Gustav

2,075 words; week 2

It's been a long time since I wrote a numbers-based article. Of course, you're all familiar with all that time I spent talking about myself. Chances are that you're also familiar with things like my Hall of Not Bad series, which I really do promise hasn't died yet. But it's been a while since I wrote a standalone article on a new topic, and I'm finally back to give you one of those. I've always been curious about how hybrid attributes affect player builds. I'm still much better at looking at player builds through the lens of their STHS attribute equivalents, and I also generally try to stay mindful of the idea that hammering away at a hybrid attribute might only get you a point or two in the grand scheme of things. This was something that frustrated me a little bit when we drew up the hybrid system. Especially as attributes get more costly, a system that was already meant to make things more costly will end up making that effect even stronger. So, as I build, I should aim to build in as efficient a manner as possible. Indeed, I've always referred to this concept as "TPE efficiency", but I never ended up doing more than casually thinking about it and I've never attempted to run any numbers on it. Ideally, one would expect a good build to do a collection of things: Be the result of good earning (i.e., have a lot of TPE); Be as efficient as possible (i.e. upgrading real STHS attributes as much as possible without losing much to the hybrid system); Conform to a "meta"-type build (have strong Scoring and Defense without significant upgrades to Passing). So, I think it would be worth our time to take a look at a few things. Which players have reached a high TPA level, while not being held up much by STHS, and while building well--doing both of those other things while going for builds that target hybrid attributes that aren't often thought of as efficient adds? Let's find out. 1. TPE Efficiency I'm going to define TPE Efficiency as (STHS TPE)/(Hybrid TPE). If a player somehow spends 500 TPE on a build that is also 500 TPE under the old update scale, that player's TPE Efficiency will be equal to 1. The new system is just about universally more restrictive than the old one, though, so everyone will end up with a decimal value. On the surface level, TPE Efficiency is best of as high as possible. Across the league, the spread looks like this: And I'll be honest, this actually really surprised me. My perception was that as TPA gets higher and as the update scale starts to take a stronger hold, STHS upgrades will become harder and harder to come by, and builds will become less efficient. It turns out that I was wrong about this--of course, the old update scale also got harder as it went on. Ours actually seems like it's making things a little bit easier than it used to be for high-earning players than it used to be--granted, I don't think this is a huge concern because it's not all that strong of a correlation, but it's definitely there. For instance, lots of players above 600 TPA manage builds that are over 60% efficient, but none below that point. Builds below 50% efficiency are also a rare occurrence above 700 TPA or so, but there are lots of them below that point. It actually may be the case that there's a peak just above 800 TPA, at which point our update scale starts to become more difficult again, but I don't have enough data points that I think I can say this confidently. I've noticed that aside from TPE, most of the most efficient players are forwards, and within that, most of those are centers. I'm not quite sure what's causing the discrepancy between forward and defense in general, but a center would benefit from the need to add to Faceoffs, that being one more attribute that would be upgraded at low cost. In general, these differences aren't huge. If you're curious, the league's most efficient defenseman is @Daniel Janser's C.G.Y. Janser, weighing in at 61.8% efficient. All in all, once you're above 800 TPE, most players in the league are between 50 and 70% efficiency. A couple players of note in this category are: Most Efficient: 1. Miner vHLer | | LW | @Rhynex Entertainment | 847 TPA | 77.8% Efficiency 2. Viktor Jensen | | C | @Advantage | 850 TPA | 74.1% Efficiency 3. Shubham Anand | | RW | @Will3 | 847 TPA | 71.8% Efficiency Least Efficient: 1. Chris Reynolds Jr | | LW | @Crstats23 | 611 TPA | 38.0% Efficiency 2. Sunset Moth | | D | @McWolf | 551 TPA | 38.7% Efficiency 3. Chris Sanzone | | LW | @handfullofbubba | 642 TPA | 38.9% Efficiency Honorable Mentions: -Mina (@Baozi) is the only player above 800 TPA and below 50% efficient. Mina's 1085 TPA translate to 524 TPA in STHS--a good deal under Miner vHLer's 659 despite being over 200 TPA ahead on the portal. -Calgary's Raimo Tuominen (@SlapshotWrangler) is building impressively, 4th in overall efficiency despite being above 1000 TPA. Tuominen is the only player above 900 TPA to be over 70% efficient. -Davos' Joseph Dubois (@Dubois) is inactive and would be off to an awesome start if we were only earlier on in his career. Dubois is that little peak right around 400 TPA, currently rocking a 53.5% mark. That's very impressive for the TPA level! Efficiency can tell us a lot, and even though I knew there were often big differences in those STHS attributes that weren't always evident in the hybrid totals, I wasn't aware that we had differences as big as we do or even that TPA can influence how much efficiency is even possible at a given level. It does not, however, tell us the whole story, and that's where we need to try to quantify builds. 