Hey all -

Trying to get some ideas put together on ways to improve the league and USL Live. We've had a lot of tinkering with the rules over the past few seasons, and I think there is still some polishing to do but I like the direction all of it is trending. If possible, I'd also like to step up the game on USL Live for Season 27. To wit - here is a list of things I am considering or would like to support being implemented. I'd be curious to get some feedback/criticism on these ideas to see if there is room for improvement or possibly some great ideas that I'm not even considering.

1. Live Streaming - I am considering doing USL Live games on Sundays as a live broadcast on YouTube. The reasoning for this is simple - people want to be able to see the games when they are absent or unable to play. As a cool byproduct, I think live streaming channels tend to get a little bump in the algorithm, meaning we could potentially find ourselves getting promoted by YouTube itself. I also think it would significantly shorten the editing process for posting league games, as the Live Stream could be then published as the official game video immediately after, so long as we break the Live Stream between each game.
The biggest negative to this idea is without a doubt the ease of cheating. A player could put the stream on their phone and have a really quick idea of where the other team is with precision. I think I could do a 10-30 second delay on the video to make that less likely, but the problem still exists. This was my original hesitancy to pursue Live Streaming for games at all, but I'm starting to come around on that because let's face it - if a player wants to cheat, there are lots of ways to do that. We are kind of already on an honor system in many ways.

2. Monday Night USL Live - I think next season I will adopt a permanent system of recording Monday nights at 9:30 PM EST. Shows will be limited to no longer than 1 hour, so that participants can be ready to squad battle if they'd like by 10:30 PM EST, and can actually schedule those sb's intentionally for the end of the program. I also think I'd like to continue with a regular panel, but also incorporate a guest host spot that rotates weekly.

3. Recommendation - Scheduling/Map Committee - I think it would be highly beneficial for us to shore up the season before we actually start it. Specifically, I think that on the Wednesday prior to the Week 1 games we should know:
1.) Every map that will be in rotation for that season.
2.) The full season schedule.
3.) Which teams will be home/away each week for the duration of the season.
4.) What the playoff maps will be.
5.) How many squads will make playoffs.
6.) How playoff seeding will work.
I think each of these things could be accomplished quite well with a "Scheduling Committee" that enlists the help of traditional scheduling gurus - Sov, dp, Bowen, Grump. All of these bullet points are useful for captains to know in advance of the season so that they can determine how best to approach each game, and it will allow teammates to better coordinate their absences to be minimally harmful to their squads.

Those are each some ideas that I'm currently spitballing. Wondered if any of you all have similar ideas, different ideas, anything we could potentially do to improve USL Live, improve the outreach of this game to non-players to hopefully pull in a few new names over the next coming seasons, and ideas that can improve the game generally for the players who play it every Sunday.

Thanks!

Also - for those interested - I think I'm going to keep going with the weekly AI song. I'll probably start posting that on the YouTube channel starting next season.

Not sure how I feel about a committee for scheduling. In the past all of this was taken care of prior to the start of the season.
"1.) Every map that will be in rotation for that season.
2.) The full season schedule.
3.) Which teams will be home/away each week for the duration of the season.
4.) What the playoff maps will be.
5.) How many squads will make playoffs."

As for playoff maps to be selected I like the idea of the captains and only captains of playoff teams voting.

Seeding is an interesting thought since this is the first season where we've seen a OT game in both matches between two squads. I think obviously win-loss is huge and the tie breaker is currently the aggregate of the h2h's(which is something we should look at)

I agree to an extent of the youtube delay for live streaming but i'd increase it to maybe a min, if we were to try and move forward because as you said theres no way to tell if people are or are not getting info other ways so as you said its already an honor system.

I think monday night usl live will get complicated once NFL starts back up as you know i've tried to maintain consistency with panel, day and times but peoples schedules change so its a mon/tues thing now. guest appearance would be fun if we can get people to agree to them.

I'd like to see every match in a private arena with a 3-5 min delay and a livestream to Twitch/YT .. would probably benefit the game if they saw 50-100 ppl in twitch chat to watch the game, other people would definitely click to view.

H2h is fine, in aggregates in Champions League etc... tie breaker when aggregate is tied (like 2-2) is away goals.
So whichever away team gets more kills gets the tie break.

As far as live streams go i'd still be hesitant, to me spec info is like locking the door... those who really want to get in always will (pick the lock) but live streaming is like leaving the door unlocked.

I like the comments, please keep going.

To add though - it looks like OBX will allow me to delay the stream up to a reasonable maximum of 90 seconds. (I can go further, but it requires more memory)

esports standard is 3 mins I believe, if its doable I think that should be the baseline

Rom's Monday Night rUStLe is a good pub interaction until sb's are charged, i like it

+1

Like others have said, if we are going to livestream it prob should have a delay of some sort to avoid people abusing it. I like this idea though, if we were streaming on twitch is there an Infantry Online image for the browsing page? Guessing we don't currently have one.

