The Decline of League?

[mrdraz07]

hmm im acually having the same problem see i go to ground zero gaming in west chester pa and its declining alot because of vacations and stuff but the thing in THE LEAGUE LEADER SUCKS like he doesnt come ofen at all he gave us pop 1 packs and honestly its the cities thing ppl go to cities play at cities and do mainly cities i know of others but when the main game there is magic players its harder to play people what im trying to do is get my 2 friends that play magic to start just we gotta show people how fun it is it goes back to people thinking pokemon is immature (which it isnt stupid people =/) we gotta shpw the pokemon has a matture side its a popular game and in a way its our job to keep it alive so i will try promoting people but that is what i believe i have to do

amen! same here, except i'm the leader...:wink:

i think a big problem is that pokemon IS marketed to small children, and the promotions that get little kids into the game (puzzle sheets, stickers, 2-card promo packs, etc.) don't hold weight with the more important audience: mature players. the mature players are the ones who spend more money on the game, so a league-type organization needs to be competitively driven and offer product prizes.

pokemon needs to grow up. unless you want the game you love to be the next emmanuel lewis, contact your local POP representative today! :lol:

 

[Croatian_Nidoking]

At the League that I run (Dragon's Lair Games in Ft. Lauderdale), attendance can get very irregular during the summer season. One week, the avenue seems packed; the next, hardly anyone shows up.

I wonder if having League at too odd an hour can affect attendance. I moved my League hours from mid-afternoon to mid-morning because of crowding problems. I've been doing some advertising (mainly business cards), but I always feel like I should step things up a little.

- Croatian_Nidoking

 

[TheGame]

Well, thanks guys for your input! I'll definately get some flyers done although putting them in other card shops might not go down too well!! As some of you say, some of the drop off is a purely seasonal thing but the thing that worries me is the lack of the younger players coming through that would naturally fill in the gaps left by the older players going to college, getting jobs etc. It was not so long ago that we had an attendance hovering between 22-30 but now we sometimes struggle to hit double figures! Anyway thanks again for your replies, its good to know we're not the only league low on numbers!!

 

[Freddy K.]

It's summer Martin, but it usually picks up at the prerelease and then really gets into the swing at the City Champs. Don't worry.

~fK

 

[meganium45]

amen! same here, except i'm the leader...:wink:

i think a big problem is that pokemon IS marketed to small children, and the promotions that get little kids into the game (puzzle sheets, stickers, 2-card promo packs, etc.) don't hold weight with the more important audience: mature players. the mature players are the ones who spend more money on the game, so a league-type organization needs to be competitively driven and offer product prizes.

pokemon needs to grow up. unless you want the game you love to be the next emmanuel lewis, contact your local POP representative today! :lol:

The game is built from the BOTTOM UP, not the reverse.

If you look at the "Big Leagues" they are the ones who have really good 10- and 11-14 numbers, and good 15+ numbers.

If you depend solely on your 15+ players, and there is ANY hiccup in the game, you are going to lose the players to another game. The 10- especially can be hooked in and kept, even during lull times with fun and events that some of the older players would find, well, childish!

Then again, I wear my loyalties on my sleeve.

"I believe the children are our future"

"HELLO CHILDREN"

Read my book, it will help!

Vince

 

[mrdraz07]

If you depend solely on your 15+ players, and there is ANY hiccup in the game, you are going to lose the players to another game. The 10- especially can be hooked in and kept, even during lull times with fun and events that some of the older players would find, well, childish!

that's the problem...everyone that already comes to the store would fall under 15+, and they are the ones already playing other games. the 10- crowd would be great, but we don't really have anyone in that age group that ever comes to the store. anyone that ever did come from 10- came just for pokemon, and were disappointed by the low turnout, so they never came back.

on top of that (or because of that), we get little to no OP support for cities, gyms or prereleases, since the PTO and the rest of her crew have to make a 2+ hour drive. this makes it extremely hard to pull in new players.

AND since no one comes through, there's no way to find a backup LL, since I can't guarantee that i'll be there (due to school, work, etc.). IT'S SO FRUSTRATING!!!!! help me

 

[pokeguru]

It's really odd in Summer.

With the Scottish league, we've had kind of an odd mountain. When summer started, poor turn out. A fortnight ago, MASSIVE. Now, tiny again.

