The OFFSEASON SUCKS....Not Sorry

[Horcrux 322]

The off season sucks, and it is boring. 
 

No, that was not a clickbait title, unfortunately Erica has another (here's what wrong please fix) article. Obligatory Warning, This is not an editment on the Admins, Staff, General Managers, BOG, or Mods. This is simply My Opinion and mine alone. The opinions I will mention in this Article hopefully will spark discussion. I love this site and everyone who helps keep it running. 
 

Alright, here it is. The offseason is boring as fuck. It was mind fumblingly dull, now minus the World Junior Championships that I was lucky enough to GM for but that took all of what a week and a half all in? Give or take. Then it was just more sitting. Then the draft that lasted….3 seconds. Unless you hold a league job, which is easy enough to take up your time and keep you busy, or you get a brief reprieve by being selected as a GM for one of the world cup tournaments, there really is not a whole lot to do. 

The general user just sits there, waiting. Frankly the Discord is just not enough to keep attention, this is why I feel Offseason Turnover is so high.  There is simply not enough to do, and I also feel there is not enough uncapped TPE to keep people involved. God knows I was in Discord with @JardyB10, @Ricer13, and @Laine most of the offseason. 

I feel maybe just a set of activities, like weekly Trivia (not VHL related) for uncapped TPE like 2, or something similar to keep the members who have nothing to do engaged and on the forum and or Discord. I understand it would cause more work, I understand how busy everyone is. But I feel retention on every level is also important and making sure we have enough stuff to keep people interested in the off season drag. Not everyone is going to like the same stuff I agree, but like one day hosting a Call of Duty tournament for TPE or small things like that might be just enough to enrapture and engane the members. 
 

Speaking with Jardy he gave me a wonderful perspective.

“The off-season in the VHL has always been something of an issue, and it’s tricky to solve. On one hand, for a majority of the league, it can be a dull and uneventful stretch. Yes, there’s drafts and World Cup events to hype and follow, but unless you’re directly involved with these things, they aren’t necessarily interesting. Especially if you’re a brand new member. Though even if you are invested and interested in all the off-season activity, those events account for perhaps half of what is usually a two-ish week off-season (more if you miss playoffs or are eliminated early). No matter what, if you’re a regular member, the off-season means there’s a week where you’re not really doing anything. 
 

The flip side to the issue, however, is that off-seasons kind of NEED to be as long as they are. While it may be boring to the regular member, it’s the absolute busiest and most insane time for General Managers and the Admin. There’s a lot that needs to be done, and lots of organizational challenges, like getting a dozen people together for a draft… in three separate instances for each league! And amusingly, if the league were create more off-season events and activity (like the Junior Showcase last season), that creates even more administrative work and requires more commitment from more members.
 

I believe off-seasons have improved over the years, but it’s still not perfect, and this balancing act, from my experience, is a big reason why.”
 

You heard it here. Jardy and Crux agree...all in all I think we could do more.The possibilities are endless and I think working as a community could be beneficial as well. most of the article i know was this is wrong fix it but i wanted mainly to spark a discussion and getting creative juices flowing. I was hoping the article can be used as referendum about what we all can do as members as well as staff. we are all in this together after all. 
 

Through my various conversations with members it seems a lot of this can come down to presentation and engagement not from just staff but everyone, I think a few tweaks on presentation on say like the draft, or marketing and hyping up the smaller tournaments could go a long way 
 

 Anyways again this is just my opinion, feel free to comment just be respectful much love

 

Erika (Horcrux)

Edited November 29, 2021 by Horcrux

[a_Ferk 766]

We would have a hard time finding commissioners if there wasn't an offseason tbh, sounds like a burnout speedrun

[AJW 2,156]

I completely agree, the off-season sucks. S78 off-season was my first as a new member and I clearly remember how shitty it was just waiting around, especially because my team did not make the playoffs. I think it was like a month of nothing happening for me because I really didn't care about the playoffs since my team wasn't in it, my player didn't make the WJC roster, and I had no jobs through the league. Only thing that kept me around was chatting on discord and meeting new people or else I would've left the league.

 

Now with a GM job it's so much better, but obviously everyone can't be a GM. So I agree, the off-season needs to be figured out and something needs to happen so new members don't pick their brains away waiting for something relevant to their player to happen.

 

The Pro-AM tournament needs to be a thing again in my opinion. Maybe even a Pro-AM junior tournament as well as WJC so that new members have more than one tournament to look forward to. 

