MONEY REWORK

[IamMOOSE 361]

            Back on June 15, 2020 (which in pandemic years is about 80 years ago) I made a post calling for reinstitution of Branding & Sponsorships in the VHL. Branding and thus sponsorships had been an aspect of the experience before, but was marred by tournaments, convoluted formats, and generally overreached on its complexity. I had created and then condensed a media spot (https://vhlforum.com/topic/85492-rebranding-brandingsponsorship/) discussing potential ways to revival and rebuild the Branding/Sponsorship system. IT was meant as an icebreaker to begin the conversation surrounding it. From there we saw some comments, some counterpoints, some reactions, and a lot of discussion post-writing in the forums and on Discord that painted a larger picture, not only describing, but going in depth on where these talks of Branding, Sponsorship, Player Stores, Salaries, and money in general should really begin.

 

            I want to first look at the problem. Money. It isn’t the fault of anyone in particular, not the Admins of this league, the creators of the sim engine, even big companies like EA or 2K struggle with it. Money, contracts, and the cashflow of any league and its players is vital to the success it breeds from a real-world aspect. However, aside from salary caps for teams and maybe some light boosters or depreciation blockers, it serves no real function on a gaming level. It doesn’t really matter who has the most cash in this league, as player, beyond a few items to stop player depreciation, there’s not much long-term use for your cash. It’s a problem that plagues all sports games unfortunately.

 

Today I want to layout the blueprint for what money in the VHL could be, what it maybe one day will be. In this program, we’ll go through the three phases of a potential rework. First, we’ll cover Player/Member cash, contracts, job pay, and the Player Store. Next, we’ll discuss the new content that we would find for purchase in the newly upgraded store and how that affects your page as a Member. We will then move on to phase two, where we will discuss an idea of an additional profile feature such as the “Showroom” page. And finally, phase three where we will discuss Branding/Sponsorships in full under the new system and what that would mean for players.

 

 

PHASE ONE

 

            Cash as of now is tied to specific players and is washed as that player retires. This makes sense from a player standpoint but does nothing for the Member/Agency behind that player. Right now, there’s no need for it to. What I’d like to propose here is that we instead tie cash to the Member, not the player. This would mean that cash would be linked to IamMoose as the Member as opposed to Kevin King. Meaning when King retires, that money would remain, or some of it at least. The reason for this would be to have cash for the new store which we’ll get to in a bit. The reason I say some is because I think It’s only fair to implement a fee on this. As a Member, you’re only able to claim 10% of the player’s total remaining earnings, the other 90% is removed. This would mean a player with say, $14 Million left at the point of retirement that Member receives $1.4 million.

 

            The reason we would have cash rollover with Members is for upgrades you’d find in the new store. Members will have this cash to use for the new Player Store. The new store would not only feature all of the familiar content of this league but would now feature new cosmetic content that ties into your profile and your showroom (we’ll get to that). This content would be designed, much like the original MySpace (yes, I’m old, fuck off) where it’s mainly cosmetic as a way to showoff your profile and your history as a member of this league. With some great web designers in this league and a system that’s worked on a much larger scale, I believe in the VHL team to come up with some fancy page layouts, borders, and backgrounds that would enhance the visual aspects of the Member pages.

 

You would use your accumulated cash to purchase some of these items, even earning some special one for championship wins, individual accolade, and special events. As a result of this, contracts may get a bit heavier, job pay may now include or exclusively payout in cash, and finally Branding and Sponsorship would have a tremendous need to supply in the VHL. With added bonuses from Branding/Sponsorships, contracts, and other payouts, it would stimulate an entirely new economy to the league, even affording job opportunities to those who want to be content creators for the store.

 

 

PHASE TWO

 

            Now that we’ve briefly outlined some of this, let’s go more in depth with the store and what I’, calling the “Showroom”.

