My First-Generation experience so far.

[JCarson 744]

Theme Week, First Generation Player: Molly the Cat

 

This media spot will be a summary of my experience as a First-Generation Player from a perspective of the management experience and not specifically a record of how the player has done themselves. 

 

My introduction to VHL was a result of my son's referral. He has been involved for a period and was looking at ways to bolster his TPE on his current player. He asked if I would join and play long enough to reach the required milestones for him to achieve the TPE referral bonuses. Trying to be a good father I agreed and created my character. I quickly received the mad rush of contacts trying to recruit me to various teams (the adjustments made to this process were much needed). As my son was AGM of the San Diego Marlins at that point, I joined them to make conversations about the experience easier. I had a lot of questions that first year, many of them about how to build a character but many others about how to find information on the Forum and/or the Portal. Simply put I learned that the system of information storage has changed over the years as different updates have occurred and I do not ever expect to understand it. Which explains why I hate VHL trivia.  

 

My second season I got to experience the draft process and the post draft review by various members of the league. Having gone through an entire season, I thought I learned something and drafted articles about different frustration points within the system. I will say that on a positive note I received answers to those articles from various members of the community. Some of the answers did rub the wrong way, note when you start your answer with every first-generation player asks this question. That should be a clue that either it should be addressed, or it is something the VHLM GM should discuss in their chat rooms so that the topic can be addressed before it becomes a forum issue.

 

My third season I may have given up on trying to fix the league (that sounds funny to me now) and spent most of the season focused on building my player to be the best it could be. I had the focus of wanting to win the Rookie of the Year award, which I am proud to say I am the Season 85 winner of the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. (Based on the Season 84 draft review I would not have been the top contender for this award). The other interesting part of my Rookie VHL season was that I was named Captain of the London United, which were expected to be in a rebuild year. As a First-Generation player it was a unique experience being Captain of the team when so many more qualified players were around. So, I did the best I could and decided that the best thing I had to offer was my excitement level which has not worn off over time. I also took over writing the teams press conferences and trying to encourage TPE production by linking items like the VHFL link and weekly fantasy questions to discord so they can be found easier. 

 

My fourth and current season has been a struggle from a perspective of pressing for TPE growth. The constant cycle of writing articles, media spots and reviews (I am now avoiding trivia) to get the maximum allowed weekly TPE is becoming a chore. I have tried to address this by creating my own theme for the year (The Litter Box Foundation) which has allowed me to include research on deserving charities and bring to light childhood issues by using fictional people to reveal actual issues. 

 

So that has been my experience so far. I know I still have new things to experience (Depreciation, recreating a player) and potentially one day I may even apply for a job. But I am not going to get ahead of myself on that.