Scheduling EBFL Games

[EaStWoOd___]

We have reached the 9th week of the season and all in all it has went pretty good..We have had some quitters as well as new owners step in and take some not so good teams and turn them into power houses(DayNite).But i feel that the foundation on this league is in trouble..With the way the EA servers are,and people usually having to play a game more then once to get it completed..I feel that Madden is leaving a bad taste in peoples mouths..Now this is totally out of any one owners hands but i don't think there are things we can do as a league to over come this,and hopefully move on when they fix the game.One thing that I've noticed is people make plans to play a game then don't show..This is unacceptable..And i feel if it continues will end up costing us GOOD ownerz..If anyone has any ideas about how we can fix this PLEEEEAAAAASSSEEE reply..The only thing I can think of is MANDATORY scheduling on the EBFL forums.

[djfeeltk9]

Mandatory Scheduling sounds like a great idea.

[M-_-Tyson]

im ok with mandatory scheduling just as long as all owners post their "time to play". ex. my "time to play" is 3:30-9:15pm estrn weekdays and anytime (as long as it is scheduled before that day) on sat and sun

[joemacattk]

im totally up for having to schedule on here seeing that some people dont like to respond to there psn messages.

[Executioner747]

EaStWoOd___ ]
We have reached the 9th week of the season and all in all it has went pretty good..We have had some quitters as well as new owners step in and take some not so good teams and turn them into power houses(DayNite).But i feel that the foundation on this league is in trouble..With the way the EA servers are,and people usually having to play a game more then once to get it completed..I feel that Madden is leaving a bad taste in peoples mouths..Now this is totally out of any one owners hands but i don't think there are things we can do as a league to over come this,and hopefully move on when they fix the game.One thing that I've noticed is people make plans to play a game then don't show..This is unacceptable..And i feel if it continues will end up costing us GOOD ownerz..If anyone has any ideas about how we can fix this PLEEEEAAAAASSSEEE reply..The only thing I can think of is MANDATORY scheduling on the EBFL forums.


First, I do think making scheduling mandatory via the forums is a good idea. Also though, I've seen some leagues require owners to submit all three forms of contact information, meaning phone, email and PSN in addition to the website. With everyone's busy schedule, some people tend to rely on one form of communication more than others and they'll sometimes miss messages left on the ones they don't use too often. It varies from person to person. But when all the avenues are open, it really decreases opportunities for people to say, oh I didn't get the message. The website here is good for email notifications. But I find that as a last resort -- even if it's via text -- having a phone contact can make a difference.

By the way, where do we post our schedule in terms of availability?

[EaStWoOd___]

When the league votes to make this EBFL policy the forums will be set up..Its a matter of seconds to create..But right now we only have 5 people out of 29,We need EVERYONES vote on this..

[Rumbleking92]

I agree Scheduling should be mandatory my recent opponent at first didnt reply but we fixed it up

[EBZ-Alchy]

There's going to be nothing but problems with mandatory scheduling, just leave it as is right now which is you have till Wednesday and Saturday night to get your games in. Those that don't show up that night will be removed to allow the other owner to play the cpu so he can play the game.

[Executioner747]

Alchy-ops ]
There's going to be nothing but problems with mandatory scheduling, just leave it as is right now which is you have till Wednesday and Saturday night to get your games in. Those that don't show up that night will be removed to allow the other owner to play the cpu so he can play the game.


I feel what you are saying Alchy but it seems to me that it would be good to at least try. Those that are slackers probably will ignore it all anyway but it would be good for the rest of us to post our schedules and have a procedure forcontacting opponents in place that everybody should know about.

[EaStWoOd___]

I think the good out ways the bad on this one..

[EBZ-Alchy]

EaStWoOd___ ]
I think the good out ways the bad on this one..
thats just it, no good come out from mandatory scheduling. I've been in and ran leagues (not all where Madden) that had mandatory scheduling and the only thing that came from it was more headaches and players still not showing up for scheduled matches. The best solution I have found is a flex schedule with a predetermined timeframe. It allows for both players to get there match in while still moving the league forward.

[EBZ-Alchy]

I feel what you are saying Alchy but it seems to me that it would be good to at least try. Those that are slackers probably will ignore it all anyway but it would be good for the rest of us to post our schedules and have a procedure for contacting opponents in place that everybody should know about.
Yes there should be a section in here that has all the info on owners such as there playing time, contact info, PSN, phone, Instant message and E-mail. The procedure is an easy one, Send them a PM on the forums and a PSN friend invite asking to get the game in. If there is no response then you just need to make sure your on the night of the league advance to play your game either vs your opp or the cpu.

[EaStWoOd___]

Well that's what we have been doing and its obviously not working..What are all these headaches you keep referring to..If you have examples that u could share,it would really help us understand what u mean..As of right now we are having problems with Owners basically respecting the time and effort of other owners..And i have spoke with more then one owner about it..And regardless of what they say, I can tell there getting frustrated..And lets face it,there are other leagues out there..And if a owner has nothing but problems scheduling games every week then why would he stay??On the other hand I'm trying to think of the Cons for this, and other then people signing on and taking 5 minutes on a daily basis to check the forums,I really don't see one..And to be quite honest with you,In a perfect league everyone would be using this forum more..

