Want a new way to learn the ropes?

C'mon guys, some of you must be curious about the league, surely we have enough posts on the forums for you not to know we exist.

Even if you do not want to play, could you tell us why? Maybe it's something we can address. We are very open to any and all suggestions on how the league is run and how it can be improved.

Please drop us a line, don't make me resort to underhanded tactics to get your attention....

Yes, yes! Come out and play. You won't believe how much I've improved my game since I joined 2 rounds ago. A new round should be starting soon.

I'll give it a whirl. I sent a PM to Neilo. Should be interesting so see if I can do well on the smaller maps, might be harder than it looks.

I find it a nice change of pace and it is definitely different when you first start out. Some of the settings can be quite aggravating like slow tech with no tech trading in a small galaxy. It can take forever to research the most basic stuff.

It also adds some stuff that you need to take care of that you wouldn't in a normal game like making sure to avoid the cultural victory while trying for a high scoring military victory. But all in all I find that it has improved my overall game to be forced to deal with some settings I wouldn't have chosen for myself and it gives you an appreciation of the different subtleties of the smaller game. Plus being smaller they don't take nearly as much time as our normal gigantic games.

Getting involved in the Metaverse at all had some of this effect for me, but I got recruited to the MVC to represent oddballs, so here's more from that out of the way quadrant:

I've kept a casual eye on you folks since the first round and find the common-settings thing pretty interesting, but if you want to draw players like me into MVL games, you need to have a "bridge" round that doesn't make us let go of our most beloved setting: most-large maps.

I've never messed with all-abundant, but I've also never enjoyed the few times I tried smaller-map games. Perhaps an MVL-Long Round (is 3 months really that much to ask when non one's getting paid?) could make some converts by giving us a chance to check out your system while still enjoying what we love most about GC2--that it's "galactic."

Hey GW.

That is a thought but I'm not sure it's something that would work well in the team environment that we have. As you can see we do have our share of difficulty keeping things together and I feel it's due to the commitment that you effectively give your teammates to play a game on some kind of a schedule. For me I looked at the restriction of medium to small galaxies as basically a limit on the amount of time required to participate.

One of the things that I have been thinking about is that if we had some sort of setup where people weren't required to commit to playing all the time then we could get far more people playing in general, although it would probably be a constant flux of people coming in and out. To me this isn't really possible with the team setup. But on the other side it's precisely the team concept of the MVL that has a certain appeal.

Basically I think what we need are more in line with the tournaments that Wyndstar had organized for a period of time awhile back. For those the selection of a "long" game would be fine. People that wanted to could play them and people that didn't happen to feel like it at the moment could wait for the next game.

I did have something in mind of trying to reinstitue these tournaments but I was sort of waiting to see how incorporation of the MVL onto the AltMeta worked out first because I think that could be used as a model for these new and improved Tournaments.

I see both a need and a space for both the MVL and for a more casual play now or not as you choose type of environment.

Good to hear from you GW. It is the commitment issue we have that stops us from playing those bigger games. I would like to see the MVL move up to large maps, it could possibly also require a change in round length, but i think it would be interesting to do, especially something like a cultural victory would be really different.

I know there may be some who are not keen, but if this would get new players into the MVL, perhaps we should at the least discuss the option. I'd hate to alienate players with out giving their needs at least some thought.

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Now speaking of tournaments, i have had an idea that i may as well spill here.

Basically it is an MVL tournament, all the teams are the same and we have a round criteria but the scoring and maps are different. We open up all maps to the players, but no one map may be used twice in any team. All players play for the same victory and in the end all the scores are added up plus the game years of each team member to give a team score. The team with the highest wins. We could still apply bonus points in the same manner if we choose to and averages if we like.

The advantage is, as i see it of this concept is, that even if there is a player/s that does not have time to play the gig map, it wont matter he can be elected to a medium or large map, and whoever on the team has the time for the gig can take it.

There many things to consider but the idea is interesting anyway, may actually provide to some non MVL members enough of an incentive to join.

Hmm. Sounds like I'm again finding my personal tastes leading to undue complications. I guess the only way a whim like mine might be plausible is if there are 15-20 other folks who also want to try a Gigantic map adaptation of current MVL rules, and the more I think about that, the less likely it seems.

Perhaps the new built-in tournaments might be able to facilitate a Metaverse Bush League where a long-game series is workable. Although it might take a few months after TA bits are gold for some of us to have much time for anything other than figuring out what looks like the deepest, broadest "expansion pack" I've ever seen.

Personally, I probably wouldn't get involved with the league if they were using the bigger maps. The reason I'm playing this round is for the motivatation to try something different and the smaller maps are less of a commitment. I wouldn't want to let my team down by failing to post a game. That could happen pretty easily with the time it takes to play a big map.

its one of the compromises I suppose (using smaller maps) but it lends itself well to competitive team play in the time restraints that we have.

I gotta say I love how much playing in the MVL has helped my game. I was even able to win on Masochistic the other day, and have been trying my hand at Suicidal with ok results.

For those that are long in the tooth, its a nice change of pace and also, helps you to see how your strategies take shape in different circumstances. Should help you better communicate your ideas when us sycophants are following you all around

I just posted (not submitted) my first MVL game. I'm really enjoying it. I should have signed up at round 1 !!! Good job on putting the league together guys!

Glad your enjoying it mate! When you are used to gig abundant alls the MVL really is a great change. I have had a great deal of fun playing these smaller maps...plus with all the new blood this round it really is shaping to be the best round yet!

It seems we've had a "slow down" in new players joining the MVL so let's bump this up again and get some newer players of the MVL to come and voice some of their thoughts and opinions about why they joined the MVL.

I've seen as many as TWELVE THOUSAND guests logged in on the GC site, so if we can just reach a handful of those players we will be in very good shape.

I didn't join the MVL initially quite simply because I was scared off by the post-count of the rule thread. This was stupid. I'll get to why momentarily.

I joined the MVL A. Because I was finally smart enough to read their sticky thread and B. because in round 6 they had settings, a tiny map conquest victory, that I knew quite well and that sounded like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I noticed all this less than 12 hours before the league ended.

I signed up for round 7 and found that it was absolutely great. Much like a good empire, MVL teams give a sense of community and cooperation. Unlike an empire, MVL teams have monthly, managable goals. Every player, even the most inexperienced, matters. It's a great way to learn more about the game as well, as many of the best players in the world play in the MVL, and all of them are generous with their time and happy to help less experienced players. The games can be played relatively quickly (maybe ~5 hours, which from what I understand may be on the high side of average), so the time commitment is modest.

The rules: The reason our rule thread is so long is because the league has gone to extraordinary lengths to reach consensus. Every members concerns are treated with the utmost respect. There aren't really that many rules, most of it is discussion. 10-15 minutes max and you'll have what you need to know.

Basically, it's fun.

Once TA games can be submitted to the MV then you can count me in. At the moment i have a 2 week old baby in the house which is pretty much stopping me from playing at all LOL so the games i do play i want to count for both tthe league and the MV.

Outstanding. We look forward to having you onboard. And more importantly, congratulations!