Gustav

So, it's that time of the season again (no, not the time of the season for loving, for any of you fellow psychedelically-minded individuals out there, but): the time when every VHLM GM has to look at their team and figure out what's going on with their players. We're talking VHL.com articles here, so let's get into it right away: FORWARDS: Balentine Kidd - with 256 TPE, Kidd is over the cap, and will be heading up to D.C. to play center, likely in a depth role at first. Jerry Wang - Wang currently sits at 235 TPE, but he'll likely be going up as well. He too has been drafted already, and will be heading off to Davos. Patrik Tallinder - the winger has 176 TPE at the moment. I find it unlikely that he'll go up, and if indeed he doesn't, our third-round draft choice this season will stick around in Mississauga as (likely) a top-line winger next season. Kris Rice - Rice is just Tallinder, but he's a playmaker rather than a scorer. At 168 TPE, he's likely staying down as well, and figures to account for a great deal of offensive production in tandem with Tallinder. Mikko Lahtinen - our second center, acquired at the trade deadline in our most important signing of the season, will be going back into the dispersal draft. At 140 TPE, and being the league commissioner, he'll be in high demand and will very likely be off the board when the Hounds' pick comes up. Rede Kachur - Our other forward signed at the deadline, Kachur will go back into the draft as well. He's got 74 TPE at the moment, and as a playmaker may be valued highly by some GMs. DEFENSE (reeeeeeeeeee): Brock Louth - OK, this one should be fairly obvious. Louth has 342 TPE and will most certainly be going up to Vancouver, where he represents one of the last second players of the PP2 era. Guy Sasakamoose - as much as I'd like to have him stay with us, Sasakamoose is very likely set to depart after this season. He's got 220 TPE at the moment and will likely be a first-round choice in the VHL Entry Draft. Finnegan MacBurn - MacBurn is at 200 TPE and hasn't earned for a while, leading me to believe that he'll be sticking around next season. The fact that he hasn't been seen much, though, will likely force him into a depth role in favor of more active players. Aleksandra Olsen - At 56 TPE, this S70 defenseman (defensewoman?) will be entering the draft pool. As a fairly average (build-wise) looking player so far, earning will very likely dictate her draft position. GOALTENDING: Aleksander Aleksandrov - Our 62-TPE goaltender is S70, and you know what that means: he's going back into the draft. When the time comes, we'll see what the goalie pool looks like--this factor could lead to him going very early if the pool is shallow enough.

Jerry's only had 50+ minutes of ice time in a super-long game twice in the playoffs. I require more.

Funnily enough, I used to like the Rolling Stones. Not much anymore, but Paint it Black is still a good song. Let's see, though--I read quite a few Hardy Boys books as a kid, if that counts. Skating and puck handling to 99, probably passing to the stratosphere as well. Maybe get scoring to 80, but I'm not sure yet. Um, yes? Is that even a question? We're taking the cup. Well, now that I know that @Berocka is a racist, I can keep him on a short leash. Don't want to release it into the wild. This was my first sim league, and though I'm in a few others, it's really the only one I've been able to care about. I haven't--I'd have to be damn rich to do that. I'd love to visit someday, though. Thanks for the questions--I'll finish up KC's next week!

I still have to say, I don't really understand why adding some competition (making the longer part of the season more exciting) at the cost of a smaller playoff pool (which might make things less interesting for some people who have already stuck around for the whole season) is a bad thing to have overall. We'll probably have to agree to disagree here, I guess.

I mean, to me: Competition = entertainment = engagement = retention But that's just my opinion, of course.

