Guide

A Guide to league hosting

There is and always will be a number of players creating new leagues, but consequently also a number of hosts who don't understand how to get their leagues up to where they should be, and instead making leagues that could take years to get right. And if iGP doesn't have new, smarter league hosts ready to take the players from the inactive league hosts of today, where will the players go? So with this guide I aim to help some new league hosts and maybe even some long-term ones know some tricks to get their league to full as soon as possible! (if other hosts post their ideas that would also be very helpful too!)

Contents:
1.Attracting new players
1.1 the league select page
1.2 the forums
2.Dealing with inactives
2.1 kicking
2.2 strategic kicking
2.3 kicking leniency
3.Keeping players active
3.1 helping players
3.2 socialising with players
4.Retaining players
4.1 do 3.1 & .2
4.2 records & rewards
4.3 engaging league wide activities
5.Things to think about
5.1 host inactivity
5.2 unexpected events
5.3 things not working out
5.4 useful tools
Conclusion


1. Attracting new players
1.1 the league select page
Getting new players through the league select (L.S) page can be difficult when starting a new league, this is easier to understand when you realise how the L.S page works. The L.S.P shows 10 or so leagues ranked fairly closely to descending order of the number of cars in the tier you are in. To give the user more useful leagues it will exclude some results using filters that the player has set, such as the time of race, language and race days. The strongest influences on what is shown appears to be: cars per tier>1 car/two car filter>race time filter>race days filter>language filter>password locked filter.

So even if the player has messed with the filter and selected their most suitable options which could match your league exactly, it is still highly possible that other more full leagues which are less relevant will be shown first/instead of yours! In fact, this is probably why you created the league in the first place, the L.S.P did not show you a compatible league so creating a new one was the only option to keep being able to race... Unfortunately, there is no way to fix this as a host and you'll either just have to get lucky or use the L.S.P's easy to cheese mechanic to your advantage.

For a league with a tier that is becoming inactive but is still above 28/32 cars, you have 2 main options to get the tier full again:

• Keep the inactives and maybe even place fake accounts to get the tier up to 30 cars* for the best possibility of being featured on the L.S.P to gain players, but risk having a completely inactive league.

• Kick all the inactives to have a higher percentage of active players but be forced to use another method of getting new players

If your league isn't gaining players, it's probably because of the L.S.P, if you are gaining players but they keep leaving, are inactive or just aren't racing live it's probably because the L.S.P is featuring your league to the wrong players. But don't worry, there are other ways to attract new players!

1.2 the forums
The "leagues & events" sub-forum is another, essential option for promotion. At the L&E you can create a thread for your league and encourage racers to join your league by posting information, facts, schedule, links, etc for the league. Most hosts go for the "league box" which is created with the following text, [ league ]aLeagueID[ /league ] (but remove the spaces)

OFFICIAL Formula Zero

The L&E is the best place to go for a reliable source of active managers but unfortunately there is also a lower number of managers who will use the L&E to find a league. Still, if you are trying to grow a league I would definitely recommend posting here like so:
Daily to increase chances of attracting the attention of racers
half an hour before every race to increase the chance of racers joining or at 18:00gmt when most players of iGP are online (Although the latter could bring in racers who can not race live)
Including race time and day at/near the top
Including any external rules you wish to enforce and punishments
Any other details which will make your league unique!

And if you see a racer in L&E posting in an attempt to try and find a league and your league matches their criteria, why not give them a link to it?!

Now that you understand the best ways to get your league up and running, how about how to deal with those pesky inactives...
2. Dealing with inactives
2.1 Kicking
As a league host you are free to kick anyone who joins your league by clicking settings and then the edit league button on your league's page. I would advise you to only kick inactive managers or ones who are causing trouble because obviously kicking a good active manager would be a bit dumb hehe :D. Hosting and dealing with inactivity go hand in hand, it is up to you to deal with these inactive managers and keep your league fresh.
You should kick inactive managers because:

• They are unlikely to become active again


• They make your league look "bad" or "slow" to incoming players


• They can take up spaces from more active players


• They will get automatically kicked after a period of time anyway

2.2 Strategic kicking
Paradoxically, in some situations it can be useful to keep inactive managers:

• They can act as placeholders for more active managers/friends


• They can keep you featured on the L.S.P

2.3 Kicking leniency
I've seen some managers do "offline for 5 days = kick", some do "offline for a week = kick", others even do "don't show up to race = kick"...
Personally I have a quintuplet of rules that I use when I kick

1. If a new player has not logged in for 3 days since joining, kick


2. If a player is offline for 5 days, kick...


3. unless the player has been in the league for a long time, kick after 6-10 days


4. or the player has requested a break from playing, give a max of 1 season


5. or the tier is under 14/16 managers

The point is, when you kick is up to you but make sure you have a logical plan in case of most events otherwise your league might end up in the gutter...

