Okay, I'm sure most of you have no idea what I'm talking about. Earlier today I wrote up a survey to gauge how people felt about the league at roughly the halfway point in the season. I'd still love more data, as I can always make a part 2 to this post. If you haven't already, take the survey here.
So, let's take a look at the results so far. The first question asked what DSFL team people were on (if they were that is). The Dallas Birddogs had the highest amount of representation, with 20% of all responses coming from Dallas. Of course, this is most likely because I'm in the dallas locker room.
In second place, were NSFL players with 17.1%. This was interesting to me among many things, I did not expect a large response from the upper league at all. Though I appreciate their input nonetheless.
Tied for third with 14.3% of responses, were Myrtle Beach, Norfolk, and Kansas City. I don't think this is much of a surprise to anyone, arguably the three most active locker rooms in the DSFL showed up with decent numbers for this survey.
Coming in fourth, the Portland Pythons. Truthfully I expected a larger response from them, but I don't know a whole lot about their locker room. Either way, their response is better than one specific team that we'll get to in a moment.
In fifth place, Minnesota. Like Portland, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this response, I don't know a whole lot about their locker room, I don't think I know many of their players either.
In sixth place, with only one dedicated individual to represent them, Tijuana. Tijuana is a team I've heard a lot of great things about but I feel like it's another one I don't know much of anything about.
Finally, with no representation, London. What conclusion can we draw from this? I'm not entirely sure. If any Royals are reading this, feel free to take the survey for yourself, I'm always looking for more data.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, let's get to the juicy gossip. The question was this "What NSFL team interests you the most"
The overwhelming favorite may be a shock to you, dear reader. It certainly was for me at least. With nearly 30% of the vote, the New Orleans Second Line is officially the most desireable draft destination! Let's talk about New Orleans shall we? I'm still not entirely sure what exactly it is that draws people to the purple. Perhaps it is just that, the purple. Or maybe there are some other, more interesting factors. As will become apparent later on in this article, what stands out for NOLA is the people. I can't speak directly for much of the Second Line's front office, but it's clear they are favorites among the league. This has given me an Idea for a media piece that you will have to watch out for at the end of the season.
In second place, we have our first of several ties. Austin and Colorado both earned about 11% of the responses. I know a little more about both of these teams. I know austin is the league's most successful expansion franchise, and it's run by some good people who I'd still like to get to know better. Colorado has a good reputation as well, and is apparently quite active. There were quite a few mentions of both front offices for one of my later questions as well.
Coming up next our second and largest tie is between Arizona, Orange County, and the two expansion franchises. Let me start with the expansion teams, I'm somewhat surprised to see how well they've done, at one point Raven's franchise scored higher than 8/12 NSFL teams. I personally find myself most drawn to Raven's franchise myself, I think he's got quite a lot of interesting Ideas to bring to the league.
Frostbite and Rain Delay also will be getting their own franchise next season. Gaining fame from their tenure in Myrtle Beach among many other achievements. I can also very quickly understand the appeal. I think it is a testament to the HO's decision to see them already polling well, even in this arbitrary little survey.
Arizona is the first team I noticed when I signed up for the league, their color scheme and logo really stood out to me. As an emerging trend on this post, I don't know much about their front office if I'm honest. (I really need to meet more people damn) Though I've heard many wonderful things, and I find them interesting as they seem to have prepared incredibly well for the S22 draft class. If it's at all possible this year, though I don't think it is, I'd love to get a chance inside their war room.
Next, the Orange County Otters. A lot of interesting characters are on the Otters roster, I think you have to be a certain kind of person to fit in there. (not that that's a bad thing, I just don't think I would) For the right person though, I can truly understand what makes OCO interesting.
Standing alone in fourth place, the San Jose Sabercats. I like the sabercats personally, I think they're a very interesting team. Of course this season they aren't performing as well as I'm sure they'd hope to. I've spent this season on a team with their GM rradum, he's a fun guy to be in a locker room with.
Our third and final tie, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Yellowknife. Now of course, I'm sure many of you are all well aware of Chicago's reputation. Is that reputation earned? Certainly. Though clearly, the reputation alone isn't enough to stop interest all together. Now I know it's a bit of a trend lately to blast Chicago in the media, but I have an article in the works for the Butchers you should all keep your eyes open for.
Philadelphia on the other hand is a team that seems rather quiet. I've seen their gms a few times in Discord, but I can't say I know any of their players. Of course I can't speak for what their locker room is like, but clearly at least someone's interested so they must have something.
