The Airing of Grievances: In Which I Am Also Mildly Annoyed By Pre-Draft Interviews

[Gustav 6,322]

I'd like to take this opportunity to branch off of what @JCarson said earlier in this article, not exactly in the same way but from a different perspective. My perspective, of course, is that I'm an experienced member and a former GM who's gotten some amount of draft interviews, and as such, I've got something to say to the GMs out there:

 

 

Before I go any further, I'm going to drop a disclaimer that I like to drop whenever I say something that could end up being taken the wrong way:

 

I don't have anything against any of you, and I'm not looking for apologies. Please take this as constructive criticism rather than a shot at your GMing skills.

 

Now that that's out of the way, I'll go ahead and say that I've found scouting this season, in general, in my own experience, to be subpar. I don't demand an interview from every team, I don't want to be treated like royalty, and I do get that every team has a long list of players to scout and not every player will get a message specifically tailored to them. That said, I'm going to drop a few do's and don'ts of scouting, because I've found a few things in my inbox, from more than one source, that I personally never would have sent as a GM and that would have been somewhat insulting were they sent only to scout me rather than a large pool of players.

 

 

Please DO:

• Message me if you're thinking of drafting me! I want to hear from you and I want to hear that you're interested. I think everyone who would realistically be interested has reached out, so that's not a complaint. I just know that in the past, we've seen some teams blindside their draftees, even early ones, and it doesn't usually end well. If you aren't looking to draft me, I personally don't care whether or not you choose to message me, but if you do, I don't mind that either. Please do if you're interested, though!
• Understand that I have some level of experience. Too many teams have one copy-paste message and one only. I've been welcomed to the VHL, I've been given an introduction to who you are and which team you run, and I've been asked if I'm active on Discord (if you're asking me that, are you active on Discord?). That and more! If you have a copy-paste, perhaps make it more general--or even do what I did and have two copy-pastes, one for all the newbies and one for recreates that didn't read like a copy-paste nearly as much as it read as a "hi, what's up and do you want to play for me" message. This largely brings me to the next section, which is...

 

Please DON'T:

• Send me a long list of questions. It's actually completely fine to send new members these lists, but I know what's important to know about a player and I'll tell you what's important to know about my player. If you sent me a question list this season, please notice that I basically told you everything you needed to know (and asked if there was anything else you wanted--which no one replied to!) without answering every question individually. 
• Send me irrelevant questions. I don't like this for new players either, but it's even weirder in my case. Knowing what my favorite NHL team is does nothing for your scouting process. I'll say that VHL scouting is less egregious than other leagues I've been in in this regard (I specifically remember having to tell someone what my favorite color was in the middle of a multi-page Google form in PBE), but keep that in mind nonetheless. To add to that, try to keep things you should already know about experienced members (like the previously-mentioned "are you active on Discord?" or "do you expect your earn rate to go up?"--no? I don't?) out of the message.
• Ask me to commit to your team for the next 9 seasons. This is an unrealistic question to ask a recreate (and if the recreate wants to stay with you for an entire career, they'll tell you themselves), and it's downright unfair to first-gens. That's about all I have to say about that.

 

 

 

And again, please DO take this the right way. GMing is tough work, and I appreciate that you're dedicated in doing it!

 

 

My old draft interview copy-pastes, for the curious:

 

For first-gens:

Spoiler

Hello!
 
As you may know, I'm the GM of HC Davos up in the VHL. You're coming into the draft, and being on my board as all players are, I'm hoping you could help me out with my scouting by letting me get to know you a bit better. To that end, I've got some questions for you:
 
1. How would you feel about playing for Davos? Any better or any worse than if another team were to pick you instead?
2. What are your goals for your career in the VHL?
3. Do you plan on earning at about the same rate you do now in the future, or is there any reason why you might think you could become any more or less active?
4. Where do you see yourself fitting into a team's lineup? What sort of player are you?
5. What sets you apart from other players at your TPE level?
 
