I thought I'd open up this thread to bring up a few points about the league. This has all been discussed in many ways and in many places but I just want to summarize what it is we do and what the benefits of the league are for current and future members.

First of all the MVL (Metaverse League) is just a group of people that enjoy playing metaverse games and have gotten together to play a monthly game with randomly selected settings. All versions of the game are allowed and all settings are equally likely with the exception of galaxy size. Galaxy size is limited to no larger than medium basically to keep the potential time commitment to a reasonable limit. However all other settings are fair game.

The purpose for this is many fold. First off it encourages people to play settings and go for victory conditions that they might not normally select for themselves but once they've tried they may begin to realize that there are interesting challenges presented by these kinds of games.

Secondly by forcing people to play games outside of their comfort level you are actually effectively forcing people to improve their game. Strategies that are familiar and comfortable that work under one set of game settings usually need to be modified and in some case flat out don't work under different settings. Having to adapt and learn new strategies can only make your game stronger.

Also all levels of difficulty level are allowed. Basically people play at their normal difficulty level and expert players and beginners can play right along beside each other and in fact to a man the experts of the league have a great willingness to help out others less experienced and the GalCiv2 education that a less experienced player can gain from participation in the League is something that is really provided nowhere else.

Finally there is the camaraderie and good natured competition that the league provides.

These and other benefits of the league have been discussed many times and each point is worthy of a lot more detail but the purpose of this thread is to highlight a different matter.

The MVL is a team competition. The players in the league are drafted/assigned to different teams and these teams are periodically changed. However as a team competition there is some expectation of some level of commitment. Your teammates depend on you to submit your game because the teams score is dependent on the participation of the entire team.

This makes the MVL unique and adds to the benefit of the league but at the same time some folks can be put off by the implied commitment.

The thing is that we all realize that people have a certain amount of free time and that things change over time. This is the real point of this post. To encourage people to realize that everyone understands that the needs of real life change over time.

So to potential new members I want to stress that while joining the MVL does represent some level of commitment that there is no onus with having to leave the league. I also want to stress that having left the league due to real life pressures, whatever the cause, any former player is always welcome to return even if it may be only for a limited time.

To facilitate this we allow and encourage players to merely be considered on sabbatical while taking a break. But even some time after formally leaving the league, again for whatever reason, a player may find that his situation has changed and he may now again have time for the MVL. Such a person may feel reluctant to rejoin the league because they may feel that they somehow let down their teammates and that somehow having left the league may be held against them.

The fact that this couldn’t be further from the truth is the entire point of this post. Everyone realizes that people have real lives that put restrictions on their free time that change over time. Coming and going is only natural and I just want to make sure that; everyone that has left the MVL over time, and, anyone that has considered joining the MVL but perhaps is a bit leery of the commitment, realizes that everyone understands this.