HG in Olympics

[Valþognir]

Yes I know it's quite old subject but this is the best chance to observe it and make our minds if we really like it or not. Yes I'm talking about Heart Gene. I'm sure that almost all of you have spotted some gene-horses in Olympics (Personally I've spotted at least 5, 3 of them are kicking my but in Marathon ). I guess most of you are quite disappointed with it cause you were thinking that Olympics will reveal the best trainers of each discipline, but instead of that, they revealed the luckiest ones.
That doesn't mean that a lucky trainer is not a good trainer or vice versa of course. I think that the game was WAY more stable and fun when the results of an event were up to our abilities only. Yes i know. I was the 1st one with a HG horses kicking much better horses' buts and when I read about the gene I was quite disappointed cause I thought that my training was so good and it wasn't.In fact I believe it was awful
Anyway my question is this:
Do you think that it had to be disabled for the duration of Olympics, disabled permantly, or it's good as it is?
I want to hear opinions from both sides.

GMs sorry if you think that I posted in wrong thread but I want to see what people think about it now that it affects the Olympics.

[elise:)]

I would just like to say, that while those marathon horses could be heart horses, there are a number of other factors making them win. Do you really think I got lucky enough to just happen to pick two shires with heart gene for marathon? It's possible, i suppose, but highly unlikely

[Valþognir]

I'm not talking about Marathon. I just want to hear opinions about the whole theme...

[elise:)]

Yes I know it's quite old subject but this is the best chance to observe it and make our minds if we really like it or not. Yes I'm talking about Heart Gene. I'm sure that almost all of you have spotted some gene-horses in Olympics (Personally I've spotted at least 5, 3 of them are kicking my but in Marathon ). I guess most of you are quite disappointed with it cause you were thinking that Olympics will reveal the best trainers of each discipline, but instead of that, they revealed the luckiest ones.

I'm just saying, you don't really know if any of the horses you think have heart gene actually do... Take away heart gene or don't. It's moot in my opinion. I'd bet almost all the horses perform the same. At least in the events that I've been keeping an eye on.

[moonstar89]

I personaly believe there shouldn't be a heart gene the fact that it was ever introduced kind of makes me a little upset. I mean I think that a horses odds in the show ring should depend on training, stats and the way we breed our horses. Horses should excel because we are striving to produce the best horses we can and train them to the best of our ability. How are we to know who has the best horses or who trains the best if we have horses out there that are exceling even if those aren't factored in. Well thats my opinion.

[Twisted]

ok. I love the idea of HG horses in normal game play. I think that was a GREAT idea that Nef came up with. however, for the olympics I think that they should NOT be allowed. I think Nef should "turn off" the gene in any horse thats nominated by its owner for the olympics (but maybe it could be turned back on afterwords) and of coarse she wouldnt tell anyone that the horse had the gene or anything like that. I think my one Dressage horse is a heart horse and I think that because of that it may very well just take the gold.

[Alabama]

How to handle the heart gene was determined before I started setting up the rules and working on how events will be run. They were one of the first rules decided on when creating the rules. Olympic horses suspected of having the heart gene would remain in competition. They will not be removed, neither will the heart gene be "turned off" for the duration.

I don't believe it has the impact you think. I've looked at every horse that is winning at least twice, most more than that. Almost every time a heat is done, I've looked through events and checked out horses that had/have high competition scores. I've also sorted or looked through every single horse once the first round was finished. There are only a couple I think might have the heart gene and only one I'm almost certain has it. None of those are in Draft events. Yes, there are horses that are winning a lot, but for the vast majority, I can see reasons they are winning that don't include the heart gene.

[quasarsmom]

I don't know, I have a possible HG horse in the Bronco section. I'm really torn, on one hand, I'd rather see how my training stands up, on the other it is cool to have a HG horse. Then again, I've always been a firm believer that even poor stated horses could win with the proper training, which is why I train & event my 1st gens and actively seek below BC horses for certain events.

[Valþognir]

Bamy I never said to not allow HG horses in Olympics.That's the way the game works and if we like it we play. I like it, so I play even if i don't like some parts.I also will not talk about the gene-drafts or any other gene-horse cause I don't want to make this post personal.Nef is the only one who can talk about this.
I just wanted to see what people think now that it's affecting Olympics, both the lucky and the unlucky ones.And so far I'm pleased to see that 2 players with a possible HG in their opinion (I haven't checked their horses),would prefer to see their skills earning a medal. Of course they may be wrong, and their skill is what makes their horses excell like some of you said, but only the idea that their horse may be HG don't quite please them.
I'm looking forward to see many more opinions about this, so please feel free to let us know your opinion!

[Karebear]

I personally don't think it is affecting the Olympics as much as people seem to think it is. I mean, just because someones horse is doing well does not mean it is a heart horse. (Please realise I'm not pointing any fingers here, in the grand scheme of things I know as much as everyone else, only Nef can tell us if a horse really is a heart gene or not). I agree with what elise said, there are so many hidden factors that could be affecting placings, and several people have 2 or 3 horses that are doing incredibly well - the chances of that one person getting that many heart horses for the Olympics is very unlikely, especially considering on the main page it states: "a few hundred horses with this gene have been born in the past few weeks (out of about 5,000)", which shows that there really aren't that many.

