Game Procedure

The game procedure is pretty simple. First, both teams muster in some area. Then they meet on the server. Then they play the game. When it's over, they post the results along with at least one recording, and vote for MVP.

Mustering
Teams are recommended to meet up in #afl, but not required. However, in the case of a forfeit, the logs kept by aflbot are going to be used to determine who forfeits, or if both teams forfeit, so it's in your best interests to have all of your players arrive in #afl to meet the other team. The problem with that, of course, is that there's nearly 80 players in the league, but don't let that intimidate you. Plenty of irc channels have 100+ names in them, and conversation proceeds nicely.

Teams should meet up 15 minutes before the scheduled game time and spend those 15 minutes making sure everyone can connect to the server. Teams are recommended to meet up 30 minutes before the scheduled game time to warm up.

Meeting on the Server
For private servers, players will join by custom connect. For public servers, obviously they can join through the master server list. At least one player in each game *must* join with a client that is recording, and the client *must* be the latest 0.2.8 version (currently 0.2.8.2.1) or the latest 0.3 version (currently 0.3.0). The game is not valid without a recording, so make sure you make one! Players not recording, or players that don't intend their recording to qualify the game as a league game, are allowed to use any client version they wish, but for obvious reasons they shouldn't use anything before 0.2.8.0.

Playing the Game
There should be an ingame admin present. If there's not, then your game is in a heap of trouble to start. Not necessarily league trouble, but there could be significant interference in the game without an admin capable of dealing with it. Both team captains, or at least leaders on both teams, need to say something like "The game starts next match" or something to that effect, which signals the start of the match. The ingame admin can then give the command to the server to start the match, and then the next 3 matches will be the league game. Only in rare and excessive circumstances will an alternate procedure be used.

Posting Results
Teams are advised to maintain their own wiki pages with their win/loss records and awards received. All teams must go to Results and post the results of the game after each game. Each game requires a recording (zipped), screenshots of the scoreboard after each match, and a statement of who won. Games additionally require a list of players nominated for MVP, and a poll. Again, it is recommended this award be determined in #afl after the game by voting, but using the wiki is also allowed. However, no other way is allowed. So, a poll on the forums isn't allowed.

The results must be posted within 24 hours of the scheduled game time. If this doesn't happen, both teams will be counted as forfeiting the game and it will be marked as a loss for both teams.