My Honest Opinion: Major Reform Needed for MS

[boubabi 4,725]

So I just crashed my car today ( well not completely but I bump someone) and I had to wait for the towing for 1 hour and a half so I had time to thInk about shits. Like, is rationality all about subjectivity. Like what was considered rational 30 years ago isn't necessarily rational today. If so, what guideline are we using to determinate if something  is rational or not. Do we have to follow some sort of moral rules to guide ourselves to the absolute rationality. What may seem "normal today" or "accepted" today doesn't mean it will remain the same 30 years from now.

Anyways, hard to express my thoughts in that short post. Plus, I'm nit here to guide you through philosophical shits, I'll rather speak (or write) about another major change the league could bring in s50.

 

If we follow the mind set that we established the auto 6 tpe for point tasks to reward efforts, it would be logical to follow that road for future changes. I shall say the auto 6 tpe heavily favour graphic makers, as a 4,5 tpe sig or a 10 minutes artwork is equal to a 2 hours masterpiece, which is fine if we follow the prior mindset. However, I don't think this applies on media spot that much as we rarely saw media spots worth less than a complete 6 tpe. Plus, I don't think the time/effort requires to do a good media spot changes that much from one to another. So how can we fix that? I mean, if we want to favour effort for both ways, I think a reform is necessary. Here's my idea : Allow members to write about hockey, more especially the NHL.

 

Isn't crazy to think that one day the VHL will allow eaglesfan to write about how he thinks that Wayne Simmonds is a 3rd liner? Well, considering the league is about to allow members to have 2 players, I don't think my idea is beyond that crazy. What are the main benefits of that idea? New or older member will maybe have the little extra spark of motivation to write their weekly MS instead of claiming welfare. How so? Think about it, I don't expect a newcomer to know who to fuck is Lord Karnage or Koponen. I remember the time where STZ told me to wait until I reach the VHL level, because the VHL is more relevant than the VHLM. Is it true now? You can witness the activity level of the website, I don't think there's much more activity in the VHL level than the VHLM. When you meet new people, the first contact is really important. Same thing for new members, their experience at the beginning must be enjoyable for them to stay. If they aren't graphic maker, I must say its quite difficult to find motivation to write something about....the Brampton Blades? Not quite sure it's the optimal way to keep members. Oftentimes, when you write about something you know/are passionate about, it's easier to find the extra 30 minutes in your day to write a 500 words article, and if you are a hockey fan, you have 365 days of new content to write about.

 

Let's be honest, reading eaglesfan's views of the flyers is far more interesting than his random shit post (no offense to you eagles). And I think offering that to new members will ease their implication on the website and one day acquire another knowledge to write a media spot VHL related.

 

Every idea has their downs I guess. Allowing "paid" media spot could mean less VHL related MS, and could maybe reach a point where NHL media spots are dominating the PT section, but if it's the step back that we need to mov forward afterward, I think we should heavily consider the idea.

 

Anyway, it's only my honest opinion.

[FacePuncher 1,343]

@eaglesfan036 you seriously think Simmonds is a 3rd liner?

[frescoelmo 1,275]

 

1 hour ago, boubabi said:

Let's be honest, reading eaglesfan's views of the flyers is far more interesting than his random shit post (no offense to you eagles).

 

0/1 accuracy

[eaglesfan036 4,598]

1 hour ago, ADwyer87 said:

@eaglesfan036 you seriously think Simmonds is a 3rd liner?

He was a 3rd liner and PP specialist but this year he proved me wrong

 

Also I agree with Boubabi, I don't see any harm in letting people write media spots about the NHL

[Baozi 1,658]

This would've been unheard of years ago. But I see your point. the MS and what not could be grounds for legitimate hockey discussions themselves which i assume we all like.

[Devise 4,475]

I think this is a fine suggestion. Realistically the only thing we should be trying to prevent is Media Spots done with very little attention. Opening up the topic range so people can give their in depth thoughts on a wide variety of topics is probably for the best.

[BOOM 8,740]

So if I can't post boobies, I can write about them?

