So, I’ve had sort of a mental block lately on media ideas and just have NOT been able to come up with anything. I still need money though and thought the best way to get the ol’ brain juices flowing again would be to fill out some of the Ultimus Week tasks. I know there is typically a word requirement on these but since it’s just for media and not TPE I just answered the questions freely without the minimum. If you’re not a media grader and just a casual reader, you proooobably won’t find anything that interesting in here.
I know I’m not actually eligible to answer this prompt for TPE, which is why I’ll do it here. I’ve said it several times before and I’ll say it again. This league is awesome and was a very welcome distraction during a stressful year. When the irl world was shut down, finding the ISFL was my chance to socialize and make new friends. The majority of people here are extremely welcoming and honestly try their best to teach new prospects how to be comfortable in the league. I was especially lucky in being drafted with one of the larger draft classes of recent history.
This past season was my first one officially on an ISFL team. I feel like I did pretty well and was overall satisfied with my year end stats! I definitely want to keep getting better though! I also can’t wait to see how my player does in the new sim. OL has that awesome new trait called Tenacious Blocker. The only lame thing is that I won’t be able to get it for almost two whole seasons, but wow it must be good with a 150 TPE price tag!
For new prospects, the first two seasons are super fun. Being drafted twice in back to back seasons is somewhat of a head spinner. You meet so many people so fast that it can be difficult to keep track. I loved it though because it introduced me to two entirely different pools of people. Especially so since I got drafted to an expansion team that pulled people from all the other teams. I can’t wait to see what the future of the league holds.
Marlon Alexander was first born in an assembly plant, in the industrial southwestern part of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Early life was difficult for Alexander. Not many people are willing to openly accept a fully sentient appliance being. If that wasn’t hard enough, being a refrigerator meant that Alexander was constantly teased for his excessive weight. Little did he know that one day, this trait would eventually be a boon that vaulted him to stardom and success.
Alexander had always loved sports. Not all of them he fully understood, but he liked each one to a certain degree. Football he loved the most. He liked how all the players were larger humanoids, but were still considered to be in peak physical condition. The idea of being in a team environment also appealed to his fantasy of being accepted and wanted. It was at this point in his life that he decided what he wanted. Marlon Alexander would become a pro football player! Maybe not the best, but he would do it. Make it to the big leagues. Prove his doubters wrong and prove it to himself that he was worth a damn.
Alexander began to work out mercilessly. Every day he worked out his arms, getting stronger and stronger. Alexander did however skip leg day frequently. In fact he never once in his life worked out his legs. This was because as a refrigerator, he actually didn’t have legs. It was obvious to him early on that he would never be a star running back or wide receiver, but he didn’t care. His plan was to keep working out his arms until we was literally the strongest person on any team. It was in this fashion that the years went by. Training every day and getting stronger.
It was in college that Marlon Alexander would finally get his chance. As a freshman at the University of New Mexico, Alexander tried out for the team. He did what conditioning tests he could and scored high in anything that tested arm strength… and failed at everything that tested leg strength. The coaching staff DID see potential in him though, and he was signed to the team…. As the Gatorade cooler. Alexander was devastated.
Alexander continued in this position for months, horribly depressed. It wasn’t until a scout by the name of Mag happened upon a practice one day that everything changed. Mag was a scout for the minor league team, The London Royals. He saw in Alexander his true potential: as an offensive lineman. Little to Alexander’s knowledge, offensive linemen in the pro leagues are expensive, and are often replaced by robots. Having a fridge protecting the qb was perfect! He didn’t have to run at all and could put his arm strength to use! Alexander was drafted in the third round of the rookie draft and signed to the team. He had finally found his way to the pros and his dream had come true. Now, it was time for the real work to finally begin.
This is my first sim league, so it’s a little hard to be objective. I can say that I absolutely love it so far. The community is amazing, and I love the interactions this league has allowed me to have with various users. In my three seasons here so far, I’ve made plenty of friends whom I would not have otherwise met. There are so many backgrounds too! We seem to attract people from all over the world. This leads to some very interesting conversations as well as opens the door to various new perspectives. Sure, there are a few toxic or abrasive people around the league just like there are in any other online game, but these interactions are typically dealt with swiftly and are relatively sparse in my opinion.
