Warrior General Games

Hey guys,

This has been in my head for a while, because you know, work sucks, so thinking about random GLB stuff makes it suck less!

O-PRO is on the map more than ever I think, and with the teams scheduled for promotion, its only getting better. I think now more than ever, we as a league have the opportunity to come together and brand ourselves, starting in PRO and hopefully catching on down the ranks.

USA PRO has the levels, and the fact that some Americans feel that they must prove themselves in the USA league. But with their high level guttings and recent losses to other regions, the allure, I believe, is falling.

Western Europe has a great pedigree, but seems to be a very quiet league that you don't hear from much. Very tough, but a quiet confidence.

South America is loud. Much louder than they probably should be, given the beat downs they can receive at the hands of other PRO leagues -- but they have some amazing teams at the top. They have the branded Sombrero that everyone should be aware of.

Canada is solid. They play in a lot of tournaments and friendlies, and have some personalities over there, love 'em or hate 'em. Not nearly as quiet as W.Europe PRO, but a solid group.

Then there are the also rans (SE Asia, E.Europe, Africa) who you rarely hear from...though SE Asia seems to be a bit more vocal these days.

I have one recruit coming in who decided to join Melbourne not just because we have a solid team that has achieved success over a short period of time -- he was amazed by the activity in our own forums, and more importantly from a regional point of view -- he felt that the Oceania PRO forums were the
best kind of active of all the PRO leagues.

So what do we do with this? I think we have a rare opportunity to shock the GLB community and take O-PRO to the top, both in quality of competition and league activity. The catch is, it takes all of us uniting to achieve it. I also think working together on this will make the game that much more fun for those on the fence about the prospects of their GLB interest, now and in the future.

So, where do we go from here?

Branding Oceania PRO

- Logo or Symbol
----- We need something like the Sombrero that we can add to our avatars that people immediately associate with our region.

- Oceania Weekly (or in GLB terms, every other day) News
------ Our own sports section complete with game write ups, team additions and subtractions, GM/Owner/Player interviews, etc. Yes, the latter part means we'll have to be open with each other.

- O-PRO Website
------ History of Oceania PRO, champions, records if we can locate them, current teams and management, etc. Just a place where potential new recruits can learn more about the league at any time. Obviously someone with website experience to set it up, and then quickly train or explain to volunteers how to update it.

- Team Uniforms including Oceania PRO Logo
------ hold

Hold for more ideas...have some, but have two conference calls this afternoon

Oceania PRO - The Class of GLB

While South America takes the loud approach, I suggest we take the "high road" approach when challenging other leagues -- everything with a tough of class -- sure, we can still have fun banter pre-game, but after the game, win or lose, ALL CLASS -- which means no putting the other guys down, no excuses for losses, etc.

I'd also like to see us challenge every other PRO league each season -- not every team has to participate in the tourneys (friendlies aren't all free, as we know) but I think this would go a long way to showing other leagues and potential recruits that Oceania is the Class of GLB.

Again, this type of thing helps all of us in drawing people to Oceania, just like the above branding pieces.

Hold for more ideas

I'll keep this post updated, and would ask that a mod sticky this for now if some or everyone is interested in pursuing this, for the better of Oceania PRO as a league and Oceania as a region.

I'm willing to do a bunch of the leg-work and planning because I am in GLB as deep as I am because of this region and the other agents I've gotten to know in my time here. I strongly believe this is the best region in GLB by far, and I'm not afraid to admit it -- in fact, I want us all to shout it out a bit more than we do.

If you're in, or have any ideas, please post here. If I'm completely nuts, just tell me, I've got thick skin!

