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INDEX: History | Structure | Administration | Uploading and Game Running | Player Life-Cycle | Retirement Schedule | Rules of Play The WFL HandbookAn Evolving History30 April 2000 The Predictor had made the Rio Gamblers the hands-down favorite to win the World Bowl since early in the season, and the Gamblers made good on it, waxing the London Bulldogs 21-0 in the big game. It wasn't without loss for the Gamblers, however. Lev Goykhman, the mouth that roared, one of the standout running backs in the WFL, went down hard ... and retired after the game. The loss of one so young led to a groundswell of support for changes in the retirement rules of the league, and they will be implemented for WFL10. That's one of the more critical changes in the rules this season, our first with PC game runners. We've jumped to version 2.3 of Playmaker Football, which does an even better job of bringing the two platforms closer together -- and then there's the release of StaTracker and Scout Pro 2 for Windows. Pretty soon, there will be no reason NOT to buy a PC. Nah. Not gonna happen. Not a lot of change between seasons. The Wipers have returned to their roots, back to Berlin, where they are once again the Wall. In the Far East, the Pandas have succumbed to the lure of big bucks and moved to Taipei. Some new coaches -- and a few who have really come into their own since the league was launched -- will make the sledding a lot tougher this season. The Predictor is again making the Gamblers the odds-on favorite to make the big game (and whup the Bulldogs). We've moved the site this season off AOL to Fortune City, where we can get more storage space, and with an eye toward eventually jumping to the Playmaker.com site (when they have time to bring us over). But for now, there's football to be played. Dennis Monbarren ([email protected]) 14 March 1999 They'd both been there before. World Bowl VIII featured the one-time champion Baghdad Thieves against the two-time champion Caracas Oilers. Baghdad didn't prove to be a pushover like the Beijing Bandits, however, as the Thieves won a hard-fought 17-3 victory. Congratulations Ron. Preparation for WFL9 finds us with 35 coaches on 24 teams (leaving those of us who coach alone in a slight majority position). The good news is that most of the squads look like they could be contenders. While Mr. T whacked some teams pretty severely (none so hard as Rio, however), we've instituted in the off-season a bonus points rule that will allow coaches to earn points for running games that can then be used to make small improvements on their players. Other rules new for WFL9 include: new wording for the anti-pick rule, an explicit rule that we'll use the most recent shipping version of Playmaker Football that's available a month before the start of each season, as well as revisions to reappoint Terminator bonus points that are applied to players maxed out and to change the retirement schedule slightly to lessen the impact on players at 6 years old. Dennis Monbarren (DennisDR) 8 September 1998 All is right with the world. Notre Dame embarrasses Michigan on national TV. The Cleveland Browns are returning to the NFL (and Art Modell's Ravens look to be in for another season of ass-kickings). And the WFL returns for its eighth season. Has it really been five years since we started this? It was encouraging to see one of the old guard, Ed Patrick and his Panama City Piranhas, walk away with the World Bowl championship in WFL7. The Piranhas won a nail-biter over the only team from the European Division to ever make the championship game, Marshall Wallace et. al and the London Bulldogs. It took a score with 1:17 left to give the fish the 22-21 win. Wow. That said, the balance of power may be shifting, again, as many of the superstars drafted in WFL1 and 2 are reaching retirement age. Many are already gone, many have been hamstrung by old age and many more will be gone soon. To help prepare for the mass youth movement, the league expanded the maximum number of players on team rosters to 55 and played with a waiver wire. Other rules changes -- including eliminating the one-yard back from the line of scrimmage rule and more restrictions on offensive linemen going downfield on pass plays -- are enumerated below. Dennis Monbarren (DennisDR) 21 August 1997 The more things change, the more they stay the same. Some coaches have come, some have gone. The biggest change is that for WFL7, the league has consolidated from 30 teams to 24 teams. Some of the better players from the 6 vacant teams were drafted by existing teams. Thus each of the teams has gotten better through that draft and through the rookie draft but the same basic league structure and rivalries and coaching talent remains. WFL6 ended with the recent "tradition" of Rog and Greg Bilbruck and the Caracas Oilers beating Dennis Monbarren and the Beijing Bandits for the World Bowl title. I'm sure 23 of the 24 teams hope/expect this year's World Bowl to have a different result! WFL7 will use the new and improved PlayMaker Football 2.2 with anticipation that the game film feature will add new interest and excitement.The trading and drafting are behind us for a while. Now we play the games to see the fruits of our "general manager" labors. Brian Braunschweiger (BBFlake) 25 August 1996 The startup of WFL6 is only a few weeks away and I wonder if we will be able to top WFL5. Many of the playoff spots in WFL5 were undecided going into the last game of the regular season. Lots of new faces in the playoffs and definitely new faces wearing World Bowl rings - Roger and Greg