(S30) PT 5 - What is the Meaning of...

[TheDangaZone]

So there are definitely a multitude of meanings of success in any sim league depending on who you ask. Some prefer winning at all costs while others may prefer the friends we made along the way. I think the real meaning is somewhere in between and definitely borrows from both trains of thought for sure at least in my opinion. So the number one thing to me that just screams success as a GM (in SHL at least not going to say it's the exact same here) is locker room activity and being able to have that locker room that just wants to stick together and have fun. If you have that most of the time your players are going to continue to update too because they have a place they want to continue having fun in. That being said having sim success is also a good thing and helps to breed activity to an extent as everyone is having fun when they are winning. The tricky part though is being able to do both and when a team can do both they truly can create something special. But in the end the biggest thing in any league to me will always come down to keeping that locker room active, happy, and having fun together so they stay together.

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[Drip]

The meaning of success. I think there are multiple definitions to success, depending on how you're viewing the league. I think from a broader sense, true success in the league is the ability to create and run a part of the league that enhances fun for other members. Like the casino, or even running and creating a team, these little things are a big part of the league by now and the people who thought to start them have found success in the league. Player wise, that's a little more cut and dry. Of course, winning Ultiminis and Ultimus' are a form of success. Me personally, I would love to win as many championships as possible. I also don't think I've found as much success in the league as I would hope to because I haven't lead a team to a championship. (Or a WFC team, which has become my ultimate goal in the league). But really, I think success can't be measured by anyone else than you. I found my time in Tijuana very successful, not only because of the all star games, or the run to the playoffs, but because of the friends and people that I met and got to know better. Friendship, the true definition of ISFL success. 

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[Amulos]

This week is the last week of the regular season of the 30th season of the ISFL. Wooooooo! This week, tell us what you think the meaning of success in this league is? Is it winning championships? Winning awards? Destroying that one team that you hate? Or just having fun with your team? There are so many ways to define success, what would you define it as.

For me I believe that the meaning of success in this league is entirely subjective. For some people I know, success means winning the championship and competing year in and year out. For others, it's more about the personal accolades that someone can accomplish, things like winning positional player of the year, rookie of the year, Defensive player or offensive player of the year, as well as MVP. Those are fantastic reasons to keep coming back year in and year out, and as much as I would love to win the Ultimus every season, or have my shot at defensive player of the year, it's all about the locker room to me. I want to be able to have fun with a bunch of cool dudes and watch my little dots play some football, sometimes terribly. We haven't been incredibly successful in my tenure in Philadelphia, but I wouldn't change teams to anyone else. I'd rather get last place with a bunch of friends than switch to competitors every season in order to always have a shot. Philly picked me and that loyalty runs deep, not to mention that I feel like the general managers in Pat and Cody are by far the best in the league. We may not be competitive, but we know how to have fun and to me that is what makes the team and my player successful.

[SwagSloth]

Obviously, the most clear-cut goal for success is winning a championship. Regardless of what happens in the season, any player that finds themselves on a championship team can say without a shadow of a doubt that they are among the best that this league has to offer. Of course, some players are fortunate enough to hold claim to multiple titles. And those with that rare distinction are even more likely to find themselves in the Hall of Fame, attaining a level of success arguably beyond even the championship itself. But championships are indeed rare and, no matter how talented an individual player or how formidable any one team may be, circumstances can always play a role and it's hardly unusual to see championship front-runners exit the season empty-handed. And, when that happens, it falls to the players to determine what matters most to them. Is it stats and awards? Once a championship is out of reach, would they be content with an individual performance? For some it may, but for many players, they will live and die by their teammates. And, when they find themselves haunted by the shadow of an ever-elusive championship, they must find something else to drive them. Fun. Sportsmanship. Pride. Even revenge and spite can be powerful motivators. But whatever the reason behind a player's performance, the end of each season always leads to the beginning of a new one. And, with that season's start, so begins also the hunt for another championship and that ever-rare path to Hall of Fame immortality.

[256 Words]

[KenitohMenara]

What is the meaning of playing in these leagues? That’s a rather philosophical question you pose here. Why do we get up every single morning, battered and bruised from the night before, to go to training sessions where coaches yell at you. We could be doing literally anything else and probably less amounts of pain. There is the horrifying aspect of possibly get traded and going overseas (Though Malone is already heading to Berlin so that isn’t an issue for him.) and there is the overwhelming fear that one bad play could result in an injury that ends your career and you become a potential “What if” for all eternity.