[EBZ-Alchy]

Right now we have flex scheduling, where players must get one game in before a certain deadline. It is the responsibility of each owner to get the game in by that deadline. It is there responsibility to make sure that if there game doesn't get played before the Deadline, that they are on to get the game at the time of the deadline. If they miss it then they need to deal with having there game simed. This way there is no confusion about when you are suppose to be on, everyone know that they should be on at the deadline to play there game if it already wasn't played.

Now you have mandatory scheduling, Players will have to post on the forums when there able to play each other. Then the both players have to agree on what date and time they will play. This could take days to complete because its rare that both players on on the forums at the same time. So one post in the morning the other post at night next thing you know its 4 days later and they still don't have a set time and date. Then your forced in to set a time and day when this game is set to be played. Now the time and day that you pick doesn't work out for one of the players so he's going to cry foul and leave the league on the basis that the league admin intentionally made the time and day to favor the other guy. Next thing you know half of the players have left over this situation.

I ran my first tourney with mandatory scheduling that this exact same thing happened to me, It was a COD 1v1 and i had 32 players to start with, by the time the tourney was over i had 12. All because of the scheduling nightmare that mandatory scheduling created.

[EBZ-Alchy]

EaStWoOd___ ]
Well that's what we have been doing and its obviously not working..What are all these headaches you keep referring to..If you have examples that u could share,it would really help us understand what u mean..As of right now we are having problems with Owners basically respecting the time and effort of other owners..And i have spoke with more then one owner about it..And regardless of what they say, I can tell there getting frustrated..And lets face it,there are other leagues out there..And if a owner has nothing but problems scheduling games every week then why would he stay??On the other hand I'm trying to think of the Cons for this, and other then people signing on and taking 5 minutes on a daily basis to check the forums,I really don't see one..And to be quite honest with you,In a perfect league everyone would be using this forum more..
Every owner should be on at the deadline to play there game if it wasn't played before hand. If two owners aren't able to hash out a time before then oh well, get on at the deadline and play it then.

[EBZ-Alchy]

Why are we not able to edit our post here?

[EBZ-Alchy]

Alchy-ops ]
Right now we have flex scheduling, where players must get one game in before a certain deadline. It is the responsibility of each owner to get the game in by that deadline. It is there responsibility to make sure that if there game doesn't get played before the Deadline, that they are on to get the game in at the time of the deadline. If they miss it then they need to deal with having there game simed. This way there is no confusion about when you are suppose to be on, everyone know that they should be on at the deadline to play there game if it already wasn't played.

Now you have mandatory scheduling, Players will have to post on the forums when there able to play each other. Then both players have to agree on what date and time they will play. This could take days to complete because its rare that both players on on the forums at the same time. So one post in the morning the other post at night next thing you know its 4 days later and they still don't have a set time and date. Then your forced in to set a time and day when this game is set to be played. Now the time and day that you pick doesn't work out for one of the players so he's going to cry foul and leave the league on the basis that the league admin intentionally made the time and day to favor the other guy. Next thing you know half of the players have left over this situation.

I ran my first tourney with mandatory scheduling that this exact same thing happened to me, It was a COD 1v1 and i had 32 players to start with, by the time the tourney was over i had 12. All because of the scheduling nightmare that mandatory scheduling created. Since then every tourney we ran we used flex scheduling and 95% of the participants stayed from beginning to end.
edited OP

[Executioner747]

I guess human nature being what it is, it's a waste of time to require or at least encourage guys to play their games as close to the change time a possible. Not that it's worked in the other leagues I'm in but I've always liked the idea of encouraging a game time. Say like in the NFL where games are typically played on Sundays at noon for example. In this case, it may be Thursday's at 8 p.m. or Saturday's at 3 p.m.?

Just a thought. I realize people are going to procrastinate anyway. Most of us video gamers are slackers by nature. lol

[Your-Random-Hero]

Coming from someone who also runs his own league, I have noticed this year alot more issues with people playing their games. Up till this year you could find that magic number of players willing and dedicated to playing their games on time if not early and making an effort to schedule. This year just seems people are not as interested or just plain out "Just Dont give a F&ck" I have been battling it all season in my league. We offer Scheduling By Psn, Yahoo Instant Messenger, Txt Msged via Phone, and as a last resort the forums if you have had no luck any other way. We still seem to get 3-4 games unplayed. 3 last week unplayed and all they had to do was play the cpu because of open teams.. Thats just insane...

Honestly you guys will do ultimately what you feel is best for the league and I am behind that. But I seriously do not think forcing people to schedule on the forums will help. Those who want to be active and play will find a way to get their games scheduled, Those who don't care wont bother putting in the effort. Thats just the way it is. and if we want to keep this league going all we can do is move forward each week and work to rid the league of those idiots who are not dedicated to their teams or the league, and those with no respect for the leagues rules.

[Bobbyday82]

I feel a set schedule works the best. You still have the flexibility to schedule your games ahead of time but are still held accountable to make the gametime set forth by the league.

[M-_-Tyson]

thats what we have.. it will be the night before advancement