As is natural, people come to this community with all sorts of various backgrounds, experiences, thoughts, and feelings. Some of them are ones that I agree with whole heartedly, even if they aren't necessarily popular. And, some are ones that make me cringe. Nevertheless, in my two years in the VHL I have seen people come and go. I've seen a variety of new users become instantly active and then quickly fade away, and I've seen a few older members make their return. I've watched as members have stirred the proverbial pot, called one another out, and I've even been on the receiving end of one of @jRuutu's infamous articles (which, I mean, is kind of a compliment, no?).
As this week's theme is about first gens, I thought it would be fitting to write about something similar to @Phil's article. Now, I don't necessarily need to write anything for theme week, but I loved the attitude of Phil's article enough that it inspired me to write my own, and it just so happens to coincide with first gen users. Ultimately, my hope is that this article serves as some form of inspiration, or even as some form of assistance to our first gen players. So, without further delay...
The Beginning
On October 8th, 2020 I found myself watching a Thrash94Gaming @Thrash94Gaming video on YouTube. It was a video talking about the new NHL 21 (I believe) and an advertisement came up for the VHL. Instantly I was hooked with the idea of a forum-based simulation league, and it helped that COVID had really given me a lot more free time. I signed up and created my first player, a goaltender named Thadius Sales. Upon this creation I came up with an entire story arch for him, diving deep into the lore of Thadius Sales as a hockey player. I was incredibly excited to promote myself, build a great player, and watch him be drafted early and start playing incredible hockey. The entire concept of writing, making graphics, making podcasts, all to increase the skill of my player was fascinating to me. It wasn't something I had heard of before and I found myself excited to try it out.
Quickly, as my player began playing on teams and I started interacting in various locker rooms, I realized that the VHL had two sub-communities. The first community being the one that was deeply invested in the Create a Player side of the league. These people were deeply concerned with the functions of STHS, of building elite players, analyzing statistics and trends, and loved the data-side of this league. The second community seemed to be one that was interested in creating narratives about their player/team, or they were interested in being active in the community, meeting new people, and creating some bonds there. Of the two communities I viewed, I found myself relating more to the narrative/community activity side. I've never been one to deeply analyze numbers or statistics, but give me a good story and I'm all in. This is what kept me hooked early on. Sure, I cared about how my player was doing, but I loved interacting with my team even more, especially in the hay day of COVID restrictions, lockdowns, and shutdowns.
The Middle
On my 1-year anniversary of being in the VHL I created the Thadscape Podcast. Now, I'm not going to go back and listen to myself speak for 30 minutes, but I think @JardyB10's comment on the episode may summarize it well:
At this point in time it was fairly evident that I was incredibly active, interested, and still passionate about the VHL. Now, were there days where I was like "meh, why am I still doing this?" you betcha. Life gets crazy, things change, and interests fluctuate. Yet, I still wanted to stick it out. I never thought about not having a player, and at this point I had already faded in and out of EFL and SBA. I was trying to prioritize VHL while still maintaining activity in the PBE. But, even with those phases where interest waxed and waned I stuck it out. Was I always 100% satisfied with the changes happening, the drama occurring, or sometimes even the general atmosphere of the community? Of course not. But, it wasn't enough to drive me away. At this point, I was sticking around to keep my player going, to run my team, and because I had some great connections with people. I had made friends, shared many joys and concerns from my personal life, and was invested in the league.
The Now
After another year and some months I have a second player, a few awards, am a VHLE Commissioner, a VHL GM, work on Recruitment, and I'm a member of the dreaded Board of Governors. Admittedly, I'm not nearly as publicly active as I used to be. Am I in VHL Discord every day and talking to everyone like I did a year, or even two years ago? No. However, since then I've had a child, finished a Master's Degree, and started a new full-time job. Needless to say, my circumstances don't allow for me to be as publicly active as I once was. Yet, I still find myself incredibly active "behind the scenes" so to speak. Some may see the list of responsibilities I have and say, "Well, Thad, of course you're still around. You're one of the 'good 'ol boys' that gets jobs.'" First, no job will keep me from stepping away from something I genuinely dislike. If I wasn't happy in the VHL, I wouldn't be here. Sure, I get frustrated at some things, like we all do, but it's not grand or anything. Second, I would hardly consider myself a 'good 'ol boy. But, to some, perception is reality. However, the point here isn't to refute 'good 'ol boy' claims, or argue for my ability to do multiple jobs, but to discuss why I'm still here and plan on being here for a while.
