Does a league kill a game?

[BullJunior]

I want to get as many people's opinions as possible about a league does to the longevity of a game. I'm not trying to bring up a topic just for the sake of discussion. I plan on organizing a league when Modern Warfare 2 comes out.


Some observations I've made:
<ul>[*]A league for a particular game decreases game night participation.[*]The end of a league usually indicatesa decline inAGE's interest in the game.[/list]

With CoD4, I realize that not being able to earn XP in private match hurt game night. And, new releases always influence what's 'in' among our FL. Right now, I plan to start the league soon after release, but I don't want the league to ruin the game for most of us.

[ThirdMartini]

I want to get as many people's opinions as possible about a league does to the longevity of a game. I'm not trying to bring up a topic just for the sake of discussion. I plan on organizing a league when Modern Warfare 2 comes out.

It didn't seem that way to me. With COD4 I think the game nights participation was low specifically due to the XP issue. We had several leagues "3-4?" over the course of the year.. and I think we had a steady group of folks plaing for at least a year. The same thing was seen with Gears 1. It had wide participation up until Halo 3 and COD4 came out. I don't think I can even count the number of leags/friday night tournaments we had with it up to that point.

The only thing I would say to is that I found the 1 night tournament format more fun. Mostly cause it's soooo much easier to get folks to show up for 1 night vs a 4+ weeks in a row.

[AzShrapnel]

I don't think a league directly hurts a game, however for games that don't have a very strong and consistent following then a league would most likely burn people out on the game ... probalby killing it in the process. Gears, of course, can survivie anything ... sometime a tourney/league reinvigorates a game.

[jigsawhc]

I think it depends on the game. Gears 1 and Rainbow Six: Vegas had a ton of toruneys and leagues without burning out because there were a lot of people participating.


Shadowrun has had a long run with tourneys and one of the longest running game nights because of a core dedicated group of people playing it.


With MW2 I think it will depend on how many people pick it up and play multiplayer. If there are a lot of people playing it regularlly I don't think a league would burn people out. But it there are just enough people to fill the league at the end people may be ready for something new.

[Greasy Monk]

I definitely get burned out after participating in a league. After the first COD4 league was over, I didn't play casual MP for about 8 months. The RB6V2 league was the same for me. NHL09 seems to have suffered the same fate after 2 back-to-back leagues, though that may be because the second season wasn't nearly as close as the first was.


After participating in a league, the standard MP feels very "meh." That said, I'll be first in line to sign up for the MW2 league. [:S]

[BoomerBrian]

I definitely get burned out after participating in a league. After the first COD4 league was over, I didn't play casual MP for about 8 months. The RB6V2 league was the same for me. NHL09 seems to have suffered the same fate after 2 back-to-back leagues, though that may be because the second season wasn't nearly as close as the first was.


After participating in a league, the standard MP feels very "meh." That said, I'll be first in line to sign up for the MW2 league.

I agree with Oily Priest. I played in Gears, COD4 and RB6V1.5 leagues and burned out after each league. I did have a blast in each league though. The Gears leagues suffered from serious burnouts which caused attendance problems.

One night tourneys are different. They can often respark excitement and interest for a game.

With that said I will definitely play in the MW2 league. The COD4 league was my favorite to date.

[SuperRabbit]

I agree with Greasy and Boomer. I think in every case, when I've played a league it's meant the end of the game when it's done for me. NHL lasted until season 2 but I took a break when it was done too.


Greasy hit the nail on the head for me too. It's because normal game night or GP play just can't compare to a league for me. I can't actually think of a game that was really active after a successful league. Given the release time of MW2 I think you might be able to squeeze 2 leagues out of it before the game dies like we did with NHL 09 but I think you should likely realize that without a second league, the game will likely decline in popularity after.


I think this is all great btw. Your MW2 league is the main reason I am looking forward to the game. I wouldn't let it make you think twice about running one.





And 1 night tourneys are very different. I think they spark interest, not decline it.

[excaluber]

I agree that i've notice people tend to get burned out after a league. I think rigorous routine and competitiveness of the leagues takes a lot outta people. I find myself not playing the games as much after they're over.





And i hate to say that the 2 leagues seemed to effectively kill the NHL game nights which were amungst the strongest of all games for quite some time. I guess people generally feel like they don't wanna dedicate 2 nights each week to a game.


With that said i do love the leagues, and will happily keep signing up for them.

[SuperRabbit]

And i hate to say that the 2 leagues seemed to effectively kill the NHL game nights which were amungst the strongest of all games for quite some time. I guess people generally feel like they don't wanna dedicate 2 nights each week to a game.

In all honesty though for me, I think that those leagues may have made me keep playing that game a little longer than I might have otherwise. There is certainly no other game I've played for as long as I played NHL actively. And I'll be back full steam in September. Those leagues came pretty late in the life of NHL. I think maybe the real question here might be when the best time to have a league for a big game is. Right away? After it's been out for a few months (and a couple of 1 nighters?) I know for me the answer is always going to be sooner as I love leagues. Way more than 1 nighters actually...

[HostilePrime]

tourneys would be good but im not sure about leagues, i played in the qualifying season for MGO with my clan i stopped playing MGO soon after its takes alot outta player especially if you got those die hard teammates who "needs" the win or if youre the guy whos orginizes the matches (yeah i hate being captain) id wait a couple weeks after MW2 comes out soon everybody can level up and get their preferred weapons