I'm writing a paper, and I need your help!

[fishy 1,757]

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?
5. Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Edited November 12, 2020 by fishy
i forgot a question lol

[Laine 1,361]

1 hour ago, fishy said:

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Always out to help the VHL, Here ya go!

1) I joined the VHL after I found one of their recruitment pages on Reddit. I thought it would be so cool so I tagged along back in May 2020. Probably the community has made me stay. A number of things but the community is the majority of it. I've met such great people on this forum.

 

2) I'm in the discord. The discord is a great way to make communication between members easier instead of having conversation be across threads and everything else. It makes things a lot more straight forward and also helps create team locker rooms.

 

3) NOTE: I'm not from the United States, I am a Canadian.

 

I don't really have any thoughts on the Anti-American sentiment because I haven't been on the VHL for long, but I don't think it should steer people away from the VHL. The VHL is a sports and life focussed league and political opinions and places of origin should be overlooked. You shouldn't treat someone disrespectfully because they are from the United States or any country for that matter. They aren't making the choices, their governments are. I haven't seen any moderation on this topic so can't really comment there either.

 

4) I think the efforts to boost activity have worked. We've had quite a few active members come in the last few months and stay around. I think there is always room for improvement in a forum and the commissioners are making a good choice letting others get in on the fun. Also makes things more fun around the league because new teams are created, such as the 4 newest VHL teams (Chicago, Los Angeles, Warsaw and London)

 

5) Not a chance. This is a full sim league with a community. It was well put together as well.

 

Good luck with your paper!

Edited November 13, 2020 by PatrikLaine

[Spartan 4,276]

15 minutes ago, fishy said:

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

I'll answer here for ease of access.

 

1. Joined because I enjoy hockey, and had some folks in another sim league similar to this one recommend it to me. I've stayed because of how engaging it can be, as you can take on any role you really want to while meeting other people you typically wouldn't meet in real life. There's a lot of shared tales and experiences that you wouldn't get from local friends, or even people I meet daily since sim leaguers are all over the world.

 

2. I am, simply because it's an easier form of communicating with people. Discord has grown in popularity to connect people and allow organized conversations and sharing of information. I think Discord for our league just serves more personalized opportunities for connections. Anything posted on forums is permanent and public, while Discord allows for some quicker, more private conversations.

 

3. I think that it pops up from time to time, but it's been more of an issue in the past. I'd assume that it's a case since a lot of the league is Canadian, or simply not American. Despite American actions and stereotypes not being in control of any of the individual Americans in the league, there are times where what our country or sub-populations of our country does gets applied to individuals in the league in a less than respectful fashion. I think mods have done well in that regard by removing people with xenophobic statements from positions of power, as well as limiting political discussion that usually leads to these disagreements and "anti american sentiments."

 

4. I'm indifferent to it. I frankly don't really care, but as @IamMOOSE and I have said on our podcast, we have other methods to boost forum activity that isn't just "hey, go talk there," with little or no incentive. I guess they want it because they feel like Discord is a threat to the forums, which I disagree with. I think the two coincide nicely. In fact, they even removed the IM function on forums which I know a few people used, myself included at times.

[Gustav 6,322]

8 minutes ago, fishy said:

Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?

 

I came here from a post on Reddit and joined purely because I thought it sounded interesting. I've since stayed because I've found the community as a whole very easy to connect with and relate to, almost like a second set of friends for me.

 

9 minutes ago, fishy said:

Are you on the discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?

 

I am on Discord because it's easily the best way to be involved with the community and to become a recognizable figure around the league. I see Discord not as a place for serious or meaningful discussion but as a place to get to know people in casual conversation and as a very helpful resource for newer members, who are usually able to see questions answered within seconds.

 

14 minutes ago, fishy said:

Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic?