Those are my questions, but if you have any of your own, please feel free to reach out--I like to think I'm here to help everyone succeed and have fun in their time here, and that extends to those who aren't even on my team yet.
 
Good luck in the draft, and maybe I'll see you in Davos!
 
-Gustav

 

For recreates:

Spoiler

Hi there!
 
As you may have guessed, you're on the Davos draft radar this season. You probably know who I am by this point, and I know who you are well enough, so I'll skip the list of generic questions. Instead, I'd just like to hear your general thoughts on playing for Davos, how you see your career playing out with us, and the like--you know what a GM sees as important, so if you have anything I'd find important to know, I'd love to hear it!
 
Looking forward to hearing from you, and looking forward to the draft. Best of luck!
 
-Gustav

 

[samx 1,158]

19 minutes ago, Gustav said:

Send me irrelevant questions. 

your favorite chicken nugget dipping sauce is so damn important so I hope you don't consider that irrelevant

[McWolf 3,114]

interviews for recreates usually ended up being just a one liner like "hey you ok if I draft you?"

[Gustav 6,322]

6 minutes ago, samx said:

your favorite chicken nugget dipping sauce is so damn important so I hope you don't consider that irrelevant

 

Kranch may never be considered irrelevant 

[Ahma 1,381]

hahhah, whenever my player is in the draft, there's always at least one GM who sends me a predraft questions and I always want to answer like "just piss off im not playing for you, get outta here lmao nice try" but I don't want to be rude. Every GM! should know by now that there's no way in hell playing for any other team than Davos

[Daniel Janser 2,111]

59 minutes ago, Ahma said:

hahhah, whenever my player is in the draft, there's always at least one GM who sends me a predraft questions and I always want to answer like "just piss off im not playing for you, get outta here lmao nice try" but I don't want to be rude. Every GM! should know by now that there's no way in hell playing for any other team than Davos

What about the VHLM though (if and when you recreate)? Asking for a friend...

Edited June 16, 2022 by Daniel Janser

[Daniel Janser 2,111]

Thanks for your insight I think they are helpful especially for relatively unexperienced GMs such as me. I would never take constructive criticism such as your above article sideways. I do my best to improve my GMing style without changing my overall winning personality

Having heard only good stuff about your GMing style gives your input even more weight than it already had (even you though you were GM of Davos DAVID(RL Davos is my RL hockey club's nemesis, that is where this statement comes from)). For the record: I would not be adverse to play for Davos DAVID Dynamo in the future, but this player is sold lock, stock and barrel to Calgary. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Daniel Janser

[Ahma 1,381]

29 minutes ago, Daniel Janser said:

What about the VHLM though (if and when you recreate)? Asking for a friend...

VHLM team hardly matters at all

[frescoelmo 1,268]

TBH I respond to them all anyways, I'd imagine GM's are gathering information on a lot of prospects so sending a mass information note and following up with something more personalized is fine by me. 

[Gustav 6,322]

4 hours ago, frescoelmo said:

TBH I respond to them all anyways, I'd imagine GM's are gathering information on a lot of prospects so sending a mass information note and following up with something more personalized is fine by me. 

 

Oh, I'll still respond to everything--GMs will get largely the same info from me whether they send me something I think is relevant or not. I've just always thought of it as a bit weird when I get a message that would make me go way out of my way to give not much if responded to as intended.

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

I love this. Recently I've been getting a few messages and I won't blast anybody or whatever, but man I really don't enjoy getting these generic draft messages. I'm assuming it's new GMs or people who don't quite know me sending me these, because I read it and it sounds like I'm getting some cookie cutter "oh hey I'm a good manager blah blah play for me" which I don't even really like in any setting but I won't pretend like VHL isn't full of copying and pasting. I say newer GMs and such because I feel like it's not an issue with someone like you Gustav, or say Bana, yknow people that I already know and have a history with wouldn't be asking me this stuff. I'd much rather get a discord message just being like "yo whats up bro whatchu think about playing here"