Is VHL What You Thought It'd Be?

[Renomitsu 934]

Hi all! I figured I'd do an out-of-league oriented vhl.com article, since all of my other four or five this season so far have been essentially 'in character.'

 

I want you to think about when you first joined this site -- or your first sim league in general, if you'd found one very similar to VHL before coming here. If I were to try and describe sim leagues to a friend without any preparation, well, it'd be tough. There are some aspects to sim leagues - like TPE, updating, and salary minimums - that might not be difficult to explain in concept, but how would you explain feeling 'success' in sim leagues? That is, what's your motivation for staying here, whether you've been here for 0.5 seasons or 50? When you first joined from another sim league or social media (Reddit, YouTube, maybe a friend's Facebook message, who knows), you may have had your first sim league described in a specific way.

 

Does it measure up to what you thought it'd be? Did you think there would be quite this many people invested in the league, or did you expect there to be thousands upon thousands of users crammed into a singular league? Had you tried other types of online sports leagues before (e.g. GM leagues, owner leagues, or player leagues that were kind of like multi-page 'browser,' non-forum based games), or was this your first step into online non-real-life sports?

 

I know there are a fair number of members who don't give leagues like the VHL, SBA, EFL, or the parallel money-based leagues like PBE or ISFL a fair shake once they realize they won't be playing as their player in real time (e.g. MyCareer or whatever in video games). What kept you in the sim league, and has the concept exceeded or failed to meet your expectations? How so?

 

[This VHL.com article is also being claimed for the uncapped TPE package, #5 of 5.]

Edited June 20, 2021 by Renomitsu

[.sniffuM 1,741]

When I first joined a sim league (a baseball league called EPL that used OOTP6.5 to simulate, found it randomly in the off-topic section of the GoalLineBlitz forum in around 2008), I primarily enjoyed that these leagues allowed me a way to act on my budding interest in sports while kinda focusing on the 'nerdier' aspects of the numbers over the action, which was always what appealed to me more.

 

When someone from the VHL joined the EPL and started making graphics that blew everything people in the EPL were making out of the water, I immediately joined the VHL and found a community aspect that really engaged me. It took a few tries for me to actually stick around, but in the end the thing that really kept me around (especially with hockey never being a sport I followed or particularly enjoyed) was the GFX community. My being able to grow several levels beyond where I ever thought I would possibly get with my own GFX abilities is a testament to the great GFX community the VHL has.

[diacope 2 764]

I don't even really remember what my first impression of the VHL was. The past year has been a blur

[Renomitsu 934]

1 hour ago, .sniffuM said:

When I first joined a sim league (a baseball league called EPL that used OOTP6.5 to simulate, found it randomly in the off-topic section of the GoalLineBlitz forum in around 2008), I primarily enjoyed that these leagues allowed me a way to act on my budding interest in sports while kinda focusing on the 'nerdier' aspects of the numbers over the action, which was always what appealed to me more.

 

When someone from the VHL joined the EPL and started making graphics that blew everything people in the EPL were making out of the water, I immediately joined the VHL and found a community aspect that really engaged me. It took a few tries for me to actually stick around, but in the end the thing that really kept me around (especially with hockey never being a sport I followed or particularly enjoyed) was the GFX community. My being able to grow several levels beyond where I ever thought I would possibly get with my own GFX abilities is a testament to the great GFX community the VHL has.

This is what I like to read! 

 

I can't say much about the graphics, as I think the best I ever did was try a couple in Paint or GIMP my first time around with the league (and they were bad), but I'm glad the sense of community and being able to nerd out about stats was valuable to you. I still definitely don't understand any advanced hockey stats particularly well, but I think it's very telling of the community that someone who 1) nerds out about hockey stats and 2) someone who doesn't even follow hockey both choose to stick around.

 

1 hour ago, a_Ferk said:

I don't even really remember what my first impression of the VHL was. The past year has been a blur

Not gonna lie I still lose track of the days and weeks from time to time