As someone who has now been around for a while, I am beginning to look for ways to contribute to the growth, functioning, and overall health of the ISFL. I started looking for my first league job recently and just got hired as a backup updater! I am so excited to finally be a contributor! I do hope to maybe pick up one or two other side jobs throughout the league, but that would probably max it out for me. I know that there are some people that seem to have a hand in every branch of league management. This would probably be my only suggestion for league improvement: limiting the amount of league jobs someone can have. While it’s awesome that someone can do a little bit of everything, I’m not sure it’s healthy for the league long term for one person to so detrimental to everything. If that one person happens to go IA or something, then we would have a serious problem on out hands. Additionally, leaving a lot of jobs open for younger players ensures that there are a wide range of people that know how to do things. Again though, just my opinion.
I was so excited when I first got drafted to the New York Silverbacks! As one of the new expansion teams, it just seemed like fun to help create something from the ground up. So far, that has definitely been the case. Woelkers and Westy are awesome dudes and are super easy to work with. With drafting both new players like me as well was incorporating experienced veterans, they’ve proved themselves more than flexible in each player’s individual needs while still keeping an eye on the team’s overall needs.
Excitement aside, we all know how our very first season went. Bad. So we don’t need to go into that too much. Expectations for both of the expansion teams’ inaugural seasons were not very high. I think the team overall found solace in the fact that we at least still did better than Berlin did. This year though, this year was AWESOME. I know we just barely managed so squeeze into the playoffs based off of tiebreakers, but it doesn’t matter! We still made it to the playoffs in our second season of existence! The team as a whole was ecstatic! Even though we were one and done in the playoffs, the team didn’t even care! We proved to ourselves that we didn’t suck, and again proved that we were better than our sibling team. I think next year will really be the defining moment for the Silverbacks. If we make it to the playoffs again it will cement it for us that we are contenders and are not a pushover team. If we don’t make the playoffs again, then it will just show that we still have some flexing and working to do on our lineup and strategies. The fact that there is a new sim this year will definitely be a variable as well.
Ah, I love how every time we have a reddit draft rumors about expansions begin to swirl. Not condemning it in any way though, it’s fun to think about! I also love that almost every person in the league has at some point pitched their idea for an expansion city and name. Personally though, I absolutely suck at coming up with names. Some friends of mine were bullshitting around with dinosaur themed names the other day though and that seems like a winner to me! Someone also mentioned that the next two expansion teams probably won’t be locations in America, and I totally agree with that. People like variety. We are also an international league. I’m sure there would be some interesting suggestions.
The real discussion though is about who would lead the teams as GMs. In my actual Ultimus Week post, I talked a lot about the accomplishments of my beloved S25 and their successes. If it were up to me, I’d select at least one S25 per team and partner them with someone who has been around longer and has more experience. So let’s see. Who would I choose. For team one, I think Mag should definitely be a GM. He’s super nice, smart at sim football, and would (in my opinion) be ready to GM his own ISFL team by the time we’re ready for expansion. I think his perfect pro league coGM would be Katarn. He’s on the same wavelength as Mag, and I can see them going down in league history and the most soft spoken GMs to ever exist. As for team two, I think I’ll start with someone that is sort of opposite of Mag. I think I’s have to go with Deadly. Deadly is a lot smarter at sim sports than he lets on, and as one of the original GMs of London he has experience with expansion teams. I think his perfect S25 companion would be Zeagle. Zeagle admires the resolute decision making of South but I think is chaotic enough at times to be a perfect match for Deadly.
You know what. Now that I go back and read what I wrote… it’s probably a good thing I’m not in charge of selecting expansion GMs. There are just so many good people to select from!
Ooooo, I wonder if anyone who answered this prompt used Mojo’s rivalry write up. I feel like it would be pretty evident that New York’s main rival is Berlin. We’re sibling expansion teams! Of course we have to strive to be better than them in every way! We’ve been lucky so far though. Berlin struggled in their inaugural season just like we did. As for this past season, we made the playoffs and they didn’t. I will admit though. It’s not like they actually have a bad team. They are chocked full of talent from fresh faced draftees to devoted veterans. Last season was definitely one of those ‘sim luck’ seasons for them. Being friends with several of their players, they frequently said they had high sim test percentages and even seemed to lose games that they probably should have won. Sometimes they frustratingly lost by a single score. I have already mentioned that next year will be a really defining season for us since it’s hard to prove a trend with two data points. I feel that Berlin is in the same boat and will be fighting fierce to prove to the league that they aren’t as bad as their last two seasons. Regardless of what happens though, the Salamanders are smelly.
I’ll use this prompt to give a short shout out to my guy Blorgl. He was just drafted in the S27 class but has already come so far. He’s been here one season and already displays a vivid understanding of how the league works. He understands the sim to a certain degree and asks tons of questions. His curiosity about things like lineup/drafting strategies and playbook styles demonstrates his eagerness to improve. He’s already made his way into the London war room and is aiding in their draft effort for the incoming S28 class. I know for a fact that team members respect his judge of character and his opinions carry weight even as a rookie. Good job buddy. I feel like you’ll be leading your own team in no time and I’m excited to continue following your career!
