[Vampyr]

paulg, on 2020-August-04, 15:43, said:

I'm always saying that the BBO users who joined, or starting playing a lot, since Lockdown are a different breed to the typical BBO user before that.

I would guess that the majority of team matches before March would involve a large number of random partnerships and teams. It was common for people to advertise in the Lobby looking for singles and pairs to make up a team match. As BBO became more popular, lobby chat became overloaded which is why there is now a setting 'Notify me when a team match needs players'.

I do play un-organised team matches, but with friends (everybody has time on their hands!). After lockdown, I would be pleased if the online leagues I play in continue, but the likelihood is low, as matches will be much harder to organise.

Do people advertise looking for a team? That would be very useful.

[paulg]

Vampyr, on 2020-August-04, 16:30, said:

Do people advertise looking for a team? That would be very useful.

Unfortunately I think you'd be disappointed as the mechanisms are crude and for those seeking immediate gratification.

Almost anyone can start a team match with empty places and this generates a notification that people are looking for people to play a team match. These days the host often gets overwhelmed with the number of people willing to play and 'real' teams of four struggle to get their combined request in.

Alternatively you can advertise in Lobby chat, but this is not viewed by default so it rarely goes to the people that you'd want in this case. Lobby chat is also overwhelmed by table hosts looking for people to fill their tables. It was possible to use lobby chat when BBO had fewer users who all saw it, but it is less popular these days.

There is no mechanism for finding opponents for a team match, say, tomorrow at 7pm. Even then you'd have to be happy to have some random experiences if you match random opponents who you don't know.

Of course there have been online leagues on BBO in the past. My favourite, and most successful, has been the InterCity League. It is now run by Paolo (username turbin) and has matches on Wednesday evenings in the fall and spring. The next edition starts in September. In my opinion the key to any online league is to run on a specific day and time. Ladders and events which allow teams to negotiate the timetable eventually fail.

[Gerardo]

The Canadian Bridge Federation has been running an Annual Online Tournament (league, a week per round + KO for the top 4) for 5 years pre-COVID.
Worked quite well.

[gordontd]

Gerardo, on 2020-August-05, 06:00, said:

The Canadian Bridge Federation has been running an Annual Online Tournament (league, a week per round + KO for the top 4) for 5 years pre-COVID.
Worked quite well.

The EBU has been running an annual Online Knockout Teams for a similar time period. Not a huge event but growing and enjoyed by those who play in it.