VHLM Offers Have Changed?!?!?!

[Rin 138]

I think that title is YouTube click-baity enough! Almost feels thumbnail-worthy, with some big ballooned up letters and a red arrow pointing to something.

 

At any rate, I figured I'd do my .com article this week as a reaction to some changes that probably happened a while ago. I was surprised that the whole process of reading pitches and signing onto a VHLM team via waivers has changed. Instead of having GMs post replies in a player creation thread and asking the player to confirm a selection within the thread, the signee can now simply click a button onto the portal to confirm their selection. Team "pitches" are also included on the portal, accessible via a button that presents the user with a message from the GM in conjunction with their predicted spot in the lineup.

 

I don't want to sound like a whiny old geezer, but I think I prefer the older method. I know there were always concerns over time zones, and waiver signings were treated more like a race of "who's online now" between GMs, but it felt much more personal with people essentially being forced to reach out to you. I'm not even a new member, but I found it a little awkward to just click a button and basically force myself onto a team. Am I needed here? Wanted here, even? I know those are questions easily answered with "of course, pick any team you'd like," it just felt a little uncomfortable choosing a team and saying "hey, I'm your responsibility now." I also really miss some of the graphics that went along with pitches- team banners, slogans, some people even made little contracts that were fun to read through. That much seems to be lost with the new portal method, which is a bit of a bummer.

 

Does that mean this is a BAD change? No, probably not. I can definitely see the advantages of this new portal solution; I'm sure GMs are happy about not having to camp out in the "new player" section in order for picks. It streamlines a process that, at times, could be very convoluted and even competitive for purely artificial reasons. But even though this new idea comes with a set of advantages, I have some nostalgia for the offer threads of yore.

 

For my weekly Rin song, I present "Utusemi," which is the only translation I'm able to find of this song's title. Since I made an Amberoid-inspired sig, it feels fitting to follow it up with a song from the album.

 

[badcolethetitan 921]

Anime W

[Rin 138]

4 minutes ago, badcolethetitan said:

Anime W

[Spartan 4,403]

@Rin I think most people agreed that the old waiver system felt a lot more personal and interesting to a new player. However, there were a few key factors that led to the change.

 

1. GM's were just copy/pasting pitches. The personal touch was basically gone outside of the GM or AGM simply being around to paste a pre-written pitch. At that rate, it didn't make much of a difference to simply make those copy/paste pitches the official pitch a new player would see when examining teams on the portal.

 

2. GM burnout. You mentioned it yourself, GMs basically had to be around constantly on the forums or discord to be able to make a waiver pitch. The waiver system for the most part was always first come, first served in a way where most new players just signed with the first team that offered. This was fairly unhealthy for our GMs as we recognized how much time was being spent in this area, and we just weren't comfortable with it.

 

3. Refocusing the GM responsibilities. Personally, I really wanted to shift more of our GMs time into working with the players on their team, instead of wasting time trying to recruit players onto the team. I think everyone can agree that M GM jobs are one of the most valuable on the site in terms of engaging and retaining our userbase. We increased their job pay to 4 understanding the amount of time and effort needed to succeed in the role, and also used the waiver system to really give them more time for their players. As a whole with other rule changes to address parity/delete the boom and bust cycle, I think the M is a much, much better community and place for new players.

 

 

[Rin 138]

5 minutes ago, Spartan said:

@Rin I think most people agreed that the old waiver system felt a lot more personal and interesting to a new player. However, there were a few key factors that led to the change.

 

1. GM's were just copy/pasting pitches. The personal touch was basically gone outside of the GM or AGM simply being around to paste a pre-written pitch. At that rate, it didn't make much of a difference to simply make those copy/paste pitches the official pitch a new player would see when examining teams on the portal.

 

2. GM burnout. You mentioned it yourself, GMs basically had to be around constantly on the forums or discord to be able to make a waiver pitch. The waiver system for the most part was always first come, first served in a way where most new players just signed with the first team that offered. This was fairly unhealthy for our GMs as we recognized how much time was being spent in this area, and we just weren't comfortable with it.

 

3. Refocusing the GM responsibilities. Personally, I really wanted to shift more of our GMs time into working with the players on their team, instead of wasting time trying to recruit players onto the team. I think everyone can agree that M GM jobs are one of the most valuable on the site in terms of engaging and retaining our userbase. We increased their job pay to 4 understanding the amount of time and effort needed to succeed in the role, and also used the waiver system to really give them more time for their players. As a whole with other rule changes to address parity/delete the boom and bust cycle, I think the M is a much, much better community and place for new players.

 

 

 

Yup, this definitely lines up with some of the things I thought about but didn't mention. Especially when it comes to copy/pasting pitches and spending too much time recruiting, I remember having to dump way too much time and effort into making waiver offers when I was GMing some draft pick-missing Houston teams. It definitely got redundant and honestly not worth doing at some point, so it makes total sense as to why the shift was made.

 

It still felt a little weird popping into the Halifax LR and going "hey, looks like I'm your problem now!" LOL

[Gustav 6,425]

22 hours ago, Spartan said:

2. GM burnout. You mentioned it yourself, GMs basically had to be around constantly on the forums or discord to be able to make a waiver pitch. The waiver system for the most part was always first come, first served in a way where most new players just signed with the first team that offered. This was fairly unhealthy for our GMs as we recognized how much time was being spent in this area, and we just weren't comfortable with it.

To add to this: VHLM GM hiring pools aren’t quite as competitive as they have been in the past now that we’ve got a whole other league STEALING our candidates! We have to deal with people “moving up” pretty much every offseason and we’ll welcome opportunities to cut down on GM turnover. Yes, there is still competition, and we are hiring qualified candidates who deserve their jobs, but the difference is noticeable. 
 

That’s an unintended benefit, but I think it’s true that we’ve had unintended drawbacks—even speaking as someone who spent most of a year trying to brute-force the idea through BoG. I think it’s an improvement but I’d love to hear how we can add some more personality back into the process!

[Gustav 6,425]

23 hours ago, Rin said:

It still felt a little weird popping into the Halifax LR and going "hey, looks like I'm your problem now!" LOL

 

Also, this popped into my head randomly almost 2 hours after I visited this thread...

 

YOU PLAY FOR HALIFAX NOW? Times have truly changed...

[Rin 138]

47 minutes ago, Gustav said:

YOU PLAY FOR HALIFAX NOW? Times have truly changed...

 

Oh my god, you're right....what have I done??

[Rayzor_7 741]

GM burnout from those pitches were quite high, I'm surprised the change wasn't sooner honestly