EA League Features breakdown...

[Spin]

posted at MM by EASO Nathan

GOOD STUFF!!!!!

Quote:

Here is what the League feature-set and stats tracking will entail. Sorry for hte long answer but I wanted to try to knock everything out at once: Members: Web leagues for Madden give the commissioner a number of additional tools. Though ‘private’ leagues in Madden do not use passwords, they do check to see if a joining user’s name is on an ‘invite list’. In addition, commissioners in Madden leagues can also create a league where players must be on their buddy list, fall within a certain ranking range, or have a minimum EA Rep score to participate. Season Play Madden’s system has great flexibility, both in terms of the number of games played and the length of individual rounds. Commissioners can specify from 4 to 24 regular season games per team, and can allow anywhere between one hour and 7 days for each round to play out. Note that round durations are rigid; rounds do not advance automatically when all games are finished, which means that players know for sure at the outset what the deadlines are for finishing each league game. As a result of this flexibility, and including the playoffs, Premium Pass leagues can last anywhere between 6 hours and 28 weeks. Scheduling Premium Pass leagues will allow the commissioner to specify, at league creation, whether or not they would like to create a ‘NFL-style’ league. NFL-style leagues have certain parameters specified in advance (league size, divisional structure, etc.) and use the official NFL 2004 schedule for play. If the commissioner does not use NFL-style leagues, a schedule is created for them automatically, however the commissioner may then customize the schedule as they see fit. They can have any team match up with any other team in every round, so long as at the end of the season, each team plays approximately the same number of games (+/-1). In addition, ‘Bye’ rounds—rounds where a team has no scheduled game—are available in the Madden system, as support for bye rounds is necessary to emulate an NFL season accurately. Structure The Premium Pass league system offers a good deal of flexibility when determining the league’s structure. Commissioners may not only choose the number of conferences (1-2) and divisions (1-8) that their league supports, but they may also name their entities and assign teams to conferences and divisions as they like to exploit known rivalries between friends. Playoffs League playoffs in Premium Pass may be customized by the commissioner. They have up to four options, depending on the league size as well as their division/conference structure. As a result of leagues having a divisional structure, Premium Pass system playoffs also incorporate the notion of ‘Wild Card’ playoff teams, and certain teams having first round playoff ‘bye’ rounds. Injuries, Fatigues, and other Settings Premium Pass league commissioners can opt to play games with or without fatigue rules, or with our without game ranking turned on. In addition, Premium Pass leagues can use ‘Fair Play’ rules to minimize cheating.. Premium Pass leagues can also be played with or without player injuries turned on, however even when turned on, player injuries do not carry over from one league game to the next. Trading Trading is not possible in Madden’s league system. Stats 47 individual statistics (for each team) for each league game played will be captured and available for review on the web under the Premium Pass system, and players may have game stats emailed to them if they desire. League-specific leaderboards will also be kept on the web; 8 individual boards, with a total of 52 statistic categories, will be available for users to review. Joining Leagues Under the Premium Pass system, players search for and join leagues on the EASPORTS.com web site only. The search functionality allows users to input up to 10 parameters when trying to find a league. The main page of the league system web site also presents users with 5 leagues that are close to filling up all of their open slots, making it easier for users to find a league that needs players and begins soon. Details of all leagues—public and private—are available for users to browse, and it is possible for a player to message a league commissioner if they have questions about the league or if they’d like to ask to join a private league. Clicking a button on the league web page allows the user to join; they are prompted to choose a team, then their name is added to the league roster. Creating and Administering Leagues League creation and administration are done strictly from the web site under the Premium Pass system. The league creation process is a four step procedure; commissioners specify basic parameters, participant parameters, divisional breakdown, and playoff options in four different steps. One notable benefit Premium Pass commissioners have is the ability to change certain league settings while the league is still forming but after the initial creation. The commissioner manually ‘advances’ the league to the regular season state after all players have joined, then uses tools on the web site to assign players to divisions and to manipulate the league schedule. Playing Under the Premium Pass system, once the user joins a league on the web site, they need to go into the game and visit the “Online Events” option, which is available under the “Game Modes” menu under the main online menu. A list of the leagues and tournaments a user is participating in will be available here; selecting a league takes the player to the ‘Tournament News’ page, which lists the league settings and shows any league restrictions. From this point, the player may enter the league room, which functions like most of the generic rooms in the online service: a list of players in the room appears on the left, a chat window on the right, and top-line stats for the selected player on the top. In addition, this room displays the name of your next opponent, and a countdown clock, indicating how much time is left in the current round. The names of your upcoming league opponents are automatically added to your buddy list to facilitate communicating with them while in the game front end. Challenging a player from within this room, when accepted, also starts a league game.

[jordan0386]

i have access to my mother's credit cards

but it isnt fair for EA to just disignate(sp) that only adults should be allowed to join this

you may counter and say, "its not just for adults"...but then ima say "why ask for credit card authorization"

[RoyalBoyle78]

Quote: Originally Posted by jordan0386

i have access to my mother's credit cards but it isnt fair for EA to just disignate(sp) that only adults should be allowed to join this you may counter and say, "its not just for adults"...but then ima say "why ask for credit card authorization"

Because if your still living home with Mom/Dad they must think you don't pay any of the bills, and they don't wan't little kids who quite all the time playing online.

[jordan0386]

still unfair to those who dont have access...im sure alot of the cats here at OS, dont own credit cards, are young, and still give good games

[JCribb]

Personally, I love the idea of the Premium Pass. I would venture to say that most of the cheesers are kids. Partially eliminating some of them from playing, by validating a credit card, is a good thing in my opinion. Sure this won’t eliminate 100% of the problem, but it is a good start.

[saabcaptain]

it is still the same way with xbox live... a credit card number is one of the only possible ways to prevent an individual from constantly deleting one account to start another fresh. you are limited by the number of card numbers you have access to, which for most is 1 or 2.

if you give a credit card number, act like an *** and have bad rep... you can't start another account with the same number.

please tell me another way to do this and i'll agree they should get rid of the credit card requirment.

[jordan0386]

my point is...if your touting this as a non-pay service(for now)...why make an individual find a credit card number

all it is...so that when they are ready to charge for the service...they'll just snatch the money out your acount...then send you a notification email saying "welcome to premium pass PLUS"...LMAO

[saabcaptain]

Quote: Originally Posted by jordan0386

my point is...if your touting this as a non-pay service(for now)...why make an individual find a credit card number

you didn't read anything i wrote did you? they use the credit card number since it is something that can be tied to a real person and which most people have only 1 or 2 of. this prevents a person from creating dozens of online accounts to wreak havoc with. if you only own 1 credit card, you can only have 1 online identity and therefore you will be more likely to behave.

it has nothing to do with money.