The benefit to me is, in short, it makes things actually interesting in terms of who's in and who isn't. I've been a GM for three seasons--two of those seasons, I've told my players with absolute confidence that we'd make the playoffs, before we even played a single game. And I could say this without even being the slightest bit cocky, because there's no way we weren't making the playoffs unless we decided to tank. So what's the point of even having a regular season, really, if all we're doing is taking who we already know is in and taking over a month to determine who's playing who? In S65, my rookie season, 5 out of 8 teams made it--the top 3, plus a one-game wild-card round between 4 and 5--and guess what, 6 out of 8 teams were trying to make a run at it. It was actually exciting to watch the standings, to see who was beating who, to see who was in and who wasn't. I'd argue that the possibility of a) being an active player on a team where there were other active players, and b) having the danger of not making the playoffs kept me a good deal more engaged than I would have been otherwise if @Sonnet had just popped in at the beginning of the season and told us that there simply wasn't a chance that we wouldn't be in. And get this--THESE DAYS I DON'T EVEN LOOK AT THE STANDINGS because I know we'll be in if I'm building the team to win games. And I'd imagine many players are the same way. I had no idea the Hounds were in 4th place until someone asked me who we'd be playing when the season ended and I went and looked it all over. So, yes, the playoffs get more players more games, but that comes at the expense of making the regular season a good deal more boring than it needs to be. Is that what we want?

"It's not you, it's me"

Agreed 100%. I understand the rationale behind having an 8-team playoff--it keeps more players engaged for longer--but there's no competition. You almost have to make a conscious effort to not make the playoffs. Besides, if someone goes inactive because they're not directly involved in the sims for the last couple weeks or so, you'd be hard-pressed to argue that they're the type of member who would end up sticking around long-term anyway.

Welcome back @Savoire Faire!

For the week ending 11/3: 1. We're officially out of the playoffs, after being shut down by Yukon. Your thoughts on the series? 2. Now that we're out of the playoffs, is there any team you'd like to see win the cup? 3. You're approached by a VHL team with a few questions about your player (who knows, you might have been already). What do you tell them? 4. The VHL cup final has come down to a matchup between Malmo (my team) and Seattle (the team with almost every active S66 alum). Who wins? 5. How does your player plan to spend the offseason? 6. Where will your player be next season? Staying here, going back into the draft, or going up to the VHL? If you're being drafted (at the VHL or VHLM level), where do you hope to end up? @ColeMrtz21 @Cxsquared @Patrik Tallinder @Creative Name2 @GlowyGoat @Tigris @Krice13 @TukTukTheGreat @Radcow @Ckbruinfan @DizzyWithLogic @Beketov @aleks @Reverb

shit

@Liberty_Cabbage me boy

Edit: that's all I've got. inb4 @diamond_ace corrects me on this.

