Typical online OOTP works like this:
- The commissioner and each GM have their own copies of OOTP installed on their personal computers
- One person, the commissioner creates the initial league file with all the desired settings
- The commissioner uploads the initial league file
- GMs download the initial league file to their PC along with the FTP settings (accountsdata_gms.dat) and open it with OOTP. Using quick-start e-mail does this in one step.
- GMs make changes to their organization, upload their changes as "exports"
- Commish pulls exports and sims some days. See How to Pull Exports for visual guide to pulling exports if you've never done it before.
- Commish posts a new league file
- Optionally, the commish also updates the OOTP Reports and StatsPlus web tools
- Commish lets the league know the time for the next planned sim
- GMs use the "Download Latest League File Option" in OOTP to get the new league file
- Back to step 5
The league file and exports are uploaded and downloaded using FTP. To run an online league, you need a server on the Internet that will host those files and allow access via FTP. StatsPlus league hosting offers a streamlined FTP setup at a very reasonable cost. Contact dave (at) statsplus.net for more information.