If anyone has interacted with me before, they would know that I like to joke at being commissioner of the league one day. In reality though, I think I would honestly do a terrible job. I am in no way organized or attentive enough to do the job well. If I absolutely had to though? Well, I guess this is what I would do:
- I’d probably keep the season/offseason schedules exactly the same and just alter them around any holidays or whatever. Scheduling is one of my weaker skill and I honestly kind of find it to be annoying. Bex does a good job (I think she’s the one who does the schedules, I don’t actually know) planning out the weeks ahead, so anything I change would not be drastic at all.
- As I mentioned under a different prompt, I would like to limit the amount of league jobs that people can hold. I won’t get to repetitive, so I’ll just re-summarize by saying I think it would be a healthy move to spread out the responsibilities a little more.
- Bosses need to be visible to all levels of employees. I realize this is a game and not an actual business, but I would like to spend more time visibly interacting in various locker rooms. People like leaders who are reachable. Being on the ground floor of the league would also help a commissioner to maintain a constant ‘temperature check’ on the types of complaints (trivial or not) members are having.
- Lastly, probably the most controversial and drastic change I would make would be to the stock market. I get it. The creators wanted to make it more realistic and vary the amount of variables that affect the prices. Here’s my main issue with it though: it’s too complicated. I realize this is just my opinion, but I feel like many users complain that they don’t actually understand it. Whether that is an educational issue or a product of variety in user’s ages and backgrounds could probably be debated. I would just like more users to be able to participate. So the only solution I can come up with is to vastly simplify the stock market, or to just get rid of it all together.
Quote:7) This task is exclusive to non-recreate rookies of the S26 class and later. In 400 words or more, how has your experience been in the league? Who have you met that has made your time here more fun, friendly, and exciting? Have you been satisfied with your player’s early start? What was it like being drafted for the first time? Do you have any comments or suggestions for the entire league that you think should be implemented?
I know I’m not actually eligible to answer this prompt for TPE, which is why I’ll do it here. I’ve said it several times before and I’ll say it again. This league is awesome and was a very welcome distraction during a stressful year. When the irl world was shut down, finding the ISFL was my chance to socialize and make new friends. The majority of people here are extremely welcoming and honestly try their best to teach new prospects how to be comfortable in the league. I was especially lucky in being drafted with one of the larger draft classes of recent history.
This past season was my first one officially on an ISFL team. I feel like I did pretty well and was overall satisfied with my year end stats! I definitely want to keep getting better though! I also can’t wait to see how my player does in the new sim. OL has that awesome new trait called Tenacious Blocker. The only lame thing is that I won’t be able to get it for almost two whole seasons, but wow it must be good with a 150 TPE price tag!
For new prospects, the first two seasons are super fun. Being drafted twice in back to back seasons is somewhat of a head spinner. You meet so many people so fast that it can be difficult to keep track. I loved it though because it introduced me to two entirely different pools of people. Especially so since I got drafted to an expansion team that pulled people from all the other teams. I can’t wait to see what the future of the league holds.
Quote:8) Write a short biography or story about your player. This could include background about how they came to the ISFL and how they’ve done so far, a story about their role in an exciting game, or anything else related to their experience in the league.
Marlon Alexander was first born in an assembly plant, in the industrial southwestern part of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Early life was difficult for Alexander. Not many people are willing to openly accept a fully sentient appliance being. If that wasn’t hard enough, being a refrigerator meant that Alexander was constantly teased for his excessive weight. Little did he know that one day, this trait would eventually be a boon that vaulted him to stardom and success.
Alexander had always loved sports. Not all of them he fully understood, but he liked each one to a certain degree. Football he loved the most. He liked how all the players were larger humanoids, but were still considered to be in peak physical condition. The idea of being in a team environment also appealed to his fantasy of being accepted and wanted. It was at this point in his life that he decided what he wanted. Marlon Alexander would become a pro football player! Maybe not the best, but he would do it. Make it to the big leagues. Prove his doubters wrong and prove it to himself that he was worth a damn.
Alexander began to work out mercilessly. Every day he worked out his arms, getting stronger and stronger. Alexander did however skip leg day frequently. In fact he never once in his life worked out his legs. This was because as a refrigerator, he actually didn’t have legs. It was obvious to him early on that he would never be a star running back or wide receiver, but he didn’t care. His plan was to keep working out his arms until we was literally the strongest person on any team. It was in this fashion that the years went by. Training every day and getting stronger.