Checks article claims I'm finally out of stuff to claim, so to the great delight of anyone who actually takes the time to read my stuff (thank you all!), it's now time for me to go off on another tangent for a solid few weeks of media spot pay (though I'd also like to take this opportunity to tease the potential existence of another mock draft. Remember my overuse of parenthetical remarks, by the way? Yep, some things never change). But enough about me. Actually, no, just kidding--let's talk about me again. Anyone who pays attention to the forum or to Discord who was alive and well about a month ago will remember me repeatedly annoying the VHL community to take a survey about job pay (more specifically, I annoyed those with league jobs to take a survey about their own jobs). Job pay is a highly controversial topic around the league--jobs such as recruitment crew and VSN are often maligned for receiving what some believe is too much, while other jobs, including GMs and commissioners, are often felt to be underpaid and deserving of more. Before we start, I'd like to make something clear: this article is NOT meant to advocate for any type of change to the pay of any job or group of jobs, nor is it meant to advocate for any type of overhaul of the job pay system as a whole. I've got my own opinions about job pay, but those in charge know very well by now that when there's something I'd like to advocate for, I prefer to do it by blowing up the Suggestions and Complaints section rather than letting it loose in a media spot. In this article, I've included opinions with which I agree and opinions with which I do not. The goal here is to present a topic which has generated a great deal of discussion in a manner as neutral as is possible, and I hope you'll all agree that I've achieved that goal. The American Dollar, also known as the "teep," the "AGM job pay," or the "bonus @Advantage accidentally gave me in S67." Some general information about the survey used: -Those taking the survey were asked to answer questions about their job and give opinions about both their job and others. -Questions asked included "What do you do every week for your job pay?", "Do you think your pay is fair?", and "What are your opinions on the job pay system as a whole?", to name a few. -Those who responded were given the choice to make their responses anonymous, or to leave their comments out of the article, and this choice was respected wherever it was requested to be exercised. -Those with multiple jobs were asked to fill out the survey once for each job which they hold. -In total, 36 different responses were gathered, from 23 different people (and a big thank you goes to each and every one). -77.8% of all responders feel that they are being paid fairly, while 22.2% feel that they are not. -Of those who felt they were not being paid fairly, 6 felt that they were underpaid, while 2 felt that they were overpaid. Now, let's take a look at each position individually, complete with responses and opinions. JOBS WITHOUT RESPONSES: Mod/Liaison: 2 TPE News Manager: 2 TPE Trivia Handler: 2 TPE Head of PT Staff: 2 TPE Lottery Manager: 3 TPE Portal Development: 12 TPE And now, let's get into those jobs with responses. DEVELOPER Job Pay: 2 TPE (flexible based on amount of work done) Responses: 2 % Fair: 100% Duties: "Update Android App and pray to god Josh decides to actually implement the update so that the app isn't a WHOLE FUCKING SEASON BEHIND. *Calm down dil*"" -DilIsPickle Comments on Pay: None SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Job Pay: 2 TPE Responses: 1 % Fair: 100% Duties: "Participate in conversations on official VHL Twitter account to try and get our name recognized" -Enorama Comments on Pay: None FANTASY ZONE Job Pay: 2 TPE Responses: 1 % Fair: 100% Duties: "Only during the season do I create a survey and [award uncapped TPE based on correct responses]." -Acydburn Comments on Pay: None PLAYER STORE MANAGER Job Pay: 2 TPE Responses: 1 % Fair: 100% Duties: "Approve income and purchases, hand in hand with dev job." -Josh Comments on Pay: None AGM Job Pay: 0 or 1 TPE, depending on whether pay is split with GM Responses: 5 % Fair: 100% Duties: "I'm a LR presence and I assist Eno with lines or stuff when needed." -McWolf "Help Beaviss run the Wolves; notably helping the team with TPE tasks, doing the lines, and moral support to keep the team engaged." -Philliefan Comments on Pay: "I mean, of course I'd like to earn more TPE, but I can't really say it's unfair." -Philliefan "I don't think AGMs should be paid; a lot of the job is just being nice." -Berocka GM Job Pay: 2 or 1 TPE, depending on whether pay is split with AGM Responses: 11 % Fair: 55% Avg. Pay Desired (by those who feel pay is unfair): 3.1 Duties: "I maintain my discord by giving TPE opportunities. I’m also posting boxscores, training my assistant and helping my team build their players. There’s a lot involved considering I’m sending DMs daily to respond to questions about player builds and how to utilize their abilities." -Anonymous "Run a team, setup lines, recruit