Starting new PBEM league: Advice?

Baron Ollie · Post by **Baron Ollie** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 9:30 pm

I am looking at starting a PBEMBBL of my own and I wanted to get a handle on the interface and possibly play some practice games with some people, before I have to start teaching them myself. I would also appreciate any advice anyone could give me on how to run such a league.

The league is going to be stationed here. If you have any advice or words of wisdom I would appreciate it.

This is parallel posted at the PBEMBBL message board... I hope to play a practice game there, but I would still love advice on how to run a league: tools, etc.

tchatter · Post by **tchatter** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 10:02 pm

Advice?? Hmmmm...

RUN AWAAAAYYYYY!!!!

Ok, seriously. I run the league(s) that are found here: www.rebbl.com, There are also 2 leagues there that I don't run, but they use the ladder software that I purchased and then HEAVILY modified. There are also 2 other leagues there that I run using software coded by Bampf who is a member of this board, that software I only tweaked a little bit.

Advice:

1) Have at least 20+ hours a week freetime to run the league, this of course depends upon the size of the league and if it is scheduled or challenge style.
2) Scheduled is much easier to run time wise, but you want to keep the league as a database online and use ASP or PHP to run it. Doing it with a spreadsheet takes up a LOT of time and most of your time will be spent updating static HTML pages.
3) Determine which rules you are going to use and get those posted somewhere.
4) Time delays are the biggest problem you will face other then roster errors.

Comments:

I was reading through your forum that you posted the link to... use the TEAM CREATOR it will save you a lot of time in the long run over Scribe or any of the others. It is a HECK of a lot easier to fix your coaches roster mistakes with the Team Creator then any other program. Trust me. That and it is a 7kb file versus 28kb+. With 142 teams, I won't use any other program. In fact I have been going through and converting rosters in my league that aren't in Team Creator.

Just my .02 for now... gotta go home!!

Baron Ollie · Post by **Baron Ollie** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 10:43 pm

Yikes... terrified already.

The league at this time looks to be between 8 and 12 teams. I didn't think I would need any fancy admin s/w to keep up stats. 20 hours a week? I sure hope not! The main challenge I will be facing is teaching the guys how to use the PBEM s/w. I don't even really know how yet, but I have played with it a bit and I think I will pick it up quick. I have played with Avi Stetto's IRC system back with ver. 03, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 11:44 pm

Tim said 20 hours a week because most folks that have tried to start a PBeM league have stopped running them after only a couple of months.

Tim, myself, David Allen, Juergen, Neil Holt, Dain, Brian Hixon, and Tom Fritz are the only 8 folks off the top of my head that have managed to keep a PBeM league running long term.

If you keep your league to 8 to 12 teams only ... you should be fine as that's the type of league that Tom Fritz runs (8 teams).

http://www.tfritz.de/csbbl/tabelle.html

Galak

Dangerous Dave · Post by **Dangerous Dave** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 8:36 am

Oh and if you do start one.... make sure you back up your files.....

Otherwise you will find that when your hard drive goes you have to recreate everything........ just like I am going through

Dave

Baron Ollie · Post by **Baron Ollie** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 2:32 pm

GalakStarscraper wrote:Tim said 20 hours a week because most folks that have tried to start a PBeM league have stopped running them after only a couple of months.

Tim, myself, David Allen, Juergen, Neil Holt, Dain, Brian Hixon, and Tom Fritz are the only 8 folks off the top of my head that have managed to keep a PBeM league running long term.

If you keep your league to 8 to 12 teams only ... you should be fine as that's the type of league that Tom Fritz runs (8 teams).

http://www.tfritz.de/csbbl/tabelle.html

Galak

Does Tim use any special software or is he just freehanding it?

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 3:05 pm

Baron Ollie wrote:Does Tim use any special software or is he just freehanding it?

We all use special software ... it virtually impossible otherwise.

David Allen created a spreadsheet that is awesome for handling a league ... in fact it so good I use a varient to run the GenCon tournament. Also once I get some time to finish it up, the NAF is hoping to post Dave's spreadsheet as an official resource.

Tim uses his own stuff ... but yeah we all use something.

Galak

Baron Ollie · Post by **Baron Ollie** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 3:28 pm

Certainly for big leagues I can see the necessity. For such a small project though I am not going to invest in some massive database program or whatever just to crunch out some stats. Especially since I am not even sure how long the league will last (in terms of interest). Is there anything I can get for free?

tchatter · Post by **tchatter** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 6:20 pm

The league that is found here:

http://www.rebbl.com/rebblbeta

Is using Bampf's software, you can talk to him about using it, and has also offered to host it on his server for coaches, he may still be willing to do this. This would be your easiest route and not too expensive. Everything is tallied and counted automatically.

When I first started the REBBL I created a spreadsheet to track the 16 teams that I had. Most of my time was spent tweaking the html pages on my website and fixing my coaches rosters. It took a LOT of time, that is where the 20+ hours came from. Neil (TRUBBL) still uses a variation of this spreadsheet, since he and I tweaked it to handle 32 teams. It is linked to the URL of each team which is refreshed and the roster imported to the spreadsheet when opened. Then with a few button clicks it compiles all the stats and standings and then 'spits' out html files.

With Bampf's software... I spend MAYBE 10 hours a MONTH updating the REBBL II, and I can do it from anywhere I have an internet connection and access to the PBEM Tool. It is well worth checking with him about it.

If you aren't going to track stats, and just track Win/Loss records then you can get away with just posting a standings page, the rosters and thats it. But eventually your coaches will start asking for stats, and awards for those stats.

But yes, each one of us uses some form of 'software'. We may not have started that way... but you will eventually.

Baron Ollie · Post by **Baron Ollie** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 6:44 pm

Whats his email? How do I get in touch with him?

Darkson · Post by **Darkson** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 9:11 pm

I'm one of the coaches running a league under the REBBL umbrella, and as I've only got 26 teams, playing a 6 match league on a swiss sytle, I've not had any problems yet, though the first rounds not finished yet.

I insisted that all my coaches used TeamCreator to make their rosters, cos as Tim said, it's the easiest to update for whatever reason.

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 10:12 pm

Darkson wrote:I insisted that all my coaches used TeamCreator to make their rosters, cos as Tim said, it's the easiest to update for whatever reason.

Same for my leagues.

Team Creator can be found at: http://www.pbembb.com

Galak

Baron Ollie · Post by **Baron Ollie** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 3:59 pm

I have recommended to the players to use it, but at least one individual has had problems installing it on any computer he has access to. Are there any known installation problems?

Post by **GalakStarscraper** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 5:14 pm

Baron Ollie wrote:I have recommended to the players to use it, but at least one individual has had problems installing it on any computer he has access to. Are there any known installation problems?

Nope. Unless you mean he cannot unzip the zip file.

Couple notes on that:
1) Make sure he is using the USE FOLDERS option when unzipping the zip file.
2) If it won't unzip, tell him to use the mirror site link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bbtool/files/

To download it.

Galak