A Gustav 30 in 30, #18: I've Been Everywhere, Man

[Gustav 6,469]

 

The EFL shut down less than a year ago after a recruitment tailspin, in this message that I dug up from the San Francisco Frenzy locker room. Aside from the VHL, it was the league where I've done the most. I max-earned for almost a full career, made a few all-star games, and was an updater for almost a year.

 

 

To be a VHLer is one thing, but to be a "sim leaguer" is another. Various members of our league, some in super high standing and some who have been here far longer than I have, did not start in the VHL but were rather brought in through other leagues, whether by word of mouth or by direct recruitment or by affiliation. I distinctly remember affiliate league great @omgitshim telling me at one point that he joined his first sim league in 2005 (when I was in kindergarten, or even preschool, depending on when specifically), while @Beketov and many others started the VHL as migrants from other leagues. It's actually a bit weird that most of us here today were recruited into the VHL specifically. Most leagues can't get past that point of initial formation and into the phase of continuous, stable, independent recruitment, and it's a testament to the hard work put into any league at all that gets to that point and lasts longer than a few seasons. But because of the highly networked origin of most sim leagues, a community exists between them that leads to lots of member crossover. The VHL is the only league I'm in today, and it's always been the one I'm in the most, but I've been active to some extent in lots of places over the years. I don't think talking about my time in the VHL would be quite complete without also talking about my time in the sim league community as a whole, and here's where I'll be doing that.

 

 

The SBA: I believe the SBA was the first league I ever joined outside of the VHL, and it was almost immediately after the announcement dropped that we'd be getting free TPE out of affiliate checks somewhere around S67 or so. I created a player named Michael Lang (named directly after the organizer of Woodstock), and immediately screwed up player creation in a way that made him 5'0" and 250 pounds. Thankfully, being short hurt me less as a point guard (I'm not sure what being thicc did). I wasn't very effective in my first season for I-forget-who under GM @Benson, but I won the sixth man of the year award in my second season in their development league.

 

Sadly, my (super casual) time in the SBA would be cut short abruptly by our affiliation ending, which meant that my hard work in the VHL was no longer claimable in the SBA. Sure, I could have welfared it, but I had a little bit of bad feelings toward their administration at the time and I'm not someone who can enjoy a league anyway if I don't have the time to contribute to it. I never officially retired my player, so who knows what happened to him--probably not much.

 

Interestingly, the SBA is also the most recent league I've joined. I've gotten to know @GoodLeftUndone over the past year or so through Town of Salem, and I made a promise that if his VHLM player made it up to the VHL, I would create in the SBA. And both of those things happened--I was very proud of the fact that no one had yet named an SBA player Cranjis McBasketball, and I was an auto-12 with lots of earning potential. Unfortunately, Cranjis would fall victim to my own not really having the energy or the motivation to care about another league, and my SBA presence died out pretty quickly.

 

 

The EFL: I joined the EFL not at all long after I joined the SBA, and for exactly the same reason: affiliate checks. My first EFL player was actually my first attempt at making a Seinfeld reference in a sim league, long before Art Vandelay--Cosmo Kramer was a safety who I retired after he capped out because I misunderstood the uncapping system and thought I'd put myself too far behind. Along with Kramer, though, I'd created Robert Hunter--a fullback named after the Grateful Dead's lyricist who I kept around because I knew there were practically no fullbacks in the EFL and I wouldn't have any issue finding a team. Hunter went to @AW13's San Antonio Wolfpack and stayed there for his entire career.

 

After retiring Kramer, I created linebacker Jabari Spalding--a rare player of mine whose name I just made up without attaching a meaning to it. Spalding would be drafted to the expansion Minnesota Frontier, run by @Renomitsu (who was at the very least GM for a good part of my time there. I think he was the first, and the one who picked me, but I can't say for sure. He's the only one I actually remember in any case). 

 

The EFL was the league I cared about the most outside of the VHL. To incentivize people to take jobs, the EFL's system would max out a player's earning at 9 if you didn't have a job and at 12 if you did--so I took a few one-off opportunities for busy work for that extra 3 and eventually became an updater. Between a few things--updating, using the EFL to practice graphics when I got into that, and playing Town of Salem--I spent enough time around the league to follow it. That plus earning well meant that I stayed interested for almost the entire career of my players--Hunter depreciated first, and I took my max earning a couple seasons into that. By the end of both careers, I was in the top 10 all-time in some stat related to their positions. I wasn't quite Hall of Fame, but managed to put together good players who were recognized around the league.