As for whether or not the heart gene should have been 'turned off' for the Olympics, I think it was right to leave it active, based on what I just said.

I was quite disappointed cause I thought that my training was so good and it wasn't.In fact I believe it was awful

Aww Valbognir that's not true at all! Like Bama and other Ops have said before, the gene isn't enough to make a badly trained horse win, infact if the horse isn't well trained it just won't win. Whereas if you have a well-trained horse (like yours), and the HG you're on to a winner . The gene only makes a very small difference, and in events like Dressage where all of the horses are so well trained and therefore have similar stats the HG can make all of the difference, and that therefore excentuates (sp?) the effect of it .

[Valþognir]

Ok...So to make it clear...I don't see a horse's WPS and if 95%+ are 1st place, I say ''Hey!A HG horse!'' I check the final results of every event. I compare The 2nd and the possible HG and if the difference is almost outragous while the 2nd has the same or better stats, I believe it's a HG horse. If not, the 2nd and all others are just crappy compared to the 1st or the hidden factor makes the 1st a little better than the rest.
As for the hidden factors, I know how they work in some events. I've seen extremely good TB in Olympics but I haven't conclude if any of them have a HG, simply cause I can't check the hidden factor that determines the winner in their events. But in other events that hidden factors are not so crucial, HG is just yelling it's there.

[Bodom247]

I don't think it's a big deal at all... most of the horses who are winning are winning because of age or higher stats, and I don't think the heart gene is strong enough to make a horse undefeatable.

[Zimmy]

Ok...So to make it clear...I don't see a horse's WPS and if 95%+ are 1st place, I say ''Hey!A HG horse!'' I check the final results of every event. I compare The 2nd and the possible HG and if the difference is almost outragous while the 2nd has the same or better stats, I believe it's a HG horse. If not, the 2nd and all others are just crappy compared to the 1st or the hidden factor makes the 1st a little better than the rest.
As for the hidden factors, I know how they work in some events. I've seen extremely good TB in Olympics but I haven't conclude if any of them have a HG, simply cause I can't check the hidden factor that determines the winner in their events. But in other events that hidden factors are not so crucial, HG is just yelling it's there.

There were horses that did that in events before the heart gene, honestly, where it was training but then... something about the right combo of quirks on the right breed of horse with the right height... whatever, there were horses doing it before the heart gene.

Track racers should look back to... 95 sideways... that horse MURDERED us in track, his training was great but we still really didn't know why he so killed the rest of the well trained horses (why other well trained horses just could NOT get a nose in ahead of him EVER I mean)... and that was before the heart gene and only one example out of many... we just didn't have the heart gene to 'blame' it on back then. obviously he had the right combo of training and everything else...

Also, you talk about being so sure of the height/build/quirks and so on, of events but... lol, I wonder if any of us know as much as we think we do... I personally think that in the SAME events... different breeds seem to do best with different quirks, different heights are best with different builds... I could be wrong of course, but I think it's more complex than a horse must have x quirk for x event... I think it goes deeper...

[ThisMissJockey]

I don't think it's a big deal at all... most of the horses who are winning are winning because of age or higher stats, and I don't think the heart gene is strong enough to make a horse undefeatable.

I agree, in so many events people are aging their horses well above the rest of the pack which gives them an advantage and of course more wins. I was VERY impressed with everyone that entered pleasure because all of the horses are pretty darn close in age which really reflected the trainers and horses ability.

[elise:)]

I don't think it's a big deal at all... most of the horses who are winning are winning because of age or higher stats, and I don't think the heart gene is strong enough to make a horse undefeatable.

I agree, in so many events people are aging their horses well above the rest of the pack which gives them an advantage and of course more wins. I was VERY impressed with everyone that entered pleasure because all of the horses are pretty darn close in age which really reflected the trainers and horses ability.

While I agree to an extent -- Like I don't understand why anyone would want their horse to hit optimum age in the first round. I also don't understand why you would start your horse two years below optimum age, when you could start it a year from optimum age and spend the entire course of the olympics within a year of optimum age. Anyway, in some of my events my horses are older than the others. But I had planned from the beginning to have my horses all start about just a year below optimum, so it's not like I just aged them up to be older once I saw other people's horses. I do feel a bit bad when my horses are some of the oldest in the pack (which has been the case with some of my events, while others, people seemed to start even older than I did), but I also feel like, it's what makes the most sense to me, so why wouldn't I start them there. I don't think it mean I'm cheating or a bad trainer(not that that's what you're saying, but I have seen others call it cheating), it just means that I put a lot of time into figuring out what i thought might be the best way to age my horses through the olympics. Perhaps I'll find out I was wrong though. Perhaps I'll find out, that it is actually better to have your horse hit optimum age during the last round.... who knows.
Sorry jockey, i love you girl and i know you weren't trying to be offensive, but I have seen other places where others have criticized the older horses in some events and I just wanted to speak up.