I just want to start off by saying that I have nothing against the WGL giving away prizes for winners, I think its a great idea.

However, I do see problems arising with the MM headset prizes for each league. Not having individual prizes for players could generate problems, especially with a headset worth over £200. Some may think that this isn't a lot of money, but to anyone on JSA thats a month's pay. What happens if the leader of the clan deides to keep it for himself, or multiple people in the clan think it deserves to be theirs, how can they split a prize such as this equally, or judge who best to give it to? Clans have been broken up over much smaller things than this, so it could easily happen over something so valuable.

There is also the argument of keeping lower divisions of the WGL open to casual players, to play casual players. When competing for such a large prize, it wouldn't surprise me to see many teams putting out a so-called "premiership team" in order to easily win said prize against easier opposition. This would destroy any semblance of "casual" gaming in the lower leagues, and would discourage many players from entering at all.

If anybody else has an idea of how to solve these problems before they begin then you're more than welcome to, but please don't use this an excuse for a flamewar.

Anti.

Any stable clan who respect each other won't have a problem with who gets the prize.
Run an inter clan tourney, give the prize to someone who deserves it the most by an unanimous vote from everyone in the team.

Agree with mayhem, also please remember the WGL is non profit and free. Everything we do, is for the community.

Also there's that term 'casual' which likes to pop up!
"competitive environment yet fun atmosphere" ~ From the WGL about page.

Solution to your headache.

Winning team sells prizes and dishes out the money.

Winning team gives it to the outstanding player of the season.

Winning team sells prizes and use that to fund the clan, i.e. Clan website fees.

Teams split up for various reasons, i dont think that will ever change, it definitely wont be splitting up because the won a prize.

I actually agree about the fact it will make lower divisions alot more competative, which alot of teams will not like; especially since the friendly WGL atmosphere is why alot of players play here over other leagues.

On the other hand, prizes for playing in a free league is amazing. Just hope it does not lead to the above.

A way around it might be to have a seperate division where prizes are given, but to charge an entry; so teams that want to be competative for prizes will choose it, while friendly teams stay in the free one, for fun I know where us at 3DC would play

Think about it from a different perspective, the WGL has been offered some fantastic prizes for this season, and it was to the admins discretion to dish them out. Now they were faced with the difficult decision of where they should go to, they could have put all prizes together but only available to the premiership winners ( so thats 6x £200 headsets all to one team), can you imagine the sort of threads that would come up with that decision?

Gaining these sorts of sponsorships is a massive achievement for the WGL, and by spreading the prizes across the divisions it gives the entire cod community the chance to win a share in that success. The majority of the teams in the WGL come from well structured communities, and I know a lot of them maintain a lot of respect within their communities to sort out the prize situation should they win it.

And as for the whole "casual gaming league" idea, having competed in the prem for 4v4/6v6/SnD for multiple seasons, I seriously struggle to see it as a "casual league". I also struggle to see as to why thats a bad thing? Whats wrong with teams and players wanting to push themselves to succeed?

At the end of the day chaps, if you're part of a team that wins a prize and then splits up because of squabbling you know where to place the blame.

It's not on the WGL for giving out the prize - it's on the people involved for not being capable of acting like adults. It's not a playground here and I would be really disappointed if any team I was involved with reacted in such a childish way.

If you've got concerns my advice is to agree at the start of the season how you would distribute the prize if you were to win. That should solve the problems.

Easy solution sell the Headset .....and put the money up for a Clan holiday / Piss up

Tbh if clan's decide to split up or fall out over something so stupid and petty then they need to grow up

I think that a lot of the community feel to the WGL will be lost when competing for such big prizes. How can you have a laugh with another team when £200 is on the line? A lot of people couldn't, especially when all they care about is the win, and soon also the money.

Serial II wrote:


Or even put the money towards someone in your clan which cant make a LAN and that money will make them come ^_^

.......or alternatively set up an interclan comp with the headset as the winner..i'm sure whoever wins will be mature enough to deal with, what is lets face it is a minor problem, shouldn't cause too many issues

Antizipated wrote:


Being a player/clan leader from a team that has spent most of its WGL days in lower divisions, I actually feel the opposite.

I have looked at prizes potentially being available to the Prem and Div etc....and just thought..."hey ho, suppose thats the incentive to try to achieve that status"

But for the league to now say "ALL divisions matter to us, and so we're gonna recognise ALL of our league players/clans by awarding them with SOMETHING" - that means something to me.

It could be a box of choccies or a piece of Edam cheese.... I wouldn't care....I think its great that the league are recognising that teams in the lower divisions work just as hard for their achievements as those in the higher divisions.
And I don't believe that it'll change anybodies ethos or approach...it certainly won't change ours.....5/6 seasons of WGL has shown we're never gonna be the most competitive of clans.

Think about it though... this is the first season with prizes, first season of alot of things has a few niggly features to sort, but if this goes well with minimal complaining then maybe next season the sponsors may put up 4x Scuf Controllers for the teams and 6xHeadsets for the MM players, its only the first season, i believe selling and funding the team would be the best option, but you gotta win them first.

This is not the first season we have gave out prizes.

when it comes to prizes i think its a good idea, when it comes to the prizes that are offered i think its a bad idea, why cant it just be a small prize for each person in the winning teams rosters, say you have 7 players in a roster how do you decide who gets it?
your taking away the best think about WGL and thats the community, your going to get teams putting there prem players in the lower leagues just to garentee a prize, im sure afew hundred microsoft points for each person is good enough, a head set or scuff controller is too much as it will ruin teams as the leaders will start to keep these for themselves and not for the team, it would be unfair on the whole team for just 1 person to get the prize.

Do you really think the admins would allow premiership players to be transfered into lower divisions?

We spend atleast 3-4 hours reviewing each team while discussing placements alone.

I can't even dream of how this is taking away from the community either.

I think this is a great Idea. Fair enough some teams are in it more for fun. But this then shouldn't effect them. As for competitive teams it may make them stronger and more determined, making all the leagues even more exciting, this can only do good for the WGL in general!

of course it will take away the friendly community atmosphere, teams are going to take things extremely serious due to big prizes on the line, no more friendly banter in lobbies no more inter clan publics, the fun from WGL will be taken away, it will become a sweat fest, i think its great that WGL have these partnerships, but i think all these prizes are going to change WGL for the worse.

I think you're taking a very extreme view of things....in that case...whats to say those that are in it for the laugh completely ignore the prizes and carry on having fun???

Who knows until the season starts.....all purely hypothetical

TG Fuel wrote:


Im sorry I completely disagree with this. There will always be banter in the WGL, and it will always be fun. Community clans arent going to suddenly become super competitive because they can win one controller or one headset for the whole team. Yes some of these prizes may cost alot for an individual item, but brek that cost down into a 15 man roster and it is nothing. And i doubt the clans will let it come to a 'sweat fest' Anytime this happens there is major complaints and its changed, for example the HC TDM in MM for black ops got sweaty, and many people complained. If the prospect of prizes changes a clan for the worst, the one word to explain that is greed.