 

I will say that I've noticed a fair bit of this on both the forums and Discord, but most of the time it seems to be focused upon government and politics and very rarely does it cross the line into unfair criticism of American people as a whole. I personally believe that moderation has gone too far as even civil discussion of politics is not allowed outside of designated areas (I believe that nothing that is not directly offensive, demeaning, or inappropriate should receive moderator attention), but I'll admit that it is a step in the direction of keeping heated topics away. Personally, I am American and have never felt as if anybody liked me in particular any less for it--but if that happens to be the case with somebody, I consider it their problem more than mine.

 

20 minutes ago, fishy said:

How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?

 

I suppose I can see the reasoning behind this--the league itself still exists on the forum, after all, so we should be active on the forum. I do not disagree with this, but I feel as though not much will change. In particular, I believe this refers to the fact that the bot which posts game results in most team Discord servers will no longer be doing this starting this coming season to incentivize forum activity. I am very willing to bet that nothing will change--before the bot ever existed, activity in game threads was a big problem. Most of the time, people would only comment for entries in the lottery (a system which has since been removed), and after the lottery changed, threads were no more active than they are now. I believe that this will be an entirely neutral change, as those who wanted to comment before will continue to do so, and those who did not will continue to only look at the results without commenting on them.

 

 

Use whatever you'd like in your paper, I'm not picky.

[Crstats23 338]

25 minutes ago, fishy said:

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

1. I joined in June after seeing an ad in a YouTube video, as far as what’s made me stay the community has made me stay, met a lot of great people here

 

2. I’m in team discord’s but not the league one, discord allows for information to travel easier then looking through the forum

 

3. as an American I have not seen any of “Anti-American sentiment” mostly due to I haven’t been here that long, I believe it shouldn’t matter where you’re from the VHL community brings people together 

 

4. I think the efforts of the commissioners to boost activity on the forum has worked great, there’s been a lot of new members who have come in and gotten involved right away, the recent expansion has also positively impacted activity as now there more teams which means more roster spots, which hopefully means more active members 

 

good luck on the paper

[Jbeezy76 396]

24 minutes ago, fishy said:

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

1) I joined the VHL because I love hockey. Furthermore,It was chance to be creative by creating a name for a player and slowly building the attributes. 

2) Yes I am on discord. It’s good way to have fun razzing each other and just communicating in real time. Which is much faster than the email type system in the actual website. 

3) I could honestly give two shits about what anybody thinks of Americans. I’m not here to be PC or even think about politics. I don’t really support politics of any sort and do not trust or participate in voting for two candidates that aren’t even truly representing us. The system treats the general public like children who they believe can’t read. Lol (I’m American lol) 

4) I am just here to play hockey and build a virtually competitive hockey player. Long live the VHL! I’m addicted to this for real. It’s fun meeting and playing people from all around the world. Good times. 

Draven 

[LatinViking 33]

49 minutes ago, fishy said:

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?
5. Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

1) I joined the VHL with a couple friends trying to learn more about hockey as a sport, people made me stay as the community it's really tight. 

 

2)I am, as an assistant GM it's a key tool to communicate with every gm or player every time I have the need to. 

 

3)anti-American sentiment? Would you care to elaborate? I don't feel like that's a thing honestly, this league has people from places all over the world so I don't really feel like anti-American would be a thing, yeah there might be some USA chants when a world cup event comes but that's about it. Before you ask, I'm from Argentina. 

 

4)honestly? I'm against them, sadly it answers to the views of the older people around here that wants some things to take priority on a world where the communications are faster, yeah it's a good tool for media and the update web app it's brilliant the best I've ever seen on a Sim league, but the argument that people will only chat inside his own timezone it's a falacy as teams have ausies, Americans and Europeans having timezones well spread and they share even while they are in opposite sides of the world. 

 

5)no,a fantasy league use real life statistics and analyze them to get scoring, a Sim league simulates the game using no real life statistic or measurement. 

[Blazzer 759]

8 hours ago, fishy said:

Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?