players, press conference and in general keeping people engaged and entertained." -Rayzor_7 "I GM" -Nykonax Comments on Pay: "It's fine." -Esso2264 "I think GMs should get paid an extra TPE or so, it's more work than 2 TPE." -ShawnGlade "I think because the GM position is so desired, the pay does not need to be high. Although it does take a lot of time and effort, being a successful GM is the reward. There is no need to pay more to GMs. I think GM pay can be 1 TPE/week." -DMaximus UPDATER Job Pay: 3 TPE (mostly; Velevra gets 4) Responses: 7 % Fair: 86% Pay Desired (by dissenting individual): 4 Duties: "I check and update players submission to make sure they are in-line with the rules, sometimes update the requests to be more correct and at time contact players to what they need to do to get the TPE they deserve." -rjfryman Comments on Pay: "The updater position takes a lot of time, knowledge, and focus, which is why I think they should get 4 TPE. The main problem with projecting the appropriate amount of TPE to the updater job is that the amount of work for a single updater is variable each week. Since there was a call for new updaters and many people applied, 3 TPE seems like it's working for updaters." -DMaximus "Updating is a never ending job. The more new members we get, the more updates there are to push. We had a rough patch last season but we just got some new blood in and we are doing good at the moment. Not complaining." -McWolf "I think Updaters should be paid a bit more because I get almost the same thing as a GM and we kinda can't live without updaters." -Esso2264 VHLM COMMISSIONER Job Pay: 3 TPE (plus one full free week and one PT free week per season) Responses: 1 % Fair: 100% Duties: "Deal with petty, insignificant arguments, get things brought to my attention that are actually the responsibility of either a blue or a portal guy, sign off on whatever scheme of the week banana is up to, once per season all the math on the achievement tracker." -diamond_ace Comments on Pay: "I'm good on my end, don't really care about other people's job pay." -diamond_ace VHL COMMISSIONER Job Pay: 3 TPE (plus one full free week and one PT free week per season) Responses: 1 % Fair: 0% Duties: "Keep all you fuckers in check and keep the lights on. General running of everything." -Beketov Comments on Pay: "Realistically commish pay has always been low; it's a love of the job kind of job. However it didn't go up at all with the inflation from 9-12 and with more members and more teams there is more to deal with than before. Realistically we need more. In general I would say most jobs get paid more or less fair, though I'm sure the people doing the jobs will always ask for me." -Beketov SIMMER Job Pay: 7 TPE Responses: 1 % Fair: 100% Duties: "Input lines and rating updates and sim daily." -Beketov Comments on Pay: "As it relates to simming: I think the pay itself is relatively fair for the work however the expectations of simmers are far higher than any other job in the league in regards to people complaining when sims are late, or when lines are wrong, or a myriad of other issues. Expectations need to be more realistic that we're controlling 12 teams and hundreds of players on a daily basis, shit happens." -Beketov VSN WRITER Job Pay: 8 TPE Responses: 1 % Fair: 100% Duties: "Write articles." -Matt_O Comments on Pay: None VSN HEAD/EDITOR Job Pay: 10 TPE (2 TPE only if VSN does not produce an article) Responses: 1 % Fair: 0% Pay Desired: 8 TPE Duties: "Run VSN." -ShawnGlade Comments on Pay: "[It would likely be more fair if I were paid] 8, I mean I'll take the 10 but it's not as much work as 10 TPE should be." -ShawnGlade RECRUITMENT CREW Job Pay: 12 TPE Responses: 1 % Fair: 100% Duties: "I update and maintain a list of all draft season players where they rank in tpe against their peers. I greet and help answer questions to new people on the forums. I write a weekly vhlm newsletter that contains news and information that would be helpful to new people as well as hopefully any player who reads it. I also am working on programming projects to make the league a better place and easier for other people to get data and other tools." -rjfryman Comments on Pay: "I think it depends on the person in general. I know myself and I push myself to be worth my entire job pay. If someone were to call me out I would not get defensive but rather ask the question to them and the league what can I do to be worth the points that I take." -rjfryman The fine people who took part in the survey were also asked what they thought about the system as a whole. I've taken samples of as many varying opinions as I could find (not that there were many, really), and stuck them below: "Recruitment pay baffles me." -Enorama "I know this is probably not going to be a popular opinion, but the recruitment team gets way too much TPE, I think that alone is the cause of this view that Job Pay is skewed. To me the solution is not to raise all other job's TPE, but to lower the recruitment team's TPE pay. Based on other job pay and the amount of time required for those jobs, there