How To Take Away the Intimidation Factor of Point Tasks

[MubbleFubbles 1,290]

(Was originally going to submit this as my media spot next week, but plans have changed, so enjoy this 1000+ word VHL.com article)

 

When it comes to submitting Point Tasks in any sim league, it can feel difficult to approach how to actually create something that fits the criteria needed to get the TPE reward, especially if you’re looking to submit a Point Task for the first time, so I’m making this media spot to hopefully encourage those who ever fall victim to this mindset to offer ways that they can power through and go on to make a piece that meets the criteria.

 

For Media Spots

Break It Down!

 

Particularly for new members, it can feel a little intimidating the idea of writing 500 words about a league that you know little about, but a way to lessen the impact of that is breaking a Media Spot down into pieces. Instead of saying to yourself “I’m going to write a 500 word piece talking about the VHL European Conference”, say to yourself “I’m going to write 65 words for each of the eight teams in the VHL European Conference” and you’ll probably find that you can easily make that limit, especially when combined with the next idea

 

Say What You See!

 

While obviously we also like to see members add a little bit of opinion to their pieces, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with referring to the current standings and statistics and relaying it back through your media piece. Let’s use a segment covering Chicago’s goalie Alexander Minion so far this season as an example:

 

“Chicago’s goalie Alexander Minion has had an incredibly good start to the season, with a 0.939% save percentage, a 1.7 GAA and 5 shutouts, leading the league in all three of these categories.”

 

That small segment there was 33 words which, if you refer back to what we talked about earlier about breaking up covering standings into 65 words per team, is over half of the word count that we need for one team, and that’s just covering one player. Offering up enough interesting information, you may find yourself at a point where you don’t need to cover all eight teams to make the 500 word limit or in fact can claim it for 2 weeks because you made a piece that went over 1000.

 

For Graphics

Have Fun!

 

I feel like graphics is a point task where if you bring it up to someone as an option, quite a few people will immediately say “Well I can’t do graphics”, and that’s an absolutely fair assumption to have out of the gate if you haven’t the first idea about graphics. In reality though, while you may not be aware, you are actually capable of doing VHL graphics for a very simple reason; we look for effort rather than the end result. While a first attempt at a graphic will never come out looking like something that’s going to blow people’s minds with how great it looks, if there are key things that can be pointed at and a reviewer can say “This element of the graphic took some time and effort, good job”, you’ll get the 6 TPE no doubt.

 

So a good thing to do with your first graphic attempt is to just get a graphics program (For free options, I use GIMP but I know quite a few people use Pixlr.com) and experiment with making a graphic. For sample points for what people will look at to what takes effort, try and do all the following:

 

-          Cut out a player image from a google image to use for your graphic

-          Change your player’s jersey colour

-          Change the player’s jersey logo

-          Add a background

-          Add text

-          Experiment with effects such as lighting

 

If you do most of these, you should have yourself a graphic that’s more than good enough for 6 TPE and if you ever need any help with a particular facet of graphic making, there is always the graphics discussion channel on the discord where members can guide you on how to do certain elements!

 

For Podcasts/VHL Radio

All You Need Is An (Up-To-Date) Phone!

 

I think for podcasts, while some of the reasons people shy away from them is that they are nervous about the performance element that comes with the territory and how they’ll be perceived as a result (which I can completely understand, I didn’t do podcasts for my first seven years in sim leagues primarily because I was concerned about how people would react to how I sound, but I’ve only ever seen positive reactions to people podcasting so don’t let that deter you), I think another element that puts people off of podcasting is that they don’t know how to do one or think that recording one is beyond their means.

 

Luckily over the last few years, the process has been made much simpler with the Spotify For Podcasters App (originally called Anchor). All you have to do is download the app, press the record button, stop recording and then add a title and the app will do the rest for you and publish a podcast that you can link to for your 6 TPE. If you’re after advice for content, I’d refer back to one of the points I made for Media and say what you see and subsequently give opinions based on what you’ve seen.

 

For VHL.com Graphics

Simple Is Enough!

 

Some people who look at the VHL.com graphics section might be put off from submitting a VHL.com graphic based on the quality of some of the other submissions as some of them would easily qualify for the 6 TPE graphic section, let alone 2 TPE. However, the bar for a VHL.com graphic to be eligible for 2 TPE is a lot lower than those submissions would imply as the requirement is to merely make a simple VHL related graphic. For the most part, finding an image of a player, changing the logo on their jersey, adding text and maybe a couple of other simple elements (E.g. A solid colour background behind the text) will be enough to qualify for 2 TPE.

 

For VHL Trivia

If You Have No Clue, Just Ask!

 

If you are a new member in the VHL, you will find a lot of the questions that you receive in the VHL trivia will not be immediately answerable, but that shouldn’t put you off from doing them! If you take your question to the 2-Trivia-2-Hunt Channel on the VHL discord (or alternatively you can also ask in your team’s locker room), users will be around to provide you with links that will help guide you to your answer.

[Will3 464]

Whatever you do decide to do, have fun. I love writing so I write. You may enjoy making graphics or podcasts. So do it and others will enjoy it too.

Edited April 25, 2023 by Will3

[Gustav 6,425]

When I joined I looked at the PT requirements and thought "500 words? Well screw that, that's too much work."

 

Fast forward a month...yeah, no comment. I'll say that trying to get good at graphics was actually a major time suck for a while, but still fun.

[AJW 2,156]

11 hours ago, Gustav said:

When I joined I looked at the PT requirements and thought "500 words? Well screw that, that's too much work."

 

Fast forward a month...yeah, no comment. I'll say that trying to get good at graphics was actually a major time suck for a while, but still fun.

Wasn’t your longest article like 20k words?… freak

[frescoelmo 1,276]

13 hours ago, Gustav said:

When I joined I looked at the PT requirements and thought "500 words? Well screw that, that's too much work."

 

Fast forward a month...yeah, no comment. I'll say that trying to get good at graphics was actually a major time suck for a while, but still fun.

 

 

500 words is not far from your average post length 

[dylanjj37 340]

its all a scam @MubbleFubbles!

[Thunder 1,167]

Easier said than done