1. I just joined cause I was bored one day and looking for something similar to a BAP. I did think of quitting but the lovely people I've met in this community is tough to just walk away from. And plus, I don't have many real life friends so this is something that's very meaningful to me. 

8 hours ago, fishy said:

Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?

2. Yes because that's where all the talks take place. Also it is way easier to talk and do stuff there. You get to directly text someone if you need help with anything. The discord helps the league keep in touch witb it's members and its easier to announce stuff there. Discord has become a big part of the vhl. 

8 hours ago, fishy said:

How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?

4. I love that they are trying to push for activity on the forums but it may cause some inconveniences. Like the vhl bot doesn't post games anymore. Some people find that tough because of their busy schedule and they can go in to check. But that can be solved when AGMs and GMs post the links on discord. I doubt if it's effective though. Many people go in to see the scores but never post anything on the threads so that defeats the purpose entirely. 

 

I didn't answer the 3rd one because I don't have an opinion about that. You can use this if it does help you in your paper. All the best! 

Edited November 13, 2020 by Blazzer

[IamMOOSE 361]

Who fucking pinged- ooo college paper. I'll allow it. Give me fifteen minutes Fishy. @Spartan, PING! (But National Champions ping so at least it's a shiny ping.)

[jhatty8 663]

1 hour ago, fishy said:

• Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
• Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
• Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
• How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?
• Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

 

1. To be honest, I joined the VHL because of a bonus you get in another sim league by doing a VHL PT. However, I'm now max earning with my new player and trying to become more active here because the community is amazing. I don't even know much hockey but this is still a great place. I also like it here because of the graphics community, which is a pretty cool niche to have in a simulated hockey website. 

2. For the most part no. I'm fairly active in the graphics discussion channel, but other than that, I never talk there. I don't talk in the other channels, specifically the general chat, because it's always so busy and it's hard to have a conversation without talking to 5+ people at once. I prefer to stay in my team's LR. That being said, it's also a great thing how active the league discord server is for those who participate. It's a quick and easy way for the members to communicate and talk to each other.

3. I am from the USA and I do not see any existence of an anti-American sentiment. I haven't heard of anyone who left because of this so-called issue other than one user who we'll not name, so in my opinion there isn't really a problem. That being said, we shouldn't suppress those who feel like they are being discriminated against in any way. Doing the opposite of this would slow the great progressive movement we've seen in the VHL in the past year. Specifically regarding the topic of anti-Americanism in the VHL though, it has not been approached professionally by anyone who has felt this way. 

4. Pushing for forum activity is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, I wholeheartedly like forum communication more than Discord communication. When I first joined a sim league about 2 years ago, I didn't join Discord for the first four months and I enjoyed being exclusively forum. I also see why the commissioners would be pushing for this kind of thing. It can seem like a whole chunk of VHL history is being removed because most conversations are held elsewhere. However, the means to achieve this is a bit tricky. For one, you can't exactly make someone do something without incentivizing it. People seem to enjoy Discord more so they will use it more unless there's a reason to talk on the forums. That's another thing, despite the preferences of some people, Discord works better for the vast majority of the league. It's definitely too integrated within the league to remove even parts of it without negatively impacting the userbase. That's what the commissioners tried to do, remove an integrated part of discord to promote forum activity and it failed. I personally agree with what they are trying to do, but it is in no way, shape, or form beneficial for the health of the VHL

5. Well this depends on what you're asking. Is it a fantasy league, like the one where you take stats and give point values, or is it a fantasy league, where people create and adapt an imaginary league? I definitely can say it isn't the former. But this is essentially a fake league that offers an RPG hockey experience. I would say it can be classified as a fantasy.

 

You can use whatever you'd like in your paper. Good luck fishy!

[IamMOOSE 361]

1.      Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?

