Elite Players League. Three words to describe the most incredible online game I’ve ever been a part of. It seems insufficient somehow. For those of you who don’t know about EPL, I’ll try to explain it’s awesomeness. Basically you have a baseball player or two and you role-play them. They are on teams with other players belonging to other people in the league. Most players start in the minors and work their way up, but if you have a good “build” your player might start out on one of the poorer teams. The way you develop your player is by earning upgrade points. One of the ways you can do this is by writing articles about your player. Accounts of games, interviews, blog entries, whatever. These also help with the role-playing aspect. Games are simulated using a simulation engine. Three times each week, league members would gather on AIM while the commish ran the sim and reported the scores for seven days of games.
As I type this, it’s the last day for EPL. The guy who had been commissioner was a victim of the economic times and no longer has a job where he can spend the time it takes to run the league. And there were other things going on, but that’s the major factor. Tonight is the final EPL sim. I don’t care who wins anymore, I just care that it’s over. I’ve been doing it since February of 2006, though the league held it’s inaugural draft nearly four years ago.
But out of the ruins of EPL arises a new league. Bring the Heat. The guy who’s running it is the same guy who is sending EPL off. This will operate the same way as EPL did but it will have minor rules differences and only 8 teams. With 16 teams it became difficult for EPL to keep GMs. Also, members may transfer younger EPL players to the BTH (under 30 as of April 1, 2022 — oh, I should explain that, because the sims are 7 days, we’ve blown by 2009 and gotten way into the future). I have two players who would qualify but one has a “story” that wouldn’t work for being in a new league.
If you’ve never tried something like this and if you like baseball, I encourage you to check it out. It’s different from other kinds of online games in that the community makes it work.
And if you’re a disaffected EPL member, I also urge you to give the league a try. There are bonus upgrade points for recruiting but if you don’t say my name I won’t get them. Don’t say my name. I’d rather have you as a league member than have points.