Bilbruck whose Caracas Oilers bested Dennis Monbarren and his Beijing Bandits. The off season focus has been on building the best roster and prepping competitive playbooks as the league matures. One sad aspect of this job is noting the passing of key players. I think here primarily of Richard "Demon Dick" Erlanger who was stunningly productive over his 5 seasons, two franchises and three cities in the WFL, but it became clear it was time to hang up the cleats and let others have the spotlight. The off season was relatively controversy free. The biggest challenge has been finding coaches to fill what vacancies there were in WFL franchises. Other than that it is the same exciting league it has always been. I have a good idea of which teams will be the most competitive in WFL6 but no team is a lock for the playoffs with the increasing rivalries, the better coaching and the vagaries and uncertainty that comes in any given PlayMaker Football match up. Brian Braunschweiger (BBFlake) 8 January 1996 The WFL stands ready to enter its fifth season as the premier draft league (and I think) the premier league in general in online PMFB play. SEStrand left AOL and the league. I was elected commissioner and am being ably served by my vice commissioner, WFL charter member Dennis Monbarren of the Beijing Bandits. We've experienced lots of other comings and goings in the coaching ranks, some of which is to be expected in a league with 30 teams. Trading was active and relatively controversy free. Voting on various rules affirmed the WFL heritage of relative freedom from restrictions on play design. DennisDR and the Beijing Bandits came back from the dead in the 2nd half of the season to make the playoffs as a wild card team and go on to represent the Eastern Hemisphere in the World Bowl. The Western Hemisphere was represented by the Buenos Aires Dragons coached by Jay and Lynn Spies and the Dragons were victorious.
Brian Braunschweiger (BBFlake) 19 February, 1995 Out with the old and in with the new. Ian decided that being commissioner is not all that much fun when work gets in the way, so I was elected. Ian's Samurai did not, in fact, make it three World Bowls in a row. But, The RoughRiders did make it again ... under new management. The WFL3 World Bowl was played between Jim Jackson's (PMStatman) Baghdad Thieves and Edd Vrcich's (EddV) San Juan RoughRiders; the Thieves won 34-19. WFL4 should be interesting. We have expanded up to 30 teams in the league, five per division (but I seriously doubt that further expansion is in the cards). The WFL4 Draft will be held March 5, '95. The regular season will start in April of '95. One change for WFL4 is that the league will be upgrading to PlayMaker Football v2.1 by PlayMaker Inc. This upgrade repairs some of the bugs present in the Broderbund v2.0 (especially those that preclude good performance on the PowerPCs). It incorporates the NFL rules changes for the 94-95 season. In past seasons, trading was rather wide open and some of the less experienced PMFBers lost their players, then lost games, then lost interest in the league. In an attempt to improve parity and prevent some poor long-term franchise decisions, a trade review committee has been established. All trades have the possibility of review by a trade committee. This committee is appointed by the commissioner and reviews trades for flagrant unfairness. Yet another change for the WFL is this document. It has been broken into two parts: The WFL Handbook (which you are now reading) and the WFL Record Book. The Handbook is a consolidation of the on field rules, player generation/aging rules, and administrative structure. The Record Book contains the All-Time Records and League/Franchise Histories.
Stephen Strand (SEStrand) 1 June, 1994 Well, the WFL is starting to grow up. My Tokyo Samurai once again made it to the World Bowl to face Joe William's San Juan RoughRiders, but this time we were shellacked by the powerful RoughRiders. The WFL made it through the expansion of WFL2, and is actually expanding by two teams for WFL3. We have decided to go to a twelve game season and, at least for WFL3, play alongside the '94 NFL season.
Ian Christopher Klimon (MrPMFB) 26 January, 1994 The World Football League (WFL) sprung from an idea I had in the spring of 1993. I had been chatting with Dave Weissmann (Wise456) about the feasibility of a draft league here on America Online. After our initial discussion I decided to sit down and chart out a possible "draft" for the first season. While some good players were generated, the initial draft contained a lot of dogs, and everyone loved it from the moment they saw it. Part of the fun was watching your kicker over and over again miss that easy chip-shot field goal. Heck, my kicker couldn't even get half of his extra points through the uprights. But that was the fun of it. My Tokyo Samurai squeaked by Dennis Monbarren's (DennisDR) Beijing Bandits to face and eventually beat Joe William's (JoeDelta) San Juan RoughRiders for the inaugural World Bowl Championship. Then it was off to rebuild the Samurai to face the expansion teams and the old threats in Season2. The WFL fielded sixteen teams for Season 1 and voted to expand by eight teams to twenty-four total teams for Season 2. The word of mouth and chatter about the excitement and fun of the WFL made it the hottest ticket in PlayMaker leagues here on AOL. In coming up with the rules for the WFL, we decided that less was better, and this held true. With some refinements to the basic abilities of incoming rookies, the aging schedule and the rule book, we are looking forward to a fantastic second season.