For Malone, there is a great number of things it could be but when he looks back at all he has been through in his life, he only has one answer. It’s not the championships, though winning with the Grey Ducks was a wonderful feeling, it isn’t the money, it isn’t the fame or the trophies or anything like that for the boy from Idaho. He loves playing the game with the people that have helped him along the way and that includes every player, coach and fan who has ever supported him. There is also one other aspect for Malone. When he makes a big run or a touchdown, for just one moment in time:

He has no equal.

[Philliesphan96]

PBE Affiliate

[Amidships]

To me, this community is about relationships. The macro relationships between everyone across the league to the micro relationships to the teams you play for and the departments you work for. Success, therefore, can be defined as building and maintaining healthy, productive, and mutually beneficial relationships. In an online community with a fair bit of anonymity, that goal can be pretty difficult to reach. Anonymity breeds toxicity, and you can see that filtering through in a lot of situations permeating this league and other groups like it. The average age of this community is a fair bit higher than other similar communities I have personally experienced, and, because of that, I believed that it was better than those others I have spent time with. I still think that the majority of users here are fairly mature, but there will always be bad events and heated emotions will always seep through to create negative situations. It is how we react to these situations and move forward together as a community, as a team, as a department, and as individuals that defines success. I think this league is fairly successful; it has lasted several years and, despite many people coming and going, it has endured with many long time members. I hope it continues that way and that we see many more successful years of existence.

[Kyamprac]

My answer to this is probably going to be kind of corny and lame, but I can't claim affiliate this week so here we go I guess. The whole reason I joined this league was really to be a part of a community, meet new people, and have some fun. While it gave me something in common to talk about with people here initially, the dot football side of things at the end of the day ended up being kind of meaningless in some ways, and certainly did not dictate what I would consider to be "successful" participation in the league. Regardless of whether my player wins a championship, awards, or any of those other league accolades, most of it is pretty moot in comparison to the friends you make along the way. I realize that makes it sound like a joke but there is a lot of truth to it. Even after I'm done participating in the league and I hang up my player's cleats, I know I have made friends here that will continue to be a blast to hang out with even after we've moved on from sim leagues. Winning and having some fun competitive banter has been fun, but the friendships really are the definition of success, particularly when we managed to build those relationships even in times when some people in the league made things difficult.

[HasumiKi]

"Success" as a statistic is completely subjective, and it really depends on what the user's goals are for the league. For me, as a first time create, my goals were to learn how the ISFL worked and have my player not be a bump on a log. Since Kyouma was a DSFL Pro Bowl selection last year and has been in and out of the top 10 in tackles this year, I'd say I succeeded at not creating a bump on a log. I've also learned pretty much everything basic about the ISFL and even without having played a season outside of the DSFL yet, I'd consider my first player a success.

For more experienced users, success may come from winning awards or winning an Ultimus. So many players will go their whole careers without winning the big one, and for users on their second or third create, the goal might be to lead your team to a title. Maybe the user wants their player to go down in history as the GOAT at their position. Again, it's all selective.

I think overall, however, the biggest measure of success is how much fun you have during your time in the league. The actual "sport" can only go so far, as we all collectively sit down at 8 PM EST each weekday to get angry at moving dots. But we get angry at moving dots alongside our teammates, and that's what makes the league fun. Having good camaraderie among your teammates is the biggest measure of success in the league, in my opinion, because without good, supportive teammates, grinding out a player can be so much more difficult a task.

[huck24]

The meaning of success.  This is a tough one to gauge.  I'm not one who feels that personal success and team success are the same thing, they are completely independent of each other, and doing well in one area doesn't mean the other area is going to achieve the same success.  On the surface, for me, success is helping the team my player is on play the best that they possibly can with the ultimate goal of winning a championship.  If at the end of a career the player hasn't won a championship, is that career considered a failure?  Not at all, it is more of a nice to have.  If I can say at the end of my players career that he helped his team play the best they could I will be happy.  My player has received some early personal success in winning Defensive Rookie of the Year and I've had the chance to play in an Ulitmus game, which didn't go our way.  So, so far on the team success level I feel we've done ok, but there is still a lot of room for improvement and I've still got a few good seasons in my guy before regression takes its toll, so I will have to wait and see how this all shakes out before I can definitively say that my player had a successful career or not.