Task 1, Long Form, 800 words. Option #6.
Lately, the ISFL Head Office has been under scrutiny because Zamir reared his ugly head again. He basically showed the entire league that he could be a multi, make a whole new persona, get into Head Office as an intern, and appear to be a decent human being. Naturally, that couldn’t last and he made his “big reveal”. Yet again, the entire community of the ISFL leans towards showing little to no faith in the powers that be. Time and time again, Head Office has given awful, awful punishments. How do I know this? Well, I’m on the appeals team. We’re at the point where just about any punishment or suspension is handled so poorly by Head Office that they appeal. Most of the time, we agree with HO and just tell them to go away, not overturning any decisions. But sometimes, they’re just straight up wrong. And that’s okay, nobody is perfect.
However, we’ve gotten to the point where people literally consider retiring and leaving the league simply because of who is running it. Clearly, that’s the opposite of what we would want to be happening here. Player retention is always our number one goal – without players, we have no league. And I’m not talking about fringe players, or new players who just don’t care that much. I’m talking about invested players. People who have, or still are, GMing teams. People who have won awards and been in jobs. Really, really good members of the community. This isn’t okay.
Now, does that mean HO is doing something wrong? To a degree yes, of course. I don’t think it’s intentional though. I’ve been in two Head Offices in my sim careers – PBE and SHL. Let me tell you something: being a member of Head Office is a thankless job. You get next to nothing in terms of support, and people only give a damn about you when you “mess up” in their eyes. Far too often, across many leagues, I’ve seen good players and members of the community take a step back after a stint in Head Office just sapped their enjoyment of the league. I felt the same thing, especially in PBE.
“Back in my day”, we didn’t pay HO. It was a volunteer system of people who love the league doing their best to donate time and effort to help it run and survive. Clearly, we’ve realized that getting paid for this time with money and/or a PT pass is the way to go. I agree. But, here’s the thing. People check out when they’re in Head Office. They get burned out, but the allure of doing minimal work for the league while getting a fat paycheck and PT pass is too much for many to walk away from. Our current HO is focused on things like a “competition committee” instead of making sure people aren’t multi-ing and everything else. This HO loves to micromanage all facets of the league, and that makes it less fun. Believe me, as Media Head I get some intern coming up to me to ask me the absolutely worst questions every offseason. I don’t need that, and neither do the other Job Heads who are good at what they do. All we need from HO is to dole out fair punishments (and this includes members excusing themselves when they have a personal connection to the player/person involved), keep an eye out for cheating, and make sure our sim is as balanced and as fair as possible.
This Head Office misses the mark a lot. So, the real question here is: “How do we fix it?”. I think the real answer here is simple: Term Limits. I think a stint in HO should last 2-3 seasons. That’s more than enough time to understand the job, make a difference, and not grow too despondent over time. After your time is up, you’re able to put yourself up for “re-election” once. After that, you’re done for a minimum of 5 seasons. That means the maximum for being in HO will be 4-6 seasons. That’s more than enough time to be in HO, but also enough time to get out before burnout and complacency creeps in. There really isn’t a good way to get someone out of Head Office currently. Being able to vote them out empowers the league, and prevents real long term issues. We can have an HO spot up for grabs every offseason, and people who want to be in Head Office can apply. To prevent the stupid league from electing meme HO members, which WILL happen, the “member” vote will only count for a small percentage of the decision. You can have the rest of HO, the appeals committee, and the commissioner vote as well.
And about the Commissioner. It takes a special person to give up part of their life to run a sim league. Anyone that is named Commissioner is NOT subjected to elections, and they’re in the position until they step down (or needs to be forcibly removed for some heinous act).