Edited November 29, 2021 by ajwllmsn

[JardyB10 4,865]

3 minutes ago, a_Ferk said:

We would have a hard time finding commissioners if there wasn't an offseason tbh, sounds like a burnout speedrun

I don’t think she’s suggesting abolishing off-seasons altogether, but rather having more events and activities in the off-season. Like a Flash game where you dress up Jardy or something.

[AJW 2,156]

4 minutes ago, a_Ferk said:

We would have a hard time finding commissioners if there wasn't an offseason tbh, sounds like a burnout speedrun

 

True, off season needs to happen. But I think we should fill it up with things to do while members wait for games.

[Horcrux 322]

2 minutes ago, JardyB10 said:

I don’t think she’s suggesting abolishing off-seasons altogether, but rather having more events and activities in the off-season. Like a Flash game where you dress up Jardy or something.

[Banackock 8,048]

I like the off-season! Guess being a GM may be a bit different but I see it as a break in a way too. 

[a_Ferk 766]

6 minutes ago, ajwllmsn said:

S78 off-season was my first as a new member and I clearly remember how shitty it was just waiting around, especially because my team did not make the playoffs.

Just be on a good team, problem solved!

[Horcrux 322]

Just now, Banackock said:

I like the off-season! Guess being a GM may be a bit different but I see it as a break in a way too. 

that was my point. Pbvisouly if you are a GM or higher its not an issue XD

much needed break

[a_Ferk 766]

If there wasn't an offseason I would not want to be Josh in particular

[Horcrux 322]

Just now, a_Ferk said:

If there wasn't an offseason I would not want to be Josh in particular

No one is saying kill the offseason XD

[Ricer13 2,796]

I agree with what you’re saying. Off-seasons are not engaging enough with every member and it’s likely impossible to engage everyone. Having the World Juniors is great because it involves new members in managing roles and as players in the tournament but the issue is the lack of hype or advertisement to really bring enough eyes to it. Similar to the World Cup, there wasn’t nearly enough eyes on the tournament so how many members really got involved? Not many. Also off-seasons running both tournaments tend to be even longer which I don’t think is necessary. I get complaints all the time about the off-season being never ending. 
 

[Red 499]

i agree, we need to fire some people

[Red 499]

5 minutes ago, Horcrux said:

No one is saying kill the offseason XD

kill josh instead

[Ricer13 2,796]

17 minutes ago, ajwllmsn said:

I completely agree, the off-season sucks. S78 off-season was my first as a new member and I clearly remember how shitty it was just waiting around, especially because my team did not make the playoffs. I think it was like a month of nothing happening for me because I really didn't care about the playoffs since my team wasn't in it, my player didn't make the WJC roster, and I had no jobs through the league. Only thing that kept me around was chatting on discord and meeting new people or else I would've left the league.

 

Now with a GM job it's so much better, but obviously everyone can't be a GM. So I agree, the off-season needs to be figured out and something needs to happen so new members don't pick their brains away waiting for something relevant to their player to happen.

 

The Pro-AM tournament needs to be a thing again in my opinion. Maybe even a Pro-AM junior tournament as well as WJC so that new members have more than one tournament to look forward to. 

The ProAM tournament was a lot of fun but wasn’t a “VHL” run league. It was done by a few members to have something to do in the off-season. I think the VHL could do something similar but that would take a lot of work to set up and make it an official part of the league.

[a_Ferk 766]

The problem with offseason tournaments is not a lot of people care about them

[Arce 755]

@JardyB10Come on Jardy, make things happen!

[Ricer13 2,796]

1 minute ago, a_Ferk said:

The problem with offseason tournaments is not a lot of people care about them

The ProAM one was fairly successful. It allowed members to be a lot more creative with their teams and had a draft rather than just team selections from a list like the WJC. The only reason it faltered was because those in charge didn’t have the time to continue it because it is a lot of work to run. 

[JardyB10 4,865]

3 minutes ago, Arce said:

@JardyB10Come on Jardy, make things happen!

I’m just a regular wash-up! All I’m good for is cussing at teens and talking about the good ol days 

[JeffD 648]

2 minutes ago, Ricer13 said:

The ProAM one was fairly successful. It allowed members to be a lot more creative with their teams and had a draft rather than just team selections from a list like the WJC. The only reason it faltered was because those in charge didn’t have the time to continue it because it is a lot of work to run. 

And here lies the problem.

 

We had a shorter offseason before last season and it became absolute hell as a general manager to build a team both through the draft and a shortened free agency period. That was a very hard offseason to deal with as a general manager.