That should be all you need to understand when it's best to kick or keep those pesky inactives, but what if you don't even want inactivity to reach that point?
3.Keeping players active
3.1 helping players
One thing that all racers want to do is win. Once you get enough players into your league you'll eventually find that some of your players will struggle to understand why they are slower than others, and if you aren't getting experienced racers from other leagues to help the inexperienced, it'll be up to you to help them find reasons as to why they aren't competing with their rivals and generate smarter, more determined players. If you yourself aren't that good of a racer, read up on and share these guides:
Tips to have success in iGP
The Advanced Guide to IGP
The Beginners Guide to IGP

Things like, strategy, level, dp spending, kersing and activity could all be reasons as to why someone isn't doing quite well, so make sure you support your players so that they are more likely keep racing! Also don't forget that newer players may not even know of the forums, mention it now and then because there is a lot of info here.
3.2 Socialising with players
Who doesn't love some post race banter!? Why not start some sort of chat group or social media group where you can talk to your players about things less iGP related and discuss things in a much more familiar atmosphere! My league, for example, has a discord server where most of the iGP and non iGP related discussion happens. By prolonging the time and enjoyment people have playing iGP and being in the league, you will notice that keeping players active is far more possible! At the very minimum you should be getting your players talking throughout the day whether it be about iGP or something unrelated, regardless of the platform. Also keep in mind that a league that looks busy on the league page will look more active and attractive to incoming players.

So now you are keeping players active, but not quite keeping players. What now??
4.Retaining players
4.1 repeat last 2 steps
Doing 3.1 and 3.2 will go a long way into keeping players because they'll feel more valued and more involved with the league, making what was just a league seem more like a "family".

But if that isn't quite enough, I would also suggest offering out end of season rewards and record updates.
4.2 records & rewards
Racers like records so if you are keeping track of some basic ones like most championships won or most wins and saying when someone's close to it, more of them will obviously want to stay or comeback to beat the records gotten from seasons and seasons ago. It just gives your players another goal, another incentive to keep going!
The rewards can act as a reason for wanting to achieve the goal, because at the end of the day, a number is just a number. But let's say something like a cheap untrained talent 20 would be a great, tangible gift to offer to some of the newer players to the game because of how much it helps in the long run!

4.3 engaging league wide activities
creating fun and engaging league wide activities and events will also go a long way in the pursuit of keeping players. Something literally as simple as a fun poll every now and then could serve as way to change things up a little bit during long seasons of what can quickly become quite repetitive racing. Perhaps an inter-season league only quick race would be good for the more interactive players who really hate a day off, it really is up to you but keep in mind that every little thing you can add is something that makes your league different to the rest!

5.Things to think about
5.1 Host & general inactivity
Make sure the team you are hosting with is inside your league because, after 14 consecutive days spent outside the league, you will be classified as an "inactive league host" meaning that anyone who has competed in 20 consecutive races in a tier in the league will be able to takeover as host.

You will also be classified as inactive if you spend 14 days offline.

The game also has auto-kicking although personally I wouldn't rely on it. Here are the permutations for kicking:
30 DAYS OFFLINE & IN ROOKIE=KICKED
60 DAYS OFFLINE & IN PRO=KICKED
90 DAYS OFFLINE & IN ELITE=KICKED
there is no reset to days offline if the player gets demoted. There is a reset to the "days since joining" counter which is really more of a "days spent in tier" counter.

5.2 unexpected events
WATCH OUT for daylight savings. iGP does not change the time races for you! Also make sure you have a clear plan for what to do when it comes up because it might force a lot of your racers to leave your league! And make sure you tell your players you are changing or not changing the times because DST is regional and will not affect everyone around the world at the same time.

ALSO WATCH OUT for maintenance and big announcements, I'd re-post announcements on the league page or the social media group (3.2) because you never know if someone's missed something.

If you aren't 100% sure on making a change to the schedule or format of races, do a poll. After all, all the changes you make will affect your players!

5.3 things not working out
If people aren't joining, please refrain from spamming messages to players, hosts or on the forums. Don't forget that there are others who might have the same issues too!

And of course, if people aren't joining, don't forget that only racing is always an option open to you because it can get a bit repetitive in the hosting game. It's a long term investment for a good league so make sure you have enough time available for the challenge.

5.4 useful tools
In the settings for a league there are a vast array of useful tools that will help you in your league hosting career...

• race settings: allows you to change race time (useful for DST), race speed and race distance

• league mail: allows you to send a message to your entire league at once, helps if you have an important message or a more complex poll that you need everyone to see


• season settings: allows you to change the structure of a season, whether it be schedule (you can miss some days of the week), season length, the races on the calendar, the length inter-season breaks, whether promotion and relegation will happen or even postponing a race


• peripheral settings: allows you to change text or security related to the league such as name, league description, welcome message (could be good for keeping players), password (good for leagues where you just want specific people) and language.

You can also change host but I suppose if you are reading this that's not part of the plan

Conclusion
Enjoy your time as a league host. Even if it is tough now, the perseverance and patience is worth it. You will meet so many different personalities and meet some incredible managers along the way too... maybe even some of the best in iGP!

Thank you for reading this and feel free to post your thoughts or your own tips below, if there are any errors feel free to tell me too!


*30 cars - this will mean 15 managers if you have a 2 car league but 30 managers if you have a 1 car league

originally written by R360, recently edited by Leo Yeo

okay, but the reason I put this in the leagues and events forum is because I believe more league hosts will see it that way
So it could be there

i agree, it should be pinned in league and events.

