FFA league and people not showing up is something that I actually thought about already.
What we could do is simply have regular ongoing/flexible 1v1 leagues that could be split up in groups (huh).
Say we start the league with ~15 players signed up. All they need to do is join a TS channel/ become friends on say Xfire/ look out for each other. When any 3+ players that signed up are online they could all arrange to play a match
right away; one of them would host the game and the rest would join and play. After the match(es) are finished with they all fill in the results (with screenshots) in a special thread.
For each match there would be only one winner decided, no matter how many players have joined. Tt would be an elimination-based league (read: cup). To make things more fun and fair I came up with this idea for organizing the matches.
If only 2 players are in then the loser gets eliminated.
If there are 3 players playing then the last one is eliminated and the top 2 play a 1v1. Loser gets eliminated (I called this way of playing a cup elimination rounds)
If there are 4 players up then the last one is eliminated, then the top 3 play an FFA like above, then the last one is eliminated etc. etc.
If there are 5 players up and you still don't know how will it work then I have nothing to say.
If there is a lot of players (5 or more) playing then the group might get split up into 2 or more smaller groups so that the matches take less time.
If a player needs to quit right after a match and cannot play the next elimination round, that round is to be scheduled for later or forgotten about.
This is a
fairer way than the ordinary elimination system, because in larger matches some players do get unlucky with KSteals and spawn locations.
This is a
funner way that the ordinary elimination system, because you can start up a match any time and you get to play more matches.
The league forum would contain the list of all signed up players in a single thread called 'League Status'. If a player's name would be crossed out/written in red it'd mean that he has been eliminated and that he can't participate in any more league matches except for when he is hosting. Summarized results of the matches would also be posted in that thread.
Since this is elimination there is only one winner and everyone else looses;
there are no positions such as 2nd or 3rd etc. The winner is the last man standing (who isn't eliminated). I'm thinking whether I should add more requirements such as winning against at least 30% of the players that have entered the tournament etc.
Opinions?