2. The Meta Index So, I'm going to introduce a new number called the Meta Index (MI), which I'll define as MI = ((SC/PA)-1)*(SC/99)*(DF/99). The first part of the formula, which I've put in red, weighs Scoring and Passing against each other ratio-wise. Equal Scoring and Passing will result in an MI of zero, while values of Scoring greater than Passing will make MI positive and values of Passing greater than Scoring will make MI negative. This value is then multiplied by the blue part, which is a measure of how much Scoring and Defense have been upgraded. This results in a generally higher MI for players with higher TPE, which I don't personally mind because those players are both more valuable to their teams and more locked in to their builds (a low-TPE player can become meta, but a high-TPE player either is or isn't unless they reroll). So, let's take a look at player builds as they conform to the meta. Of course, a number that I drew up to get larger with TPA ends up getting larger with TPA. There's no surprise there. What I do think is interesting to see is that you can certainly tell which players have locked themselves into the meta build strategy and which have not. Block out every MI below .100 and you can draw a very clean trend line through those top points--which, to me, indicates that there's a pretty constant rate of increase in MI as those builds progress and the meta doesn't really become any easier or harder to pursue with time. Of course, I can always list out the following: Most Meta: 1. Harry Callahan | | RW | @dstevensonjr | 1330 TPA | MI .279 2. Gianfranco del Rocco | | LW | @Victor | 1051 TPA | MI .276 3. Three players tied with MI = .267 Least Meta: 1. Felicia Hardy | | D | @JCarson | 905 TPA | MI -.175 2. Lionel Collberg | | D | @Masu Chan | 830 TPA | MI -.147 3. Tord Yvel | | D | @Trazan | 618 TPA | MI -.140 It's true that our top players are forwards, and our bottom three all play defense, but I don't think there was as strong of a difference position-wise as there was before. I'd explain the difference here as being up to differences in the ways people choose to build voluntarily. For instance, I've certainly seen more people playing defense and not upgrading Scoring, just because that's what's seen as making a "defensive defenseman" to some. What about efficiency? Originally, the Board of Gustav chose to make some of the ratios the ways that they are in an attempt to make pass-first builds more accessible to those who wished to build outside of the meta. Were we to compare efficiency to MI, I would hope that some of those low (and even negative) MI values would correspond to higher efficiency values--because that was the intent, wasn't it? It doesn't look like it upon first glance, and I think it's a fair takeaway that the differences in ratios needed to upgrade Passing and Scoring really aren't influencing overall efficiency too much. However, I would argue that pass-first builds are slightly more efficient, because we're seeing MI increase pretty steadily with TPA, we're seeing higher efficiency at higher TPA, but we're not really seeing high efficiency at high MI. I would argue that low-TPE builds are in fact slightly more efficient--Miner vHLer, being the most efficient player we have, certainly seems to have taken advantage of that to some extent. Whether it's worth going for a pass-first build for the sake of efficiency, though, doesn't seem to be a question with a positive answer, because I'd take that effect as very slight. As a side note, I will always say that you should build however you'd like. If your MI is low, don't worry about conforming unless you'd actually like to. But as it's clear that a player can be efficient, and that a player can conform to the meta, but neither one of those is necessarily true for a given player, it's certainly also clear that TPA isn't going to tell the whole story--and neither is a casual glance at whether a player has the cool stuff upgraded. We need numbers, and I need to invent another arbitrary stat. 3. Build Grade I'm going to (again, arbitrarily) define a new number called Build Grade as BG = MI + ((STHS TPA)*Efficiency/1000). This is another number that should get higher with TPA, but it's more complicated than just that. Here, I'm taking the MI and adding it to that big term on the right, which takes STHS TPA (not portal TPA) and weighs it against efficiency. So, we're creating a number that factors in how desirable a build is with MI, more directly factors in TPA level (but only considers the one that actually matters), and rewards those who have gotten to that point efficiently. It's a rough approximation, but I think it does a pretty decent job of giving an answer that lots of people want: who is the best-built player in the VHL? And of course it gets larger with TPA, but there's still a good deal of variance here that makes this view worth it. As you can tell, for instance, the current leader in TPA is not the VHL's best-built player. Nor is it necessarily a guarantee that you'll end up with one of the best builds out there if you earn a lot--perhaps those around 1200 who may be underperforming could compare their stats to that big group just over 700 and get back to me about what you see. In all, though, please take a look at the final results and let me know what you think: I've also put the average build grade per team on a chart, which agrees OK enough with the standings in most cases. It's not perfect, and that's the beauty of statistics: But yeah, there you have it--my first standalone numbers-based article in a long time! I make no claim that my own numbers are anything beyond "I just felt like it," but I'm pretty happy with the result and I learned some cool stuff along the way. Hopefully you get as much out of reading this as I did writing it! If you'd like to see where you fall on the list, or if you'd like to play around with the numbers on your own, you can find my spreadsheet here.

