Help
After last weeks dive in the wonderment that is league spreadsheets, onto the other side of being a league organiser.
It's that terrible part of that emboldened title, the organiser bit. There are definitely at least a few pitfalls which you fall into when trying to set up a league.
Clear Idea for a League
Will more than likely be the first stumbling block you come across. Whilst for sports games the process is simple, look at the real world, then copy it to a league. On the other end of the scale you have handicap leagues, where you'll have to struggle between balancing the handicapping process, and keeping it fun for all competitors. For the Forza 3 Handicap League ( A fantastic idea from Haggler1, by the way) this balancing process literally took a couple of months, and even then we still changed it slightly for the 2nd season.
Day / Time / Length of Each Night, and of the League itself
Probably an obvious thing to suggest, but you have to be aware of how long each session of the league will take, and on which day. You won't get a lot of people wanting to play into the early morning hours, additionally weekend 'days' tend to get filled with 'honey-do' lists for the more senior site members. So you tend to have a narrow playable time band of 8-10pm, with a length normally shorter than a hour.
As for the league itself, 6 to 10 weeks is going to be good for the majority of leagues. With longer leagues, you'll more than likely have to maintain some sort of alternates list, to replace people who drop out, or have moved on to other games. Speaking from experience, keeping track of alternates is good practice anyway.
The Joy of Rules, and Those Tough Decisions
Rules are a necessary evil when running leagues, you need them so people know the full details of how the league it going to be run. Sometimes these may include obvious things such as no glitching, using of exploits etc. but they may also include rules on what happens if people can't connect / drop out of a room.
And with rules, come responsibilities. Occasionally, you'll have to make a judgement decision on rule-breakers, and any punishments you feel are just. Punishments can be something as simple as a place drop / points removal, to expulsion from the league for more serious breaches. Impartiality is also key. Rules have to apply to everyone equally, including the Organiser themselves. So where possible, using game replays, try to come to a fair decision.
Once the decision is made, stick by it. The only time you should change a decision is when you receive new evidence on the alleged incident. I know that sounds a little CSI, but that's how you should treat it, you can only go on the evidence available.
It's that terrible part of that emboldened title, the organiser bit. There are definitely at least a few pitfalls which you fall into when trying to set up a league.
Clear Idea for a League
Will more than likely be the first stumbling block you come across. Whilst for sports games the process is simple, look at the real world, then copy it to a league. On the other end of the scale you have handicap leagues, where you'll have to struggle between balancing the handicapping process, and keeping it fun for all competitors. For the Forza 3 Handicap League ( A fantastic idea from Haggler1, by the way) this balancing process literally took a couple of months, and even then we still changed it slightly for the 2nd season.
Day / Time / Length of Each Night, and of the League itself
Probably an obvious thing to suggest, but you have to be aware of how long each session of the league will take, and on which day. You won't get a lot of people wanting to play into the early morning hours, additionally weekend 'days' tend to get filled with 'honey-do' lists for the more senior site members. So you tend to have a narrow playable time band of 8-10pm, with a length normally shorter than a hour.
As for the league itself, 6 to 10 weeks is going to be good for the majority of leagues. With longer leagues, you'll more than likely have to maintain some sort of alternates list, to replace people who drop out, or have moved on to other games. Speaking from experience, keeping track of alternates is good practice anyway.
The Joy of Rules, and Those Tough Decisions
Rules are a necessary evil when running leagues, you need them so people know the full details of how the league it going to be run. Sometimes these may include obvious things such as no glitching, using of exploits etc. but they may also include rules on what happens if people can't connect / drop out of a room.
And with rules, come responsibilities. Occasionally, you'll have to make a judgement decision on rule-breakers, and any punishments you feel are just. Punishments can be something as simple as a place drop / points removal, to expulsion from the league for more serious breaches. Impartiality is also key. Rules have to apply to everyone equally, including the Organiser themselves. So where possible, using game replays, try to come to a fair decision.
Once the decision is made, stick by it. The only time you should change a decision is when you receive new evidence on the alleged incident. I know that sounds a little CSI, but that's how you should treat it, you can only go on the evidence available.
Share This Entry:
0 Comments On This Entry
Recent Entries
-
On setting up and running a league.on Mar 04 2011 01:58 AM
-
Recent Comments
Adverts are hidden for all 'Platinum Members' - sign up for just £10 a year by clicking here - your donation helps the site costs
