What Makes a Great Madden League?

[robertw2010]

I am curious as to the opinions of the Madden Vets out there....


What makes a League Great?


The Owners?
Forums?
Competetion?
Prizes?
Websites?


Looking for any and all opinions and suggestions.
Thanks

[Godgers12]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

I have specific requirements for joining a CFM. They are, not in any particular order...

1. Must have it's own website or utilize a 3rd party site like Daddyleagues, Madden School, or OS.

2. Must have a chat room. This is for immersion leagues that feel disconnected don't last. Rather it's Groupme or an onsite chat doesn't matter.

3. Must have a set of rules aimed at sim gameplay.

4. The franchise must have a track record. Simple I will not join a startup CFM. For me to join it must be in existence for at least one Madden cycle.

5. Commissioner must be fair and not run his franchise like Hitler. The leagues I am in actually have an admin team.

6. Must have a way of contacting everyone in the franchise rather to talk trade or schedule games, rather that be through Group me or a contact list on the franchise site.

Those are the parameters that I try to adhere to before deciding on rather or not to join a franchise. And I have been in the same franchise since Madden 10, I'm also in 2 others.

[Toupal]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

The ability to edit rosters and draft classes...

[bigboyc]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

The ability to edit rosters and draft classes...

um....no it doesn't. I'm in a league that has been going since 2010.......Manipulating rosters after the franchise starts would be a no no (except for position changes). Hell....most of us were in PC leagues which had editing functions up to Madden 08......you don't manipulate players to keep it fair for everyone (position changes are the only exceptions).

[Franchise408]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

Well the league I co-run is great because it's all a bunch of owners with similar mindsets about Madden (of course there are differences in our philosophies but overall we want the same experience)

Our Facebook page allows us to bond together as more than just owners in a league. This makes guys want to stick around longer and as such we have a pretty good base of longtime members.

Commissioners, myself included, handle matters as fairly and as objectively as possible. Even if we do have personal disputes with other owners, we don't let that dictate how we resolve issues. So our owners trust us. We also trust our owners.

We also have a committee of longtime owners that act as a congress of sorts to help bring issues to light, and help provide feedback on resolutions. This also keeps checks and balances on us as well. We also self police. I've imposed punishments upon myself for rules that I broke.

Mostly it's our owners. They are active in our league, and build the community that makes our league strong. Us in charge give freedom to our owners to run their teams and play their games, with only minimal rules in place to ensure a fair on field game and ensure non wacky roster movement.

Honestly, league play is the only reason I'm still playing Madden. Luckily I'm part of a good one

[howboutdat]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

I have specific requirements for joining a CFM. They are, not in any particular order...

1. Must have it's own website or utilize a 3rd party site like Daddyleagues, Madden School, or OS.

2. Must have a chat room. This is for immersion leagues that feel disconnected don't last. Rather it's Groupme or an onsite chat doesn't matter.

3. Must have a set of rules aimed at sim gameplay.

4. The franchise must have a track record. Simple I will not join a startup CFM. For me to join it must be in existence for at least one Madden cycle.

5. Commissioner must be fair and not run his franchise like Hitler. The leagues I am in actually have an admin team.

6. Must have a way of contacting everyone in the franchise rather to talk trade or schedule games, rather that be through Group me or a contact list on the franchise site.

These are all excellent points here and def things that make up a good league. Ive ran one since madden 12, and when i say that , i mean we have never stopped since then. We dont take breaks , we dont take time off. Sure all of our 32 owners dont make it all year, but most make it to about april or may when the weather starts being nice and they have alot to do outside with family then. Even then we hold at about 16-20 owners all year long. Having good owners is a big part as well. If your thinking of starting a new league. Let me tell you first hand, its going to be a struggle at first. Mainly because you will find yourself getting alot of unsim players , claiming to be sim , only for you to find out they arent for a while. You will have to weed them out and hopes to find more sim players to fill in. Its a common thing that happens, dont let it deter you , just stay vigilant and handle players who cant follow rules. Give them a chance to improve, it not , cut them loose.Good owners is the only real base a good league can stand upon.

One thing , that i as a commish have seen, if i had to pick 1 most important trait for a good CFM online , is Communication between owners. Nothing will kill a league faster than poor communication causing the league to be held up an extra day . Its really frustrating to the rest of the owners in the league who are communicating well and quickly. We finally set up a system for this in our league. We have a 3 day advance period. However , everyone must post scheduled times in our shoutbox within 24 hours of last advance , or they will face a possible sim. This really gives guys incentive to make sure they are keeping up to date and communicating. If one owner texts another and gets no response in 24 hours, the one who sent out text, gets to play cpu. Again , incentive. Its 2015, i see no excuse a set time cant be set within 24 hours time period.