 

 

            The Player Store would not only supply Members with cosmetics for their profiles, but this also opens for the opportunity to allow for a showroom. A page, specifically designed for Members to show off previous player(s) records, trophies earned, milestones, and other items acquired throughout their time in the VHL. The store can now account for other cosmetics like cars, mansions, memorabilia, and other items. Want a Viper, a Porsche, or a Ferrari get one from the store (No, I’m not expecting anyone to animate a specific car into a background or a room, simple graphics are just fine, I’m not a psychopath on this). Need a tank (Moose needs a tank), the Player Store. From there you can purchase your cosmetic items that will appear on your profile in the Showroom. The Showroom should also display some league related stuff. Links to your former player’s career statistics and records, trophies you’ve earned over the course of your career, and even some tags and comments from other players if they so choose to leave some kind words about the Member or player (worth maybe 1 uncapped TPE with a max of 3 claims???).

 

            It’s all meant to enhance the Member experience. It’s another aspect of the VHL that can add significant character depth to Members who want to show off their personalities and gives people a reason to not only make money but can further incentivize the community nature of the league. It promotes activity, and further rewards that community activity with more personal effects.

 

             

PHASE THREE

 

            Now, under this new system we can revisit Branding and Sponsorships. Under this new system, Branding would have a major place in the VHL. Sponsorships would allow players to earn extra cash for various Brand related tasks given in their contract during the season. This increases the cash flow in the league, giving players more prestige, Members more cash, and Brands a bigger spotlight. We’ve talked a lot before about brands but how would it really work?

 

Branding/Sponsorships would only involve cash and thus would only payout in cash. Brands are run by three people:

 

The President/CEO – Who controls the Brand, it’s interests, and the contracts given. They also employ the other two positions: Marketing & Public Relations Manager and Brand Representative.

 

Marketing & PR Manager – In charge of producing articles and content for the brand. They control the marketing of the brand. New logo, chances are the Marketing Manager made it. New article detailing the brands latest incentives and packages, the PR Manager wrote it. The control the Brand’s image.

 

Brand Representative – Brand Representatives attract players to the Brand. They will go through the list of players provided by the AGMs for each team and try and attract players to join the brand. Once they have a player interested in joining the brand, the President/CEO, along with the Representative will make the offer for that player to decide to sign.

 

 

 

           Instead of tournaments and convoluted formats, AGMs (yes, AGMs) would submit a player list of about 3-4 players from their team they feel deserve sponsorship. From that list, a Brand Representative will approach the player or players they choose and will attempt to recruit them. Once a player accepts, they will iron out a contract from that brand and the player will decide whether or not to sign the deal. For obvious reasons, all brand deals must be approved by the league. These contracts usually will include target goals, content they want the player to produce, and/or some other incentives to gear players towards the brand’s awareness and impact.

 

           For example, a rookie player like Micah Adrienne (hi @poptart) would sign with a brand such as Konecny Goods, an equipment brand. They would payout say $3,000,000 over the course of 2 seasons. The contract is structured for a $1,000,000 payment for s73 and a $2,000,000 payout for s74. Because Micah is such a high pick, there may be a cancellation clause where termination would still require a $500,000 payout to terminate on the Brand’s behalf or a $1,000,000 fine for breach of contract of Adrienne’s side, but that’s for another time.

 

           The way contracts are executed involve the contract details. There are brand expectations and brand incentives. Brand expectations are tasks that are required by the brand. Failure to complete them results in a breach of contract which we talked about briefly above. Brand incentives are tasks that upon completion grants additional compensation to the player for completing the task. For our example, Micah Adrienne’s sponsorship would include expectations such as:

 

-       Recording at least 200 hits during the s73 and s74 seasons.

-       Submitting one VHL.com article relating to Konecny Goods per season.

-       Raising PA to minimum 70 by the end of the end of the season (s73).

 

However, they wouldn’t end here. Micah could earn additional compensation for other tasks associated with the contract like:

 

-       Sterling Labatte Trophy Win ($500,000)

-       Finishing top 3 in rookie voting ($250,000)

-       Recording 100 points over the course of seasons 73 and 74 ($75,000)

 

            Brands give way to Sponsorships which adds an almost side quest element to the league. We’ve discussed before how details of a sponsorship could influence player moves, allocation of TPE, and now how the added funds even out in a new format of cash and cosmetics within the league. It would take some time and some ironing to the process to make it flow seamlessly into the league structure, but again, we’ve opened the door here.