Advertise a little more in a supermarket or with a poster/flyer at a community centre/store/school (maybe wait a month though. ) and you'll be fine. That, or wait until the prereleases come at the end of August and promote more then.

 

[DarkLordSigma]

I run a small league here in the states, and we've experienced similar problems. Where at the start of our league's creation, we had around 20 regular members, I'm down to a mere 3 regular members showing up weekly, and that's even on a weekend.

I hate to down OP, but I fear that the league activities are what's driving away the members. They're just too repetative, and make no strategic sense. They expect new players to build a new deck every month to fit with a special challenge, where many new players seldom have any more than a preconstructed deck to play with. And to make matters worse, I'm trying to teach what players will encounter in a tournament environment, and the league kits do nothing to help this.

 

[Lawman]

The game is built from the BOTTOM UP, not the reverse.

If you look at the "Big Leagues" they are the ones who have really good 10- and 11-14 numbers, and good 15+ numbers.

If you depend solely on your 15+ players, and there is ANY hiccup in the game, you are going to lose the players to another game. The 10- especially can be hooked in and kept, even during lull times with fun and events that some of the older players would find, well, childish!

Then again, I wear my loyalties on my sleeve.

"I believe the children are our future"
"HELLO CHILDREN"

Read my book, it will help!

Vince

Vince goes WHITNEY on us! :lol: :lol: :lol:

You have to understand that the slightly older kids will be more likely to try the other games. The key is to try and convince them PTCG is better w/ more support, tournaments and prizes.

Keith

 

[Flaming_Spinach]

I hate to down OP, but I fear that the league activities are what's driving away the members. They're just too repetative, and make no strategic sense. They expect new players to build a new deck every month to fit with a special challenge, where many new players seldom have any more than a preconstructed deck to play with. And to make matters worse, I'm trying to teach what players will encounter in a tournament environment, and the league kits do nothing to help this.

Now we're getting somewhere.

League will never be as popular as any other premier events because a) it's boring, and b) there's nothing to be won. This is compounded when a league could draw anywhere from 5 to 20 players on any given day.

I haven't gone to league for about 5 years, and I don't regret missing it one bit.



And Vince, although I agree with you most of the time, this is not one of those times. 15+ is by far the most important agegroup. It would be going off-topic to say much more, but lets just say for now that Lawman is 100% right.

 

[cloud9tcg]

Sorry, just please don't shoot my if my english is wrong.

I'm consernd with the low numbers of 15+ here, is mostly 10- players here and some 11-players but only 2 15+ players. Maybe it has something to do with this retard country i live in, people are scared of getting teased if they play pokemon, all people here thinks it's for small kids. Here where i live "you have to be cool" (lol), is called snobb country this place where i live.

But thnx fr the help from Tego more people seem intresded, gj Tego You made Pokemon here in norway

 

[Shiloh Phoenix]

I am posting this hoping for your thoughts and advice. I run the Battlenet Pokemon League in Norwich, UK and recently have noticed an alarming drop in attendance! Now I know some of it is natural wastage ( kids getting older, some going to college, getting jobs, discovering the opposite sex!, going out drinking with mates etc, etc) and some is due to the school holidays and the blazing weather but the numbers concern me. At Norwich I try to keep it fresh and have asked the players if they have any ideas they would like to try i.e. different formats, chaos tourneys etc. We have regular tourneys with prizes and a very good comfortable place to play but seem unable to attract the newer, younger players that would normally filter in and take up the places as older players 'drift away' Are there other leagues round the world that are struggling for numbers or is the Battlenet Pokemon League unique in this? Thoughts and advice gratefully received!!

hopefully not all at the same time, hm?

 

[Metal Master]

hopefully not all at the same time, hm?

rofl, too bad I used to know people that turned into that. Well, without college in there anyways.


The Gathering Ground league doesn't have any problems with attendance(we average around 12 a week, and we've been going into the high teens lately), but that's probably because Gathering Ground has been around since Ruby/Sapphire and even earlier. Its an established league.

If attendance doens't pick up once school starts, GO to area schools, talk to the principals/superintendents(sp?) and ask if you can put up flyers in the school. Advertise the league and say that the league would teach new players how to play. Especially if the kids take them home.