Ian Christopher Klimon (MrPMFB) WFL Structure
WFL Administration1.0 THE COMMISSIONER A) At the end of every season, the present Commissioner, if stepping down, shall make arrangements for an election to elect a new Commissioner. If the present Commissioner wishes to continue in his or her duties, then anyone also wishing to be considered for the post of commissioner must present himself or herself before the league for consideration. If someone presents themselves for consideration, then the Commissioner shall make arrangements for a general election. B) The Commissioner reserves the right to appoint the working members (Game Runners, Division Managers, Conference Judges, trade review committees, Statistician, etc.) of his administration and to appoint new coaches to existing franchises that open during the course of the season, preseason or postseason. C) The commissioner has the authority to act in the best interests of the league. This authority includes, but is not limited to, reviewing any playbook at his discretion, ordering replays of games, assigning penalties in the draft order for the following draft for repeated rule violations and in removing someone as coach/general manager of a franchise and awarding that franchise to someone else. D) The Commissioner reserves the right to field a team if it is necessary to balance the field of participants for that season. The Commissioner's team is subject to all the rules and regulations of the league. E) A Vice Commissioner shall also be elected. The Vice Commissioner will assist the Commissioner as needed. The Vice Commissioner will act as the Commissioner, if the Commissioner cannot perform his duties during the season. The Vice Commissioner is also the arbitrator for any issue involving the Commissioner. F) A trade committee will be established to oversee trades involving the Commissioner, and to hear appeals from other coaches of any trades nullified by the Commissioner. G) Any two coaches can call for a vote of confidence in the commissioner at any time. Once the vote has been called for, the vice commissioner will publish a ballot within one week. If two-thirds of the league express no confidence in the commissioner by this ballot, the commissioner will step down effective immediately, the vice commissioner will become commissioner for the remainder of the season and the new commissioner will appoint an acting vice commissioner of his choosing for the remainder of the season. 2.0 PASSWORD PROTECTION OF PLAYBOOKS League playbooks will be password protected against editing and observing. Password protected playbooks of any of the online league teams, past and present, shall not be violated. Violations will not be tolerated. (Violations are: Using PlayMaker Football's Chalkboard Editor for viewing another coach's plays without the express permission of the coach who password protected the playbook, scouting a coach's Artificial Intelligence settings, shoplifting league plays, i.e., play transfer is a violation without the express permission of the coach). Express permission is only valid for the original request, a blanket permission cannot be assumed. If a league playbook is not password protected, you still must first get permission of the coach to look inside. 2.1 PASSWORD PROTECTION OF TEAM FILES The WFL features OPEN (non-password protected) TEAM FILES. 2.2 GENERATION & MODIFICATION OF TEAM FILES All team files will be generated within the PlayMaker program or Jon Christie's Team Edit. Team files may not be generated or altered by any other program, including modifying player numbers beyond what the above two programs allow. The only exception is that using ResEdit to create custom icons is allowed. 3.0 OFFICIAL WFL VERSION OF PLAYMAKER FOOTBALL The WFL should always strive to use the most recent OFFICIAL RELEASE of Playmaker Football that is available to all participants at least one month prior to the start of a season. Versions in seeding for beta testing or in limited release will not be used. Only currently shipping versions available for sale on the Playmaker web site will be considered. If issues arise in the future with versions of PMFB and older machines, the decision to automatically upgrade may be put to a majority vote of the franchises. WFL10 will be the first run with PlayMaker Football 2.3. Benefits over 2.2 include better cross-platform compatibility with PMFBW 2.3 for Windows. Contact any league official for information on how to upgrade to version 2.3. 4.0 SCHEDULING The WFL9 regular season will consist of twelve weeks of play, giving each team 6 divisional games and 6 games outside the division (3 interconference and three intraconference). Scheduling of interconference and intraconference games will be based largely on won-lost percentage from the previous season. 5.0 BUGS AND FLAWS AFFECTING THE OUTCOME OF A GAME Any game whose result is in question because of a possible bug or flaw in the game will be reviewed and if deemed necessary, replayed. 6.0 CONDUCT AND RESPONSIBILITY TO THE ONLINE COMMUNITY A) Head coaches will be required to submit to the Commissioner a real full name and contact phone number (the latter of which may be withheld from the rest of the league, if specifically requested). B) The goal of this league is to provide a fun, yet challenging environment for Playmaker Football coaches of all ages. Trash talk can be an enjoyable part of that experience, however, crossing the line between trash and gutter language should be avoided. Abusive conduct by one coach toward another will not be tolerated - spamming, violations of America Online's terms of service, and repeated harassment of other coaches are grounds for immediate, unilateral action by the commissioner, including, but not limited to suspension or expulsion from the league. Certain behaviors may also be subject to corrective action by America Online as well. In this regard, be sure to familiarize yourself with America Online's Terms of Service C) Shoplifting plays (transferring plays from another coach's playbook without express permission, see paragraph 4.0 