I'm very critical of Dotts. I recognize that the idea is a neat one conceptually, however I question the longevity the project will have in the league. One of my major issues with the project is that there is nothing to do with the cards besides collect them, and within that same vein there isn't even a way to trade them. You're hamstrung in being able to collect a static amount each day/week and can't even exchange them with friends. Insofar as you can't really do anything besides collect them and that the images of the cards get passed around so we can all eventually see the cool graphics I think there is a significant portion of the league that will eventually get over the novelty factor. At a certain point there isn't a differentiation between the fun of having the cards - cards you'll be able to see anyway because they get shared around so much and have no practical application - and collecting a bigger bank account to flex or support players for a longer period of time. I think the lack of practicality is one of the reasons why you're seeing so few of the league's $100 million players opt not to participate. I'd even be curious to see the percentage of people over $50 million participating. In the status quo it feels like its primarily people below that value, which I guess is taking money from the economy but isn't doing anything to handle the same people who accruing wealth and pushing the gap between the top 5 wealthiest players and the general population further.
My suggestion for a new series of Dotts cards is an Unsung Heroes type of collection. The focus would be on players who statistics who had huge impacts in the Ultimus for their respective teams, but didn't contribute quite as much during the regular season. This would be a cool way to get some special cards for players who typically won't be contending for awards or have many opportunities for cool special edition cards. What comes to mind for me is like Mike Jones stopping Kevin Dyson at the one (we had our own version of this with Lucas Knight tackling Vander Jones on the 4 yard line to seal an Arizona Ultimus win in Season 16), or Chris Matthews in the 2016 Super Bowl. Guys who sort of came from out of nowhere to make huge, game-deciding plays, or had performances that totally shifted the outcome of the game. I guess this doesn't even have to be limited to "unsung heroes". It would be cool to just have a "Greatest Ultimus Performances" type of set to honor some of the biggest games on the biggest stage we have here. You could also maybe print some special rookie series cards, for like the rookie of the year winners. A "faces of the future" type of thing. I don't know. I'm terrible at naming these but it'd be cool to see some DSFL guys have a chance for a special series.
One of the must adds for Dotts in my head must be the addition of Autographed or Rookie Cards. Now I totally get that rookies already have their base cards and we could slap a patch on it and call it a day, but those are not really the same in my eyes. I miss the special designated rookie series cards in various sports that symbolize the unknown skill level that a rookie brings to whatever sport they're playing and the gamble that the card owner played when they decided to not attempt to sell it right off the bat. Another suggestion would be the autographed cards as autographs are such a huge thing when it comes to supporting our favorite athletes nowadays. There is something truly special about an autograph (Especially a fresh one and not a random printed one) that has a different aura and brings you into a more personal life as the player who's card you pulled. Due to this, these cards are more valuable and considered much rarer than your average base/regular cards due to reduced quantities (Not many athletes are going to have a lot of autographed cards because of how the process is troublesome and draining). Something that would also be interesting would be having both in one, so like autographed rookie cards.
While the Dotts trading cards is a cool concept for the league, there are a few things missing from the idea that I would like to see. As of right now I don’t feel the urge to buy packs. One idea I would like to see is a badge that could be added to the forums if a user collects all the cards or a certain type of series. For example, if someone gets all S22 players of the series they would have an option to display a “S22 badge”. This would encourage users to try to collect. I know for myself, it’s hard to spend precious earned money for little to no incentives. Another idea would be creating rarity within a series of cards. A lot of us grew up with pokemon or YuGioh cards. Why not give users a chance one of their cards becomes a holographic which would add to the rarity of the card. The designs are nice but making one card stand out will make it a little special and would make some users spend their money to get more packs. I understand that the Dotts cards are in the beginning stages but these are some of the ideas I feel would sway people to spend more money.
The League Economy is balanced enough, in my opinion. Sure, there are some players who have giant nest eggs build up over generations of players—but they deserve this. These people were early adapters of the league, Founders, so to speak. Guys who started here in S1 and pumped out a bunch of updates and signed good contracts to save their money deserve to have an easier time for the following generation of their players. If we tweak this, then we start to realty take away any incentive to try and submit any type of media for payout since you wouldn’t be able to carry it over. The league should worry about bigger and better things aside from this. It’s a good thing people are sticking around and making a shit load of players over generations, I know it’s hard, but don’t fuck it up. The HO and Rules Committee has a good thing going with this league and the only thing that could ruin it would be them, so don’t.
Not everyone in this league is a teenager who has no responsibilities and can sit on Discord for 8 hours a day looking at anime porn and shooting the shit. Some of us have limited time. If you guys adjust this current scale, it’s only going to hurt people like me. All I want to do is show up every week, put in my 200+ words, do my predictions, and ride the hard work I put in 3 years ago when I made my first player.
Don’t fuck this up. [261 words]
WR- JAMAL SLICK JR.
"THE NEW ERA"
MR 8X ULTIMUS CHAMPION QB Mike Boss - HOF TE Johnny Blaze - HOF QB Mike Boss Jr WR Johnny Blaze Jr
ISFL trading cards are a great idea, I wish I had money to spare for them. There are many different ideas that could be implemented to improve the overall experience. I don’t entirely know how it works right now but another database could be added so people can check which cards they own as well as others. This probably wouldn’t be realistic as I assume it would be a lot of work, but just an idea. Also a big factor since it’s directly in the name but do people have the ability to trade their trading cards? This should be a basic option and fairly simple to implement. In regards to sets, you can create as many as the graphics guys want to put the time in for. Making a set for each season’s All Star/Pro Bowl would be a solid option. I think it would also be a great idea to add a backside to these cards like most sports trading cards have. Include the player’s career stats and some information about them, it’s a fun feature to have. I’m not sure how this one would work in terms of graphics, but you could also add a small percentage that any card is a holographic, or secret rares of a few cards in a set. This further adds to the collectability and would get people to buy more.