New League Research - Input desired

[tarmer]

Being a long time OOTP'r (have run and played in several leagues) as well as had a LONG run as a commish for a "soccer" league using Football Manager as the sim engine - I am looking at FOF devotees and wanted to try and pick brains on thoughts..

We all know the basic status of FOF - both pros & cons as a sim engine so this question will be a little different than it would be on the OOTP site (they are currently upgrading and new leagues open regularly) But here goes....

I see there are several MP leagues out there (and it seems maybe more that have folded) It seems that they all have most of the same features on the website - (Though some are packaged differently) - I think the information that Ben E Lou (as well as IHOF & FOFL) gets from the Stelmack Utilities looks awesome as it adds to otherwise very static set of HTML files..

I also noticed that it is not near half - But you have most leagues using the regular NFL teams and far fewer using fictional teams.. And most are usinig fictional players rather than real players..

After the long intro here is where the real questions are asked...

1.) Unlike OOTP this product will quite probably not see any further updates (cannot swear to this) but it appears on the surface to be that way - So do we see a surge in "new" players to join leagues or will leagues be hard to fill as leagues will be joined by guys in multiple leagues so you have a ton of leagues with all the same guys in them ?

(Would starting a new league actually have a chance to make it (OF COURSE THIS DEPENDS ON SEVERAL THINGS) but in generality)

2.) If it was to be a new league would it be real teams, fictional teams - Real players or fictional players (or some combination thereof).. This is also highly debated with OOTP - No sim can really truly re-create a perfect historic replication - So you can get dissapointing results when OJ Simpson runs for 1100 yards or 800 yards and never has that 2000+ yard season or gets injured and that is all she wrote......... So do you use "real players" just for the idea of name recognition - where this is never an issue in "fictional" leagues.. Also depending on when you start the league and how fast you run - chances are you are going to have to turn into fictional players at some point anyways....

(Real vs Fictional)

3.) Website, special rules, features.... This is I think as important (if not more so) than questions 1 & 2 above...

Website design & Layout - This is what grabs attention and identifies a league from it's peers - All other things being equal if you can make a site that grabs attention and keeps interest you will have better success recruiting and keeping managers active -

Does this matter to people considering joining a new league ? (Stupid Question considering my statement - But one that may not matter much to many)

Special rules - Nerfing, X-Factor etc... Due to some of the program customization limits there are not a whole lot of "special rules" you can apply as it does not allow you to modify a lot of the "inner" workings - So a lot of leagues have a lot of similar variations of the same rules - BUT IS THERE SOMETHING THAT CAN BE DONE THAT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE ?

Add-On's like conscriptor is nice and should be used - also if you can get the code so is the game viewer (for those that would care)

4.) Lastly - Sim Schedule..... Now this is where it can make a huge difference - I have been in leagues that have simmed daily, a couple times a week and once a week ... IN OOTP simming multiple days a few times a week is a requirement - You have 100+ games to get thru and it would take forever, Now football you have 14-16 games (plus pre-season) so do you need to sim daily ? - What about twice a week (this would get you through a seaon in about 8 weeks) What is the preferred number here.....

The reason for all these questions is to help me determine the market for a new league - Most new leagues in any sim game fail to make it past 1 season, The ones that do still have a high mortality rate but some stick.

The problem with starting a new FOF league is that there are a few that are well established and are not likely to fail soon - And with the game not being updated and the customization limited what is the likely hood that a new league could offer something new that an established league does not have EXCEPT OPENINGS........

So if any of you would be so kind as to take a few minutes and maybe feel free to comment, post thoughts, dreams, desires (for new league stuff of course) it may be helpful to those of us that were not part of the "Old Guard" in what options we may have for new leagues.....

Thank You to all in advance