above) is a violation punishable by the commissioner with suspension or expulsion. Continued use of plays known to have been pirated, even if they were stolen by another, is likewise grounds for suspension or removal from the league. Uploading And Game RunningLEAGUE PLAY & UPLOADS A) Unless otherwise directed by the commissioner, all playbooks must be uploaded to the designated library by 11:59 pm Eastern time (8:59 pm Pacific time) on the Saturday night before the game is to be played. The playbook must also be emailed to the assigned game runner (GR) by this same deadline. Coaches who do not have access to America Online will be required to e-mail their playbook to the commissioner or his designee by the deadline. The GR will then play the game, post the results and release a virgin copy of the transcript and game film all within twenty-four (24) hours of the release of the playbooks (i.e. midnight Sunday). In the event of uploading difficulties with AOL, it is the coach's responsibility to contact a league official (the commissioner, or asst. commissioner or their designee) via phone or e-mail PRIOR to the deadline to explain that a problem exists and make arrangements either for transfer of the playbook via e-mail, use of another playbook that is already available, or in the case of widespread problems with AOL, pushing back the deadline. In the event that no prior arrangement is made and a coach misses the weekly upload, a previous playbook will be chosen at random by the league office for use by the game runner. B) Team files will be included with all playbook uploads to the libraries. This is for the benefit of others who are not participating in the league and who would like to sample a few of the league's teams. However, the only team file to be used to run the official game is the one that is released at the start of the season by the Commissioner!! C) All league uploads will be compressed with StuffIt and ONLY Stuffit. Playbooks uploaded or e-mailed in uncompressed forms WILL NOT be accepted. Aside from the stupidity of sending uncompressed files across computer systems that are likely to scramble unencrypted files, it's damnably inconsiderate to ask everyone else to triple their download time just because you're too lazy to do things right. Free copies of Aladdin's Drop-Stuff and Stuff-It Expander are available for both Macintosh and Windows operating systems at http://www.aladdinsys.com. Get it and use it (though the shareware Stuff-It and commercially available Stuff-It Deluxe are recommended, if you've got a few dollars). Playbooks corrupted because they were not compressed will be replaced with a randomly selected playbook. Whining will not be tolerated. You have been warned. D) The commissioner will announce into which library the playbooks are to be uploaded. Playbooks uploaded to the wrong library may be considered AWOL. If you are using v4 AOL Mac or Windows, the path is: Keyword 'mgm' - click on the Special Interest Groups button on the left side of the window (third of seven) - Open the PlayMaker Football folder that appears in the small window and you are there, PlayMaker Football Libraries. Select the WFL Library. E) The league office will do everything it can to accommodate teams who have coaches who have only Internet access. Such accommodations may include a league official making the AOL upload, but it may also require the Internet based coach to meet a slightly earlier deadline and/or using a different e-mail standard such as binhexing to get the file through the Internet. A WFL web site has been established at http://fortunecity.com/wflweb for scouting purposes and will mirror (on a delayed basis) the WFL library on AOL. F) A new coach cannot be announced with less than six days of preparation time for an opponent. Should a new co-coach be accepted by a GM that GM must make at least one PB of the new co-coach's immediately available so an upcoming opponent has a proper chance for preparation. Any coaches new to the WFL must submit a legal, realistic PB for initial scouting purposes. This can be a PB of their choice prepared against an opponent of their choice since there are a multitude of PBs in the WFL library and available at the WFL web page. This PB will note which team and week it was prepared against. GAME RUNNING RESPONSIBILITIES AND BENEFITS A) Each team in the WFL league should contribute to the efficiency and enjoyment of the league by the coach or coaches volunteering to run their fair share of games. In an ideal WFL, if each coach would run 6 games in a 12 game regular season, no one would have to run more than 6. In the real WFL, the goal is to have coaches run a minimum of one-third of a regular season game schedule. B) Premise: IN ORDER to reward coaches for volunteering to serve as Game Runners over the course of a season, the league will distribute Bonus Points to be used for the purpose of improving/repairing players on that coaches roster. It also will allow the league office to penalize coaches who don't adhere to the minimal limits of participation in the league - uploading playbooks each week, or getting game writeups done in a reasonable amount of time. The league office will assign GR responsibilities, sharing the load and giving each team an equal chance to run as many games as possible. Teams with fewer games run will be given assignment preference throughout the season. It is possible that not all requests at the end of the season can be accommodated. C) Accumulation of Bonus Points
D) Distribution of Bonus Points 1. Bonus Points maybe used to improve or repair RETURNING players on the roster, with the following stipulations and limitations:
E) Fines: Given that the Bonus Points provide a "pocketbook" in which to "HIT" people who cause problems, the Commissioner will be granted the power to levy fines against the Bonus Points of a coach. Be reminded that it is possible for a team to finish the season with NEGATIVE points in their Bonus Point account, with these negative points to be REMOVED AT RANDOM from players in the ACTIVE team file AFTER Termination.
