Top 5 Reasons Your League or Tournament Will Fail. - chrisphil1724's Blog

chrisphil1724's Blog

Top 5 Reasons Your League or Tournament Will Fail.

Posted on August 11, 2009 at 02:30 PM.

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It�s the second full week in August and that can only mean two things. EA Sports is ready with a new year of Madden football and my odometer is set to turn over another year. This time of year is also infamous for something else, gaming leagues and tournaments. Just take a look on EA Sport�s official Madden forums or the forums of a site like Operations Sports and you won�t be able to go 5 posts without tripping over someone trying to start a league or tournament.

However we all know the problem, 90% of these leagues and tournaments will never see a conclusion. I, myself, have been running gaming leagues and tournaments for six years. In fact my first real job was running Sony Computer Entertainment�s official Socom 2: US Navy SEALS eSEALS tournament. However, with all that being said I too have ran a couple of leagues right into the ground. So for all you want to be league and tournament GMs out there I offer you this top 5 list. The Top 5 Reasons your league or tournament will fail.

5. Your league or tournament is one of many.

Everyone thinks there�s something special about his or her league or tournament. Maybe you have a website, a forum or you put words like �Official� or �Ultimate� in the title. However, the fact of the matter is, unless you have the backing of a large community, there�s nothing special about your league or tournament.

So how can your league or tournament stand out from the pack? Funny you should ask because numbers 4 threw 1 should help with that.

4. Your doors are open to anyone and everyone.

You�ve decided to start a league but you have no one to fill it with, so you turn to Internet forums to look for players. At this point you are going to make a decision that could be the different between and fun and manageable league or a failed league. That decision is just who are you going to let play in the league. I�m sorry, if your answer was �The guy who said he�d take the Patriots first.� your league has already failed.

If you�re going to start a league please have some kind of vetting process. Check their gamertags, their stats in the game, how often they are online. Ask questions like, do you work or go to school, what time zone they are in, if they have ever been in a league before and so on. Your objective should not be to fill up every spot in your league; it should be to focus on getting players you believe will be active and will play.

If all else fails, make it pay to play like my Madden league.

3. You have way to many rules.

This maybe a pot calling the kettle black situation as my Madden league has 10 pages of rules however; they can all be summed up in less then 10 words. �No glitches and play in a sportsmen like manner.� In any case, try and keep the rule set simple and easy to understand and don�t be scared to walk your league threw the rules as the league goes. This goes the same for games like Call of Duty and Madden. My Madden league will be using a salary cap system and even thou it�s a simple system; I will still walk the league members threw it, one by one.

2. No reason to play.

You�re 2-7, the playoffs are out of the question and you don�t know anyone in the league, so what are you going to do, quit. Why is that? There�s nothing left to play for. These are the people the will bring your league to a crashing halt.
So what�s a GM to do? Simple, you have to find a reason for them to play. In my madden league, every player that finishes the season, regardless of there record will be getting a $10 gift card. Now I know what you�re thinking, isn�t that going to cost you money? Well yes it is but I�ve never had anyone quit a league when there�s still something left to win.

1. You�re not herding your sheep.

If you�ve done everything right, you should have a manageable league, with a group of people that are going to play their games. However, your work is far from over. You must keep herding your players. What does this mean? You, as the GM, should be messaging everyone in the league each week with league updates. Let them know what�s going on and most importantly who they are playing next. If people have not played and your 48 hours from the deadline, message them, find out what�s going on and if you have to, set a time for the game yourself, do so.

In the end, your league or tournament is only going to be as good as the person running it.