How Many Paragraphs?

[Devise 4,475]

Is this post going to be? I actually never commit to a paragraph count regardless of how I start my posts off. Although I'm not going to lie there was a period there where I started intentionally trying to post as little as possible in posts because you know, who the fuck wants to type multiple paragraphs of content every single fucking time they post anything to this board? Me? Ha right.

 

Oh this has to be league related, and the amount of words I put into this board apparently doesn't qualify as "related" at least I'd think it doesn't so I guess I have to turn this into something more league related. How about how many paragraphs could I write on the plethora of complaints, suggestions, and changes going on right now? We have player build discussion, we have point task discussion, we have discussion on the ease of building a quality player. We even have discussion, about the discussion of the other discussions had. The end result? A whole lot of fucking discussion. I truly hope all this discussion results in a better league. 

 

Although I will admit that Kendrick is right (I have to name drop you every post otherwise the flow is off, sorry) that if we had as much recruitment as we do discussion we may not have to have any discussion. Thats probably a hyperbolic statement, since fixing or more appropriately exploring options that could make the league a healthier place isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm probably the prime suspect of someone who discusses far more than he recruits. I don't think I've ever recruited a member to the VHL, not a single one. It's not from me being all anti recruitment. More that I find nobody wants to read what I type, so I'm probably the worst candidate to go out and try to explain to people why they should join. That and I'm not really a prevalent in enough places to really make recruitment make sense.

 

Although @Salt I never thought about posting something in the Giant Bomb forums. Do you think that would be a bad idea? I don't now how many pure hockey fans there are, but considering we are in fact a "game" just forum run I'd say it's at least relevant. What say you fellow GB fan? You think we should try to recruit from there? If so I'm down, let's do it! But even if we put a lot of emphasis on recruitment, retainment has always been an issue as well. Also fuck you our stupid auto correct thing, I'm pretty sure retainment as spelt that way is an actual fucking word. So is spelt. Google it I just did for both and both are words. So why do they show up red? Stupid fucking thing. Anyway, a lot of our systems are rather out dated and how people engage with what we have to offer, even if our presentation and look is twenty times that of any other sim league is still lacking for a lot of people. It's not nearly that visual, obviously our games are all stats and numbers with names attached to them. Player build pages are just that, pages of stats. The only real "flare" people get for their own players is graphics, which as much as I think our graphic community is very talented, remains limited to showcasing them in signatures. Our biggest visual strength, our team logo's do stand out, but I feel like we could probably do more visually with lots. 

 

There are other issues surrounding retainment as well. mostly that the time it takes between creating a player and truly engaging with the league in any meaningful basis can be a lot longer than people expect. I was talking about it on my most recent cast, but the internet and how people engage with it has clearly changed in the last decade since we've been around. This idea that people could come on and cultivate their talents, whether that be graphical, writing, or even those who podcast, was both charming and efficient. It was capitalizing on the ways people were beginning to spend their time on the internet, and did so in a forum community aspect that was effective. Sadly none of the things we do are "new" "hot" or on the "cusp" anymore. While traditionally you'd figure that should enhance our member base because now more people use the internet than ever to write blog posts, podcast, or use their photoshop skills. The issue there is that because more people are doing all that stuff on the internet the VHL much like everything now is competing for peoples free time. This gets even worse if people don't want to engage in any of the things our PT system offers, especially when we live in the world of mobile free to play games where people can get that same itch a lot of times by just spending time with it. Most of those games offer check in type things that literally reward you just for being there. It's the way of the internet now. Why are click bait articles so prevalent? Because people are competing just to have you look at what they are doing even for a second. 

 

Sadly so many mainstays here seem to ignore this aspect of the internet. The montra now is "what we have done has succeeded for years" and often that certainly we want to recruit and we want members, but only obviously if they are willing to engage with the league the way it is now. If we get too many members who want changes obviously things will look too different, and those who have become comfortable with the way this place runs will leave. At least that is what they say, or appear to say. For me? I want the best version of this league as possible. Always. Whether that means the league that runs the smoothest, with the most active users, whatever identity we decide to stick with I'm fine with. But to me that doesn't mean we should ignore the aspects of the internet as it is today. There are ways to cater to people that would fit inside the niche of wishing to fantasy hockey roleplay without always catering to people who want to write, do graphics, or podcast. Welfare was initially meant to be band aid to members who were fatigued a "check in" concept that it has somewhat turned into now exists. I realize some hate this. It's too much like the SHL, but I don't give two shits about what the SHL does unless it has relevance to ourselves. The concept of a check in isn't about the SHL. It's about realizing that we as a website compete with a plethora of other sites, apps, and games for peoples interest and free time. 