[Victor 10,934]

Yeah we need more excuse for people not to talk about the VHL.

[Phil 5,119]

I don't know... When I entered the VHL... even though I didn't know shit about it, I still managed to write (very easily) about my player. Creating backstories on his day at training... or just opening up the index and doing a little report on how my player's doing in the sim,... it's really not hard.

 

But then that's just me... and I do podcasts now. 

[boubabi 4,725]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

Yeah we need more excuse for people not to talk about the VHL.

We need more activity first

Not a welfare league

[Victor 10,934]

Just now, boubabi said:

We need more activity first

Not a welfare league

I don't think anyone does welfare because they can't write about the NHL.

[Devise 4,475]

43 minutes ago, Victor said:

I don't think anyone does welfare because they can't write about the NHL.

 

I think your making this too specific, and logical. Which is fine but I think it kind of undermines the actual point of this idea.

 

It isn't necessarily that specific people flat out refuse to do a media spot because they can't write about the NHL, or any specific topic for that matter. It's a compounded thing. Person goes to sit down and write media spot, struggles to find a topic they like enough to put the word count in. Struggles long enough, life distracts them and then they claim welfare and go on about their business. If we are less restrictive with our topic demands, is there a chance said person has less trouble finding a topic to write about? If so, then it's likely we see more media spots because of that. Inspiration is different for everyone, and as far as I'm concerned I'd rather just read more media spots in general anyways, so I don't see what the big harm is in allowing a bit more freedom in regards to the topic people write about. 

 

It could also help with newer members too. We have no idea if out there there are people who simply enjoy writing about the NHL for example, who when presented with the league and an option to do something they already enjoy doing, but being able to build a fake player while doing it, use this as a tipping point for entering or joining the league. 

Edited June 4, 2016 by Mr. Power

[Victor 10,934]

I dunno, I don't want to come here to read rants about Crosby or the positives of Donald Trump's foreign policy.

[Devise 4,475]

1 minute ago, Victor said:

I dunno, I don't want to come here to read rants about Crosby or the positives of Donald Trump's foreign policy.

 

Then don't read those specific media spots? 

 

Edit - Also  @Victor this is kind of a key element people argue against the VHL rearing it's ugly head again. The VHL is not nearly inclusive enough. Read your statement. You just basically said "This is my league, and I don't want something so it shouldn't be in it. Period. End of discussion." So long as we aren't taking away elements that people enjoy, which this idea does not, then inclusive ideas are good for new faces/new members. 

Edited June 4, 2016 by Mr. Power

[Victor 10,934]

Just now, Mr. Power said:

 

Then don't read those specific media spots? 

Seems to be there'd be little incentive to write MSs about actual VHL topics.

[Devise 4,475]

1 minute ago, Victor said:

Seems to be there'd be little incentive to write MSs about actual VHL topics.

 

How so? People like you, me, and everyone else who already has zero issues coming up with VHL related things to talk about would still do it.

[Victor 10,934]

1 minute ago, Mr. Power said:

 

How so? People like you, me, and everyone else who already has zero issues coming up with VHL related things to talk about would still do it.

so basically we're catering to guys who don't give a shit anyway

[Devise 4,475]

Just now, Victor said:

so basically we're catering to guys who don't give a shit anyway

Welcome to the world we live in...

 

We can't keep "quantifying" what it means to give a shit about the VHL if we want new members on a constant basis. You can't have it both ways. If we want the VHL to be by the members for the members, then it isn't inclusive. It's what we want it to be. If we want larger scale users we have to sacrifice things. When someone chooses to create an account, a player and login to our site, to them...they are giving enough of a shit about the VHL. The moment we ask for more, while some may be fine with that, others, not so much. It's like as much as I myself even hate new for the sake of new, EA Sports releases a new for the sake of new video game for hockey fans every fucking year that grosses millions of dollars and is played by how many people who even admit half the time the games have so little of actual substance that is new. It's just new for the sake of new. But they buy it anyways, they show up put their money down and put countless hours into it. 