 

I went inactive with both of my players old, and both eventually retired. After about a year out of the EFL, I rejoined with two development league players: receiver Samuel Sellers of the Trenton Generals (whose name I also just made up) and cornerback Jordan Green of the Athens Carnage (who I mostly made up, but using a color as his surname was a slight nod to then-Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White). I earned decently well and kept up...OK...for most of a development league career, but then I went inactive in what I think was my post-draft season. Both of my players went to the San Francisco Frenzy--an expansion team along with Minnesota when Spalding was drafted, but at that point a team that had survived a massive contraction.

 

The EFL eventually fell victim to an unfortunate cycle of death a few seasons after I left it. Recruitment was weak because it was heavily reliant upon other leagues' affiliations. Because of this, few people wanted to take EFL jobs, especially when those jobs were the ones that really mattered. And having a shortage of high-power members led to lower effectiveness in bringing in new members, which weakened the user base, which led to a greater shortage of high-power members, and so on. The end of the league was something that I was sad to see, but lots of us had seen it coming by that point. Nonetheless, I made lots of great memories in my time in the EFL and would absolutely have it back in its former state if I could.

 

 

The SBL: An ill-fated baseball sim league started up by @AW13 and one that I really liked for the time I spent in it--from beginning to end. Lasting just a couple seasons, I created pitcher Pedro Velasquez and max earned the whole time. I was an updater in the SBL as well and ran some of their fantasy games. It was fun! It was intended to be a sort of VHL/EFL/SBA-style equivalent of the PBE, it all made sense, and I love baseball. 

 

The SBL ended super abruptly, but for good reason--it was simply too much to keep up with from the end of administration. I don't remember who I played for (maybe Sherbrooke?) but it was a good time and I'm glad I was part of it.

 

 

The PBE: I talked about the SBL first because it was my first baseball sim league. That said, there's a lot more history and establishment behind the PBE. My player Armando Velasquez, also a pitcher, was meant to be SBL Pedro's brother. I also created him right around when jazz legend Chick Corea died and gave him Chick's real first name. I remember that I played for Anchorage (who I think are called the Huskies?) in the minor league, run by very solid GM @Guriinwoodo. I earned pretty well, made some graphics that got me some respect among my teammates, and even wrote a massive article over there--the PBE, where one is paid by the word, would be super dangerous outlet for me if I stuck with it. 

 

I ended up being drafted by the Buffalo Surge near the end of the first round--also an expansion team. I've been part of lots of inaugural draft classes over the years for some reason. I didn't quite click in Buffalo the way I had in Anchorage, and ended up losing interest in both the PBE and the EFL over the same week after I went on vacation, didn't check either that week, and found that I didn't really care whether I caught up after I got back. I'm actually pretty glad that was the case because at that point I was spending way too much time in sim leagues, but the PBE is a positive space and a very fun league that I'd recommend anyone check out if you're interested in baseball.

 

 

Howzat: a cricket league, of all things, started by @Berocka and my one foray into trying to run a league (even though others did most of that work). Originally, this was a small group where we all got to create a couple players and he did the rest of the job in creating them in whatever the official cricket video game was. We had sims on video that he streamed on Twitch for us, and that's where I learned the rules of cricket. 

 

Eventually, Berocka wanted to make a full-blown league out of it. Our friend (and my former VHLM draft pick) @Cxsquared was a web developer who put tons of work into creating a forum for us, and we already had a better updating system in place than most established leagues. We had a decent handful of people signed up, enough that we could reasonably fill up four teams (you're looking at the GM of the Perth Challengers, named for the first ship to ever sail into what's now that city's port). But we had zero recruitment, everyone was an affiliate, and we had a particularly drama-filled situation where half of our GMs threatened to quit over a VHL rule that we'd transferred (namely, it was a big issue that we weren't tying GMs' players to their teams). Howzat never officially folded as far as I know, but it did stop operating and everyone sort of accepted that. My players, Big Chungus and Robert Fripp (named after the guitarist of King Crimson, one of the most respected prog rock musicians in existence who's up to some interesting stuff lately) disappeared just as quickly as they'd been created.