THE TEAM NAME CONVENTION & KEYWORDS A) When uploading a team and playbook in an archive, coaches may name their archive file anything they would like, BUT when asked for the SUBJECT by America Online, you should name your uploaded file in this way: Team Name/League Name (WFL)/Season# Wk#. This allows immediate interpretation of which team it is, which league it belongs to, as well as which season of that league, and the week for which the playbook is supposed to be used. Examples:WFL10: Bears Wk#3 WFL10: Samurai Wk#4 WFL10: Pandas Wk#11 And for the playoffs: WFL10: Bandits World Bowl WFL10: Zephyr Rnd#1 Fill out is the "Author" field with your screen name, the "Equipment" field with "Macintosh computer" and the "Needs" field with "PlayMaker Football 2.3" and the info field at the bottom with a list of the opponents. For example: Bears vs Bandits. RULE VIOLATIONS A) Please police your own team for any accidental violations. Any and all allegations shall be e-mailed to the Commissioner, or in his absence, the vice-commissioner. The Commissioner's ruling is final. Before allegations concerning rule violations will be considered, the play(s) and rule(s) in question must be identified by name. Mitigating circumstances will be considered (e.g., the offending play was NEVER called during the game, or was called for a loss of yardage) but solely at the discretion of the commissioner or his assigned replacement. The deadline for reporting violations is 24 hours after the game result is posted. B)It is not intended that rule violations be used as a petty means of forcing a replay when the results didn't go a losing coach's way. At the same time, offending coaches have a responsibility for posting a legal playbook and have only themselves to blame if rule violations lead to a replay and an eventual replay loss. C) Experience shows that many illegalities in a playbook stem from a coach importing plays from his own playbooks in other leagues that operate under different rules. Any coach following this practice should allow himself or herself time to check the playbook and make any needed corrections. D) Coaches who submit playbooks with flagrant or an excessive number of illegal plays, or who regularly submit playbooks with illegal plays are subject to penalties assigned at the commissioner's discretion, ranging from an earlier upload deadline for subsequent weeks to loss of draft position in the following draft. Bonus point penalties also can be assessed (see 2.0.B.6 above). WFL Player Life-CycleDRAFTING, TRADING, AND ROSTER LIMITS At the end of each season, the available draft choices and the league's drafting order will be announced. Teams will be awarded draft position based upon their record. There will be four to six rounds to the draft (plus supplemental picks based on GR rewards) with each team starting with a single pick for each round. (This number of picks per round may change subject to trades.) The number of players available for a draft will vary at the commissioner's discretion depending on factors such as retirements or terminations and the number of teams participating in the league. There will be a timeframe specified between the World Bowl and the start of the next WFL season during which players may be traded. There will be no trading outside of that timeframe. All trades will be submitted to the league commissioner by both general managers before the trade can be approved. The trades are then reviewed for general fairness prior to public announcement. After the draft, a trading deadline will be announced so that league records may be finalized. Temporary trades are not allowed. The total number of players on a roster may not exceed 55. Prior to the start of the regular season, all excess players must be cut. These players will be removed from a team's active roster and made available to other teams in a supplemental draft, should there be interest in one. PLAYER MINIMUMS All future rookies will have between 0-60 DISC to start, with the majority of incoming rookies having 20 or 40 DISC. The following player minimums must be met in generating future draft choices:
Experience, Retirement ScheduleUnder the old rules, the WFL aging schedule did not make annual changes in a player's abilities. Generally the changes happened every two years. The new rules make it a possibility (though not a certainty) for there to be changes to a player's abilities EVERY season. It also does away with the AUTOMATIC 25-speed loss at age 9 and makes it a 50 percent chance only for 100-speeders. Likewise, the automatic increases in intelligence and discipline are on a percentage basis (i.e. EVERYONE won't get a disc increase at age 4 ... players have an 80 percent chance, not 100 percent). At the end of each season, when the 'years experience' gets increased, each player checks for his chance of retirement, plus he has certain abilities affected by age (INT and DIS go up with time; SPD, STR, and AGL go down with time). The following schedule applies to all players: YEAR -25SPD -10STR -20AGL +20INT +20DIS -20INT -20DIS -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 50%** 85% 3 50% 25%*** 4 50% 80% 5 50% 25% 6 50% 80% 7 25%(if100) 50% 25% 8 25%(if100) 25% 50%(if80+)* 50% 80% 9 50%(if100) 25% 50% 25% 25% 10 25%(if 75+) 25% 25% 25% 25% 11 25% 25% 50% 25% 25% 12 50% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 13 50% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 14 50% 25% 50% 25% 50% 15 50% 25% 50% 50% 50% * does not apply to kickers with 80 or less ** if int is 40 or less *** if dis is 60 or less Percentages are the chance of the event happening for each player. For preseason before WFL11 only, players with 40 or less DIS in years 2, 4, 6, 8 will get the automatic 20-point boost their coaches were counting on. This rule would build more randomness into the aging schedule and, if it works properly, allow some players to have longer lifespans. Leaving the coach to decide when someone should retire because of diminished abilities, rather than Mr. T. THE TERMINATOR In tandem with the change in the aging schedule, a new retirement schedule was approved between WFL9 and WFL10 that should mean fewer players leaving the league as a result of aging -- giving coaches a chance to weed out the players they no longer wish to keep, rather than having Mr. T take them away by the boatload at age 9 or 10. This change goes into effect at conclusion of WFL10. Year Retire 1-6 0 % 7 4 % 8 8 % 9 12 % 10 16 % 11 20 % 12 25 % 13 30 % 14 40 % 15+ 50 %Under the current retirement schedule, the chance of retiring starts after 6 seasons in the league, and rises to a rate of 80 percent by age 14 (though most players would have retired far earlier due to point reductions for aging). This schedule would not only start later, but be more gradual. After the Retirement Schedule is run, each team will face the Terminator. Anywhere from 0-6 players will be affected on each team. After the number of players affected is known the players are randomly chosen from the team file. What happens to each player will be determined by the Terminator. All deaths, retirements and arrests (i.e. players whose ability points are zeroed out across the board) used to remove that player from the team roster forever. Starting with WFL7, the players affected by the Terminator in this way are instead considered to have a Season Long Injury (SLI). Players experiencing SLI are not eligible for Player Improvement. If they happen to be randomly selected, the Player Improvements the SLI player received will be applied to another randomly selected player on the same roster. Players affected by SLI must remain on that team's roster for the following season if they are to be reactivated. Otherwise they can be cut. During their "injured" season, they may not be used on the team file. Following the season of sitting out, they will have the ability points restored. i.e. the points they had prior to being affected by the Terminator and SLI. These SLI players will then be processed like any other member of the roster, including aging, the Experience/Retirement Schedule, the Terminator and Player Improvement. PLAYER IMPROVEMENT After the Retirement Schedule and the Terminator have been run, each team has a chance to have player improvement. A random number between 0-4 will be generated for each team. This number represents the number of randomly selected players that will receive an improvement allowance. If a randomly selected player is one that has retired under the Experience/Retirement Schedule or who has experienced a Season Long Injury, the exact same improvement allowance will be applied to another randomly selected player on the same roster. The improvement allowance is itself randomly genreated within parameters set by the commissioner. If the points being alloted will cause a player's ability to exceed the maximum for that category, those extra points will be applied at random to players on the same team, rather than discarded. [IMPORTANT NOTE: Players on the reserve roster (those NOT on the official team file) are subject to the Terminator, Player Improvement and the aging/degradation schedule in the same way that team file players are.] Rules Of Play(Jon Christie's PM Sniffer v.0.3.1 will be run on all league playbooks before all official games. All boxes will be checked and the two linemen test for unbalanced lines will be selected.) 1.0 OFFENSIVE FORMATIONS A) The offensive center in all plays, save kickoffs, must be immediately flanked by two true linemen. In that sense the line must be "balanced." There is no specific restriction on the placement of the offensive guards and tackles relative to each other. E.G. the placement of the line may be the traditional TGCGT or TTCGG or GTCGT or whatever as long as there are two linemen flanking the center and as long as other rules are adhered to. B) There may be no more than one body-width between offensive linemen on any non-kicking play. A 'body-width' is defined as the width of a players body as seen on the chalkboard editor or on the game field (a player is 15 pixels wide). C) All offensive players must be fully visible on the chalkboard editor and