 

“I’ve kinda loosely told this story before but honestly it’s not that interesting. I was very fed up with the EA NHL franchise and have gotten to where I don’t buy it anymore. I still love hockey and there were years I toyed with the idea of joining a sim league but never pulled the trigger till this past June. Honestly what made the pitch stick was the layout of the recruitment ad. It made the league feel simple and easy to transition into. I know some people got the opposite or thought it was an ad for the NHL games but I knew what it encompassed. What made it stick was getting my player made and getting into Discord to talk to GMs and Players. Particularly @Spartan was a big influence on me sticking in the league and he spent a lot of time explaining things to me and working through the beginning steps of the league. Without that I may not have stuck around.”

 

 

2.      Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?

 

“Yes, I use the league Discord. It’s honestly the best way to stay involved with the league and build chemistry with members. The Discord is where you meet the community, it’s where you talk to other members and make friends, it’s where you really get pulled into the league as an active player. The Discord is used for your lockeroom activity, it’s a hub for conversation and discussion, whether that’s hockey related or not. It was proven a lot this postseason with a change to having game results not post on Discord that you lose a little bit of that magic of a team discussing a game. You lose a lot of that analysis from articles as members maybe don’t try as hard to go back through the individual games because of placement.”

 

“The Discord in my opinion is the closest thing to an actual working app the league has. I know there is an app that isn’t up-to-date but the Discord works so much as a utility for players to interact, find out what needs to be done, and keep up with what topics the league are focused on. You still have the importance of the forum and that will always be where the work gets done. The form is the arena experience of that. It’s the luxury part of the VHL that makes the league more digestible.”

 

 

3.      Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!

 

“As an American myself, I don’t feel I’ve ever really seen this ‘anti-American sentiment’ in the league. I’ve heard of it, I’ve had conversations about it, but honestly this league is a community. You’ll be hard pressed to find a less toxic community in fantasy/gaming. I’m not blind to think prejudice could exist but I’ve never felt that way from anyone in this league and I can only think of one issue in particular that ever took place and that was handled before my time in this league.”

 

 

4.      How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?

 

“Well, and I’ll keep this PG for the college work but it’s been kinda mismanaged. I understand the idea, I understand what the commissioners are going for but ultimately, they started from step four without putting steps one through three together and it really shows. I addressed it a little before this question and yes, we saw some good activity in the game summaries though I almost feel it wasn’t enough. For a playoff it makes a lot of sense but in a 72-game season it’ll get very old very fast and sort of did in the playoffs even for a team like Vancouver who played around twenty games.”

 

“If you want to get into gears of why it comes down to not enough movement in the forums. Plenty of people post lackluster stuff and move on without any real crossover or cross reading. It’s laziness from the community but understandably so. Since a certain podcast called out the league for some of this lapse in content I think it’s been noticeably better but that also falls back on the players/members. If you’re writing garbage or making garbage podcasts why would it be featured or discussed?”

 

“I think it was handled poorly when it comes to efforts. I think there are changed that could be made and ways to make this work but ultimately unless the powers that be put their vision together it’ll go nowhere.”

 

 

5.      Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

 

“I think that’s more a philosophical question, I guess. If you’re speaking about it in terms of like a roleplay then yeah, I’d almost say so. It depends on the user. I’ll quantify it this way, the VHL is what you make it to be. If you throw yourself into it, be your player, speak as your player, respond, write, whatever as your player, then yeah, it’s absolutely a fantasy roleplay kind of deal. If you just kinda roll in and claim a point or two and scribble down a graphic without context, you’re not really doing much ‘fantasy’ there. Just like in life, you will get out of this league what you put into it. What label you put on that is almost irrelevant at that point.”

[tcookie 878]

1) I joined because I saw it and it seemed like a fun idea so I gave it a try. I like writing, building a player has been fun, and so far I've had nothing but positive interaction with the community. Also winning the Founders Cup with Miami was fun of course - but even winning that aside, it's been a great experience.

