Sustaining A Community

[Ricer13 2,776]

      The VHL has become a rather large community. The activity on the forum and in the VHL discord only seems to become more every season. I have only been a part of the VHL since September 2019 and since then I have been witness to an increase in our community and it’s activity. What I want to talk about is the different aspects that play a part in keeping this an active community.
 

      The first topic I want to touch on when it comes to the VHL community is recruitment. The VHL recruits through reddit posts, YouTube ads, Twitters ads, Podcast ads and so on. Throughout each season we have a plethora of new players joining the league. Each new player is offered contracts by VHLM teams to get their careers started. New players tend to be overwhelmed and confused by this process and it takes a community of great GMs and AGMs to reach out to these new members by offering them contracts or DMing them to offer help and to answer any questions these new members might have. Management is the first line of defence and they are who new members interact with first in this league. Therefor having the right people in these positions is key to the start of sustaining this community.

 

     Next I want to touch on the discord LRs and their impact on sustaining our VHL community. Once new members join a team and are invited into that teams discord LR the real learning begins. Once you make it to this stage the learning and the fun really begin. Having a locker room with a good and active members is key to sustaining the community in the VHL. Having a group of men and women with a positive and fun attitude towards the league rubs off on new members and makes the experience more of a positive experience for them and thus increasing the rate of retention which helps sustain our community. It’s good to have members who are having fun, are helpful and willing to help new members. Being able to do all that while being able to still bullsh*t with your team mates and get to know people from all different areas of the world makes this a one in a kind experience for new players. The Locker room is one of the most important aspects of this community and each team should work to make it a fun, welcoming and accepting place for all new members.

 

      These are only a few small things that help sustain the community in the VHL. As a whole the VHL does a really good job in embracing new members from all walks of life and making them feel like this is a safe place to escape the stress of real life’s challenges. I take pride in being a small part of that. Working on the frontlines as a VHLM GM has been extremely rewarding. I’ve personally been apart of the reason why members have stuck around and it makes me feel good that I could make someone feel welcomed into this league. 

 

      Word count: 517