Enorama

So I imagine a few people who read this topic will go into this thread thinking that there wasn’t any particular good reason to join the VHL Discord and that it was just a fancy version of chat. You know what? I thought the same.
 
I didn’t think there was much that it provided other than an outlet for just random off-topic chatter. However, in the time between popping onto the Discord for the first time yesterday afternoon to the time I’m writing this piece, my opinion has changed from it being skippable to being the single-most important retention feature this league has at it’s disposal. You can dismiss that as hyperbole if you want and, hey maybe there is something more important, but I can say for a fact that I made the right decision to go on there.
 
Want an example of how good it can potentially work in getting players more involved with the league? Over the course of the thirty or so hour span between me logging on to the VHL Discord and writing this article, we’ve had six members submit a league press conference for the first time (varying VHL backgrounds as well, as there were three who had been in the league for a few months and three new recruits). That’s as many new members submitting their own press conference thread as the ENTIRE MONTH of July, three more new press conferences than the entire month of May and one less than the entire month of June and April. You can say there’s been a recruitment drive this month and that is true, but we’ve had recruitment drives during some of those other months as well!
 
The great part is we’ve definitely not even reached our full potential. Hopefully there will be a time where discord gets embedded into the forum to make it easier, but the server doesn’t have all that many of the veteran members on right now and while the veteran members who are currently on there are helping the new guys as much as possible, every little helps!
 
So why don’t you come hang out with us? You can find us at:
 
https://discord.gg/h2GFBGB
 
Look forward to seeing you there!
 
PS: If you’re worried about it taking activity off the forum, don’t be! Very little discussed in the forum would be posted on the site anyway and if it was, it would be through PMs, which would be a much longer process than the discord server.

Will put here.
 
Player: Ryan Kastelic

I'll just answer one of these for this week, then get to the other six tomorrow for next week's tasks.
 
1. From what I understand (having never actually lived in the region myself), Slovenia's only armed conflict in recent history (barring the world wars) was its war for independence from Yugoslavia. Slovakia was a part of neighbouring Czechoslovakia at the time, and, as far as I understand it, they didn't participate in the conflict. That being said, the region itself is beautiful and full of culture (maybe a little moreso than the Yukon or Vegas), so yes, that would have been my #1.
 
For the week ending August 12th:
2.  I am honestly totally uncreative, so I will be sticking with graphics because I find it much easier to get creative guidance from others on graphics than on anything writing-related.
3. I guess this goes back to me mentioning Karlsson up in my previous comment, especially his skating. Other players whose play I like to emulate include Trouba (homer), Lidstrom, Orr (the OG), and basically any other smooth-skating, puck-moving defenseman.
4. Long term aims are likely to just get a good feeling for how this league works and such. I would imagine that for my first player (even though from what I understand he can actually play for 8 seasons or something) I won't exactly be breaking any records with him.
5. I like how my activity is rewarded with additional player development, and how I can shape my player basically any way that I'd like.
6. Lucio is definitely the easy one, how dare you take that from me. Ignoring him though, I would imagine that Tracer would be pretty tough to play against if she could carry the puck while blinking, Reaper would be impossible to hit if he could just wraith through anyone, and Roadhog Reinhardt, or even Zarya would just be impossible to take the puck from.
7. I've never played in any sim league as a player. I've been playing in some online EHM leagues as a GM for a while and I've seen some pretty mild success there (my biggest so far being where I finished 30/30 in 2025, made playoffs in 2026, then made conference finals in 2027).