Cheers,

Matt Scace
Owner, THE Melbourne Thorny Devils

HOLD FOR IDEAS - BRANDING

http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread_list.pl?forum_id=7 - We could use this for player signings, changes of ownership, etc. To be honest, this is something I could take on with a bit of help since it falls in line with my real-life work

http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread_list.pl?forum_id=186 - Maybe a live podcast?

http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread_list.pl?forum_id=8 - Our own Oceania News...the other ones have died, maybe we could revive it?

http://www.glbwiki.com/ - definitely need a regional and team wiki pages

GNOMES IN R AVATARS PLZZZZZZ
Sined bi McGruffHawk

--- Other ideas: Boat Wheel, Parascope, Globe, Koala

HOLD FOR IDEAS - ANYTHING ELSE

Teams Interested in Participating

- Melbourne Thorny Devils
- Banzai Pipeline 'Nites
- Tonga Ikale Tahi
- Fiji Sea Turtles
- Brisbane Gods
- Vanuatu Kava Sharks
- IC Incinerators
- Fiji Stingers
- Brisbane Heat
- Saipan Fighters
- Mean Machine
- So Cal BDC
- Cook Island Convicts

I like the direction, the high road approach seems to be seriously lacking in the overall GLB community and it would be great to begin it's establishment with what we've already got going on here.

The direction of an overall logo for OPL is great as well, it could be integrated with the rotating logos that some of us have or stand on it's own. I'm pretty much getting destroyed at work now and for the next few weeks but ultimately I could help out (see Banzai and Dictators logos).

I like the overall direction, and I think high road fits the overall culture of our league.

As far as branding goes, I'm partial to Gnomes, but I can be flexible. I just like the idea of randomly placed Gnomes in each of our avatars. And you can't get much more high road than Gnomes.

As for the rest, I'd love to see it happen, but we'd need near 100% involvement from every team. Preseason previews, game blurbs, etc. are not much fun with 5 teams doing them. Just look at our Pro-Bowl attempt and coaches polls . . . they're great, but we don't even have 50% of teams participating.

Originally posted by OMGWTF
I like the direction, the high road approach seems to be seriously lacking in the overall GLB community and it would be great to begin it's establishment with what we've already got going on here.

The direction of an overall logo for OPL is great as well, it could be integrated with the rotating logos that some of us have or stand on it's own. I'm pretty much getting destroyed at work now and for the next few weeks but ultimately I could help out (see Banzai and Dictators logos).

Thanks OMGWTF, nice to get some quick feedback. Obviously this is something we'd build over time, starting now but not seeing an end result right away!

We all have out-of-GLB responsibilities that take precedent...this would definitely need to be a multi-user initiative!

Originally posted by McGruffHawk
I like the overall direction, and I think high road fits the overall culture of our league.

As far as branding goes, I'm partial to Gnomes, but I can be flexible. I just like the idea of randomly placed Gnomes in each of our avatars. And you can't get much more high road than Gnomes.

As for the rest, I'd love to see it happen, but we'd need near 100% involvement from every team. Preseason previews, game blurbs, etc. are not much fun with 5 teams doing them. Just look at our Pro-Bowl attempt and coaches polls . . . they're great, but we don't even have 50% of teams participating.

I agree 100% McGruff -- hence the call to action here. I'll gauge league interest and react accordingly, but I really think this is an opportunity that I personally would rather not see passed on.

Originally posted by SCACE
I have one recruit coming in who decided to join Melbourne not just because we have a solid team that has achieved success over a short period of time -- he was amazed by the activity in our own forums, and more importantly from a regional point of view -- he felt that the Oceania PRO forums were the most active of all the PRO leagues.

Yo.

Not the most active, but certainly the best kind of active.

Originally posted by captobvious
Originally posted by SCACE

I have one recruit coming in who decided to join Melbourne not just because we have a solid team that has achieved success over a short period of time -- he was amazed by the activity in our own forums, and more importantly from a regional point of view -- he felt that the Oceania PRO forums were the most active of all the PRO leagues.

Yo.

Not the most active, but certainly the best kind of active.

Thanks for clarifying

I'll edit

Originally posted by SCACE
Originally posted by McGruffHawk

I like the overall direction, and I think high road fits the overall culture of our league.

As far as branding goes, I'm partial to Gnomes, but I can be flexible. I just like the idea of randomly placed Gnomes in each of our avatars. And you can't get much more high road than Gnomes.