The sun once again rises on Salem, and the town is once again the slightest bit smaller. @omgitshim was killed last night, the second citizen to die to a JUGGERNAUT so far. He was... Additionally, @Spartan was finally taken out by the MAFIA after spouting off some bullshit about "Windiana" the other day in the game server. He was... Night phase should--once again--be on time. Let's have a good day! List of living players (9) @Adrest245 @Advantage @Da Trifecta @eaglesfan036 @GoodLeftUndone @jhatty8 @NSG @Ricer13 @SleepyPlayz

Gustav is on his phone tonight. It’s Saturday night and time to party (read: go out anyway after no one wanted to hang out). While Gustav is exploring the depths of the only bar within walking distance, the day phase ends. And no one dies, yet again. Three days, no lynches, and time for another night. Gustav will be sleeping in tomorrow again, and no, he sees nothing wrong with continuing to refer to himself in the third person. List of living players (11) @Adrest245 @Advantage @Da Trifecta @eaglesfan036 @GoodLeftUndone @jhatty8 @NSG @omgitshim @Ricer13 @SleepyPlayz @Spartan

Night 1 can often be uneventful in Salem. Night 2...perhaps not as much. We start off by checking on @N0HBDY, who spent yesterday hinting at the possible existence of a CRUSADER. It's possible that this may have ticked off the MAFIA somewhat, who came by to visit last night. It's indeed true that there was a CRUSADER in this game, and that N0HBDY knew what he was talking about. One town down. Second of all, last night revealed the existence of a PIRATE. @Lemorse7 was found dead this morning, with multiple wounds from a weapon yet to be revealed. He was--again, to the disappointment of the Town--a DOCTOR. And finally, the Town finds that @LucyXpher, a first-timer, has been taken out by a JUGGERNAUT. Poking around a little more, we also learn that Lucy was... Gustav expects to be around at the standard time tonight, but that may change if I end up with any plans. List of living players (11) @Adrest245 @Advantage @Da Trifecta @eaglesfan036 @GoodLeftUndone @jhatty8 @NSG @omgitshim @Ricer13 @SleepyPlayz @Spartan