 

2) I'm in the league discord, although I don't talk a ton in there. VHL General is a little hard to keep up with. I am quite involved in my teams' discord locker rooms though. I think it's a good place to chat with the other league members, make friends, etc. I think the Discord, especially team locker rooms on Discord, is an important aspect that adds a lot to the league. It's optional, which is good, but there's a real sense of being a team in the locker room when talking about game results etc.

 

3) I don't think there's much of that going on. In fact I agree with Moose's comment that you'd be hard-pressed to find a less toxic community in fantasy/gaming... the VHL community is amazing. I'm also relatively new here, though. I do remember seeing the status post of a member who left due to the "anti-American sentiment, but I've never seen anything that I think would be characterized as such myself. (note: I'm not American so I'm not necessarily the best judge of what would be anti-American sentiment, but I haven't seen anything obvious, for sure)

 

4) I appreciate the idea behind it because ultimately the league happens on the forum and it's more fun if the forum isn't dead - plus there are a few members (ie. Sheldon Juniper on my Miami team last year) that don't have Discord and I wouldn't want them to be discouraged from playing because they don't have it. I'm not sure the particular way they went about it for the playoffs is going to make a difference. I think there was a little more activity in the playoffs, but that was probably more due to 1) a stated desire for more activity in those threads, so there were people trying to do better at it, and 2) it being the playoffs, which is just generally more exciting and meaningful.

 

I think the main problem is that the games are somewhat out of the way in their forum threads. The Discord bot offered easy access, but even the STHS index offers easier access than the forum game threads. I really liked the idea of putting all the games that were played on a given day in the same thread (in addition to the individual game threads). I can't see myself going into the game threads to look at results very often, especially during the regular season, but I would definitely check into a thread every day where every gane result for the day is posted.

 

5) Sure. I don't really differentiate between a sim league or a fantasy league. The "fantasy" of a traditional fantasy league is that you're playing the role of a GM - whether it's based on real stats or a simulator. The "fantasy" part of VHL is that you're playing the role of a player. I suppose if you want to differentiate between sim league and fantasy league, then it's a sim league instead... but... I think it (like any sim league) is fantasy by definition.

 

Feel free to use any of this in your paper! You can use my username here or just my discord username "Trevor", either is fine with me.

Edited November 13, 2020 by tcookie25

[fromtheinside 1,289]

1) Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?

So this is irony at its best. The main reason I tried out VHL was because I am sick of buying shitty EA NHL games year after year when little to nothing is being done to make that game better in a way I care about. Despite not wanting to get NHL 21, I still needed to fill the hockey void I long for. The ironic part is that I discovered this league from the recruitment drive, specifically the ad that was in the NHL 21 Be A Pro YT video. As to what made me stay...the community mostly. I came here knowing nobody at all, and from the moment I came here I've come across so many awesome people. The people make this league great and so far I've had a blast. 

 

2) Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?

I am definitely in the VHL Discord along with several other VHL/M team Discords. I found it was very cool that there's so many sub communities in all these team-specific Discords. I think Discord enhances the league so much.  The league operations run through the portal and the forums, but friendships and getting to know people happens on Discord. A platform to efficient IM, DM, meme, shitpost, etc makes the league so much more then just RPing a hockey player. 

 

3) Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!

First off I am Canadian.  To answer the question though, I honestly had no idea this was even an issue and the fact people would leave because of that is a little ridiculous. I guess the only aspect I may have noticed about this is that there seems to be a very stern anti-politics rule on all VHL Discords.. and maybe that is because of the aforementioned issue? I can personally attest that talking politics with people always leads to bad things. I have a couple American friends and we have had many ugly arguments or conversations/debates about US Politics and issues in that country. These topics can be very divisive when you get right into them. But regardless of anyone's stance on things, I think its dumb to carry an "anti-American sentiment". Especially considering this is a hockey simulation league, what does being American really have to do with it when it comes down to it?

 

4) How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?