 

Obviously just giving away all the TPE for free isn't the answer either. But something I mentioned in the cast this week was a way to supplement and cultivate a community around the writing, graphic, and podcast aspect of the league without structuring so those are the ways people earn TPE. People who engage in those aspects should be rewarded, as it's that type of activity that keeps the league going. But those who want to build a good player, but only have the free time or desire to check in should also be able to find some semblance of a home here as well. And while that balance may seem intimidating to maintain, I don't believe it's as an impossible task as a lot of people probably think it is. But a big part of that is going to be abandoning the point task structure we currenlty maintain, and taking a hard look at our system as a whole, the numbers, the attributes, what impact player salary has, and go from there. I'm not saying rebuild it from the ground up, more strip it back down to the ground and keep the principles of what the VHL is, what it should be about, as well as the flexibility we want to achieve in mind was we build it back up. 

 

Sadly none of that will probably ever happen. I'm a big reason for that as much as any, as I often fall into the old boys club rhetoric because it's hard not to see it from that perspective sometimes. I have enjoyed this league for many years and so have a lot of the rest of us. Why change it? Why can't we just spread the enjoyment we had to newer faces and have them popular the league? The problem I have with even my own mindset on that is I often find myself asking questions with that view and not being able to answer them. Sometimes the why is because the environment we exist in isn't a bubble. The type of league we enjoyed, and how we've engaged with it the past 50+ seasons has even on it's own changed a bit since our time here. But that isn't all that has changed. The entire landscape of the internet we exist it and how people engage with each other on it has changed, evolved since then. 

 

But it's still risky, and it's ultimately why the counter arguments that I even find myself agreeing with win the day so many times. Why risk destroying everything for changes that may or may not work? What would those changes bring the league? But there is a truth among the sea of different changes. The league as it is now will not reach new heights. Sorry but it won't. Ever. If this league is to ever be more than it ever was even during the peak seasons, if it is to ever grow beyond a contingent of a specific member base, hell even if you look at the SHL I'd argue they are also stuck to that same formula that we are. Until we re-imagine what a sim league should look like in the modern day, attracting a plethora of different user types while maintaining some of the systems that keep certain members here already, then we will never be more than what we have been. Even if 100 members come through the door, as SHL is evidence of with a higher member count, the fluctuation will always be high. The retention rates will always be low. Because what we do and how we do it will always be too niche, and simply not flexible enough to cater to the wider net of audience we are looking to attract. And hey, maybe some people are okay with that. I know if the VHL existed like it did with the odd push in members and drop as it has experienced same with activity for the next 10 years, I don't know I'd probably be okay with that. But wouldn't it be more enjoyable for everyone if it was more than that? If it could be engaged with by not just more people, but more people who are actively interested in different aspects of the league because it tailors to more interest? 

 

Anyway, that is enough paragraphs for a Fan590 I think. 

 

TL;DR

 

Denise thinks the league would be able to grow way more if we stripped the VHL down and built it back up with the principles in mind of a modern sim league. But Denise also thinks that change is scary and risky and what we have done for this long has worked so that argument also has weight. But in that same breath that fear of the risk could be something that has held us back. Not as an argument for every change ever (even my own suggestions). But if we were not tied down by the fact that nobody wants to "reset" the league, imagine the "changes" (different systems in general sometimes) that could be implemented? Oh also this is a complicated issue so yeah. 

[Tagger 2,722]

I don't think Giant Bomb would allow those kind of posts on their forum, pretty sure there's rules about promoting off-site material. I also haven't posted on there in 4 years so the intentions would be fairly obvious and I don't want to be subject to a content ban or anything. 

[boubabi 4,725]

You started your paragraph with although and sadly twice

 

 

REJECTED 

[Devise 4,475]

4 minutes ago, boubabi said:

You started your paragraph with although and sadly twice

 

 

REJECTED 

 

Aka 1/6 would not grade again. 

[ASIANBOUBABI 173]

This article reminded me of a movie I saw recently.