Hello,

I hope this is the right place to post this. We're actually NOT running a game. Feel free to move as appropriate.

My name is Dan Sellers. I’m writing on behalf of myself and two gaming friends – Steve Talbot and Garysean Wilson.

For those of you that don’t know us, let me make some brief introductions.

I’m 58 years old. Originally from the USA, I have been living in Switzerland for over 20 years. I have been playing various versions of United for almost 40 years and I’ve been playing ESMS for about 7 years. I’m a life-long gamer but these football simulation games are absolutely among my favorites.

Steve Talbot is 43 and comes from England. He’s played in various ESMS leagues such as FFO, JAFL, SSL, AND UCFL for more than 20 years.

Garysean is 37 and comes from Scotland. He’s been playing ESMS games for more than 20 years, having started when he was just 13.

For those of you who are wondering why we are including both types of leagues is that, at their heart, they are both mathematical games revolving around football. (I personally have played other such games that used ice hockey or basketball for their sport but our main focus here is football.) Both games involve the same basic functions. Building a team, submitting orders/team sheets, and having the matches adjudicated by a GM. The details in each game are quite different, but they generally appeal to the same kinds of gamers/football fans.

Lately, Steve, GS and I have been discussing is that there is no hub for the community. If I am not mistaken, there was some sort of central repository for ESMS information in the past but it is no longer active. I am not sure if there ever has been such an entity for United.

The reality is that both games are past their heydays. Modern computer gaming has put a dent in the number of people who play these long-running sports games. Although many of your leagues have existed for 20 years or more, it seems to us they are existing in kind of an isolation. Sure, one can do a google search and find various ESMS and United leagues but there is no central hub for a potential manager to find information. It can be difficult to find new and replacement managers, even more so with GMs.

Our idea is to create an open forum for all GMs, players, and potential players. A place where one can find information about different ESMS and United leagues with just a few clicks.

We envision having introductory articles about both games and then a combined forum, an ESMS forum and a United forum – both with sub-forums about each individual game. These forums would be places where GMS and players can post links to their games, post openings or discuss the games in general or in detail – ask about tactics, strategies, game development, run new ideas by a wide spectrum of players and GMs, etc. Basically, anything that has to do with ESMS or United could potentially be found in one place. These forums can be a single one-stop place to find information about these great games.

What we do not want this to turn into is some kind of competitive forum where trash-talking of other leagues and ideas is allowed. We don’t want any ‘My league is better than your league’ kind of discussions. Disagreements and constructive debate about those disagreements will be encouraged. Trolling and insulting remarks will not be tolerated.

We have major respect for every single GM who devotes his time to running a league and each one of you is a hero to our part of the gaming world. But the truth is that our community is constantly shrinking. Perhaps we can’t do anything about that. But, perhaps we can. We think that coming together and working as one community is an obvious place to start.

A second goal of this hub is to provide a resource section. Game engines and different apps to control different aspects of the game (teamsheet makers and checkers, etc.) as well as their codes.

Since this is an open-source game originally, we would like to obtain as many unique copies of the various codes as possible.

In case you are having questions about costs, let me assure you that you needn’t worry. As web-hosting is relatively cheap, we plan to make this forum free to users as the minimal costs associated with it can be taken care of. Donations will always be welcome but will be on a strictly voluntary basis.

The forum will be overseen by a group of administrators (initially composed of me, Steve, and GS) with none having more control than the other. We envision a community of equals, not some kind of dictatorship with its inherent biases.

I would be happy if the chief admin could send me a PM with some feedback on this post.