Who do you have tonight? Can Mike Tyson do it? Can you make it through tonight? That remains to be seen. Gustav will digest his Sheetz sub and wait for your input. Gustav wants to watch football at noon tomorrow and makes no promises as to when the thread will open before that--but will plan to be up before then at least. List of living players (14) @Adrest245 @Advantage @Da Trifecta @eaglesfan036 @GoodLeftUndone @jhatty8 @Lemorse7 @LucyXpher @N0HBDY @NSG @omgitshim @Ricer13 @SleepyPlayz @Spartan

Gustav is back, at 9:something, exactly as promised. Gustav also has to get to work soon and will skip trying to be exciting. Night 1 has taken us to some fun places. It's taken @Doomsday to one of the least fun places of all, though--he was killed by the MAFIA last night. Doom was... Do with this morning what you will, and I'll see you later. List of living players (14) @Adrest245 @Advantage @Da Trifecta @eaglesfan036 @GoodLeftUndone @jhatty8 @Lemorse7 @LucyXpher @N0HBDY @NSG @omgitshim @Ricer13 @SleepyPlayz @Spartan

I think it's a lot of the fact that no one is really sure yet what's worth what. You kind of have to guess, and over time that part will adjust itself. I'll also note that with fuller rosters and longer player tenures, things in the M are just less volatile and I'd expect less perceived immediate need to go all in or tank. This is something I was worried about from the start and we'll have to see whether the situation is livable and just happens to be a bit different or whether we should look into some sort of mitigation strategy. I don't have all the answers for what that might mean but it's certainly something that's been on my radar.

The sun goes down in Salem for the first time in months. Even Wawa is closed--here, it's so those who live near Wawas in real life can watch the Eagles play underwhelmingly tonight, but the idea that the town may begin to eat itself instead of a sub is also enough to keep its population at home. And for the first time in months, a VHLer may die. Get those actions in and hope for the best. Gustav will likely have things started up at 9-something (Eastern) tomorrow. List of living players (15) @Adrest245 @Advantage @Da Trifecta @Doomsday @eaglesfan036 @GoodLeftUndone @jhatty8 @Lemorse7 @LucyXpher @N0HBDY @NSG @omgitshim @Ricer13 @SleepyPlayz @Spartan

