Okay folks, I'm winding down the work on the immense player profile and records sections and came to the conclusion that sometimes massive detail can be too much of a good thing. Accordingly, I reduced the previously reported 160 (which was actually 181) statistical records points to 122 (56 for standard games, 66 for tournaments) and reduced the number of pages you will use to view these records. It's much more navigable now.
Why so many statistics? The more stats, particularly the popular ones, the more opportunities for members to enter special invitation-only quarterly and annual prize competitions. Additionally, variety allows members to play "their type" of games rather than feel it necessary to play specific game types in order to qualify for the prize tournaments.
Relatedly, and the main subject of this post, I've been testing the tournament mechanisms and again found an area that is decidedly bigger than it needs to be, tournament leagues and ladders. These two special series of tournaments are designed such that every player or team plays every other competitor an equal number of times in order to present a fair competition.
My original intention for leagues was to mirror professional sports, such as baseball, in creating a season worth of tournament gaming. What I found in running my scenarios, is that because of the typical length of games, especially tournament games, only so many games could conceivably be played in a season limited to 9 or 10 months. With automatic turn ending every 48 hours for example, giving enough time for teammates to communicate, an average 15 round game would take approximately one month. That's one game per month which is much too slow and would be like playing 3 teams thrice each. I planned on allowing 3-15 teams in each of these tournaments. 15 teams playing each other 3 times each totals 42 games per team in that time frame. Doesn't work! I'm considering modifying the system to allow teams/players to play multiple games at the same time so as to pack more into a season. For example, playing 5 games per month allows 45-50 games per team in a 9-10 month season.
This brings the obvious questions to you folks. How many games played simultaneously is a reasonable limit? What should be the limit on the number of times (rounds) a team plays each other team while attempting to feel like a real league competition and not a generic elimination tournament? On this later issue I had intended 3-11 rounds but now I'm thinking 1-5 rounds. Your thoughts are welcome and appreciated.
Note, that I've limited it to 15 teams because I intend to hold simultaneous league and ladder tourneys, breaking them into 3 or 4 divisions of skill based on the player's ability in the specific game type. Also, 15 teams (of 2-5 players) translates into 30-75 players. Then perhaps there will be a playoff between the winners of each division. Winners of the league get tickets to the World Series (just kidding, ...unless I can swing it).
This link hosts a table of use in visualizing the quantity of game involved depending on the number of team and rounds of play.
League System Discussion.
Thank you from
Strategy Gamers