19. Your team has announced that they will be laying ground on a new stadium next season. What additions would you like to see included in it. (Written Task)
Ticket prices continue to climb steadily higher and higher as stadiums seek to maximize their profit for every game. Unfortunately, that has lead to a lot of sacrifices in the game day experience for customers. Not so in our new stadium – comfort will be of most concern when designing this facility. That thoughtfulness begins well outside the stadium in the parking lots. The new lots and structures will be designed for speed of evacuation; the thing that ISFL fans complain about most is how long it takes to get away from the stadium after a game ends. Speaking of evacuation, the other key improvement to this stadium is the number and placement of public bathroom facilities. Some of us have kids, we understand how important it can be sometimes to be able to get to a bathroom immediately. The architects and designers who are developing the plans for the stadium have partnered with mathematicians at MIT to plan a flawlessly laid out honeycomb of restrooms across the stadium grounds. The firm behind this new philosophy couldn’t be more proud of their “30 seconds from stadium seat to toilet seat” average during test scenarios.
21. Written Option: If your player had a show starring them, what would the plot be? Graphic Option: Create the cover art for your player’s show.
Gundam: Gridiron would be a twist on the classic “soldier returns home from war” story archetype. Free from the conflict and consequences of living the life of a soldier in a warzone, Gundam finds his life to be dull – it lacks the high stakes, adrenaline spiking dynamics of combat that he’s grown used to. Gundam turns to drinking as a way to cope with these difficult feelings, and in doing so gets into more than one bar brawl. During one of these fights, an ISFL scout happens to be drinking at the bar, and watches as Wing Gundam goes fully horizontal to tackle someone in the gravel parking lot. The rest of the series plays out with this new agent trying to find an ISFL team who will give Wing Gundam a chance. Will Gundam ever get to play in the big leagues? Will he overcome his past traumas and learn to love his life at home? Is the true meaning of the show all about the growth of friendship between these two dudes? You be the judge. Gundam: Gridiron premieres this fall on the Simulated Broadcast Network.
23. What are your thoughts on the sim engine? What sort of improvements would you make to the sim engine if given the opportunity? (Written Task)
Oh boy, the sim engine. I have some strong feelings. I can’t be too upset with it really, it does (mostly) a good job of what we ask it to do. There are some areas where it falls short though, either through poor design or because the league uses the sim in a way that the engine wasn’t necessarily intended for. My first issue is with relative value of stats. It’s well known that speed is king, and everything else is secondary. If you join the league and happen not to know that, your performance will be kinda bad until you correct for it. I’d love to make the impact of stats to be more evenly distributed, or allow different positions to prioritize particular stats, rather than simply have one “best” attribute. The second improvement would be a look at positional balance. I know that the sim balance team looks at this often and I think that generally they’re doing a great job. This issue is sort of tied into the issue with speed being the best attribute – archetypes which don’t favor speed are often suboptimal choices. I’d love to see changes which would allow the more strength-based builds to shine even in an era where speed is valued highly.
27. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why? (Written Task)
If there were no openings at Defensive End, I would have to really consider all of the other options before deciding on a different position. My previous player was a cornerback, so I don’t want to play there again. By extension, safety is also getting crossed off the list. D-tackle or linebacker seem like the obvious second choices, and I would be happy there – but why limit myself? If I had to choose a new position, why not make the jump over to offense? Wing Gundam could become a brick wall on the o-line, it would be very satisfying to just stack up eight or ten pancakes per game. Probably my next best choice (and likely position for my next recreate) would be running back. Something about finding those gaps in the line and being sneaky enough to get past the defenders appeals to me deeply. It’s not a desire strong enough to cause me to position swap my current player, but I see it in my future at some point.
Ticket prices continue to climb steadily higher and higher as stadiums seek to maximize their profit for every game. Unfortunately, that has lead to a lot of sacrifices in the game day experience for customers. Not so in our new stadium – comfort will be of most concern when designing this facility. That thoughtfulness begins well outside the stadium in the parking lots. The new lots and structures will be designed for speed of evacuation; the thing that ISFL fans complain about most is how long it takes to get away from the stadium after a game ends. Speaking of evacuation, the other key improvement to this stadium is the number and placement of public bathroom facilities. Some of us have kids, we understand how important it can be sometimes to be able to get to a bathroom immediately. The architects and designers who are developing the plans for the stadium have partnered with mathematicians at MIT to plan a flawlessly laid out honeycomb of restrooms across the stadium grounds. The firm behind this new philosophy couldn’t be more proud of their “30 seconds from stadium seat to toilet seat” average during test scenarios.
21. Written Option: If your player had a show starring them, what would the plot be? Graphic Option: Create the cover art for your player’s show.
Gundam: Gridiron would be a twist on the classic “soldier returns home from war” story archetype. Free from the conflict and consequences of living the life of a soldier in a warzone, Gundam finds his life to be dull – it lacks the high stakes, adrenaline spiking dynamics of combat that he’s grown used to. Gundam turns to drinking as a way to cope with these difficult feelings, and in doing so gets into more than one bar brawl. During one of these fights, an ISFL scout happens to be drinking at the bar, and watches as Wing Gundam goes fully horizontal to tackle someone in the gravel parking lot. The rest of the series plays out with this new agent trying to find an ISFL team who will give Wing Gundam a chance. Will Gundam ever get to play in the big leagues? Will he overcome his past traumas and learn to love his life at home? Is the true meaning of the show all about the growth of friendship between these two dudes? You be the judge. Gundam: Gridiron premieres this fall on the Simulated Broadcast Network.
23. What are your thoughts on the sim engine? What sort of improvements would you make to the sim engine if given the opportunity? (Written Task)
Oh boy, the sim engine. I have some strong feelings. I can’t be too upset with it really, it does (mostly) a good job of what we ask it to do. There are some areas where it falls short though, either through poor design or because the league uses the sim in a way that the engine wasn’t necessarily intended for. My first issue is with relative value of stats. It’s well known that speed is king, and everything else is secondary. If you join the league and happen not to know that, your performance will be kinda bad until you correct for it. I’d love to make the impact of stats to be more evenly distributed, or allow different positions to prioritize particular stats, rather than simply have one “best” attribute. The second improvement would be a look at positional balance. I know that the sim balance team looks at this often and I think that generally they’re doing a great job. This issue is sort of tied into the issue with speed being the best attribute – archetypes which don’t favor speed are often suboptimal choices. I’d love to see changes which would allow the more strength-based builds to shine even in an era where speed is valued highly.
27. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why? (Written Task)
If there were no openings at Defensive End, I would have to really consider all of the other options before deciding on a different position. My previous player was a cornerback, so I don’t want to play there again. By extension, safety is also getting crossed off the list. D-tackle or linebacker seem like the obvious second choices, and I would be happy there – but why limit myself? If I had to choose a new position, why not make the jump over to offense? Wing Gundam could become a brick wall on the o-line, it would be very satisfying to just stack up eight or ten pancakes per game. Probably my next best choice (and likely position for my next recreate) would be running back. Something about finding those gaps in the line and being sneaky enough to get past the defenders appeals to me deeply. It’s not a desire strong enough to cause me to position swap my current player, but I see it in my future at some point.