game field at the snap of the ball. Kicking plays (punts, kickoffs and field goals) are exempted from the rule, so long as the ball is actually kicked (fakes must adhere to the rule). Offensive players must be placed in the chalkboard editor on the offensive side of the ball. 1.1 THE QUARTERBACK A) The quarterback must be lined up directly behind or between the two offensive linemen in the guard position (the two offensive linemen to the left and right of the center). The helmet stripe of the quarterback and the offensive linemen will be the determining factor, i.e., the quarterback's helmet stripe must be directly in line with or between the helmet stripes of the offensive linemen in the guard position. B) The quarterback must handle the ball, though not necessarily take the snap, on every play except 3rd down if the ball is punted, or 4th down in any situation. C) The quarterback cannot receive a forward pass, but is allowed to receive a backward lateral. D) The quarterback may not lateral the ball after crossing the line of scrimmage. 1.2 BLOCKING OVER THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE ON PASS PLAYS [Note: a pass play is any play in which the game transcript calls the ball transfer a pass as opposed to a lateral or handoff.] A) The standard forward run block and the two push blocks (left and right) are allowed on pass plays at the line of scrimmage if they are the only assignment given. The continuous block (i.e., pitchfork block) is not allowed at the snap nor may it touch or cross the line of scrimmage on pass plays. B) No offensive lineman may be diagrammed to cross the line of scrimmage on any passing play. Nor may he be diagrammed to follow a path that would take him across the line of scrimmage before the ball is caught, except as allowed below. C) Players on the offensive line with run block assigned may not be diagramed with any pattern or path. On a pass play, any blocker with a run or pass block assigned with a path attached must have both the path and block assignment fully behind the LOS as viewed in the Chalkboard Editor. No part of the path or block may touch or cross the LOS. D) Eligible receivers may block on pass plays. If the eligible receiver is on the LOS , he must conform to all other blocking rules that apply to offensive linemen. If the blocking eligible receiver is not on the LOS, he may block as long as no part of his assigned path or block touches or crosses the LOS. *Run blocks are: the standard forward run block, the two push blocks (to the left and to the right) and the continuous or "pitchfork" block. 1.3 'PICK' PLAYS A. It is pass interference when a player employs any tactic or engages in any action which, in the opinion of the commissioner or his duly appointed agents, is intended specifically to impede or deny an opponent a reasonable opportunity to catch the ball. Prohibited conduct shall be when a player restricts or impedes the opponent in a manner that is visually evident and materially effects the opponent's opportunity to gain position or retain his position to catch the ball. Among the actions covered by this rule (though not a complete list): 1) No pass play may employ a technique where an eligible receiver's pattern is diagramed to touch or pass through the block (any type of run block*) or blocking pattern (with continuous, i.e., pitchfork blocks, at the end of the pattern) of any offensive player if the ball is or may be passed to that eligible receiver. A receiver's pattern may be diagramed thru a pass block. *Again, run blocks are: the standard forward run block, the two push blocks (to the left and to the right) and the continuous or "pitchfork" block. 2) No pass play may employ a technique where an eligible receiver's pattern is diagramed to touch or pass through a pause, "pump fake" command, nor any other command except the path itself and blocking as described above. If a play has the effect of "picking" the intended defensive coverage, it can only be achieved through the use of the path assigned and the timing of the receivers. B. The use of multiple pause in the form of a screen or even a moving screen is illegal. Receivers or decoy receivers can use the pause or pump fake assignment, but the intended receiver cannot be run through the symbol or within a 5-yard radius (2 man boxes) of a pause assignment on another player to catch the pass. Decoys can be multiply paused or faked, but not near the receiver of choice. Pauses cannot be used in such a fashion as to form in effect a screen in front of a receiver. C. Wide-split receiver groups cannot use multiple pause assignments to create a screen nor can they use even one pause if the effect, as a group, is to pick or screen the wide* set receiver. D. Any player who can legally be across the LOS on a pass play may act as a "moving screen" by use of the path assignment only. If pauses, pump fakes or multiple "dots" (extremely short path segments repeated so as to cause the player to stop and start repeatedly) are used, it may be challenged as a pick with intent to illegally screen defenders. * Definition