So I guess there's concern Discord creates a divide between users who aren't so keep on using it. Additionally the longtime members of the community seem staunch on keeping the forums as active as possible, which at face value is a good initiative in my opinion. Here's how I choose to look at it. Both options hold great value. To me, the forums is where the bread and butter of your hockey related sim stuff takes place. There's tons of room for league debates, power rankings, junior reviews, mock drafts and on and on and on! It's awesome and I REALLY enjoy doing stuff on the forums. That being said, there's so much more that can be done. And that's where Discord comes in. Literally everything else. Random banter, locker rooms, music/movie/anime discussion, anything you can think of really. This is where you really get to know the personalities in the league. And I also REALLY enjoy VHL Discord.  Both are great, and that's fine. I really didn't understand the decision to try and ramp up discussion in post-game threads in VHLM playoffs. I am SUPER active on the forums, but if I had to pick the most useless or my least favourite area of the forums, it's post-game threads. There's really not much room for discussion especially when the whole process gets redundant seeing how there is a thread for EVERY GAME PLAYED.  Additionally, making it more difficult to find the scores of the games by disabling Victory Bot in Team Discords seems very counter-productive to me.

 

5) Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

I would not. I regard fantasy as building teams of players using the best of the best. This is a simulation and in this simulation you start your player from the beginning of their career. You are trash when you start. And with hard work and dedication, you can improve over time.  To me they are very different things.

 

Hopefully this helps you out Fishy. Feel free to use it however you want, all the best!

Edited November 13, 2020 by fromtheinside

[Quik 4,113]

1. I joined the league when it opened because I was already in the sim league community, so whenever one of your friends would open a league you'd join it. I knew both scotty and brooks from other leagues they'd run, using Playstation/XBox to run the games, so when brooks said they were starting a new league using a sim engine that required much less effort, it was an easy decision to join up. I stayed because, aside from being friends with much of the community, it was the only league to make it past 3-4 seasons, which was extremely rare back then, which also meant the community got to stick together a lot longer than most leagues. As an awkward kid, having a community of people that I could interact with every day, who had similar interests to me, was huge, so it was easy to stick around.

 

2. I am on the discord, and it's because @tfong wouldn't stop harassing me to join it when I first came back. It was nowhere near as big as it is now, but it was an easy way to communicate in real time with the league and reconnect with people I hadn't really talked to for a few years (I left the league around 2010 as university started taking over, and didn't come back for good until 2017, though I did make a couple short comebacks in between). It's definitely a great tool for retention, as it's easy to interact with people who have similar schedules to you, and there's almost always someone in there to help people out.

 

3. This is a bit of a difficult question to navigate, in my opinion. There's a lot of factors to consider, from the league being fairly global with members from Canada, the US, Europe, Asia and even Australia, to current events shining an even bigger spotlight on the States and its recent issues, to this being an internet community where meme culture lives large. The turbulent times in the US this year were widely reported around the world, which led to discussion, and, as with any political discussion, there were times when it would go off the rails and devolve into a mess, which was a big part of why we instituted the no politics rule on discord, as its real-time dynamic is much more difficult to moderate than the forums. I think, between the political discussions tending to end up with some talking negatively about America, as a whole, and meme culture leading people to joke about it, there were some who did not like seeing the US talked about in that manner, and did not appreciate the jokes cast at the US's expense. As a league, we've striven to reduce any disparaging remarks about any country, US or otherwise. For the most part, Anti-American sentiment is now a meme, because even at its "height", most of the comments were made tongue firmly planted in cheek, and most members understood that, while also understanding that the few who may have gone too far do not represent the many who either did not make any comments, or only did so in a joking manner.

 

4. A big reason for us pushing to increase forum activity is to make more areas of the league inclusive for those who aren't on discord, or aren't around, especially when game sims go live. While discord is an amazing tool and has been a big part in the league growing to where it is today, its real-time nature means that, if you're not around/on discord the moment something happens, it is very easy to miss a lot nowadays. By making the push to bring people to the forums for games, for example, it is easier to feel like part of the conversation when there are comments in the game threads, especially if you're showing up hours or days after the games have been posted. Game discussion on discord is great, but it is almost exclusively limited to those who are online at the time of games being posted, as the discussion then moves on to other topics, and anyone who wasn't around at the time misses out. Ultimately, while I understand those who are heavily active on discord don't love the push, it is an attempt to get everyone involved as much as possible, and include them in the community.

