Babbling.

[leandrofg 1,222]

I'll be honest - I've been struggling here. Life has been more stressful lately, leaving me with less time and energy to fully engage in the simulation world. As that time decreases so does the experience's immersion, which can make it more difficult to stay motivated throughout those periods.

 

I've continued to earn as much as I possibly can and Maverick started this past season firing on all cylinders, but he hit a wall in the middle of the season and never seemed to come back to his most efficient self. While I agree and know first-hand that your performance doesn't necessarily match your skill at all times, it does get increasingly difficult to find a reason to do it. Why put in the effort to maximize earnings, and create the best player you can when, in the end, it doesn't really matter?

 

It gets increasingly frustrating as a player, but I'm going to double down on the honesty and say the same thing from a General Manager's perspective. Not all teams are created equal, not all teams will have massively efficient builds or superstar players, and not all teams will contend for the title, but, again, it gets difficult to reason with some of the events that happen around the league.

 

I agree with the Old Testament that anyone who makes the playoffs has the opportunity to create their own story, follow their own path, and carve their legacy, but the randomness of the events leading to these endings just seems to keep increasing season after season.

 

I am not saying I have the answer to these questions. Questions I believe are problems that we need to address as a league and as a community but certainly they have to be approached somehow because I believe they will lead to larger issues. 

 

Maverick is now heading into his prime and I'm not sure what I'll do. My feeling though is what worries me the most because surely, whatever I decide upon, it won't matter. I want to win a Continental again, I want Maverick to play like the quality player he is and have his contributions showing for it. 

 

At 1200 TPA, playing for a juggernaut, he has faltered to a ~900 TPA playing for a midfield squad.

 

At 1366 TPA, playing for a contender, he will falter to a ~900 TPA playing for a midfield squad.

 

At 1490 TPA, playing for a contender, he will falter to a ~900 TPA playing for a midfield squad.

 

How can I justify grinding for a max build of 1490 TPA when I see no meaningful returns? Especially, when that effort won't help nudge the probabilities my team wins the championship.

Projecting a career TPE earnings over 2300 is nice, but when it won't help you achieve your goals, why does it even matter?

 

Anyway, I've been more excited about the league in the past. We strive for balance in a way that competitiveness seems forgotten. I'll continue to be immersed in this community for as long as there are great people around, but my involvement as a player and General Manager will be increasingly tied to these variables.

[Banackock 8,319]

I think it’s normal to go through these phases when you do it every single time. Hell, I get tired of my partner, my job, hair and everything lol. 
 

Eventually, imo, you give up on doing everything you can and begin doing what you want. Like, I don’t need to max. I miss the odd time. It’s a game. It’s an online simulation. It’s a community. Just enjoy it, dude. We’re allowed to take some days and weeks to ourselves as managers, league staff and all of that. We’re all a team. 

[Spartan 4,659]

Tbh you pretty much echoed my thoughts when my first two players fell totally flat in terms of winning meaningful achievements. I wanted a cup, I got a few awards here and there on Letang and Pearce. HOF on Letang was nice, MVP on both were nice too. But I missed the cup both times and felt like we had some dominant teams along the way that just couldn't reach the end goal, and I felt like we would lose to lesser opponents who didn't put in a commensurate level of effort. It feels easy to give up after losing 5 finals, but I had to just aim for the 6th and for it to go differently. The real blessing has been the people I've gotten to be around. They're really the reason I stick around in the capacity that I do, and the ability to tie people together and give them a good experience. Mav's had 2 100 point seasons in his first 3 seasons, I think he'll have a phenomenal career regardless of how it all plays out in the end. We'll keep aiming for the cup in Moscow and enjoy the ride.

[Rin 190]

I think we as a community are way too competitive, and overvalue sim results a fair amount. At the end of the day, how well your player does is still up to some form of chance; we can influence these odds all we want, but at the end of the day, we still need to be lucky in order to come out on top in some way.

 

It takes effort to get to that much TPE, sure, but in this world effort better equates to time instead of skill, and at some point there's a diminishing return on how much that time or effort matters. I can't imagine it's a backbreaking difference to be at 99 on a stat instead of 95, for example.

 

I think it's easy to forget that plenty of others in the league can also come up with 12 capped TPE worth of busywork every week, and doing so on a consistent basis doesn't really entitle us to anything. We earn in similar ways, we build in similar ways, what makes any player truly different? Who deserves results more?

 

You mention competitiveness being forgotten, and while I do think there's room to be a little bit competitive, we're never going to be happy with the VHL unless we realize that success or fulfilment doesn't come from watching the random number sims that are posted every day. It's about using those sims to create narratives, write out ideas and reactions, turn mental images into tangible ones, and interact with a community that, just like you, can do little more than just sit and watch.

 

The VHL isn't a skill game, like Chess or Counter Strike or even a real sport, where your time and effort are going to equate to growth and results. It's one big collaborative writing project disguised as some kind of competition, decided by the whim of a random number generator.

 

TL;DR: You're right. What's the point of putting in so much stock in something you don't have real control over, at the end of the day? Do you enjoy engaging in the community/writing/creating/roleplaying a General Manager, or do you like it when your player(s) do well in the text posts? I think it's okay to step back and re-evaluate, and absolutely put time into other things if they'd be more fulfilling.

[JCarson 805]

This is an interesting article.  Having put a max earn player forward once and am part of the way doing it a second time it can be difficult to watch as your team and player fall short and there is nothing, literally nothing you can do about it as you have already max earned.  I think around season 4-5 it becomes the toughest as that is when you have to start watching and prepping for depreciation.  To spend almost 4 years building only to maintain what you have already achieved.  I am not sure there will ever be a good solution to this issue.  it will continue to suck.

 

I give this article a 10 out of 10 because I understand.

[Triller 1,724]

I will be changing my goals for my next player to give myself more variety.  Maybe to simply be the best at faceoffs or be a player that gets a rebuild team back into contention.  Maybe most hits or just shots blocked.  Cups are obviously great but I feel no need to chase them.  Running to teams that are consistently competing doesn't really appeal either.  I think I'd rather be a part of getting a basement team to a wildcard spot rather than just be part of a cycle of players that make their way through the best teams.  Just got to find your own motivation and in the end, you can do likely do pretty well with only a 1000 TPE player if max earning is no longer appealing.