is no way recruitment should receive 12 TPE each week. At most they should receive 6 TPE. And that's even way too much. Really they should receive 3 TPE. There is no way recruitment jobs spend that much more time on their task than other jobs spend on their task." -Anonymous "Recruitment less, commissioners more." -Matt_O "I think the retainment jobs might need a bit of TPE re-evaluation. I know I did far too much in the role sometimes (Used to do the Live Rankings, a weekly ranking write-up of the draft prospects, VHLM Player Press Conference, the VHLM Newsletter, updating the New Member Guides and a lot of time in the discord all at the same time) but it's a little strange to see people get offered the full 12 TPE for a fraction of what I used to do (I'm fine with RJFryman's for example, but TheFlash's pay was excessive). I'm fine with the pay the other jobs have, it's just sometimes members with jobs (namely VSN and Brand Managers when they were a thing) will claim TPE when it's not necessarily clear that they've actually done the required work, so I think more could be done in that regard." -Tagger "I believe that there are unfair pay for Recruitment team as they are paid too much and Commissioners are paid too little but everything else seems fine." -Frostbeard "The only reason I think it should go up is because, recruitment auto capping is dumb and updaters get 3 and do an equivalent amount of work. 2 TPE jobs include shit like fantasy zones.. I'd be happy if those went down instead as well." -Josh "I dont like the free 12 claims of those in charge, makes me feel less interested in the leagues as its too easy to max for them." -OrbitingDeath "I think the VSN job pay makes no sense at all. It’s nice that some of them take it seriously (like Matt_O) and that they try to get an article out every week. Reality is though, I see certain VSN members that barely write an article a week and when they do, it’s piss poor and lazy. Also, it’s a glorified media spot. Why should they get 2 more tpe for literally the same thing? ECN is better and Frostbeard is getting paid 6 TPE a week (in media spot claims)." -Anonymous "I feel like many things have too much pay, anything 6+ is insane to me." -HulkHogan "I believe it is mostly fair, however would like to see more variation. If someone does nothing one week make it 0 for some jobs. GMs should get more in preseason." -Berocka "Even if AGM TPE stays at 1, I think GMs should be able to claim 2 TPE regardless of having an AGM because A. it encourages them to take AGMs under their wing and teach them stuff. and B. they shouldn't have to sacrifice pay to do that. I don't really know how much other jobs get paid, so come back to me about the comparison after I've read your article ;). I feel like it'd be nice for the job pay system to be more transparent with jobs, both available and taken, and their pay rates. Also, updating can get suuuuuper backed up sometimes, like over a day, and I know I (and many others) have been trying to become updaters for a while - because we all notice this - and are simply told to apply for the job or quit complaining. Then, once we all applied for the job, like one or two of us got it and updates got slightly less backed up. (It doesn't help that a certain updater just lost his job...) So, yeah I'd like to be an updater and earn dat TPE, but at least give another one or two guys the job, even if one is like half-time pay of 3 TPE every two weeks or whatever, and he just helps out on Mondays and Tuesdays or something, idk." -Philliefan "I feel like some people put a lot of time into their job and some people put just enough time. There is not a right or wrong way to do it if the job gets done. I do a lot and sometimes it actually feels like a job. I don't know how many real life hours I put into all my jobs as well as time thinking about improving the site or other things but I try and do my best and work hard to do what ever is needed. I just hope I don't burn out at some point since I know some people criticize the pay of my jobs but I hope that I earn my keep." -rjfryman "Hi Gustav" -Motzaburger So, after all of this, which I feel I have done as neutrally as is possible, I feel that it would be helpful for me to talk about how I feel, personally, about the job pay system, so as to make clear any bias which I may have inadvertently included in this article--which, again, is meant to ONLY represent the opinions of the league as a whole, and none of my own. I've made it hidden, so if you'd like to read it, go ahead, but if you don't care, there's no obligation to. You're done, that's I've got. 3,683 words; see you in 4 weeks (or less if I've got enough free time to write up a mock--believe me, I want to). Tagging all who responded to the survey below:

Don't give @GlowyGoat any ideas.

I see this town ain't big enough for the two of us.

And down goes a fellow S66 guy. Hope to see you come back in the future @bluesfan55!

@Devise AHA

@fonziGG ok whose soul did you sell for this one

HIRE THIS MAN JOSH I'd also like to apply, don't care which team.