The idea of streaming the matches is great - would definitely need a 1-3 minute delay as others have suggested. I don’t like the idea of having matches in private arenas though as you’re essentially forcing regular spectators to watch streams instead of live. This also eliminates their choice of spectating who they want and forces them to to watch from the streamer’s pov.

Current camp timer is 1 minute; 1 minute 30 seconds is a fine delay. Two minutes plus might be better, but it's starting to get to diminishing returns at that point. Are you gonna be streaming every game or do you have like a hybrid system in mind for sharing out recording duties?

Your first two numbered paragraphs are great. Thumbs up.

Number 3 has some good thoughts but is in Bowen's wheelhouse to defib.

Good point.

Live streaming a private arena with a 1-3minute delay would be rad for Sundays.

I personally hate the private arenas idea for the reason Bonds laid out, but it would be nice if people would throw the stream on simultaneously to help boost the numbers as is being suggested.

@Victim - I'm not terribly sure, but open to ideas.
Currently on a regular weekend I'm able to Live Stream 3 out of 4 matches usually (6 squads assumed), unless we have a double header weekend, in which case it's 2 out of 4. So I think it makes the most sense to end the stream after every match for sure.
Thanks to MP we currently have the option to have multiple editors on the YouTube page, so we could have multiple people able to stream games - so long as the settings are right in OBX you can run it all through that to the stream. We could work on setting all that up correctly over the off-season. But that requires another dedicated streaming partner at a minimum, and I think two would be more helpful. It also means that I can't be squadded up at any point with either of these other two individuals. So a lot to think about there.
Victim is currently recording and head reffing these games - that's just untenable. It's simply too much to ask for one person to do, so we already need more volunteers for this job. Eric has stepped up repeatedly to fill those gaps, and MP is shouldering a lot of the work in this and past seasons. So the potential is there, we just need to work out the schedule.

Very open to other ideas on that.

Id rather have a 100% fair game and not spectate who I want then our current system personally. But also, I feel like most people wont even want to watch a stream that is delayed instead of watching it real time. Like, I dont need you to cast a game and tell me whats going to happen 2 mins after I’ve already seen it live. No point streaming it unless it’s live or in a private arena.

people can easily give / get spec info now just as easy as a live stream... the losers already doing it now will be doing it no matter what

Thanks for getting this conversation started, Rom!

Live streaming - I'm all for live streaming, but as others have alluded to, there needs to be at least a two minute delay. No private arena matches, that's just silly. Besides, we'd need to have both benches in the arena, so subs can be made efficiently. There will always be a spec team, so it doesn't make sense to leave anyone out.

Monday Night USL - I'm all for this because there needs to be some consistency. It eliminates having to ask when it'll take place and people can just log on in anticipation.

Playoff Map Selection - Agreed with Eric. Do a scrum of scrums and just let the captains decide. No need to put together a separate committee. If a tie breaker is needed, that's when the DA's step in. If there's still a tie, league admin steps in. Lastly, a community vote if absolutely needed. We need to consider all risks and plan accordingly to mitigate them should any arise.

League improvements
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I've said it once and I'll say it again...<b>there needs to be an accompanying glossary for the rules.</b> Eliminate the room for interpretation by clearly defining the ambiguous words we insist on using. For example,

10.1. A squad cannot camp in one area for more than 1 minute consecutively.

This rule was added in place of the, and I'm paraphrasing, "team can't camp h1, run to h2 then return to h1." Although elementary, this rule is much more clear than its successor.

<b>There needs to be rules and standards for referees.</b> I understand that this is a volunteer unpaid position. However, that doesn't mean we should allow people who will adjudicate rules that don't exist or refuse to enforce other rules that do. Ref errors happen quite a bit, but they're ignored because its a thankless volunteer job. I'm sorry, but that lack of standard just doesn't cut it for me. The lack of consistency across the board is troubling. There needs to be continued education for referees to ensure they understand all rules, especially ones that change in the offseason.

<b>League staff meetings</b> are needed because information is often fragmented and unclear. Nothing major is needed, maybe a quick 10-minute convo on a discord voice channel before matches to answer questions can be beneficial. Ensure everyone is aligned and concerns are discussed.


I understand that nothing is perfect, but many of the issues we face are self-inflicted. Let's please do better!

What is silly about wanting a fool proof way to combat spec info? Either that or just make it legal and shift the game to purely execution and skill. Private arenas are already a thing if you request it with a 'valid concern' which is very vague language.

My bad for calling it silly, because that sounds dismissive. To echo bonds' sentiment, I don't like the idea of using private arenas and forcing people to watch a livestream who'd rather be in the arena. A specific POV is provided and it isn't personalized.

We're all here because we love this dead asf game. I just wanna watch the games in the same arena because that's why I log on. Besides, both squads will have their bench in the arena as well, so there'll always be people other than staff watching, even if it's a couple seconds.