[Owner] 
06/10/2009
1. What made you decide to start the ECO league?
Well, the whole idea was initially Heath Showalters, he approached me one day awhile back and ask him to help advise him and give him some details on how CAL was run. I told him, and from there we became dedicated to working to provide an online gaming league that provides features and prizes and is centered on a good user experience. Overall, the league came about because we felt there was a serious need in the community, a need for a free video game league, and thats what were trying to provide.
2. Why do you think ECO stands out from other leagues that are coming out? What gives you the edge?
Well, I feel like the best way to do this is simply list a few of the features ECO has that others do not. Its also important to note that all there features are free.
- Stat Tracking
- Advanced ACS, more comprehensive and effective than any ACS client to date
- Easy to use site, you can reach any page on the site within 5 clicks
- Built in awards system
- Built in comprehensive predition system
- Built in SteamID/GameID search that shows both roster history and user status on the roster. Ideally that eliminates people from riding rosters and getting the exp they desire
Overall, the edge is the fact that because of our sponsors, we can provide all this to our users for free, something no other league can do. Plus, our site is the easiest to navigate and most stylish of all online gaming leagues.
3. Anti-cheat clients have been a hot topic this week. Who is developing your ACS and how do you think it will compare to the ones that already exist?
Our ACS is being developed by an inhouse team, meaning we know our coders on a personal level. We are closely involved with them, and we trust their work and experience. At this point, we are sure that the ACS is superior to both CAL's and CEVO's because we have admins on staff who have worked with both CAL's and CEVO's and testify that ours is better. I'm not going to go into detail as to what specifically the Anti-Cheat client does, but I'll tell you it is feature rich, prevents multi-clanners/ban evaders as well as cheaters, works on organner, and is NOT a keylogger. We also plan on releasing frequent updates to it to ensure it is always is effective as it is now.
4. Your forums imply that you will support CSS, 1.6, and DOTA. What other games could possibly be supported when ECO opens up for registration?
For season 1 we plan on only offering CS 1.6, CS:S. and DotA. The reason we are starting with only 3 games is to ensure we provide a successful starting point and prove we know how to run a successful league before expanding. From there, l4d, tf2, cod6, and Quake Live are in our future plans, and users can look for them s2 or s3. To answer your question more directly, no other games will be offered at launch.
5. What will your division structure be like? Will you stick with the standard naming convention (OPEN, INTERMEDIATE, MAIN, INVITE), or will you come out with something new? Also, will you have placement tournaments to put teams in the right divisions?
At this point we are planning on Open, Main, and Invite. There will be no placement tournaments, and there is a good reason for that. Towards the end of CAL there were teams in main that frankly had no business being there, thus we are making every team earn their spots. One thing that WILL be different is our playoff/moveups system. You'll have to wait and see for that, but I assure you it will provide for more competitive and thrilling playoffs and divisions.
6. You said ECO will be a free league. Will it have prizes for winners? Do you see there ever being a paid version/professional division?
Yes, there will be hardware and other nice prizes for our league winners. Although I'll never rule out a paid division, I'll say that it is not part of the plan, as ECO was founded to be a free, competitive league. Showalter also jokes its ECO for Economical, which is lame, but you get the point.
7. Who funds your company? Is it a privately backed operation or do you have sponsors who financially support you?
At this point we're a solid mix of the two. Ideally in the near feature we will be financially supported completely by sponsors, but as a new league with no successes to show off we understand we can't ask for thousands of dollars in backing right away. To this point our sponsors XFactor Servers, QPAD, and MaxFrag have all been very generous and we hope to find more like them.
8. Has the fuzz between MaxFrag and BOE affected your relationship with MaxFrag at all?
It has not. Unlike BOE, MaxFrag has zero power within our league. We are advertising partners with them and that is it. We own all our domains and have things in place to ensure everything stays in our hands. Tony and other MaxFrag staff have been very professional with us, and we greatly appreciate their support of us.
9. Will you have a custom GUI for Counter-Strike: Source?
It's in the plans, but its something I'm working on, and I'm actually probably one of the laziest workers anyone has ever met. It's on my list though, you could see it at launch (meaning, sometime in the next 6 months).
10. Is there anything you would like to share with us and the community that might not have surfaced in the other answers in this interview?
This league is built for you, the users, so please email us or post in the suggestions section of the forums with any ideas you have. Our success or failure is in your hands as our userbase. We'll do our best for you.
Everyone make sure to check out ECO's website at www.eco-league.com