 

Recruitment isn't our only issue, we are not a casual sim league. Plain and simple. That is going to off put people, and either we live with that, or we start to cater towards other demographics so that we open ourselves up to some new faces. 

[Victor 10,934]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Power said:

If we want larger scale users we have to sacrifice things.

we do? Didn't realise the recruitment movement got so desperate we're now willing to just do away with everything the VHL is.

 

Why even bother with Point Tasks? Just give people TPE per post.

 

5 minutes ago, Mr. Power said:

we are not a casual sim league. Plain and simple. That is going to off put people, and either we live with that

Yeah.... we lived with that and we can live with that. This has always been a niche market and you can't prove that trying to appeal to everyone is going to make things better. Real life events suggest trying to appease everyone only alienates the core support.

 

Give me 5 full on VHL actives over 20 casuals who come here to do their Facebook post no one cares about any day of the week.

[Devise 4,475]

1 minute ago, Victor said:

Give me 5 full on VHL actives over 20 casuals who come here to do their Facebook post no one cares about any day of the week.

 

I'm not saying we have to sacrifice everything we are. I supported a idea that allowed more inclusion without sacrificing anything. It's not like the idea says people can't talk about the VHL, and those core members your looking for will do it as well. But what I do think we need to sacrifice is this, right here, these words you just posted.

 

New members, members who dislike this league and prefer other sim leagues, etc use this as the fuel against us. It doesn't matter if we are more open than we seem, we still tell people outright that if you aren't a "proper" VHL member your useless to us. That is the type of mentality that makes people pass on your league. Our goal should be to get people in the door by being open and receptive to their perspective, and then push them to engage in the depth that the VHL system people like you and I love and enjoy. The "us or them" mentality that goes on in regards to ideas, quality of member, why people log in, all contribute to people thinking we are this harsh league. Something that isn't true, and that falsehood hurts our reputation negatively especially when it comes to recruiting members who are already familiar with sim leagues. 

[Victor 10,934]

Show me a league which allows you to earn TPE for writing whatever the fuck you want.

[boubabi 4,725]

I have heard the vhl is giving auto 6 tpe no matter how good the media spot is

 

Let me talk about hitler and I shall include one quotation of lord karnage and it will be vhl related

 

 

Thats pretty much whatever i want

 

Show me a league that is about to allow members to have 2 players at the same time

 

*pointing my screen*

[Devise 4,475]

Yeah I was going to say, as long as you make it loosely league related you can pretty much already write whatever you want here. How many great media spots have we seen that literally just feature member usernames as it's only connection?

 

Here is what is silly to me though, how we continue to quantify what a "active" VHL member is. Not as a means of determining numbers or statistics or the life blood that runs the league. No, to belittle and subjugate users who may want to engage in the VHL or sim leagues in general different than us. Victors Facebook comment is key, but I feel like you are basically saying "We want to turn down users whose goal is to create a player in the VHL." Because that is essentially what you are saying, through caveats. It's basically..

 

"Oh hey you want to join and create a player in the VHL? Cool. Oh you want to earn points by doing nothing? Fuck that. Oh great you want to write to make your player better. Oh wait, you have a journalism degree and are super into politics so you want to build your player while also talking politics? Fuck that."

 

At the end of the day as far as I'm concerned anybody who wants to create and build a player in the VHL, is good enough for me. How they build that player, how good that player is, and the like should be governed by the structure of our deeper systems. But it is. Doing a MS every week does not a great player make. Recruitment, league jobs, fantasy, trivia, getting good predictions, the list goes on. You need to be engaged in the league, enough so that writing a media spot about the VHL as a topic wouldn't be tough, to get those crazy TPE totals. So letting people choose to engage in the VHL in a slightly different way in no way interrupts that flow. 

Edited June 4, 2016 by Mr. Power

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Is this because I made Draper quote the Matrix in my media spot?

[Higgins 3,618]

About hockey and real life hockey leagues, sure

 

But then I saw politics, grocery lists and molecular biology as possible MS topics and said wtf no.