Again, talk to the "leaders" and explain what it would do for the kids as well as the prizes there are if they join it. Make a case that they can't refuse. It should help somewhat, especially if younger kids all want to do it and they're all friends and stuff.


Okay, someone add on that major detail I forgot. :biggrin: :wink:

 

[Soma]

rofl, too bad I used to know people that turned into that. Well, without college in there anyways.


The Gathering Ground league doesn't have any problems with attendance(we average around 12 a week, and we've been going into the high teens lately), but that's probably because Gathering Ground has been around since Ruby/Sapphire and even earlier. Its an established league.

If attendance doens't pick up once school starts, GO to area schools, talk to the principals/superintendents(sp?) and ask if you can put up flyers in the school. Advertise the league and say that the league would teach new players how to play. Especially if the kids take them home.

Again, talk to the "leaders" and explain what it would do for the kids as well as the prizes there are if they join it. Make a case that they can't refuse. It should help somewhat, especially if younger kids all want to do it and they're all friends and stuff.


Okay, someone add on that major detail I forgot. :biggrin: :wink:

Dude DK has like twice as much peeps as we do, I think that's because they have a nicer store owner, and the time is more acceptable, I dunno though...

 

[Metal Master]

Dude DK has like twice as much peeps as we do, I think that's because they have a nicer store owner, and the time is more acceptable, I dunno though...

I'd say the owner probably. He's a nice guy. Maybe I should head out to DK next week or something.

EDIT: Either way, Soma brings up a good point. It also depends on the store/location of the league, the owner, and the league leader. If they're all nice and there is plenty of space, you'll get more people to stay.

 

[Soma]

I'd say the owner probably. He's a nice guy. Maybe I should head out to DK next week or something.

EDIT: Either way, Soma brings up a good point. It also depends on the store/location of the league, the owner, and the league leader. If they're all nice and there is plenty of space, you'll get more people to stay.

It might be the time too...Wednesday night seems like a time where everyone's available, and parents just got back from work so it's not a problem for them either.

 

[moltres18]

Dude DK has like twice as much peeps as we do, I think that's because they have a nicer store owner, and the time is more acceptable, I dunno though...

As Jared said this is a good point. However, I prefer GGround because they give out more prizes. It's true both you and I know Jared that going 3-0 gives you more prizes than 2-1. However, at other stores I've gone 3-0 and recieved 1 pack as though I've gone 0-3. Now, granted there are more important things at leagues than prizes but that IS one thing the GGround is good at.

m18

 

[homeofmew]

My league lost a lot of people and at one point we had like 5 or 4 people every week no tourneys or nothing but We got a new league leader with a 5 person family so that helped a bit but also some people at our legue just got out of pokemon. It sucks to lose people from a league.

we can only have sanctioned tournaments out of league time.
also we need 8 people to form a sanctioned event. Once Jim basically left without telling me then league declined. I mean he goes and judges a CC and says he wants cards to play and months later he quits out of no where. Then well, I believe everyone knows the rest of myside of the story. The problem with our league was you couldn't get a lot of people in the store at the same time on the same week. We still have this problem, although since league time is more specific it might change. I know some people will not go anymoe because of the time change. Because it isnt worth the drive, vs 8 hrs.

This is why Chris the Store Owner denied that there was 40 people rotating in league. A lot of people including Adam do not consider the younger kids actual players. Maybe I shouldn't have registered all those little kids who came in and played once or twice and they got reported for 1 season. Matt for example comes like twice a month and I put him in too.

Just for the record Jeff, the New LL is now reporting around 35 people I donno if thats the actual number but she told me thats the number of people in her book.

Pretty good for a League cut of 8hrs to 3hrs. Just IMO.
People who walk in early are not counted anymore.
Right before I was kicked as LL there was a little girl and she came in like 11am
before everyone else. She got a starter deck and she loved Pokemon. I helped her make a Mini TyLiability Deck - best noob on the face of history.

she already had some other Ty-Weezing in her collection.

 

[ColdFire64]

In the summer time, we tend to get a huge spike in attendance since the kids are out of school. Once school starts, some leave, while some new members stay with a steady growth rate.

Be optimistic, I'm sure your attendance will increase in due time!

 

[rroaryh]

I have noticed the same for my local league as well. It may be due to vacations or any thing like that. I noticed attendance drops in the summer. Most students who play keep a regular fit schedule and the summer disrupts that.

ROr