This just in: Insofar as the mechanics of your role go in this game, at least. I hope that's good enough for some of you to get over those intrusive thoughts of yours. It's time for yet ANOTHER round of Town of Salem! Perhaps the league's higher-ups hope that with every death in this game, my motivation to be here dies a little bit too--but they could not be farther from the truth. Town of Salem isn't the constant it was years ago, but there is also no reason to say that I do not still run it. Case in point--Game 31. Let's get going. I have executive-ordered this game to be STANDARD MAFIA, after a few circumstances of its setup made that make a lot of sense. Your role list is as follows: 1x TOWN PROTECTIVE 1x TOWN SUPPORT 1x TOWN INVESTIGATIVE 1x TOWN KILLING 3x RANDOM TOWN 1x GODFATHER 1x MAFIOSO 2x RANDOM MAFIA 1x NEUTRAL KILLING 1x RANDOM NEUTRAL 2x ANY ROLE Your player list is also as follows, and there are 15 of you: @Adrest245 @Advantage @Da Trifecta @Doomsday @eaglesfan036 @GoodLeftUndone @jhatty8 @Lemorse7 @LucyXpher @N0HBDY @NSG @omgitshim @Ricer13 @SleepyPlayz @Spartan Tell me if you didn't get your role or if I otherwise screwed this up. Now, on to our fabled copy-paste. As per usual, if you'd like to complain that you can't read it because you're in light mode, I will plastinate your body and make it permanently salute me when I come home from work every day. Rules are here The wiki is here -JOIN THE DISCORD SERVER! YOU'RE REQUIRED TO! HERE'S ANOTHER LINK! -I'm going with my usual starting and ending times as a general guideline: WHENEVER THE HELL I WAKE UP marks the start of each day phase, and 10 PM EST marks the start of each night phase. Those will be the times that I'll aim for, but, officially, the start of one phase and the end of another comes whenever I make the announcement. You'll be pinged. I will do my best to give out expected announcement times, but I reserve the right to kick off any phase at any time. -No talking in this thread during night phases. That goes for everybody, regardless of role. I have no power to lock this thread at night, and there's no official penalty for talking in here at night, but if you see one of your fellow citizens doing so, please yell at them for me. I CAN LOCK THE THREAD AT NIGHT, AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT! If for some reason I forget, or if you have mod powers and can comment in locked threads, please keep the "no talking" rule in mind anyway. -Do not edit posts. I've been relaxed about not yelling at people who have, but editing is a sneaky way to take out potentially incriminating information. If you say something stupid, too bad. Don't change it. -If you are reasonably able to be online at the start of the night phases, please make an effort to do so. The JAILOR (if there is a Jailor) is able to speak with you in their own Discord channel at night, and that is when I will put the Jailor's target in said channel. If it is within your power to do so and doesn't present a huge inconvenience, please be online when the night phase starts and please join the server out of respect for the Jailor and their time. If you know you won't be around at the start of the night phase, it might be helpful to give me a message to forward to the Jailor during the day phase should you be placed in jail that night. -DO NOT PM ANYBODY. All communication must happen in this thread, unless you have already received an invite to a Discord server where you may speak as well. If you haven't, keep everything here. Should you wish to contact someone directly, too bad! Whispers don't exist in this format. -STAY ACTIVE. If you do go two day and night phases in a row without speaking in public, speaking in a private Discord, or sending me a night action (or specifically telling me you do not want to take a night action), I will swing the Mighty Gustav Hammer of Death. You do not want the Mighty Gustav Hammer of Death, and neither does anybody on your side. -NO ROLES ARE OFF THE TABLE. If you play the online game, you may be familiar with a Classic mode being the default, where many of the newer roles are not used. In these games, if the evil faction is the Mafia, ALL roles which are not members of the Coven may be used, and vice versa. This includes Any All and Town Traitor. -Last but not least, friendly reminder that no discussion relevant to this game in particular is allowed in the #general channel of the game server while this game is running. -Just kidding! Actually last but not least--IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CHECK YOUR DISCORD CHANNEL FOR NOTIFICATIONS PRIOR TO EACH DAY PHASE. It might not end well for you if you don't! -And last but not least for the third time, if you choose to change a night action, please, please, send a new message rather than editing your old one. I've missed changes because of this before as an edit doesn't give me any sort of notification if I've already seen and missed the first one...so make sure I've got it right by separating your submissions!

I think a fair way to put it that I surprisingly have never put down anywhere is that I care a lot about the things I can control. I care about what my build looks like, I care about my earning, I care about the quality of the content I make, and I care about what I put into my interactions with people. I do not care about scoring the most points or getting the most likes, because I can’t control those things and they’re just numbers on the screen anyway. It’s nice when it happens, but it’s not going to make me want to quit when it doesn’t. At this point I think I care a bit less in general, because I think the work I’ve done to build myself up is done. I don’t have to worry about getting what I want out of the league from a personal standpoint because I don’t want anything else. But that’s all a product of having cared before, and I still value that.

