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Long Rambling From an Old Member

 

As many of you may or may not know, I've been around the league for quite some time on and off since about Season 6. The league has changed so much in the years since I began, but so has my life. I started here when I was probably about 14 or so, just starting High School and now I'm an adult in a different city working a job; but I still find myself checking in here from time to time. More recently, I find myself with an active player which hasn't always been the case; as I've gone inactive with players on more than a few occasions. 

 

But this time around, I'll likely finish with 800 or so TPE which is much higher than I originally anticipated finishing with Clarke. I think it's a true testament to how the league has improved leaps and bounds to make it easier for members to stay active with their player without truly investing too much time. Although I love this league and I've grown up with it for most of my life, the way things used to be done without welfare or without the portal, it was an extreme pain in the ass and nearly a chore to update a player if you weren't fully immersed in the storyline of him.

 

Although TPE inflation is now definitely a thing that is difficult to control at this point, I think it's for best that we make things a tad less stressful on a player to player basis and worry more about the health of each team and the league in general. The league made their decision to go with the health of the league over being stingy on TPE earning and I think it's unequivocally been the right decision. The league is in the best health that it's ever been, coming back from the brink in the 50s, where I thought for sure the VHL was on it's last legs. Luckily, Will stepped up massively for the VHL and built the portal which has been an absolute game changer for not just myself as a returning veteran member, but appealing to the newest members. 

 

The league's main problem in it's stunted growth in the 60-70% of it's history wasn't a passionate or dedicated user base, it was being able to keep new members from sticking around and becoming part of that dedicated group of users. With the addition of the portal I think it adds another layer of depth to the league that not only makes it much for new members to understand updating their player (rather than doing the math manually in an update thread) but also shows the league has another layer of engagement that shows it's as legitimate as it gets in the player simulation world. Obviously I don't have all the facts, but with the completely revamped member base the VHL now has (and a recruiter team that is tireless) the league will essentially do the work itself and the recruiting portion won't need to do nearly the amount of heavy lifting they've done in the past. It's fantastic to see, the figureheads in the league today have really worked hard and moved mountains to put the league in the thriving position we see today.

 

As I was saying previously about the dark days of the 50s, I had created a player and left not too long after. The forum had become quiet, and when it was active it seemed to be bickering and arguing amongst a few.  The original dedicated member base for all those years finally had begun to burn out, it seemed the league was doing everything they could to try and survive and nothing was taking. I felt the VHL was due to go bust after the contraction and the complete failure of the two player project. So I vanished off once again and went inactive with yet another player, figuring the league would be a ghost town when I eventually returned to check in on the forum again.

 

But when I finally returned many seasons later, I was shocked to find the creation of the portal and a complete overhaul of the member base and the league was expanding once again. To say I was absolutely shocked would be an understatement, the turnaround the league had accomplished would've seemed near impossible just 2 years-18 months prior. Looking deeper into the portal and seeing how both updating and point task claims had become infinitely easier and less time consuming, I decided to create my current player and I don't regret it one bit and I will be finishing his 8th season next season. A prime example of what the league's complete overhaul has done to excite not just new members coming in (who are also staying at an unprecedented rate) but older members as well who many not have the time on their hands they once had.

 

Although my player isn't a superstar by any means, it's been nice being able to contribute to the league again in some form. I've enjoyed connecting with members who although it was virtual, I really did grow up with. Some I've met in real life, but some has only been through the computer; and that's something I'm proud of. All of us together had fun through the years, despite bickering as teenagers/early 20s on forums back in the day used to do. And although the league was on the brink, it was a group of veteran members who refused to let the league die and did what they could to keep it alive. 

 

The VHL meant a lot to me growing up, it was an escape from reality with some friends who I didn't know face to face but we all connected as a small fraternity who all put our efforts together to keep something alive that we all loved. Some have left and some have stayed, but we all put in our time and effort, past and present. I just wanted to say thank you to those who have kept this site alive and rejuvenated my interested in it with all the changes. The league is in a better place than ever, and I'm happy to see it as such. I don't know if I'll be creating another player after Dean Clarke, but I never thought I'd be in a position where I would even be considering it. And that in itself is a massive accomplishment to what the VHL has done in the past few seasons.

 

1099 words. Claiming as 2 PTs

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https://vhlforum.com/topic/85175-my-thoughts-on-the-league-as-a-veteran-member/
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Man, that is impressive you have been here and involved that long! I enjoyed seeing this from your perspective, as I am new and don't really know the history of the VHL, or even necessarily how everything works. I love the portal and am in agreement with you. Just a couple of opinion-based things you might consider: it might have been better to organize the material chronologically, so we could more easily see that you started the league early, it nearly failed, and came back, and then your reflection paragraph(s) coming in. Second, it would have been cool to see where you would like the league to go from here, though I would understand if you said that was beyond the scope of the article. Great job! Score: 8/10

  • Commissioner

I find it odd we've both been around so long and I can't recall ever having a full conversation with you. How have we avoided each other so thoroughly for so long?

5 hours ago, Beketov said:

I find it odd we've both been around so long and I can't recall ever having a full conversation with you. How have we avoided each other so thoroughly for so long?

 

My patches of being active were during your patches of inactiveness and vice versa I think.

  • Commissioner
Just now, Kyle said:

 

My patches of being active were during your patches of inactiveness and vice versa I think.

I mean my only patch of inactiveness was like 4 seasons with Kristensen. We just haven’t been on a team together very much so not much room for close contact.

 

P.S reading this this morning was so hard knowing I had the expansion post written up and not mentioning it when you commented about contraction.

2 minutes ago, Beketov said:

I mean my only patch of inactiveness was like 4 seasons with Kristensen. We just haven’t been on a team together very much so not much room for close contact.

 

P.S reading this this morning was so hard knowing I had the expansion post written up and not mentioning it when you commented about contraction.

 

I know! Quite good timing for that announcement. :)  And thinking back on it I don't think we have been on the same team while both of us were active.

Edited by Kyle
23 hours ago, Devise said:

I'd love to see you take another stab at GMing after that early brief Rita stint. Good read though.

 

Haha I appreciate that but I think those days are long gone. I will say one of my high points of GM'ing was having your first player! 

Edited by Kyle

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