 

 

CLOSING

 

            We’ve covered a lot of bases here. At this point we are 1,700 words in and there’s so much more left off the table to get to. In short, more visual, and long-term content can create a new economy for the VHL. Money can mean more than it does on any sports game and simulation. There’s space and opportunity to put some great minds in this league to work and open the door for more content and creators to showcase their skills. With Showrooms, we can give the Member experience and upgrade without compromising the integrity of the sim or the player creation. By applying what we have with what tools we can use, we can take the store from being a depreciation cache to a shopping center. Branding and Sponsorships can provide new wrinkles to free agency, contracts, and even player building. Profiles can get a touchup in a unique and creative way that no other league I imagine provides. It’s a long jump but this is a great second step. I will continue to work on this and continue to bring new eyes to these ideas. I’m always open to questions and comments. I want to hear from everyone. Please leave a comment, a react, and tell us what you think of all this. Thank you for your time. This is almost 2,000 words. Fuck me, I think I need a hobby. lol

[Spartan 3,994]

7 minutes ago, IamMOOSE said:

 This is almost 2,000 words. Fuck me, I think I need a hobby. lol

Welcome to the VHL!!!!!!!!!!

[Plate 285]

CONSIDER THIS A REVIEW

Let me try to break this all down from an unbiased standpoint here. Before we talk about any of that, we have to talk about the salary cap itself. The salary cap in real life is tied directly to NHL revenues (And the CBA agreed upon by the NHLPA and the BoG). For simulation purposes the number in the league seems arbitrary. Money, at it's most efficient point in the VHL, exists only to fight depreciation. 
 

PHASE ONE

Washing away money from a player is completely fine imo. I consider the money unspent as "the retirement" fund of that player. I talk about the upgrades and stuff in phase two. But basically, 

 

PHASE TWO

The showroom is an interesting idea. Honestly? I don't see a point in it. I could write an article right now about the mansion that my player received from a random inheritance. Between the time it would take to implement the assets, and the amount of content it would create for members, it's not worth it. As for the trophy show room, most members don't get a trophy to begin with. So it would be empty. That can be discouraging. We have to be careful when implementing new ideas that will "make the rich richer". 

 

I do like the idea of giving members the ability to have a border around their picture. It shouldn't be built on the idea of having to purchase them with money you get from retiring players. That means new players don't get access to them. A neat idea could be an achievement system, where the reward for getting certain achievements is the ability to change the border around your profile. You could also have job specific borders, and team specific borders depending on where your current player is playing. I know other forums also have medals that go below each profile sometimes. The obvious problem is that players might get those achievements and the digging would be hard to do. Just a thought. 

 

Instead of borders for achievements you can do titles above member names. Such as "The Hat Trick" for having a player score their first hat trick or "Too Clutch to Choke" for having so many game winning goals in a season. 

 

PHASE THREE

I think we should revisit branding and sponsorship to begin with anyway. Without the need for a money overhaul. I don't mind how you have the current system set up, but there's one problem with branding and sponsorship that was apparent in the past. It's basically like managing another set of teams. And giving players more things to do causes more burnout, especially among new players. The focus has shifted less away from gaining TPE and it's become more about how the league can keep the players they do already. 

 

Setting point totals or stat requirements as part of the contract in a system where you have NO control over your player is not a good idea. Submitting VHL.com articles with themes set by your sponsor is a great idea though. Interesting idea by influencing development of signed players, but I can see how it can be gamed. The bonuses is where the point stats and the award selections would go. 

 

As for an actual review of the writing of the article, you don't need to indent paragraphs if you also put a space between them :). I'm guilty of that mistake too. You can also throw some pictures in on the sides. It was a really good thought piece though and I can't wait to see if more conversation comes from it. 

 

Score

Content: 10/10

Format: 8/10

Flow: 10/10