Tier 2 – Task 8
Recruitment into sim leagues has always been a fascinating exercise for me. I have a background in sales and marketing professionally, and far too often sim leagues fall back into the pattern of “oh it worked then, let’s just go back and do the same thing”. This results in the same subreddits getting spammed on a 6-month clock, yielding inconsistent results, and gradually infuriating the Reddit mods. In the SHL, we experienced a slap on the wrist a couple years back when Reddit itself shut down our post and sent every user involved a message threatening a ban if they caught us “vote manipulating” again.
I have suggested and applied to the SHL Recruitment team that we need to diversify our recruitment strategy, whether it is other social media channels such as Instagram or YouTube advertising, or Google Ads/Reddit Ads, or even perhaps Podcast advertisements with some of the larger hockey podcasts like Spittin’ Chiclets. We must diversify our recruiting sources so if we effectively lose access to one of them, we have a fallback well to lean on. It is critical for not just the SHL but the ISFL as well to have a degree of redundancy and these avenues would be applicable for the ISFL as well.
Retainment is a different animal entirely. Since I joined the ISFL I have been impressed with the league’s player progression system, having it unified under one team. The SHL has two separate teams, and it can be daunting and overwhelming for many new users to understand where to go and what tasks they can do. The one thing I would say about the ISFL progression team, is that they have a magnifying glass on the ISFL and often let the DSFL slip by the wayside. Asking a rookie with a rudimentary knowledge at best on the ISFL’s competitive landscape to predict a weeks’ worth of games is asking for a lack of engagement and employment the more efficient copy paste strategy that a user can find. I do not know the difference between the Honolulu Hahalua or the Sarasota Sailfish right now. Perhaps we could offer prediction tasks for the DSFL as well, so members can have PTs that are a bit more relevant to their daily site experience?
Other than that minor snafu, I feel that the ISFL has done a fantastic job at creating a community that is its own, and keeping members engaged. I look forward to this draft experience immensely and really absorbing the ISFL experience for the first time with CJ Sonjack.
Tier 2 – Task 10
My journey has been documented relatively well. CJ Sonjack declared for the DSFL draft later than most of his fellow prospects, and I had a well-deserved reputation of not exactly getting the most out of my players due to spending most of my time over in the SHL. When I retired Arik Eller, the plan was to do more with this player than what I had with my previous two. With Eller, I chased contracts due to a lack of motivation to earn money to max earn. That contract money was my lifeblood and the only thing that mattered to me. That was something I wanted to break away from with CJ Sonjack. During the DSFL scouting process, the LR that really spoke to me was the Royals. I was in there, and not even part of the team, and people like Blorgl, Wildfire, Slate, Katarn, RainbowDash, Deadly, all made me feel welcome. Being able to get drafted to my preferred destination was a treat and something that I treasured immensely.
Due to those perceptions that I outlined before, I slipped into the third round. I probably could have slipped further, but I think my intimate knowledge of the Star Wars Jedi Knight games secured my fate with Katarn. I joined the Royals and had something to prove.
The season was an absolute gem. It started off rocky when I did not even see my player playing CB. I think it may have been an Endurance issue, because once that was bumped up, I got a ton of time on the field. I even led the league in interceptions this season as a rookie, so I am hopeful that maybe I will be considered for some individual accolades and awards. The biggest disappointment about the season would have to be the fact that we fell short of making the postseason. Taking part in the playoffs would have been an absolute treat, but we had a young offense. I am hopeful that we will take last season as a learning experience. I maintain that to truly cherish what victory is, you must know the despair of defeat.
The Royals will be ready to bounce back and fight forward. We will not fall short of the postseason two seasons in a row. Our young offense will have a year under their belt, and they’ll be ready to punch opposing defenses right across their noses.
Recruitment into sim leagues has always been a fascinating exercise for me. I have a background in sales and marketing professionally, and far too often sim leagues fall back into the pattern of “oh it worked then, let’s just go back and do the same thing”. This results in the same subreddits getting spammed on a 6-month clock, yielding inconsistent results, and gradually infuriating the Reddit mods. In the SHL, we experienced a slap on the wrist a couple years back when Reddit itself shut down our post and sent every user involved a message threatening a ban if they caught us “vote manipulating” again.
I have suggested and applied to the SHL Recruitment team that we need to diversify our recruitment strategy, whether it is other social media channels such as Instagram or YouTube advertising, or Google Ads/Reddit Ads, or even perhaps Podcast advertisements with some of the larger hockey podcasts like Spittin’ Chiclets. We must diversify our recruiting sources so if we effectively lose access to one of them, we have a fallback well to lean on. It is critical for not just the SHL but the ISFL as well to have a degree of redundancy and these avenues would be applicable for the ISFL as well.
Retainment is a different animal entirely. Since I joined the ISFL I have been impressed with the league’s player progression system, having it unified under one team. The SHL has two separate teams, and it can be daunting and overwhelming for many new users to understand where to go and what tasks they can do. The one thing I would say about the ISFL progression team, is that they have a magnifying glass on the ISFL and often let the DSFL slip by the wayside. Asking a rookie with a rudimentary knowledge at best on the ISFL’s competitive landscape to predict a weeks’ worth of games is asking for a lack of engagement and employment the more efficient copy paste strategy that a user can find. I do not know the difference between the Honolulu Hahalua or the Sarasota Sailfish right now. Perhaps we could offer prediction tasks for the DSFL as well, so members can have PTs that are a bit more relevant to their daily site experience?
Other than that minor snafu, I feel that the ISFL has done a fantastic job at creating a community that is its own, and keeping members engaged. I look forward to this draft experience immensely and really absorbing the ISFL experience for the first time with CJ Sonjack.
Tier 2 – Task 10
My journey has been documented relatively well. CJ Sonjack declared for the DSFL draft later than most of his fellow prospects, and I had a well-deserved reputation of not exactly getting the most out of my players due to spending most of my time over in the SHL. When I retired Arik Eller, the plan was to do more with this player than what I had with my previous two. With Eller, I chased contracts due to a lack of motivation to earn money to max earn. That contract money was my lifeblood and the only thing that mattered to me. That was something I wanted to break away from with CJ Sonjack. During the DSFL scouting process, the LR that really spoke to me was the Royals. I was in there, and not even part of the team, and people like Blorgl, Wildfire, Slate, Katarn, RainbowDash, Deadly, all made me feel welcome. Being able to get drafted to my preferred destination was a treat and something that I treasured immensely.
Due to those perceptions that I outlined before, I slipped into the third round. I probably could have slipped further, but I think my intimate knowledge of the Star Wars Jedi Knight games secured my fate with Katarn. I joined the Royals and had something to prove.
The season was an absolute gem. It started off rocky when I did not even see my player playing CB. I think it may have been an Endurance issue, because once that was bumped up, I got a ton of time on the field. I even led the league in interceptions this season as a rookie, so I am hopeful that maybe I will be considered for some individual accolades and awards. The biggest disappointment about the season would have to be the fact that we fell short of making the postseason. Taking part in the playoffs would have been an absolute treat, but we had a young offense. I am hopeful that we will take last season as a learning experience. I maintain that to truly cherish what victory is, you must know the despair of defeat.
The Royals will be ready to bounce back and fight forward. We will not fall short of the postseason two seasons in a row. Our young offense will have a year under their belt, and they’ll be ready to punch opposing defenses right across their noses.
![[Image: CJ.jpg?width=487&height=609]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/712373550002208813/822019181876215818/CJ.jpg?width=487&height=609)
![[Image: ace0421.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/ace0421.gif)
