Idea: The AoC Premier League

[ZeroEmpires]

Good response so far and I'm glad you guys are giving suggestions too.

[CondoM]

great idea but no money = ggg. We have rts l where we don't have a money, so the best clan don't sign-up - it will be same here. Tyrant sponsor need to drop some k$ and then i have 100% sure premier league will work great.

It is TheViper's own idea, so I'm sure at least he and Jordan will sign up. Dreams wouldn't miss out on the opportunity, and Daut's ego is too big to not be recognised as the #1 aocer.

[Sieter]

yeah, but Daut ego work only when he can take money. He dont care about turnament without money, he sign-up in last years to 3 no money turney, and don't played even first round. I hope AoC Premie league will work!

[F_aLc_enSchrei]

nice idea!

[Raven1s]

money is'nt everything TBH i know there is some hardcore pros out there that only play for cash but there is people out there that play for fun even small prizes will do

[Raven1s]

Something good just got mentioned in dreams stream in the chat what about regional leagues e.g UK vs UK

[Gary_]

I like it so much. Good luck with that, ask for help if you want.

[_Dionysus_]

I would start with a small 6 player league, each player plays a two game "set" against the other, once home, once away. The home player chooses BOTH the maps and the mirror civ wars. The player can't pick the same map and same civ war twice in the same set. Two games is a good amount. First of all, it's not greedy for the tournament organizers who I think often spend way too much time fantasizing about what they want to see and less about what's practical. By contrast, one game often feels like a waste of time, and having two games make up the set creates the possibility of a 1:1 draw.

I suggest that the games take place at a set time every week, no scheduling. There would be a total of 30 sets and 60 total games; you could do one or two sets a week so you could coordinate with players and arrange for days off if need be so there's flexibility in re-scheduling if a player has a dentist's appointment (example) that day. Less games is more in my opinion, the longer you stretch it out the better.

Decide this universal match time beforehand and then tell players this is when it is going to be every week and that they will play at least every 2 weeks, minimum. See whether or not they can or wish to play at that time. You may lose players due to having an inflexible time but what you lose in player quality you gain in consistency.

Scheduling and arranging match times should be done behind closed doors. It is important that the public/community doesn't know. Players should be less approachable and more like superstars. The other goal of this is is to build a fraternity amongst the players, and there should be a good relationship between the ref(s) and the players, but the refs are still the boss.

Most importantly, you must have a league first mentality. If the players don't follow the rules they harm the league. If the players don't show up on time they harm the league. If the players aren't playing at their best they harm the league. The players must feel privileged to play in your league. This will come over time but I must reiterate the cornerstones of any league's credibility:

1. Firm, fair and CONSISTENT decision making by league officials i.e. no admin wins, schedule extensions, or any nonsense like that. Players who can't commit to the league should be excluded and replaced, their prize money denied.

2. Strong players

3. Good prize money

The biggest failure I have noticed, especially in aoczone tournaments, is the granting of scheduling extensions. Not only do extensions slow up the tournament's progress but extensions reward people who are disorganized, lazy or exploiting the rules and therefore penalize the punctual teams who are trying hard to play the games on time. As I said before, I think if you figure out a good time to play the games every week (some time between 14-17 GMT?) and then present this proposal to the players you want to invite for the first season, it will work. You may not get all the good players you want but you will get most of them.

I suggest two staff members to start with: the guy who runs the league and writes the rules, and the guy who is the match referee. The ref doesn't have any say in the rules, he just knows what the rules are and enforces them. The guy who wrote the rules is not the ref - he trusts the ref to do his job and if there's something wrong in the rules he waits until next season to correct it.

Good luck and let me know if you want my help or want more ideas.

[Pontas]

My suggestion:

Three game:
Game 1 - Arabia
Game 2 - Arabia loser's homemap
Game 3 - Arabia winner's homemap

And the scores would be:
2-0 = 3 points / 0 points
2-1 = 2 points / 1 point
no ties! =)

[ZeroEmpires]

Looks liek this will go ahead, we will start working on fleshing out rules etc soon