Tier 1 - 800 words
It wasn’t until I became a GM with the Austin Copperheads that I started paying closer attention to the DSFL. My first player, Carlito Crush, joined the Portland Pythons in S4, and it was fun winning the Ultimini and MVP of the game. Easton Cole did the same thing in Palm Beach, but that was when that franchise was just coming off of being a bot team again so I didn’t care too much about it. But as a GM, you have to do things like scouting, and all of a sudden you start to realize the culture of the DSFL franchises.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t like most of them. The DSFL 10 seasons ago felt a lot more like this weird Thunderdome where they felt like they were much more important than they were. DSFL Franchises were important in terms of teaching new players the ropes of how the site works, and their most important reason for existence: player retention. When I was a J GM in the SHL, that was the focus. Getting players invested and getting them to stick around. Winning came second, even though you’d tend to find that getting people invested and caring lead to more wins as they gained TPE. But the DSFL? It was much too focused on winning. I don’t know if the quick growth of the league at the time had anything to do with it, but winning became the primary goal for a lot of these teams and it created really toxic environments left and right. Newer players were going inactive because of the DSFL experience, I know this for a fact. It wasn’t great at all.
Enter Bayley Cowabunga, my newest player. I wasn’t sure where I’d get to go, and while I wanted to go to Dallas, I was open to going anywhere! Let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised at EVERY SINGLE CONVERSATION I had. The DSFL finally has it right, in my mind. After what was quite the stretch there where people were getting others to retire to sign for another team, and lots of legit rivalries were popping up all over the place, the DSFL has finally gone through more than enough change in leadership across the boards where all of a sudden, while winning matters still, it’s the user experience that everyone has bought into.
And they really have. The DSFL has been so incredibly fun during Bayley’s two years in the league. It’s competitive, but just about every team has been having fun and people are really active in the league. The minors aren’t being looked at as “a one and done thing I have to do” now, and instead players are coming back for a 2nd season, sometimes a 3rd! It’s a perfect mix of the ISFL having less IAs across the board than it used to, and as a result, there’s less room for players to get called up right away. But the big difference nowadays is that players, again, WANT to stay down and chase the Ultimini. It’s helped player retention because the new guys are coming into teams with more “vets” on the roster and they’re having a lot of fun. I was really impressed with the way things are being run now. I still dabbled in the Portland LR after all of these years, and while I don’t pay much attention to it, I did pop in every now and then, especially when Dallas was playing them. Yeah, you could see that the players in the losing locker room were upset by the loss, but everyone was positive about “getting them next time” and keeping things positive. And now, based on conversations I’ve had with other trusted people in the league who are in other DSFL LRs that I am not, it seems that that’s how it is across the board. There’s a lot less venom and anger and a lot more professionalism and competitiveness.
This is something the entire league really needed. Not that we were ever in danger of dying, but changing the overall message that brand new players get when they join this awesome league was a very good idea. The feeling in general is different. There’s a lot of people that played a part in it, from the GMs to the DSFL HO, and the players who have just flocked to helping other players out. The ISFL is flourishing. We have a fantastic user base that continues to grow. And a big reason we’re seeing some of the best football we’ve seen in quite some time is because we have some really great players sticking around and making it a better place. And that’s because they’re getting hooked for all of the right reasons in the DSFL. I’m a cranky old man at times, sure, and I used to say on my podcasts all of the time that the DSFL was full of itself, and it kind of sucked. After my most recent experience with my new player, I can proudly say that this is no longer the case. The DSFL is really doing it right, and I’m happy to see just how much progress is being made. It’s fantastic. I almost can’t wait to make my next player so I can go back. (882)
It wasn’t until I became a GM with the Austin Copperheads that I started paying closer attention to the DSFL. My first player, Carlito Crush, joined the Portland Pythons in S4, and it was fun winning the Ultimini and MVP of the game. Easton Cole did the same thing in Palm Beach, but that was when that franchise was just coming off of being a bot team again so I didn’t care too much about it. But as a GM, you have to do things like scouting, and all of a sudden you start to realize the culture of the DSFL franchises.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t like most of them. The DSFL 10 seasons ago felt a lot more like this weird Thunderdome where they felt like they were much more important than they were. DSFL Franchises were important in terms of teaching new players the ropes of how the site works, and their most important reason for existence: player retention. When I was a J GM in the SHL, that was the focus. Getting players invested and getting them to stick around. Winning came second, even though you’d tend to find that getting people invested and caring lead to more wins as they gained TPE. But the DSFL? It was much too focused on winning. I don’t know if the quick growth of the league at the time had anything to do with it, but winning became the primary goal for a lot of these teams and it created really toxic environments left and right. Newer players were going inactive because of the DSFL experience, I know this for a fact. It wasn’t great at all.
Enter Bayley Cowabunga, my newest player. I wasn’t sure where I’d get to go, and while I wanted to go to Dallas, I was open to going anywhere! Let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised at EVERY SINGLE CONVERSATION I had. The DSFL finally has it right, in my mind. After what was quite the stretch there where people were getting others to retire to sign for another team, and lots of legit rivalries were popping up all over the place, the DSFL has finally gone through more than enough change in leadership across the boards where all of a sudden, while winning matters still, it’s the user experience that everyone has bought into.
And they really have. The DSFL has been so incredibly fun during Bayley’s two years in the league. It’s competitive, but just about every team has been having fun and people are really active in the league. The minors aren’t being looked at as “a one and done thing I have to do” now, and instead players are coming back for a 2nd season, sometimes a 3rd! It’s a perfect mix of the ISFL having less IAs across the board than it used to, and as a result, there’s less room for players to get called up right away. But the big difference nowadays is that players, again, WANT to stay down and chase the Ultimini. It’s helped player retention because the new guys are coming into teams with more “vets” on the roster and they’re having a lot of fun. I was really impressed with the way things are being run now. I still dabbled in the Portland LR after all of these years, and while I don’t pay much attention to it, I did pop in every now and then, especially when Dallas was playing them. Yeah, you could see that the players in the losing locker room were upset by the loss, but everyone was positive about “getting them next time” and keeping things positive. And now, based on conversations I’ve had with other trusted people in the league who are in other DSFL LRs that I am not, it seems that that’s how it is across the board. There’s a lot less venom and anger and a lot more professionalism and competitiveness.
This is something the entire league really needed. Not that we were ever in danger of dying, but changing the overall message that brand new players get when they join this awesome league was a very good idea. The feeling in general is different. There’s a lot of people that played a part in it, from the GMs to the DSFL HO, and the players who have just flocked to helping other players out. The ISFL is flourishing. We have a fantastic user base that continues to grow. And a big reason we’re seeing some of the best football we’ve seen in quite some time is because we have some really great players sticking around and making it a better place. And that’s because they’re getting hooked for all of the right reasons in the DSFL. I’m a cranky old man at times, sure, and I used to say on my podcasts all of the time that the DSFL was full of itself, and it kind of sucked. After my most recent experience with my new player, I can proudly say that this is no longer the case. The DSFL is really doing it right, and I’m happy to see just how much progress is being made. It’s fantastic. I almost can’t wait to make my next player so I can go back. (882)