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By
MOF Commissioner MOF CEO & President
Published Monday, March 31, 2014 |
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MOF vs EA
CONNECTED FRANCHISE MODE:
THE
COMPARISON
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A few
years ago EA Sports introduced online franchise,
and people jumped at the opportunity to create
leagues, and run their very own online franchise
from the draft to free-agency. It seemed like a
hell of an idea, coming from the biggest video
game franchise in history. Except, just like
anything else, it was lacking a lot. Madden '25
was the second edition of online franchise, and
it has improved from last season, but still has
a lot more improvements to go, as we know.
Most online leagues that were around before
Connected Franchise Mode came about, moved
pretty quickly over to that mode. Especially
when League Daddy closed its doors in October of
2012. For those who do not know, League Daddy
was a third party website that hosted your
league. Way before Connected Franchise Mode
existed, people used to log onto League Daddy,
enter the player stats and game stats manually,
and it would populate into League Daddy,
standings, stats, records, etc.
The MOF was one of those leagues that has been
around long before Connected Franchise Mode came
about. The MOF was founded and created in 2002,
when the first edition of Madden had the online
feature. We were then keeping track of stats and
standings manually, with form entry, it was a
lot of work to say the least. Then League Daddy
came along, and saved us. We continued with
league daddy for 10 years, until it closed its
doors in 2012. We were then stuck with moving to
Connected Career mode on EA sports. Being a
league that had pretty much 100% freedom in
doing whatever we wanted, were forced to use a
mode that was just not compatible with the MOF
style of play.
Connected Franchise Mode only let us play 1 game
per week, and we had to wait until everyone got
their game in before we can advance. Or we can
just advance, and sim their game, which wasn't
fair. The problem with Connected Franchise Mode,
is that it does not take Coaches availability
into consideration. We have mostly older coaches
in our league, late 20s to mid 40s and even
older. Everyone has a job, most of us have
families. Time is of the essence and sometimes
our schedules do not match up until the weekend.
But if you want to run a successful connected
franchise, you can't be advancing every 7 days,
or you'd never finish. So we were stuck with
simming games on coaches who simply were
working, or spending time with their families,
just so we can advance to the next week. That
was one big problem.
On top of that, we had one instance where our
Raiders coach was beating the Broncos 21-0 in
the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, the game was
disconnected, and the Raiders wound up receiving
a forfeit loss 7-0. Even though they were
winning 21-0 in the 3rd quarter, the computer
decided to give the win to the Broncos, because
the Raiders were the ones who lost connection.
There was no way to reverse this, no way to
reset this game. Connected Franchise Mode does
not offer a way to reset games, or designate
winners, or even have save points to continue
where we left off or disconnected. Which is a
very bad feature.
After that debacle, we moved away from Connected
Franchise Mode, and contacted one of our long
time league members to build us a "League Daddy"
if you will. Our very own database, using PHP
and SQL, where people can enter their own player
stats and game stats manually, and have it
populate into a nice standings, player stats,
and player leaders graphic. That is exactly what
we did in January of 2013. This is what we have
been using ever since, and it has been a
wonderful experience. We now have the freedom to
play as many games per set as we want, we have
the freedom to let coaches go on vacation, and
we have the freedom to schedule games when we
can, and not be rushed.
The MOF is not for everyone, and we understand
that. Some people really like the ability to
build a team, trade, draft, etc. Also, It does
take a little more time to enter your stats
manually, and in some cases we enter scouting
reports on coaches, however in the end it is
worth it because we offer a lot more than
Connected Franchise Mode. I wanted to show a
side by side comparison to show the benefits
that the MOF have over a CFM league:
Features |
MOF |
CFM |
League Website |
The MOF features a full website with
features like Power Rankings, Expert
Picks, Weekly Awards, Yearly Awards,
and a rich history of Records, and
Standings. |
CFM uses a generic EA website to
track stats and standings, or the
use of Daddyleagues which is also a
generic website with very little
customization. |
League Rules |
The MOF has an extensive set of
league rules that they have
perfected and continue to perfect
each season. We model ourselves
after the most sim style of football
possible. If necessary, we can
punish coaches who break any rule. |
Depending on each CFM league. Very
difficult for CFM leagues to punish
coaches for breaking a rule. Cannot
forfeit games, cannot suspend
players. |
Radio Show |
The MOF features a weekly radio show
hosted by the Commissioner and a
Co-Host. Its a live 30 minute show
that accepts callers, and talks
about league topics. |
Depending on the league, they might
have a radio show, but CFM does not
offer any kind of radio show
ability. |
Weekly Games |
The MOF opens 2 games every
Wednesday, and they are due the
following Sunday. Giving you 12 days
to play 2 games, in no particular
order. Giving coaches maximum
flexibility with their schedule
without compromising the flow of the
league. |
CFM is forced to play 1 game a week,
and all games MUST be completed
before you can advance. You can
choose to advance the week without
all games being played, and the
games get simulated. |
Disconnections |
If you are disconnected during an
MOF game, both coaches have the
option to replay the game from
scratch, pick up where they left off
(with estimated stats). Or simply
end the game (if its close to the
end anyway). This gives us the
ability to deal with disconnections
the correct way. |
CFM will award a winner if the game
is at a certain point, or it will
reset the game. This might encourage
a coach to disconnect their internet
if they are losing early, for a
restart. |
Appointing Winner |
If there is ever a problem with a
coach disappearing, becoming
inactive, and not trying to schedule
their game. We have the option to
simply give that coach the loss when
the deadline approaches. |
There is no way to appoint a winner
in this situation. You have to sim
the game and hope for the best.
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Trophy |
The MOF has a Stanley Cup type
trophy that is passed around to each
Super Bowl winner. The winner keeps
the trophy for 2 months, and sends
it back. The Commissioner engraves
the new champion onto the trophy,
and sends it back out again. |
Some leagues might have a trophy
that they pass around, it depends on
each league. |
Change Teams |
After each season you are able to
change teams to make the league more
competitive. Yeah, maybe you were
stuck with the Jaguars this season,
but next season, you can have the
Seahawks. We change it up every
season. |
You are stuck with the same team,
but you are able to build a team
through draft, free-agency, and
trades. However most leagues have
rules in place to make trades and
free-agency fair. So you are stuck
with the same team throughout the
edition. |
Forum & Chat Room |
The MOF features a league forum and
AIM blast chat group, where you can
schedule your games, vote on player
of the weeks, mvp awards, and talk
about pretty much anything. |
Depending on the league. |
Core of Staff |
The MOF has a staff that has been in
the league for a very long time. The
staff votes on rule changes, and
anything that comes up that needs to
be voted on. We are a mature group
and takes everything and everyone in
to consideration, and someone is on
the blast chat usually 24/7. |
Depending on the league. |
Broadcast Games |
The MOF has a separate page on the
website that allows you to view 32
teams twitch screens to see who is
playing a league game. You have the
option to click the pop out link and
watch as many games as you want! |
Depending on the league. |
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