Yellowknife is another team that sort of sits in it's own vacuum. Like I'm sure many of you, I had to look up where Yellowknife was in the first place. I believe the Wraiths have one of the strongest individual brandings in the league, the logo and color scheme both really stand out, I just wish I knew more about them.
Finally, the only team to not get a single response, the Baltimore Hawks. I'm surprised by this in all honesty. With a name like Hawks, I'd expect at least some interest, but lately after Chicago it seems Baltimore gets quite a bit of flak, though of course it's not anywhere near for the same reasons. Most of the criticisms I've seen pointed at Baltimore surrounds their choice of brandings. The name itself is nice, but according to some the logo and color throw them off, could this be to blame for the lack of interest? That remains to be seen.
The next question, "How long do you see yourself staying" I could go in depth on this, but I think the picture will speak for itself. https://imgur.com/vgD2kgN (yes, I couldn't figure out how to imbed it, don't judge.)
It's surprising isn't it? I mean really, just look at it. 90%+ of all the people that answered said they'd want to stick around for over a year. Not only that, not one answer was less than 6 months or more. As amazing as it seems now, I personally expect that number will change when I re-do this survey at the end of the season. Though hopefully, HO and the GM's find a way to retain that.
Now, dear reader, the real fun begins. It's time to see once and for all who the communities favorite people are. Before I reveal it to you, who would you guess? Maybe some answers will surprise you.
Now, before I tell you specific names, why don't I first tell you the most mentioned locker room? Congratulations to the Norfolk Seawolves! Followed very closely behind by the Kansas City Coyotes and Myrtle Beach Buccaneers! Wasn't that exciting?
Ladies and gentleman, may I have a drum roll please... The question was, "Who has made your experience enjoyable?" The most mentioned name is..... NSFL Commisioner Bex! Oh. Not one of you is surprised are you? Well, that's to be expected, am I going to shower bex in praise? No. I'm told the Seawolves do enough of that. Besides, I already promised her an undisclosed amount of my soul for a franchise in the next expansion.
Now, some other notable names that came up quite a few times. Gucci, Frostbite, and Woelkers. Understandably so, though I don't know woelkers all too well, Frostbite and Gucci have been incredibly helpful so far on this journey.
Now folks, would you like to know who the most popular newcomer to the league is? Can you guess? No really take a guess. Congratulations... Tesla!! Wow, you guys really aren't surprised by anything damn. Of course I've only just recently had the pleasure of meeting Tesla, but ever since I posted my first mock draft I've heard nearly every GM I've talked to sing her praises.
The next question I asked was, "What could your GM's do better?" Fear not GM's the overwhelming majority of people said positive things. Most of those said you were already doing everything perfectly, though there were one or two that said you should probably treat people nicer. I'm sure you'll figure that out.
Another interesting result was for the question "Do you plan to be more than just a player" Only 16% of people voted no on this, which I found quite surprising. The majority of people voted yes, which makes me slightly nervous over my chances at Brooklyn in the future, with about 30% stating they were still somewhere in the middle.
Now, on to the final question. "What can the league do better?" This one's a bit of a doozy, there were some answers that were similar to the GM response. Saying the league was great, and a fun place to be. Though, there was a much heavier focus on what the league could start doing better.
I'll start by addressing one of the more common responses. The sentiment here was about the forums itself, which I will admit, feel like they were designed by a drunk college kid in 1995. However, there is not a whole lot that the HO can really do about this for now, so and clunky, and cumbersome, and inefficient as they are, it's what we got lads.
The most common answer by far, was the new player experience. Being a new player myself, I have to say I fully agree with this. First joining the league can feel overwhelming, nauseating even. There are so many things happening all at once, and not a huge amount of guidance at first. Recently I joined PBE, and I've got to say I think they've done a lot to make the new player experience as easy and intuitive as possible, Of course, creating something like that takes time, so it's important for us all to remember to be patient. I'm half tempted to make a survey about the new player experience itself, to gather specific things people find issues with.
Another important answer that came up a few times, the openness of the league. In a community that's designed around fun, and not taking things too seriously, it often feels like a lot of things are being done behind closed doors. I can understand the frustration, not knowing things is hard. As I've said a few times throughout this post already, I plan to make another article dedicated entirely to this topic. I think the league has taken steps in the right direction such as polling for whether or not the expansion draft should be streamed or not. Though personally I think there is a long way to go, and to be truthful, that has to start with us. I think the best thing we can do collectively, is to just be patient, there's a lot of hardworking people in this community, and the best things in life take time. Change will be good for this league, even if the wrong decisions are made on the way. I look forward to hopefully getting more responses so I can follow this up in the near future.