Yeah I definitely did the same, but I say that as the one who pushed the current system. I have never said that it was perfect and I don’t disagree with anyone missing the personal element. It’s something we tried to mitigate by letting GMs customize the statement that comes with their offers on the portal. Along with making life easier for GMs (which was more crucial than some may realize during a time when we had issues attracting lots of high-quality candidates), there are some things it does to make the M more equitable. A team doesn’t have the choice to NOT make an offer (which I think we can agree was something too many were guilty of back in the day). It also serves the players by letting them pick whichever team situation they would like to be a part of while stopping GMs from misrepresenting how much someone would be used. We’re always open to suggestions for how to improve waivers. Having seen the way it works for a while, I really do like its benefits and would still take it over the way it used to be. The main (fair) complaint is about the personal aspect, and I’d be all for ways to increase that so long as it doesn’t mess with the other parts.

Good to see you back!

Veterans Day! Veterans Day! Big parades with guns and soldiers! Veterans Day! What's there to say? Do all your shopping--at Walmart! Gustav has a 3-day weekend, and Town of Salem is BACK! Both new and returning players are 100% welcome to join in, and I'd love to see us all have a great time with this. I have one small game update, which I have placed in the update thread (reminder of the other update I put in there from last game as well). Please familiarize yourself with it--the Escort and Consort roles have been renamed. I'll try to (possibly slowly) replace those names wherever it's relevant. Vote for your preferred game mode up top, which I will run with if I happen to feel like it. Once again, trivia is back as well. Rules are here The wiki is here CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU'RE NOT IN THE DISCORD SERVER JOINING THE SERVER IS REQUIRED FOR ALL PLAYERS! Non-players are welcome as well. Remember that ALL game-related notifications will be given on Discord! Make sure you join the server, and check it BEFORE speaking in the game thread each day. Also, do your best to be there at the start of each night phase! If you're new to the game, read up on some roles on the wiki and go through some old game threads in this subforum. TRIVIA TIME: HERE IS THE LINK TO TRIVIA! -If you won the last game, you have an automatic 30% chance to receive a role of your choosing, if you'd like to request one. The winners of last game are listed below: @Ptyrell @Doomsday @Ricer13 @rory @jhatty8 @Advantage @Da Trifecta @Lemorse7 @NSG -If you didn't win the last game, you can still request a role! Play trivia, and for each correct answer, you'll earn a cumulative 5% chance toward a role of your choosing, for a maximum chance of 20%. -If you won the last game, you can still play! This possible 20% chance will be added to your 30% chance for a maximum of 50%. -No, you do not need to do this if you don't want to. -If you'd like to play without requesting a role, simply write "Random" in the role request box. Vote for your preferred format up top and sign up down below, as always.

Another change to go into effect starting in Game 31: The roles of ESCORT and CONSORT in original Town of Salem are now known as TAVERN KEEPER and BOOTLEGGER, respectively. That name change will be adopted here as well, for consistency across our forum and the wiki--I'd imagine that a new player looking for the Escort page may have a tough time. No mechanics of either role will change; this is just a name switch.

I just tracked this down. Apparently what I said was: ...which is actually hilarious. I had no idea I called it that directly. I'm going to take credit for that moving forward if you don't mind.

I don't remember this specifically, but that sounds about right. This was still back when I knew every single new member because I was scouting them. I'm not sure I was ever suspicious of anything, especially since I definitely had a positive impression of Horcrux at first. I felt that there were definitely times down the road where things got a bit more...confrontational, I guess? I distanced myself a bit at that point and I feel like that's part of why I was never directly caught up in everything that followed.