 

HOWEVER if we begin to add more events to the offseason we are heaping more work onto already probably the busiest time of the season for staff. We added the lottery tournament to alleviate downtime and I see complaints that no one cares about it. We also have the World Cup and World Juniors which don't have a ton of eyes on them which I'm not really sure who that is on. STHS involved off-season events seem to take a ton of work and don't seem to have a huge impact on the lull.

[Ricer13 2,796]

6 minutes ago, JeffD said:

And here lies the problem.

 

We had a shorter offseason before last season and it became absolute hell as a general manager to build a team both through the draft and a shortened free agency period. That was a very hard offseason to deal with as a general manager.

 

HOWEVER if we begin to add more events to the offseason we are heaping more work onto already probably the busiest time of the season for staff. We added the lottery tournament to alleviate downtime and I see complaints that no one cares about it. We also have the World Cup and World Juniors which don't have a ton of eyes on them which I'm not really sure who that is on. STHS involved off-season events seem to take a ton of work and don't seem to have a huge impact on the lull.

It’s absolutely a balancing act and we can’t make everyone happy unfortunately.
 

I do think the ProAM worked better as a separate entity of the league where members who had the time could set it all up and it wouldn’t affect the staff of this league who are already swamped during the VHL’s off-season.

[Laine 1,361]

Honestly, this is a part of the reason why the ProAM team and I attempted to grow the ProAM so much.

We knew that members really didn't have a lot to do during the offseason unless they were directly involved. Our hope was that instead of members having peaks and valleys in terms of interest (because some would be bored during their first offseason and leave), we can keep their interest across the offseason and keep more members. Along with that, WJC GM spots are usually first-time or first gen GMs, so we prioritized those kinds of hires for our tournament so those who didn't get a WJC spot could come to our tournament and gain some experience, as well as their being a wealth of GMs taking part in the tournament eager to teach newer members. It wasn't officially affiliated with the VHL, but I think it did a good job in supporting the VHL.

It was a lot of work and it weighed on us as a staff (which led to it eventually being ended, for now ) to organize everything, but we don't regret the 7 season run of the ProAM at all.

[AJW 2,156]

1 hour ago, Ricer13 said:

The ProAM tournament was a lot of fun but wasn’t a “VHL” run league. It was done by a few members to have something to do in the off-season. I think the VHL could do something similar but that would take a lot of work to set up and make it an official part of the league.

Yeah it doesn’t have to be officially part of the league still, but we could form a team of more members to run it. Get like ten people to all pitch in and do a little.

[Ricer13 2,796]

19 minutes ago, ajwllmsn said:

Yeah it doesn’t have to be officially part of the league still, but we could form a team of more members to run it. Get like ten people to all pitch in and do a little.

DM me if you’re serious about this. I’d be willing to help bring it back to life. 

[Beketov 9,025]

As a simmer you can pry off-seasons from my cold dead hands, it’s literally the only time of year where I don’t need to sim every single day.
 

That’s kinda the issue (and I get that it was touched on), everyone wants faster off seasons or more to do or whatever but anything we add gets either minimal interest or adds way too much additional work. We moved the WJC from the middle of the season to the off season to kinda put more eyes on it but ultimately it adds to the same problem: staff are burnt out and off-seasons are busy. Like @JeffD said we had a shorter one a couple of seasons ago and anyone that has stuff to do during the off-season was basically killed by the workload of it.
 

2 weeks, generally, is the sweet spot. I’m not saying its perfect and I’m not saying there’s always 100% stuff to look at but those of us who have to run everything are people too, people who are on here 7 days a week making sure sims happen and whatnot. That small off-season break is literally the only break we get from being sim-bots.

 

As for non-sim related stuff, the issue is two-fold. If something is too minimal you get the same problem of it not lasting long enough to fill any void and if something is too substantial it ends up adding too much extra administrative overhead or worse it adds extra off-season time which is the opposite of what people want. I also recognize people want TPE for everything but just throwing more uncapped TPE (when the off season already has a lot) at a problem doesn’t necessarily solve it.

 

Ultimately I think it comes down to what @bigAL and I have tried to preach for a few months: people are more than welcome to do things without having the league need to run them. You wanna have the ProAm again, go do it, I never stopped it before. You want game nights or whatever, have at it. The staff are tired by the off-season and are dealing with a lot of turnover stuff so piling more onto us isn’t going to make the off-season any shorter but in most cases we’re more than fine letting a member take the reigns on something they want to do. I’ve always said the VHL is more about the community than the sims, embrace that and enjoy the community aspect rather than demanding more numbers to stare at.

 

Just my 2 cents on the matter.