So, let's take a look at the results so far. The first question asked what DSFL team people were on (if they were that is). The Dallas Birddogs had the highest amount of representation, with 20% of all responses coming from Dallas. Of course, this is most likely because I'm in the dallas locker room.
In second place, were NSFL players with 17.1%. This was interesting to me among many things, I did not expect a large response from the upper league at all. Though I appreciate their input nonetheless.
Tied for third with 14.3% of responses, were Myrtle Beach, Norfolk, and Kansas City. I don't think this is much of a surprise to anyone, arguably the three most active locker rooms in the DSFL showed up with decent numbers for this survey.
Coming in fourth, the Portland Pythons. Truthfully I expected a larger response from them, but I don't know a whole lot about their locker room. Either way, their response is better than one specific team that we'll get to in a moment.
In fifth place, Minnesota. Like Portland, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this response, I don't know a whole lot about their locker room, I don't think I know many of their players either.
In sixth place, with only one dedicated individual to represent them, Tijuana. Tijuana is a team I've heard a lot of great things about but I feel like it's another one I don't know much of anything about.
Finally, with no representation, London. What conclusion can we draw from this? I'm not entirely sure. If any Royals are reading this, feel free to take the survey for yourself, I'm always looking for more data.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, let's get to the juicy gossip. The question was this "What NSFL team interests you the most"
The overwhelming favorite may be a shock to you, dear reader. It certainly was for me at least. With nearly 30% of the vote, the New Orleans Second Line is officially the most desireable draft destination! Let's talk about New Orleans shall we? I'm still not entirely sure what exactly it is that draws people to the purple. Perhaps it is just that, the purple. Or maybe there are some other, more interesting factors. As will become apparent later on in this article, what stands out for NOLA is the people. I can't speak directly for much of the Second Line's front office, but it's clear they are favorites among the league. This has given me an Idea for a media piece that you will have to watch out for at the end of the season.
In second place, we have our first of several ties. Austin and Colorado both earned about 11% of the responses. I know a little more about both of these teams. I know austin is the league's most successful expansion franchise, and it's run by some good people who I'd still like to get to know better. Colorado has a good reputation as well, and is apparently quite active. There were quite a few mentions of both front offices for one of my later questions as well.
Coming up next our second and largest tie is between Arizona, Orange County, and the two expansion franchises. Let me start with the expansion teams, I'm somewhat surprised to see how well they've done, at one point Raven's franchise scored higher than 8/12 NSFL teams. I personally find myself most drawn to Raven's franchise myself, I think he's got quite a lot of interesting Ideas to bring to the league.
Frostbite and Rain Delay also will be getting their own franchise next season. Gaining fame from their tenure in Myrtle Beach among many other achievements. I can also very quickly understand the appeal. I think it is a testament to the HO's decision to see them already polling well, even in this arbitrary little survey.
Arizona is the first team I noticed when I signed up for the league, their color scheme and logo really stood out to me. As an emerging trend on this post, I don't know much about their front office if I'm honest. (I really need to meet more people damn) Though I've heard many wonderful things, and I find them interesting as they seem to have prepared incredibly well for the S22 draft class. If it's at all possible this year, though I don't think it is, I'd love to get a chance inside their war room.
Next, the Orange County Otters. A lot of interesting characters are on the Otters roster, I think you have to be a certain kind of person to fit in there. (not that that's a bad thing, I just don't think I would) For the right person though, I can truly understand what makes OCO interesting.
Standing alone in fourth place, the San Jose Sabercats. I like the sabercats personally, I think they're a very interesting team. Of course this season they aren't performing as well as I'm sure they'd hope to. I've spent this season on a team with their GM rradum, he's a fun guy to be in a locker room with.
Our third and final tie, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Yellowknife. Now of course, I'm sure many of you are all well aware of Chicago's reputation. Is that reputation earned? Certainly. Though clearly, the reputation alone isn't enough to stop interest all together. Now I know it's a bit of a trend lately to blast Chicago in the media, but I have an article in the works for the Butchers you should all keep your eyes open for.
Philadelphia on the other hand is a team that seems rather quiet. I've seen their gms a few times in Discord, but I can't say I know any of their players. Of course I can't speak for what their locker room is like, but clearly at least someone's interested so they must have something.
Yellowknife is another team that sort of sits in it's own vacuum. Like I'm sure many of you, I had to look up where Yellowknife was in the first place. I believe the Wraiths have one of the strongest individual brandings in the league, the logo and color scheme both really stand out, I just wish I knew more about them.