I can't believe that the VHL thinks it's as funny as they do to wait for me to write literally everything I can think of about my own personal experiences in the VHL, and then to ask me to do exactly that for theme week right after I've just done it more extensively than probably anyone ever will. I considered a few things for theme week. Do I make a full #31? I could, but I wasn't lying when I said that I had written everything that I thought deserved its own article. Do I do my best to explain some story I've heard things about but wasn't around for? I could also do that and I think I could do a pretty good job of it, but chances are that one of you old nerds would complain about some weird little inaccuracy. I could also just decide that my job pay is my PT this week, but I think that's really stupid. It's not like I've never done that, but I try to avoid it when possible. I should still actually be active despite my job, especially in a setting where "active despite my job" is not already assumed. Because I'm out of ideas, because I did all of those things, I'm going to comb back through and see if there's anything I missed. Have fun with some of the extra fun facts! My first article in the series never goes into the origin of my name. My original name was GustavMattias, which isn't my real name at all, nor is any part of my real name either Gustav or Mattias. It's actually another example of 19-year-old me being uncreative and naming things after musicians I liked. In this case, it's a rearrangement of the name of Mattias Gustavsson, bassist for the Swedish band Dungen. Eventually, I shortened it to just Gustav because that's cleaner and less to remember, and because that's how everyone here knows me anyway. I'm very OK with staying by a fake name around here (to most people, at least) and still having it be a "human" name keeps things personal in a way I really like. The toxic Houston-Philly rivalry I mention in #2 was probably when I first realized that I was actually invested in the VHL. I remember being in the middle of a shift at work and realizing that I'd been working for a really long time while constantly thinking about some stuff that people had said to each other in one dumb argument or another. I realized that that was weird. It's likely that that was also the first time I consciously decided that I wasn't going to let sim league drama affect me in real life. I describe my computer becoming corrupted in my first attempts to run STHS in #3. I also mention trying to get credit for an assignment I had to miss for that reason and I say that the professor probably didn't believe me--I don't think I ever got credit for that assignment. It was also the only time I went into my school's computer lab to do an assignment (and the last time I'd ever get to because they converted it into a gaming room very soon after). Fixing the lottery and commenting "#fixthelottery" in every game thread wasn't something that happened without pushback. I think this was really the only time I was thought of as the annoying new member rather than just the new member, because I remember lots of comments from people who were annoyed that I was doing it. Ironically, the lottery guidelines also explicitly prohibited just commenting #fixthelottery, so I'd make a normal-sounding comment about how many shots on goal my player had and then add the hashtag at the end. Interestingly, one of those things still got much more attention than the other, which I think proved my point a little bit. Something I never mentioned about learning graphics was the influence of a couple informal leaguewide graphics contests held by @Nykonax at a time when I had nothing better to do. I was still horrible when these happened, but I remember taking a little extra care to try new things and pay extra attention to detail. Pretty soon after these was the point when I started to make some acceptable things, and I don't think that's a coincidence. I guess I can give a piece of lore about Gustav 30 in 30 itself. I genuinely had no real reason to start it, and it was more of an "I just felt like running" situation than anything else. Perhaps contrary to popular belief (and contrary to a few more comments to this effect than I wanted), I never wrote it in some weird attempt to tell all of you how great I am as a person or to hear that from you. These were just stories that I knew I could fill up lots of words writing, and it was also really cool for me to experience writing it because it dragged up lots of things I thought I forgot. So, nice try, but I guess I've still got enough left for an article. Catch me next season with some other idea that's along exactly the same lines as my last media spot and see if that does anything for you.

You just stole my theme week reveal smh I just now noticed this. Considering that Anderson did come back and apologize a few years or so ago, and get banned after a review, I do think that it would be at the very least interesting if that were the case. Certainly an all-time case of VHL lore because THIS iteration of me hasn’t done anything bannable and I’d imagine what to do with me would probably be a matter of debate. Good article and not one I was expecting to see.

Both of these need to go IMO. I loved dropping both of the things that correct to them. If you touch the circus monkey though I riot.

Blues out here waiting until I run entirely out of ideas and finish this exact theme week times 30 before dropping this on us smh

I don’t personally listen to a lot of metal, especially in the sphere you seem to be describing. But you would be surprised at how much of it throws together legitimately great songwriting and technical ability, and how much of it is influenced by things like classical music. I’m not going to debate you on whether it’s appealing because that’s a matter of opinion. There’s just also so much metal that isn’t just screaming that probably doesn’t match your perception of what the genre is in the first place. Give Leprous (for example) a shot sometime.

Art Vandelay