 

5. To be honest, I've never really "defined" the league as anything other than a community with shared interests - you don't even need to know anything about hockey to join, as many of our members, including some who have held high staff positions, came with little to no knowledge of the sport. If I had to choose, I'd say it's more of a Role Play league, as you create a character and can give them however much, or little, of a backstory as you desire, then watch their career play out as you work to make them better.

[eaglesfan036 4,593]

17 hours ago, fishy said:

 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?
5. Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

 

Feel Free to include all of this

 

1) I joined the VHL 8 years ago because my brother Flyersfan showed it to me figuring I might like it seeing as to how I was growing into a hockey and NHL fan at the time. My first year or 2 on the site I was fading in and out of activity until eventually becoming a full time stay. The community is definitely what has made me stay, you guys are an awesome group of people that has given me a lot of entertainment over the years. The longer I am in this league the less the sims matter to me and more just overall community engagement as a whole is fun to me. 

 

2) I am on the league discord, but usually I just pop in and talk for like 15 minutes before leaving and getting bored. The discord is the key place for a lot of people in this league it seems, and without it I don't think our user base would be so large

 

3) There is no anti-American sentiment on here, people used to talk politics on the discord before it got banned and of course disagreements spring up. If you think here is bad for anti-American sentiment, don't go on reddit then lol. This is coming from an American too

 

4) I fully support them, this website has been a forum website for most of it's existence and only evolved into discord into the past few years. I understand that the times are changing, but I do think it is important to stick to it's roots somewhat. I don't know how effective the efforts will be - the old timers use forum more for the most part and the new people plus tfong prefer discord

 

5) Yes because none of it is real, which is what fantasy is. 

Edited November 13, 2020 by chatfan036

[thadthrasher 1,692]

On 11/12/2020 at 5:39 PM, fishy said:

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?
5. Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Sure, you can use my username!

 

1. I used to play in an online league where we actually played hockey through NHL 19,20...and so on. The problem I was having was that if I really wanted to participate I had to be up late at night, most nights of the week. I really value quality time with my wife and the league was making that hard to do. I really like how VHL is something that I can be active in during the day, and parts of the evening when I can. It's really something where you get what you put into it. I've stayed because I've really enjoyed the community!

 

2. Yes. It's a simple and quick way of being in communication with others in the league. It seems to be a place for quick updates. I really appreciate when people share links in discord that take you back to the forum.

 

3. I haven't been in the league for very long, but I'm fairly active. With that being said, I haven't noticed much of an anti-American sentiment. If anything I've seen friendly chirping from different nationalities. Leaving an international league...no, an international community simply because there is a perceived "anti-American sentiment" is silly to me. Honestly, I think it's good for some Americans to be in a community where America isn't the center of attention in the community, it's humbling. I personally haven't seen anything that's needed moderation. Really, moderation with regards to this needs to be a case-by-case situation. Also, I'm an American.

 

4. I think it's a good idea! If this is a forum-based league then why wouldn't people want to be more active in them? However, I don't think disbanding the discord would be a good solution either. There needs to be a balance between the two.

 

5. I don't think I would. In my head a fantasy league is where you draft together your own fake team of real players and focus on their in-game performance. I would more consider this league to be a "Be-A-Pro League."

[Baozi 1,658]

On 11/12/2020 at 3:39 PM, fishy said:

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?
5. Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

1. I had slow internet and liked RPGs so was into web browser games at the time and i liked hockey. Met someone in Metroho.com that told me about VHL as a player RPG.

 

2. Yes, discord has evolved from being a chat platform we used to use to just hang out on or a shout box to a full blown integrated part of the community where people share their interests and connect with one another.