As for the rest, I'd love to see it happen, but we'd need near 100% involvement from every team. Preseason previews, game blurbs, etc. are not much fun with 5 teams doing them. Just look at our Pro-Bowl attempt and coaches polls . . . they're great, but we don't even have 50% of teams participating.

I agree 100% McGruff -- hence the call to action here. I'll gauge league interest and react accordingly, but I really think this is an opportunity that I personally would rather not see passed on.

Well, you know I hope, that as long as I own Tonga, you have my full support.

But only IF you back off the recruiting.

Originally posted by captobvious
Originally posted by SCACE

I have one recruit coming in who decided to join Melbourne not just because we have a solid team that has achieved success over a short period of time -- he was amazed by the activity in our own forums, and more importantly from a regional point of view -- he felt that the Oceania PRO forums were the most active of all the PRO leagues.

Yo.

Not the most active, but certainly the best kind of active.

Obviously . . .

Originally posted by OMGWTF
I like the direction, the high road approach seems to be seriously lacking in the overall GLB community and it would be great to begin it's establishment with what we've already got going on here.

I have two players, and one was in SA and the other here. I brought my SA player over because of exactly this reason. Now, I still go slumming in the SA forums just for the sheer novelty of that group, but the reason I brought my players here is because of the sportsmanship and high-road-ism of this league.

The trick to this is, if we market the aforementioned high-road-ism, we cut off a lot of potential agents. But that's more than okay. Those people who feel the need to use intraweb football dots to prove themselves will always have a home... in USA or South America, and our forums seem to be better without them. Those people who want the focus to be on the game (regardless of how competitive they want to take it) instead of the beating of the chest and comparing of the e-peen that seems to go on other places... I think if you take your idea and do it right, this league would have our more applicants than openings, and we could have our pick of the talent from year to year.

Originally posted by JuniorMcSpiffy
Originally posted by OMGWTF

I like the direction, the high road approach seems to be seriously lacking in the overall GLB community and it would be great to begin it's establishment with what we've already got going on here.

I have two players, and one was in SA and the other here. I brought my SA player over because of exactly this reason. Now, I still go slumming in the SA forums just for the sheer novelty of that group, but the reason I brought my players here is because of the sportsmanship and high-road-ism of this league.

The trick to this is, if we market the aforementioned high-road-ism, we cut off a lot of potential agents. But that's more than okay. Those people who feel the need to use intraweb football dots to prove themselves will always have a home... in USA or South America, and our forums seem to be better without them. Those people who want the focus to be on the game (regardless of how competitive they want to take it) instead of the beating of the chest and comparing of the e-peen that seems to go on other places... I think if you take your idea and do it right, this league would have our more applicants than openings, and we could have our pick of the talent from year to year.

One other problem is that we'll have to expel Mean Machine.

Originally posted by JuniorMcSpiffy
Originally posted by OMGWTF

I like the direction, the high road approach seems to be seriously lacking in the overall GLB community and it would be great to begin it's establishment with what we've already got going on here.

I have two players, and one was in SA and the other here. I brought my SA player over because of exactly this reason. Now, I still go slumming in the SA forums just for the sheer novelty of that group, but the reason I brought my players here is because of the sportsmanship and high-road-ism of this league.

The trick to this is, if we market the aforementioned high-road-ism, we cut off a lot of potential agents. But that's more than okay. Those people who feel the need to use intraweb football dots to prove themselves will always have a home... in USA or South America, and our forums seem to be better without them. Those people who want the focus to be on the game (regardless of how competitive they want to take it) instead of the beating of the chest and comparing of the e-peen that seems to go on other places... I think if you take your idea and do it right, this league would have our more applicants than openings, and we could have our pick of the talent from year to year.

I agree again 100% McSpiffy -- and as I mentioned, we can still have the fun pre-game talk -- the "class" aspect is especially important post-game, when emotions tend to get the better of people -- and even when "talking some smack" pre-game, keeping it classy.

And...I think if we go ahead and do this, it needs to be done right 100%, and if its done right, it could lead to a high level of a recruiting base -- which was part of the idea.