of "wide-split receiver" is any eligible receiver set wider than 10 yards from the nearest OT.1.4 SCREEN PASSES Only the quarterback/kicker may throw a pass that is intended to be caught behind the line of scrimmage (LOS). Any other eligible receiver (halfback, fullback, wide receiver, tight end) may throw a pass, if the pass is diagramed to be caught over the LOS. 1.5 RUNNING OUT OF BOUNDS A) No play may employ a technique where a player's pattern is diagramed out of bounds (e.g., running a player out of bounds and down the sideline on kickoffs or pass plays or paths designed to draw man coverage off the field). Coaches should be especially careful of the effect of the hash marks in this regard in their play design. A player's path should always end parallel to the out of bounds line or directed back towards the center of the field to avoid inadvertently going out of bounds. B) No play may employ a technique where a player's pattern is diagramed off the edges of the practice field (e.g. drawing a fly pattern down the sideline, then sliding the player almost completely off the chalkboard so that his pattern is no longer visible). 1.6 KICK COMMANDS No play may employ a technique where a player is given a kicking symbol (punt, free kick and tee kick) to subvert the simulation. Kicking commands are only to be given to the kicker, or to someone who is actually kicking the football. 1.7 OFFENSIVE PLAYER PLACEMENT All 11 offensive players should be present on the offensive side of the ball and visible on-screen in the game and practice field mode at the snap of the ball. The sole exception to this rule is on punts, where the kicker may be farther back. "Visible" is defines as at least half of the player's symbol being seen in the normal Chalkboard Editor view. 2.0 KICK & KICK RETURN PLAYS A) Onside kicks are only permitted when the kicking team is losing or tied. Opening the game with an onside kick is legal. Calling an onside kick after a safety is not allowed. Non-kicking kickoffs are not allowed. B) There must be at least five (5) players from the kick-off return team in view on the screen at the start of the play. Each of the five (5) players must show up on the screen that shows the kick-off tee. It is important to note that the kickoff return plays that come with PlayMaker Football 2.0 are illegal per this rule. C) Punts designed to cause a fumble, touchdown or safety by exploiting a flaw in the simulation are not allowed. 3.0 DEFENSIVE USE OF 'RECEIVE' COMMAND The use of "receive" commands are allowed at any time on any down by any player on the defensive side of the ball. 4.0 DEFENSIVE PLAYER PLACEMENT Defensive players must be placed on the chalkboard editor on the defensive side of the ball. 5.0 LEGALLY USING OTHER COACHES' PLAYS A) Plays created by another coach that have been transferred into a playbook, with the creating coach's permission (or from the stock teams that come with PMFB) are allowed. However, the creating coach MUST be credited in the uploaded playbook. For instance, if a play by Ken J. Lacovara were used, the name of the play would have to be followed by his initials in parentheses or brackets. For instance, Scrum (KJL) or Scrum [KJL]. B) It is intended that WFL playbooks reflect a coach's own ability. As such, only six such "borrowed" plays will be allowed per playbook (three offensive and three defensive). Mirrored plays count as a single play, as do plays where the only changes made involve changing the AI. (For instance, you could have four copies of the same play, but they would count as a single "borrowed" play so long as only the AI has been changed - allowing you to have one play called on the right hash, its mirror on the left, and likewise set copies of the play for use in your two-minute drill or in the red zone.) Having more than six "borrowed" plays will lead to the random deletion of excess "borrowed" plays by a league official until the playbook conforms. Note: Much discussion has been generated regarding what constitutes a transferred play. A direct playbook to playbook transfer is a borrowed play, even if the AI is modified or player assignments slightly changed. A play created from scratch that is merely inspired by seeing a similar play is not considered a borrowed play, although the polite thing to do is give credit to the coach who had the original creativity to come up with that style of play in the first place. Plays falling on the spectrum between these extremes will be evaluated by the commissioner on a case by case basis. Warning: Plays "borrowed" without the creating coach's approval (unless said plays are part of a release version of PlayMaker Football or of the Coaches' Handbook) are stolen plays. If you do this, you are pond scum and deserve to be publicly dissected. Barring that, please reread paragraphs 4.0 and 6.0 under WFL Administration. 6.0 MISCELLANEOUS General NFL rules apply for anything not covered in the above rules. INDEX: History | Structure | Administration | Uploading and Game Running | Player Life-Cycle | Retirement Schedule | Rules of Play | Back to Top |