 

On a personal note, my Howzat experience has transferred very well to real life. Being in a grad program in engineering, lots of my friends are from India, where cricket is huge. I've played cricket (I'm a surprisingly decent bowler!) and kept up with the big international matches, and genuinely done better in my social life because of it. Cricket is fun once you know what you're looking at--give it a chance!

 

 

The IHL: an invite-only GM league started up by @enigmatic at some point a few seasons into my time in the VHL. I wasn't originally part of this league, but was brought in after a handful of seasons to run the Birmingham Blinders. After not much time, I moved the Blinders up to Greenland and made them the Nuuk Nukes (mind you, this was before the VHL Greenland business was ever a thing). 

 

I had lots of fun in the IHL and it was probably the space where I spent the most time after the VHL and EFL. It was a small group that was a mix of VHL and SHL people and all of them were very fun to talk to. I remember making hot prospect Zayden Dawson into my best player, as well as drafting a goaltender who I did all I could to max out for a while. I thought the update system was interesting and it was another league where I cared enough to practice my graphics every week. Some of my best work ever was actually in the IHL, and I wish I was able to crank out that sort of content on a regular basis here.

 

The IHL collapsed very suddenly over one offseason, but I learned later that it was getting to be a lot of work to keep up with anyway. It was just what I needed to have a little non-serious sim league fun, though, with a group that was small enough that I never lost track of who was who as it stayed non-serious. Out of everything I want back, this was the one that I think I'd most realistically be interested in.

 

 

The QCHL: a different GM-based, invite-only league that's a before-most-of-us-were-in-sim-leagues project of @Rin. It hasn't been active in years, and my old team (the Portland Steelheads) only saw a few sims before things stopped. But the server is still up and running--the two of us, along with @Grape, aim to be the first one to rush in and claim the title of league champion every even-numbered month--and things are slowly on the way to being overhauled and rebooted. New team names and branding are in the works, and I think a good deal of fun is around the corner for those of us lucky enough to experience it.

 

 

The SFC: a UFC sim built by @Dil that I found mildly entertaining for the short time that it was up and running. I don't remember my fighter's name, but I do remember that it was very Italian and that his nickname (which was a fillable category during creation) was The Florentine Fireball. I also remember that I won my first fight; I don't remember who I was up against but it might have been Beav. All in all, it was cool. I wasn't super surprised when it folded, because most sim leagues do, but I'm glad the attempt was made. 

 

 

GOHLS: I don't remember what this stands for, but it's a casual Discord-based hockey league where @Beaviss is now a big name after moving on from the VHL world. I joined and created a player named Harry Hood (named after a song by Phish), and just wasn't interested. On top of not being interested, I felt like I was being pinged all the time--an unfortunate combination that meant that I left GOHLS a few days after I created (and received a DM wondering why almost the second I left the server from someone I'd never met). 

 

That said, I know there are people who are in GOHLS and love it. I can't judge it too hard by being there a few days, and there are times when I wish all I had to do was to open up Discord and enjoy it. I'm probably too much of a writer for that, though.

 

 

The SHL: Interestingly, I've never been there. Maybe I'll dip my toes in at some point.

 

 

 

I think being in more than one league can give a person valuable perspective. There are things other leagues do that I wish we did, and there are things they do that I'm glad we don't. I've proposed things here that were based on systems other leagues have adapted, and I always love seeing someone who's a big name somewhere else join our league and have fun with it. If you've spent time in these other places, especially the lesser-known ones, tell me your stories too! There's so much I'm sure I missed out on by being an affiliate.

 

 

Read my other articles for the full Gustav experience:

 

#1: Lightning Glory Gonna Be My Name

#2: Can't We All Just Get Along?

#3: Who Needs Cybersecurity Anyway?

#4: The House That I Built

#5: Can We Fix It?

#6: American Beauty

#7: The Kids Are Alright

#8: Dogs In A Pile

#9: I Just Wanna Grill For God's Sake

#10: This Old House

#11: Go Directly to Jail

#12: If You Can Dodge a Color, You Can Dodge a Ball

#13: How I Messed Up Davos

#14: Ello Gov'nor

#15: Weewoo

#16: Jolly Kranchers

#17: How I Messed Up Davos, Part 2

[Victor 11,021]

8 hours ago, Gustav said:

On a personal note, my Howzat experience has transferred very well to real life. Being in a grad program in engineering, lots of my friends are from India, where cricket is huge. I've played cricket (I'm a surprisingly decent bowler!) and kept up with the big international matches, and genuinely done better in my social life because of it.