On another note, the commish being fair, is a must as well. We actually have a "rules committee" that is set up of 5 guys , our owners voted to have in that role. They overlook all video of infractions and vote on punishment . Everyone is subject to the same rules. Also we take surveys thruout the seasons , to see if owners want new rules added, some removed, issues they may see in sliders, etc . Taking owners feedback , really helps shape the league to please the majority of owners and try to keep things as fair as possible.

Those two things, are some of the most important parts of a healthy CFM . Although i totally agree with all the things i quoted above. Daddyleagues is a great place for hosting leagues . I wouldnt host mine any other place. They have done a great job there to be run by basically 1 person that already has a full time job . Having forums, chat, stats , place to post stories and videos from games, a place that shows live games currently in progress right on site, spending xp ( a much better system than even EAs cfm website) , checking salaries, rosters , etc, the site really brings alot to leagues imo.

[bigrice25]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

You have to have like minded owners.... I play in a league with my friends, there are about 12 of us, most of which i grew up with, known them for more than 20yrs. We have a FB group where we talk trash and set up User games.

But generally speaking, you need active owners, if you can find ways to keep users immersed in the Franchise, keep people talking/communicating, then the league should last.

[cooper417]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

I've been playing online in CFMs since M13. I've joined some of the worst leagues out there to some of the best. I currently co-commish a league & have a few admins in addition to the 2 commishes to help with the league & any decision making.
These are some of the more important things that I look for:


1. You need a commish or admin team that will make sure everyone is treated the same. Showing favoritism or having a "boot happy" commish can ruin the fun in a league very quickly.

2. Trades need to be approved or denied on a consistent basis. You can't let lob sided stuff go just because it involves a vet owner or a commish, etc. (For sim leagues obviously)

3. Participation from owners. Whether that involves entering a chat every now & again or using a forum on occasion. Leagues where it is difficult to track down owners is a headache.
Simply just playing games isn't very fun IMO. Participation brings a feeling of a community to your CFM.

4. A league site/forum other than a phone app chat to post league related information. Somewhere owners can also post. This can be a free forum or Daddy leagues, etc.

5. A clear set of rules & implementation. I prefer sim leagues, so a set of rules you agree with is important. Shouldn't be too strict or too lenient either.

It's my personal opinion that owners can make a good league or a having a good commish can help get the right owners to help make a league good.
Something beyond a CFM of just playing games is important to me.

As far as competition, that is less of a concern if you have the things I mentioned above in place. You need some competition among owners but having the best Madden players doesn't always mean having the best owners.
Some of the owners I respect & enjoy the most are guys that aren't that great but have a great attitude & still have fun playing.

Prizes in Madden leagues have never been something that make me enjoy a league any more than ones with no prizes at all.

[Khanchus]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

first is first it must be a sim league for me, consistency, maturity, admin team (not just one admin)

communication, strict weekly sim schedule, good sportsmanship,

if they dont have a website or 3rd party website then i would probably not consider it

longevity, owners able to voice opinions in mature manner

being apart of a 32 man league makes leagues less than 32 users not as appealing as before

strict rules for roster movement, gamecalling and playbooks

i hate to say it but i prefer to play with ppl 25 yrs or older

maturity is key tho

weeding out the frauds and having a good team with a planned out schedule of activities per week/month etc....

i probably wont join a new league unless it has some kind of creditability
(some of this was said already)

there should be very very little tolerances for unexcused things (such as unable to schedule a gamE) scheduling should be done within 24 hrs within advance

lastly the league is only as good as its owners... its impossible for a team to examine every detail of the league... ethics plays a part too

[The JareBear]

Re: What Makes a Great Madden League?

The number one thing that appeals to me is sim gameplay. SOS is the first league I've played in that truly embraces, league wide, a "play to win fairly" approach rather than a "play to win at all costs" approach. This goes a long way. Games look like what I see on Sunday's, it's fun to watch our twitch streams because of that.

A lot of leagues I've been in have either had "some sim, some madden ball" mixes or "plays sim until losing the game then goes hurry up five wide rest of game" type of stuff. It just gets old, especially the bickering that comes with people feeling cheated by the way they lost. That's why I'm glad I found SOS on here

Add a rule set to enforce realistic roster manipulation and that's tough to beat.