It was in college that Marlon Alexander would finally get his chance. As a freshman at the University of New Mexico, Alexander tried out for the team. He did what conditioning tests he could and scored high in anything that tested arm strength… and failed at everything that tested leg strength. The coaching staff DID see potential in him though, and he was signed to the team…. As the Gatorade cooler. Alexander was devastated.
Alexander continued in this position for months, horribly depressed. It wasn’t until a scout by the name of Mag happened upon a practice one day that everything changed. Mag was a scout for the minor league team, The London Royals. He saw in Alexander his true potential: as an offensive lineman. Little to Alexander’s knowledge, offensive linemen in the pro leagues are expensive, and are often replaced by robots. Having a fridge protecting the qb was perfect! He didn’t have to run at all and could put his arm strength to use! Alexander was drafted in the third round of the rookie draft and signed to the team. He had finally found his way to the pros and his dream had come true. Now, it was time for the real work to finally begin.
Quote:9) What is it that keeps you interested in the league? Is it your love of dot football, the community, a specific job or role you play, or something else? What do you like most about it? What could be improved?
This is my first sim league, so it’s a little hard to be objective. I can say that I absolutely love it so far. The community is amazing, and I love the interactions this league has allowed me to have with various users. In my three seasons here so far, I’ve made plenty of friends whom I would not have otherwise met. There are so many backgrounds too! We seem to attract people from all over the world. This leads to some very interesting conversations as well as opens the door to various new perspectives. Sure, there are a few toxic or abrasive people around the league just like there are in any other online game, but these interactions are typically dealt with swiftly and are relatively sparse in my opinion.
As someone who has now been around for a while, I am beginning to look for ways to contribute to the growth, functioning, and overall health of the ISFL. I started looking for my first league job recently and just got hired as a backup updater! I am so excited to finally be a contributor! I do hope to maybe pick up one or two other side jobs throughout the league, but that would probably max it out for me. I know that there are some people that seem to have a hand in every branch of league management. This would probably be my only suggestion for league improvement: limiting the amount of league jobs someone can have. While it’s awesome that someone can do a little bit of everything, I’m not sure it’s healthy for the league long term for one person to so detrimental to everything. If that one person happens to go IA or something, then we would have a serious problem on out hands. Additionally, leaving a lot of jobs open for younger players ensures that there are a wide range of people that know how to do things. Again though, just my opinion.
Quote:10) Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?
I was so excited when I first got drafted to the New York Silverbacks! As one of the new expansion teams, it just seemed like fun to help create something from the ground up. So far, that has definitely been the case. Woelkers and Westy are awesome dudes and are super easy to work with. With drafting both new players like me as well was incorporating experienced veterans, they’ve proved themselves more than flexible in each player’s individual needs while still keeping an eye on the team’s overall needs.
Excitement aside, we all know how our very first season went. Bad. So we don’t need to go into that too much. Expectations for both of the expansion teams’ inaugural seasons were not very high. I think the team overall found solace in the fact that we at least still did better than Berlin did. This year though, this year was AWESOME. I know we just barely managed so squeeze into the playoffs based off of tiebreakers, but it doesn’t matter! We still made it to the playoffs in our second season of existence! The team as a whole was ecstatic! Even though we were one and done in the playoffs, the team didn’t even care! We proved to ourselves that we didn’t suck, and again proved that we were better than our sibling team. I think next year will really be the defining moment for the Silverbacks. If we make it to the playoffs again it will cement it for us that we are contenders and are not a pushover team. If we don’t make the playoffs again, then it will just show that we still have some flexing and working to do on our lineup and strategies. The fact that there is a new sim this year will definitely be a variable as well.
Quote:12) It seems likely the league will undergo expansion again one day soon. What would you like to see in a new expansion team? What should it be called, where should it be located, and who do you think would be in the best position to GM? Explain why.
Ah, I love how every time we have a reddit draft rumors about expansions begin to swirl. Not condemning it in any way though, it’s fun to think about! I also love that almost every person in the league has at some point pitched their idea for an expansion city and name. Personally though, I absolutely suck at coming up with names. Some friends of mine were bullshitting around with dinosaur themed names the other day though and that seems like a winner to me! Someone also mentioned that the next two expansion teams probably won’t be locations in America, and I totally agree with that. People like variety. We are also an international league. I’m sure there would be some interesting suggestions.