I wonder how much anecdotal stuff there is like this. One that stuck with me ages ago was Zero (Builder inductee from a long time ago) said how the fact he started doing podcasts here helped him speaking publicly and just in conversations IRL. I haven't performed a detailed self reflection but I'm sure dealing with the jabs and banter on here as a teen made me less prone to bite at that sort of stuff in life.

 

Is the VHL a force for societal good?

 

(Also RIP EFL which I just learned from this)

[N0HBDY 1,130]

11 hours ago, Gustav said:

GOHLS

Great ones hockey league simulation I think, I enjoy my time but agree that the pinging is absolutely horrific sometimes lmao. Discord being its biggest tool but also its biggest downfall. I run a fair bit of stuff behind the scenes there, let me tell you it is a LOT of work because they run through NHL which doesn’t have any sort of ratings update function so it’s literally someone’s job to go through all the players in the file and manually move their attributes up or down a few points, it hell. Love the league but if something doesn’t change and the person (Doug) decides to call it since he does 90% of that manual updating, some day the league might be doomed

[Beketov 9,101]

2 hours ago, N0HBDY said:

Great ones hockey league simulation I think, I enjoy my time but agree that the pinging is absolutely horrific sometimes lmao. Discord being its biggest tool but also its biggest downfall. I run a fair bit of stuff behind the scenes there, let me tell you it is a LOT of work because they run through NHL which doesn’t have any sort of ratings update function so it’s literally someone’s job to go through all the players in the file and manually move their attributes up or down a few points, it hell. Love the league but if something doesn’t change and the person (Doug) decides to call it since he does 90% of that manual updating, some day the league might be doomed

It’s funny that we’ve basically come full circle because that madness is how leagues ran before the VHL came around with STHS; someone had to manually make every player on fucking PS2 and update them all manually then sit for an hour or whatever and PbP the sim.

 

It was an absolute nightmare and killed many leagues over the years just by being a pain in the butt. It’s crazy to me that anyone would choose to go back to that.

[Gustav 6,469]

6 hours ago, Victor said:

I wonder how much anecdotal stuff there is like this. One that stuck with me ages ago was Zero (Builder inductee from a long time ago) said how the fact he started doing podcasts here helped him speaking publicly and just in conversations IRL. I haven't performed a detailed self reflection but I'm sure dealing with the jabs and banter on here as a teen made me less prone to bite at that sort of stuff in life.

 

Is the VHL a force for societal good?

 

(Also RIP EFL which I just learned from this)

 

I'm also way better with spreadsheets and Photoshop than I need to be at my job and it's served me well. I also think there's no way it hasn't made me a better writer--sure, I'm not using exactly the same style I would with something more professional, but I'm still essentially practicing in ways most people don't.

[frescoelmo 1,282]

There were quite a few football sims in the early/mid 2000's, MSFL, RFSL (SP?), a couple of baseball gm leagues using OOTP (ABL)

[N0HBDY 1,130]

3 hours ago, Beketov said:

It’s funny that we’ve basically come full circle because that madness is how leagues ran before the VHL came around with STHS; someone had to manually make every player on fucking PS2 and update them all manually then sit for an hour or whatever and PbP the sim.

 

It was an absolute nightmare and killed many leagues over the years just by being a pain in the butt. It’s crazy to me that anyone would choose to go back to that.

It’s just the fact that they have something to watch which is what has gotten them through 10 seasons so far with each being like 4+ months

 

 

[AW13 198]

SBL 4eva

[Renomitsu 934]

On 7/5/2024 at 9:56 PM, Gustav said:

 Spalding would be drafted to the expansion Minnesota Frontier, run by @Renomitsu (who was at the very least GM for a good part of my time there. I think he was the first, and the one who picked me, but I can't say for sure. He's the only one I actually remember in any case). 

Remains to this day the only team I have ever GMed (and designed, founded, etc.) in a sim league, and likely the only team I will ever GM!