 

3. Aside from sometimes people casting generalized opinions, for the most part its like a meme culture and the US globally has been the butt end of jokes for the last 4-5 years so its hard to avoid such a situation. As a lead mod, I do try to ensure we do not have people feeling uncomfortable regardless and that is what I strive for.

 

4. Its been fine, I think they should directly link bot links to the game threads. 

 

5. Yes. Sorry I have to go out (wife is calling me) so maybe i'll elaborate later

[jRuutu 2,427]

On 11/13/2020 at 12:39 AM, fishy said:

Hellooooo VHL! I’m fishy, and I’m currently a college student. I’ve decided to write a paper about the VHL, and I’d like your input on a few things. This is, of course, completely voluntary! If you respond to this with your thoughts, please be sure to indicate whether you are comfortable with me including your statement in my paper. I will include only the information you provide and your username. If you would like to use a pseudonym, please reach out to me directly, and we can work that out together! If you’re active on discord and I refer to activity there by a user, I will not include the #0000 at the end to maintain anonymity. 

 

1. Why did you join the VHL? What’s made you stay?
2. Are you on the league discord? Why or why not? What do you think the discord is for in relation to the league?
3. Do you have any thoughts about “anti-American sentiment” that has been a reason why people have left the league? What do you think it is? What is the moderation like on this topic? Note: If you could include whether you’re from the United States, that’d be great! It’s obviously not necessary, so if you have thoughts but don’t wish to disclose that kind of information, don’t feel hindered!
4. How do you feel about the efforts that have been made to boost activity on forums? Why do you think Commissioners are pushing for it? If you’re a Commissioner, care to elaborate? Do you think the efforts have been effective? Do you agree with the efforts?
5. Would you consider the VHL to be a fantasy league? Why or why not?

 

If you could quote the question to which your responding, that'll be super helpful. You can answer as many or as few as you'd like - any and all thoughts are helpful! 

 

Let me know if you all have any questions/concerns for me, and I’ll be happy to answer! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

(Feel free to use the answers/comments and username if you want!)

 

1. I joined after hearing about VHL in another league. The way you build the player is different in VHL, which was a plus and also the simple fact that I could build another player, a different player than in the other league. The freedom to use creativity and getting to write was one of the bigger reasons why I stayed. I found writing articles in VHL to be entertaining and also educational as at the time there were stricter rules on grammar, etc.

 

2. I'm in the discord, but I don't post that often in there. I understand the value a general and big meeting place like the general channel in Discord has for the league, users can spend time together and chat. New users get a feel on what kind of people this league has if they follow the general chat a little bit.

 

I'm not as excited about the smaller/private part of the Discord where teams and their locker rooms are. The private discord locker rooms have pushed all the activity away from the site. In my opinion, for meaningful and/or longer discussion, a forum is always better than chat as a forum generally narrows the topics down and users who are not online at a specific time can comment hours and days later. In a Discord chat, very few are going to scroll back even an hour or two and start talking about topic X again.

 

 

3. I have not noticed anything, but then again I'm not following the chats that actively. In general, I think a lot of people have opinions on the United States as they are bombarded with America-related news daily. I live in Finland. In Finland and I'm sure in many countries the battle between Donnie-T and Biden is frontpage material. As a result, a lot of people in Finland know more about US politics than whatever we have going on. Or certainly, they are not talking about our own problems with the same passion in the media or in any other place as Donnie-T and Biden are there day after day. Still, very few actually do their research, they just follow the media and often get just one side of it. That goes for anything America related nowadays.

 

As long as both sides or multiple sides have the freedom to express their opinions, all good.

 

4. It's good that forum activity is looked at. Would be nice to have more discussion in the forum as time spent in discord is always time away from the site.

 

5. I'd say so, you can role play as a hockey player and get to experience drafts, trades, etc - something that a professional hockey career might include.

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by jRuutu