Despite all of the ups and downs I've seen in my 2+ years here, which is incredibly small when compared to the VHL's 15 year life span, I'm still here. The reason for that is rather simple, I love this place and it's crazy, broken people. Maybe it goes along with my IRL job, but dealing with people is just something I do, and I enjoy it. That's why I've not stepped away from the VHL. I'd rather stick around through my various frustrations to ensure a good place for people. Is it possible that this may change some day? Maybe. But, not in the foreseeable future. Instead, I find myself wanting to keep up my work here in the VHL to ensure that the league be a place that people join, want to stick with, and thoroughly enjoy. It wasn't that long ago that I was a first gen player who was trying to figure out how drafting worked, what the rules were, or even how to apply my TPE. But, don't worry, I'm probably still pretty clueless in certain areas...
Final Point
If you have read all of this and are a first gen player, thanks for giving me your time and attention. I hope that you are enjoying the VHL so far, and if you are not, please let me know. I'm always open to have a discussion, hear your concerns, and help you learn. I don't feel like I'm one of those people who intimidate others, and if that's the case, please come to me anyways. I promise that I'll be up front, honest, and graceful with you. Finally, if you find yourself frustrated, angry, and just plain old ready to give up on the VHL, shoot me a message. I'd be happy to talk with you about what's going on, try to offer any solution I can, and help you work through it. I promise that if you stick with this league, if you stick with this community, you'll garner some great friendships and I really don't think you'll regret it. I know I don't regret it at all.
And, if you're someone reading this who isn't a first gen player, I'm glad you're still here. Even if we don't see eye-to-eye, even if you don't like me, I'm glad you're here. A community that is 100% homogenous in all thinking isn't a diverse community by any means. So, if I'm someone who disrupts that homogeny, well, then I'm okay with that. And, if you are that person, good, keep it up (however, do so with an open mind, an understanding heart, and a willingness to be corrected).
I look forwarding to being in the VHL for many more years to come, and I look forward to seeing which direction it goes.
I was telling her about your SBA player's (at least i thought it was yours if memory served) name like an hour ago lol... we got tickets to the philly concert 😛
The Florida Man Trophy is awarded to the leagues playoff MVP. This player was particularly strong in net throughout the playoffs allowing only 17 goals against 367 shots throughout the 12 games they played. If you saw this player in net you knew you were up for a challenge.
Yo
Yo listen
A new job opening, congrats to acydburn
In 3 months you'll be gone and itll be the next bootlickers turn.
Sam's the next mod out, yea I just came here to bash her.
She better get down and start praying like her names thadthrasher.
The vhle's at an all time low, thats hard to imagine.
It's gonna drop faster than Josh did the SBA, he's an affiliate assassin.
It should be noted that upon appeal it was found certain due processes were not adequately followed. For this reason @jRuutu’s final week of TPE ban (this week) has been removed.
Never expected to be treated differently despite the circumstances I've been dealing with this month. We take it and we move on. Such is a part of life. Thanks ❤️
Achilles and their 3 friends are going to make their own VHL league (not their own league, their own VHL League)
Achilles saying Dil called them a perv despite copy and pasting what appears to be every conversation they've ever had with Dil since they joined and there's not a single mention of Dil calling them anything close to that.
Sam somehow putting up with Achilles taking 31 minutes to provide an accurate timestamp to a podcast that is 7 and a half minutes long.
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This all has some really big "I would like to come out and say I was dared to do all this for $25. I actually think this was really bad" energy ngl
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NSG got a reaction from Spartan in Stretch Goal: VHL Christmas Album
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NSG got a reaction from jacobcarson877 in Hello, here is my list of problems with the VHL
NSG got a reaction from thadthrasher in 2 Years Later...
NSG got a reaction from Dil in New VHLM Waiver System
NSG got a reaction from Frank in Finals Game: 6
NSG got a reaction from JB123 in Finals Game: 6
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