Giving the HO term limits means more fresh blood and new ideas will keep constantly filtering in. It prevents stagnation by members just in it for the paycheck. It prevents members of HO to push their own interests and narratives. And most importantly, it prevents the league from growing tired of the same ol’ HO. You can’t be mad at them when they’re changing every so often. (918)
Lately, the ISFL Head Office has been under scrutiny because Zamir reared his ugly head again. He basically showed the entire league that he could be a multi, make a whole new persona, get into Head Office as an intern, and appear to be a decent human being. Naturally, that couldn’t last and he made his “big reveal”. Yet again, the entire community of the ISFL leans towards showing little to no faith in the powers that be. Time and time again, Head Office has given awful, awful punishments. How do I know this? Well, I’m on the appeals team. We’re at the point where just about any punishment or suspension is handled so poorly by Head Office that they appeal. Most of the time, we agree with HO and just tell them to go away, not overturning any decisions. But sometimes, they’re just straight up wrong. And that’s okay, nobody is perfect.
However, we’ve gotten to the point where people literally consider retiring and leaving the league simply because of who is running it. Clearly, that’s the opposite of what we would want to be happening here. Player retention is always our number one goal – without players, we have no league. And I’m not talking about fringe players, or new players who just don’t care that much. I’m talking about invested players. People who have, or still are, GMing teams. People who have won awards and been in jobs. Really, really good members of the community. This isn’t okay.
Now, does that mean HO is doing something wrong? To a degree yes, of course. I don’t think it’s intentional though. I’ve been in two Head Offices in my sim careers – PBE and SHL. Let me tell you something: being a member of Head Office is a thankless job. You get next to nothing in terms of support, and people only give a damn about you when you “mess up” in their eyes. Far too often, across many leagues, I’ve seen good players and members of the community take a step back after a stint in Head Office just sapped their enjoyment of the league. I felt the same thing, especially in PBE.
“Back in my day”, we didn’t pay HO. It was a volunteer system of people who love the league doing their best to donate time and effort to help it run and survive. Clearly, we’ve realized that getting paid for this time with money and/or a PT pass is the way to go. I agree. But, here’s the thing. People check out when they’re in Head Office. They get burned out, but the allure of doing minimal work for the league while getting a fat paycheck and PT pass is too much for many to walk away from. Our current HO is focused on things like a “competition committee” instead of making sure people aren’t multi-ing and everything else. This HO loves to micromanage all facets of the league, and that makes it less fun. Believe me, as Media Head I get some intern coming up to me to ask me the absolutely worst questions every offseason. I don’t need that, and neither do the other Job Heads who are good at what they do. All we need from HO is to dole out fair punishments (and this includes members excusing themselves when they have a personal connection to the player/person involved), keep an eye out for cheating, and make sure our sim is as balanced and as fair as possible.
This Head Office misses the mark a lot. So, the real question here is: “How do we fix it?”. I think the real answer here is simple: Term Limits. I think a stint in HO should last 2-3 seasons. That’s more than enough time to understand the job, make a difference, and not grow too despondent over time. After your time is up, you’re able to put yourself up for “re-election” once. After that, you’re done for a minimum of 5 seasons. That means the maximum for being in HO will be 4-6 seasons. That’s more than enough time to be in HO, but also enough time to get out before burnout and complacency creeps in. There really isn’t a good way to get someone out of Head Office currently. Being able to vote them out empowers the league, and prevents real long term issues. We can have an HO spot up for grabs every offseason, and people who want to be in Head Office can apply. To prevent the stupid league from electing meme HO members, which WILL happen, the “member” vote will only count for a small percentage of the decision. You can have the rest of HO, the appeals committee, and the commissioner vote as well.
And about the Commissioner. It takes a special person to give up part of their life to run a sim league. Anyone that is named Commissioner is NOT subjected to elections, and they’re in the position until they step down (or needs to be forcibly removed for some heinous act).
Giving the HO term limits means more fresh blood and new ideas will keep constantly filtering in. It prevents stagnation by members just in it for the paycheck. It prevents members of HO to push their own interests and narratives. And most importantly, it prevents the league from growing tired of the same ol’ HO. You can’t be mad at them when they’re changing every so often. (918)
![[Image: tTMB4jP.jpg]](https://imgur.com/tTMB4jP.jpg)