And while i did not read the above before just now, i will agree, the majority of the points raised above work.. the only change i will make is..

if a 2 car league, keep at least 15 people in your tiers at all times, if someone is inactive, only kick when you have 16.
if a 1 car league, keep at least 30 poeple in your tiers at all times, if someone is inactive, only kick when you have 31+

In this way, i have built up my league, admittedly we originally had 14-15 active people, but as of right now. we have

22 people in elite - all of them logged in the last 1/2 days
20 people in pro - all of them logged in in the last 1/2 days (only 1 is inactive, and i will kick when tier is full)
25 people in rookie - the majority of these logged in in the last 5 days (i kick when tiers are full and over 5 days not logged in), i beleive there is 7-10 on up to 15 days not logged in.

Either way, the closer you keep to your maximum player count (16/32), the more likely you will appear on the League Search, also making your League Rep as high as possible also helps with that. (which has suffered because of the promotions, but still getting a good flow of joiners.)

"if a 2 car league, keep at least 15 people in your tiers at all times, if someone is inactive, only kick when you have 16. if a 1 car league, keep at least 30 poeple in your tiers at all times, if someone is inactive, only kick when you have 31+"

Ah that is true, I should probably modify the guide so that it works for both 1 car and two cars

done!

A good overview, thanks. I have a good bunch in a small but loyal league I’ve inherited that I’m trying to build up. 
I’ll definitely try some of your tips.
One of the suggestions was rewarding with a lvl 20 untrained driver, how can this be done?
:-)

I believe the only way to do so (there could be other ways but I doubt it) is to get a young untrained talent 20 from your YDA or from the yda of a friend who doesn't mind.

Then quick sell the driver so that they enter the black market where they can bought for far less money and tokens. Obviously making sure the other person knows the name of/link to or has shortlisted the driver will be omportant because they won't be able to get it from the transfer market!

This way the driver will be very cheap to buy and it is likely that the other person will have a high enough level to buy this driver!

I hope this helped!

I am host and i dont want to be any-more. But i want to stay active. How can i change that?

It might be that because of filters not working and not offering races and specifications that they want that they have no alternative than to start a new league. Although there could be some that meet there requirements that are not shown

The best thing to do, if you have active people in your league, is to transfer the role of host to another player in the league. I believe you must be the player's friend to do so.


If no one competes in the league, the league will automatically shutdown after a few races. This means that the league will be deleted and you won't be hosting a league anymore.

If there are only inactive people in the league, kick them and then, after a few races, the league will auto shut down...

Just an add on to your retention side of things and this was done when i was in a different league and not a host then. 
This happened in the Elites and there were 3 teams, that included me, that were always half a lap or more ahead of the rest of the field. Yes it was a great battle up front between our 6 drivers but when it got to the last round at Abu Dhabi the championships drivers and teams had already been won and done. None of us top 3 teams or 6 driver could change position. It was a great season. So we all came to an agreement to basically throw the last race with our drivers. We all ran full WET tyres at some stage in the race and Inters the rest of the race. This gave the Pole and Winner to a team and driver that had never had that in the Elites before. We had a good turn out for the race to watch also and the chat was so positive. We had teams that had been middle of the pack all season up there fighting for a win. It gave them a goal and they fought hard for it also. It was only us top 3 that knew what was going on. Yes we sacrificed some XP etc but the teams that fought it out really wanted to push harder for the next season then. We had supported all the teams during this season also so its not like we just ran away and left them behind. 
I work on none of us are as smart as all of us!! Guess the moral of the story is if you have a strong league and going well its great but dont forget the others that are just off the pace. Ive now started my own league and we just started Season 2 and we have teams coming to us as we all help each other. I also make sure that the league members know that im there just to host the league but its there league not mine. Team effort all around. Im really just the voice for the league!
Enough bla bla bla from me and good luck to all the hosts!! Maybe we should all work together more also!

Good points there Graeme although unfortunately idk if there are as many managers that would be as generous as you 3! Personally I don't really like the idea of encouraging people not to compete if they want to (unless continuously playing the game is beginning to really affect them mentally) but in your scenario it was a personal choice so that's good but I probably won't add that to the host guide since it's more of the racers choice. 

I never encouraged anyone not to compete at all. After working with an online racing league for years and also working with the Australian Football League here in Aust retention was our number one thing. All i was saying is to keep your teams racing and keep the carrot there for them to aim at but if you do have a chance to do it it works oh so well!

Thanks!

no problem Diego!

It's been almost a year but I have just updated the guide, pretty much every section has either had more detail added to it, or has been modified to account for all the updates to the game. Again, any advice/tips from fellow experienced hosts is greatly appreciated!

this isnt the right place but i was wondering will more people be added to my league now its finished or do i have to try join or find another league to be as my current league was down to 2 teams by mid season ..... im new to the game btw just completed my first season

Managers aren't automatically added to leagues and also when tier size is super small it is even less likely people will join so do not expect any new members. If it is your league (as in you host it) I would strongly recommend promoting it more, if not it's best to find a more active league ?