Adding a third WDL season to the calendar

[Ralphis]

The following is a loose proposal for running three WDL seasons per year instead of two. This post came about after a number of conversations about the subject and is for public consumption and scrutiny. I'd like to hear the community's opinions on it.

Running Three WDL Seasons Per Year

There are currently two WDL seasons per calendar year - the Winter season runs from late January through early March. There is then a layoff until after the week of 4th of July. The Summer season begins immediately after, ending in roughly mid-August. Beyond that, there is currently a 5 month layoff between the Summer and Winter seasons. This is the way that the seasons have traditionally been run since the IDL's first two seasons in 2007.

This proposal seeks to add a new Autumn season that would lay sometime in the October to mid-November range. The time between the end of the Summer season would be roughly two months, followed by roughly two months until the start of the Winter season. Here is a calendar of my proposed schedule:

All major holidays that likely affect us have been avoided: New Year's, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

It may seem like this is an unprecedented number of weeks to play in a Doom CTF league, but it is actually very close to the IDL's traditional week count - the difference being that it is split between three seasons instead of two.

Typical IDL Seasons - 2 Per Year
A total of 14 weeks without playoffs (26.9% of calendar weeks)
A total of 20 weeks including playoffs (38.5% of calendar weeks)

Current WDL Seasons - 2 Per Year
A total of 10 weeks without playoffs (19.2% of calendar weeks)
A total of 14 weeks including playoffs (26.9% of calendar weeks)

Proposed WDL Seasons - 3 Per Year
A total of 15 weeks without playoffs (28.8% of calendar weeks)
A total of 21 weeks including playoffs (40.4% of calendar weeks)

In Favor Of: Keeps the league, its players, and community active all year. Shorter off-seasons. General activity levels should stay up.
Opposed: Player "burnout". Players may be less likely to signup for certain seasons because they happen more often, reducing the pool of free agents.


Please share your thoughts. They will be critical in deciding the direction we will take.

[Wazzup]

Totally agree with 3 seasons!

• It gives a chance for more people to sign up especially outside players.
• Could produce more total players in the league.
• Incentives to see how stats progress during the seasons of the year to track performance and attendance.

[Alt_Stab]

I'm all for it. IMO the layoff between seasons is too long. We end up with 'dead' periods of literally no activity, both in game and on IRC. A month out from the season things get slow. Then two months out with two more to go and everyone's pretty much like, "screw it, what's the point". I think it would be in the league's best interests to do something to keep up activity in the offseason and this is as good an idea as any. With more activity in the offseason there will be a larger chance of fostering new talent as well, with more frequent scrims. Plus, with veteran players more likely to take a break and opt out of a given season, there might be more chances for fresh faces to make a team and make their name. Moreover, I think three seasons keeps the league healthy and gives it a better shot at growing than it currently has.

[DevastatioN]

It's interesting that the "long lag" in-between the two seasons could be contributing to people leaving or forgetting about the game.  Once you go into inactive mode it can be hard to get back into the spirit of playing.

Adding this third season is a good idea to keep players active all year.  For example, I can never play summer because I travel a lot... but now I could probably play two out of the three seasons (assuming I play doom again!).

The interesting thing is that April-May-June is your longest months with no activity for the league.  You might want to think of some fun pick-up events or cups... or something to keep the community alive and active.  It should be something not super serious, in order to prevent burnout.  Maybe some map running challenges or something.

I VOTE IN FAVOR OF THIS CHANGE

[-Alpha-]

My two cents;

I agree with having another season in between the summer - winter seasons, it'll bring up activity into the doom community, keeping players on key with their skill level or even progress further than the previous season. There are quite some off points like being burn out, but that'll only be replaced with new players, giving them chances to showcase their skill and even bring new metas(?) into doom.

I also favor Dev's pick-up events/cups, keep things on par in competition or even spice up player rivalry, even if we are all just good friends.

     

[Rude]

I am in favor of this but I can definitely see some players (myself included) bowing out 1 season per year or every other season. Then again it may draw in many new players so it won't matter if people are taking breaks. Also 3 is a magic number

[Zakken]

I approve.

[Starrk]

More opportunities to win, give newer players chances to play or rather more of a chance if some people do drop out for a season. I don't see as Doom CTF being a really taxing thing but that's just IMO. The same people that say they're burnt out one day end up playing the next day or a few days later. In the words of DS, doom is like the abusive spouse you know you should leave but always end up coming back.

I'm for 3 seasons. There are enough breaks in between for me at least.

[Water]

Since there's a 3 month gap between the first two and barely a month between the second, maybe move the summer back 2-3 weeks?

[Ralphis]

Since there's a 3 month gap between the first two and barely a month between the second, maybe move the summer back 2-3 weeks?

4th of July week is the biggest holiday in the US and a lot of people go away for extended vacations

[HumanBones]

I don't think people are going to get burned out by a 3 season a year schedule - the ancient IDL seasons sometimes felt like a lifetime,  so even the layoff between Summer/Winter wasn't long enough. WDL seasons honestly don't last that long, and my own personal experience from last season was that when it was over I really wanted to keep playing.

With the way the community is, I see absolutely no harm in trying a third season out. People do come in and out, but the majority of us are around the entire year ready to play. We just have nothing to play! I think it's a great way to keep players around and you could also get people like Dev 2 seasons a year instead of 1. I say let's give 3 seasons a shot.

[Water]

If the winter one could be moved back a week or two (preferably 3) then I wouldn't have to disappear when exams roll around. Likely I might have to not attend the autumn one since I'll likely have to literally disappear in November due to the insane workload pre-exams (though one other option is that I only play my game, but then I shoot the team I'm on in the foot -- though I'm okay with this option if others are).

[Torvald]

This is an interesting proposal, but I worry about including a 3rd season right in the middle of fall. The main argument supporting this idea revolves around giving new players a chance to partake in the league and add to the activity, which of course I am all for - more players, more fun! However, I do wonder though what would happen if the majority of doom players were to be enrolled in school for September, because then it would almost seem to create a deficit of availability for a 3rd season. It is more like a possibility than a guarantee though.  Another interesting point is what Devastation and Bones discuss about being burned out and inactivity because initially my thought reading this was simply: "Aren't people going to get tired faster playing consecutively?". Maybe I'm wrong on this; they've played far longer than I have, so I'm trusting on their judgement.


I like the idea, but I would also like to suggest some minor adjustments to the proposal as well. The first would be to slide the summer season back a couple of weeks and create a more coherent flow, because right now it looks like a 3 month break from winter to summer season, then a 1 month break from summer to fall (for those mentioning holidays, that is a very easy hurdle to overcome, simply by postponing all games on said day). Second suggestion would be to not have a full 3rd season, but something more along the lines of an "exhibition" season. I.E. instead of playing for a final Champion Title match, every team would keep cycling through matches until the end of the fall season and whoever has the highest points wins.


I still like the idea, but to reiterate, my concerns would be if fall activity is achievable. If school isnt an issue for most people, then absolutely let's do it!

[Ralphis]

We've been running winter seasons for years and they run during winter school semesters, what's the difference?

The big problem with the summer season is that 4th of July is literally the biggest holiday in the US. Some people typically disappear for an entire week leading up to it, or the entire weekend that is closest to it at the very least. Otherwise, I would prefer to move it earlier.

[DevastatioN]

Ok... so it's the biggest weekend and everybody loves to go away, that's true.

Why not have that week as a break then?  Introduce a mid-season break week.