sabermetrics as "the search for objective knowledge about baseball." Thus, sabermetrics attempts to answer objective questions about baseball, such as "which player on the Red Sox contributed the most to the team's offense?" or "How many home runs will Ken Griffey, Jr. hit next year?" It cannot deal with the subjective judgments which are also important to the game, such as "Who is your favorite player?"
I'd like to dedicate a discussion to the possibility of "Sabermetrics" being a part of Nerf. I'm a huge baseball fan and its true that baseball is the only sport where statistics tell real stories and everything on the field is recorded. Because of this, patterns develop and history becomes part of the statistics; Roger Maris and 61 home runs, Rickey Henderson and 130 stolen bases, Nolan Ryan and 5,000+ career strikeouts, etc.
I'm NOT suggesting we change Nerf or play differently, and I'm NOT proposing that Nerf become more organized like a league or emphasize more of a competitive nature, but I think that good things can come of discussion and this seems to be an interesting topic no one has covered yet.
Don't bother posting "This would ruin Nerf". Thats not the point of this discussion.
Do you guys think their could be definitive statistics that could be introduced to Nerf? Even if they are limited in usefulness? What stats would be most effective for gauging a player and his/her production? Lets get creative.
Important baseball stats include batting average, on-base percentage, strikeouts per 9 innings, earned run average and of course home runs, doubles, triples, stolen bases, etc. Here is what I've come up with so far:
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KEY:
KILLS - HOW MANY TIMES A PLAYER HAS SUCCESSFULLY HIT ANOTHER PLAYER.
HITS - HOW MANY TIMES A PLAYER HAS BEEN HIT HIMSELF/HERSELF.
ASSISTS - OCCURS WHEN A TEAMMATE'S DIRECT ACTIONS PRODUCE A KILL FOR A TEAMMATE. AN ASSIST MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE PLAYER WHO GOT THE KILL, NOT THE PLAYER WHO HELPED. THIS STATISTIC IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE PLAYER WHO HELPED.
ROUND - ONE UNIT OF PLAY. ONE GAME.
KA (kills per round or kills average): Essentially a Nerf batting average or a pitcher's strike out/9 innings (K/9) average. Divide KILLS by ROUNDS.
Example: One Man Clan plays 6 ROUNDS in one day. He throws down 41 KILLS. His KA stands at 6.83 per ROUND.
HA (hits per round or hits average): Designates how many times, on average, a player is HIT during a round. Divide HITS per ROUNDS.
Example: Rambo plays 6 rounds in one day. He is hit 13 times. His HA is a mediocre 2.16. Meaning that if he is playing 3/15 rules he was hit just over twice a round.
KHD (Kills/Hits differential: KILLS divided by HITS. Most effective as a career statistic with a large sample size.
Example: Vacc compiles 88 KILLS with 45 HITS. His KHD is 1.95. For everytime he is hit, he hits an average of almost 2 players.
TIQ (Total Influence Quotient): KILLS + ASSISTS divided by HITS. Perhaps the best statistic to gauge how much a player contributes in one round or many.
Example: Evil compiles 7 KILLS, 2 ASSISTS, and 3 HITS. His TIQ is 3.00. For every time he is hit, he has helped to produce 3 KILLS.
W% (Win percentage): If the statistical sample was large enough (lets say 400 rounds +) this would indicate how much a player contributes to winning if his stats are considerable. Also a good stat because it accounts for several variables that might not be expressed in conventional stats. Divide WINS by ROUNDS.
Example: DarkShrimp plays 600 ROUNDS in one year. He WINS 388 of those. His W% stands at 0.64 meaning that he WINS approximately 64% of the time.
Edited by Evil, 19 April 2007 - 01:16 PM.