Finally, the only team to not get a single response, the Baltimore Hawks. I'm surprised by this in all honesty. With a name like Hawks, I'd expect at least some interest, but lately after Chicago it seems Baltimore gets quite a bit of flak, though of course it's not anywhere near for the same reasons. Most of the criticisms I've seen pointed at Baltimore surrounds their choice of brandings. The name itself is nice, but according to some the logo and color throw them off, could this be to blame for the lack of interest? That remains to be seen.
The next question, "How long do you see yourself staying" I could go in depth on this, but I think the picture will speak for itself. https://imgur.com/vgD2kgN (yes, I couldn't figure out how to imbed it, don't judge.)
It's surprising isn't it? I mean really, just look at it. 90%+ of all the people that answered said they'd want to stick around for over a year. Not only that, not one answer was less than 6 months or more. As amazing as it seems now, I personally expect that number will change when I re-do this survey at the end of the season. Though hopefully, HO and the GM's find a way to retain that.
Now, dear reader, the real fun begins. It's time to see once and for all who the communities favorite people are. Before I reveal it to you, who would you guess? Maybe some answers will surprise you.
Now, before I tell you specific names, why don't I first tell you the most mentioned locker room? Congratulations to the Norfolk Seawolves! Followed very closely behind by the Kansas City Coyotes and Myrtle Beach Buccaneers! Wasn't that exciting?
Ladies and gentleman, may I have a drum roll please... The question was, "Who has made your experience enjoyable?" The most mentioned name is..... NSFL Commisioner Bex! Oh. Not one of you is surprised are you? Well, that's to be expected, am I going to shower bex in praise? No. I'm told the Seawolves do enough of that. Besides, I already promised her an undisclosed amount of my soul for a franchise in the next expansion.
Now, some other notable names that came up quite a few times. Gucci, Frostbite, and Woelkers. Understandably so, though I don't know woelkers all too well, Frostbite and Gucci have been incredibly helpful so far on this journey.
Now folks, would you like to know who the most popular newcomer to the league is? Can you guess? No really take a guess. Congratulations... Tesla!! Wow, you guys really aren't surprised by anything damn. Of course I've only just recently had the pleasure of meeting Tesla, but ever since I posted my first mock draft I've heard nearly every GM I've talked to sing her praises.
The next question I asked was, "What could your GM's do better?" Fear not GM's the overwhelming majority of people said positive things. Most of those said you were already doing everything perfectly, though there were one or two that said you should probably treat people nicer. I'm sure you'll figure that out.
Another interesting result was for the question "Do you plan to be more than just a player" Only 16% of people voted no on this, which I found quite surprising. The majority of people voted yes, which makes me slightly nervous over my chances at Brooklyn in the future, with about 30% stating they were still somewhere in the middle.
Now, on to the final question. "What can the league do better?" This one's a bit of a doozy, there were some answers that were similar to the GM response. Saying the league was great, and a fun place to be. Though, there was a much heavier focus on what the league could start doing better.
I'll start by addressing one of the more common responses. The sentiment here was about the forums itself, which I will admit, feel like they were designed by a drunk college kid in 1995. However, there is not a whole lot that the HO can really do about this for now, so and clunky, and cumbersome, and inefficient as they are, it's what we got lads.
The most common answer by far, was the new player experience. Being a new player myself, I have to say I fully agree with this. First joining the league can feel overwhelming, nauseating even. There are so many things happening all at once, and not a huge amount of guidance at first. Recently I joined PBE, and I've got to say I think they've done a lot to make the new player experience as easy and intuitive as possible, Of course, creating something like that takes time, so it's important for us all to remember to be patient. I'm half tempted to make a survey about the new player experience itself, to gather specific things people find issues with.
Another important answer that came up a few times, the openness of the league. In a community that's designed around fun, and not taking things too seriously, it often feels like a lot of things are being done behind closed doors. I can understand the frustration, not knowing things is hard. As I've said a few times throughout this post already, I plan to make another article dedicated entirely to this topic. I think the league has taken steps in the right direction such as polling for whether or not the expansion draft should be streamed or not. Though personally I think there is a long way to go, and to be truthful, that has to start with us. I think the best thing we can do collectively, is to just be patient, there's a lot of hardworking people in this community, and the best things in life take time. Change will be good for this league, even if the wrong decisions are made on the way. I look forward to hopefully getting more responses so I can follow this up in the near future.