The real discussion though is about who would lead the teams as GMs. In my actual Ultimus Week post, I talked a lot about the accomplishments of my beloved S25 and their successes. If it were up to me, I’d select at least one S25 per team and partner them with someone who has been around longer and has more experience. So let’s see. Who would I choose. For team one, I think Mag should definitely be a GM. He’s super nice, smart at sim football, and would (in my opinion) be ready to GM his own ISFL team by the time we’re ready for expansion. I think his perfect pro league coGM would be Katarn. He’s on the same wavelength as Mag, and I can see them going down in league history and the most soft spoken GMs to ever exist. As for team two, I think I’ll start with someone that is sort of opposite of Mag. I think I’s have to go with Deadly. Deadly is a lot smarter at sim sports than he lets on, and as one of the original GMs of London he has experience with expansion teams. I think his perfect S25 companion would be Zeagle. Zeagle admires the resolute decision making of South but I think is chaotic enough at times to be a perfect match for Deadly.
You know what. Now that I go back and read what I wrote… it’s probably a good thing I’m not in charge of selecting expansion GMs. There are just so many good people to select from!
Quote:13) Write about your team’s biggest rivalry and what makes it so fierce. Is the competition founded in statistics and the team’s recent performance, or is it a rivalry that developed over time during the team’s history that would exist regardless of statistics?
Ooooo, I wonder if anyone who answered this prompt used Mojo’s rivalry write up. I feel like it would be pretty evident that New York’s main rival is Berlin. We’re sibling expansion teams! Of course we have to strive to be better than them in every way! We’ve been lucky so far though. Berlin struggled in their inaugural season just like we did. As for this past season, we made the playoffs and they didn’t. I will admit though. It’s not like they actually have a bad team. They are chocked full of talent from fresh faced draftees to devoted veterans. Last season was definitely one of those ‘sim luck’ seasons for them. Being friends with several of their players, they frequently said they had high sim test percentages and even seemed to lose games that they probably should have won. Sometimes they frustratingly lost by a single score. I have already mentioned that next year will be a really defining season for us since it’s hard to prove a trend with two data points. I feel that Berlin is in the same boat and will be fighting fierce to prove to the league that they aren’t as bad as their last two seasons. Regardless of what happens though, the Salamanders are smelly.
Quote:14) Choose a team or player to write about that isn’t your own. What did they do well in the last season? Have they shown any drastic improvements from previous years? What could they do better?
I’ll use this prompt to give a short shout out to my guy Blorgl. He was just drafted in the S27 class but has already come so far. He’s been here one season and already displays a vivid understanding of how the league works. He understands the sim to a certain degree and asks tons of questions. His curiosity about things like lineup/drafting strategies and playbook styles demonstrates his eagerness to improve. He’s already made his way into the London war room and is aiding in their draft effort for the incoming S28 class. I know for a fact that team members respect his judge of character and his opinions carry weight even as a rookie. Good job buddy. I feel like you’ll be leading your own team in no time and I’m excited to continue following your career!
Quote:15) You’ve been named Commissioner for a Week (your choice as to ISFL or DSFL). What do you do? Would you make any fast and drastic changes, or coast along with what’s already in place? Do you think you would do well in the position? If not, is there someone else that would?
If anyone has interacted with me before, they would know that I like to joke at being commissioner of the league one day. In reality though, I think I would honestly do a terrible job. I am in no way organized or attentive enough to do the job well. If I absolutely had to though? Well, I guess this is what I would do:
- I’d probably keep the season/offseason schedules exactly the same and just alter them around any holidays or whatever. Scheduling is one of my weaker skill and I honestly kind of find it to be annoying. Bex does a good job (I think she’s the one who does the schedules, I don’t actually know) planning out the weeks ahead, so anything I change would not be drastic at all.
- As I mentioned under a different prompt, I would like to limit the amount of league jobs that people can hold. I won’t get to repetitive, so I’ll just re-summarize by saying I think it would be a healthy move to spread out the responsibilities a little more.
- Bosses need to be visible to all levels of employees. I realize this is a game and not an actual business, but I would like to spend more time visibly interacting in various locker rooms. People like leaders who are reachable. Being on the ground floor of the league would also help a commissioner to maintain a constant ‘temperature check’ on the types of complaints (trivial or not) members are having.
- Lastly, probably the most controversial and drastic change I would make would be to the stock market. I get it. The creators wanted to make it more realistic and vary the amount of variables that affect the prices. Here’s my main issue with it though: it’s too complicated. I realize this is just my opinion, but I feel like many users complain that they don’t actually understand it. Whether that is an educational issue or a product of variety in user’s ages and backgrounds could probably be debated. I would just like more users to be able to participate. So the only solution I can come up with is to vastly simplify the stock market, or to just get rid of it all together.