21) What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why?
Since expansion occurred, I have thought that New York’s branding has been a step above the rest of the league. The reason being that I feel it does an amazing job of not only being a logo that creates a domineering and threatening mascot, but I also think it truly captures the feeling of New York City (at least to a person that has never been there) through various stylistic elements. First off we have the gorilla. Of course this harkens back to King Kong and immediately conjures up images of him hanging on to the Empire State Building. The gorilla on the logo just looks fantastic. It looks ready to strike with its sharp teeth. Next, the marquee style text that states the team’s name. This represents the glitzy, glamorous style of New York. The bright lights of the city that never sleeps. The New York that Sinatra sang about. The rectangular shapes behind the gorilla serve a dual purpose of giving the logo a more defined and balanced shape while calling to mind the skyscrapers of New York City. Finally, the colors. I find that shade of green perfect, though I might be alone in my reasoning as to why. First, it lets the rest of the logo do the talking, but secondly, I find it represents the other part of New York. The part that the tourists and outsiders don’t know to well. The grittier, real life part of the concrete jungle. Even if the artist, who I believe was @KoltClassic , didn’t intend for all these themes to come out from the branding, the fact that I was able to come up with them myself anyway just shows how well done it was.
To answer the second part of the question, San Jose needs a facelift. It’s just not dynamic and uninspiring. No shade to the artist though, I couldn’t have done better.
20) Pretend injuries are a thing in the ISFL and your team has had a lot of them lately – so many that your GM has asked you to play out of position. What position are they asking you to play and what about your player build will help you succeed in this role?
I have always considered my player to be a very modern archetype of an NFL linebacker who is skilled in coverage. With that in mind I would imagine my player, due to emergency injuries, would be placed into the safety position. This might unfortunately mean that my good friend Matt Cross is injured though, which makes me quite sad. I initially had considered cornerback, but there is simply so many years of skill and technique that goes into those 1v1 matchups, having to keep up with receivers while staying knowledgeable of what routes they may run, that my player at linebacker simply couldn’t keep up. Now while playing at safety isn’t necessarily an easier position, being further back would give DeSoto a tiny bit of extra time and an opportunity to assess what is happening during a play. With maxed out intelligence and speed, DeSoto would have a better opportunity of assessing what routes may potentially being run by receivers and what the direction of the ball may be while still possessing the speed to be able to cover a great bit of ground quickly. Maxed out strength will unfortunately not be very effective from this position. Agility, which I have delayed upgrading to this point, would’ve suited me much better in that regard. Regardless, my coach could put me in a more natural environment by simply setting my up to blitz from the safety position. Safeties also have more of an impact on the run game than cornerbacks, so this also influenced my decision to pick safety.
9) What is it that keeps you interested in the league? Is it your love of dot football, the community, a specific job or role you play, or something else? What do you like most about it? What could be improved?
I originally joined the league because of its RPG elements. My brother and I would play the old NCAA football video games, specifically their "Heisman" modes, which were essentially like playing an RPG of your player through college. They were fun, but over time it seemed like more and more of its features were stripped. EA, am I right? Finding this league filled that hole that had existed, and still does. My imagination used to always fill in the holes that EA had left, but here I can actually do a bit of roleplay as a real professional player while also interacting with other's in their own characters. Sometimes I wish that happened a bit more than it actually does, but I know the league is different for everyone, and some just view it as a collection of chat rooms, which it basically is. In fact, that chat room aspect is another part of it that I love. I have met so many people by this point, and I think I was really lucky to join with the class that I did. My fellow Norfolk rookies were a great group, and we were welcomed lovingly by the alums. Norfolk has always fostered a very welcoming, wholesome environment which fit me perfectly, and they became my league family. I couldn't help but want to get more involved with the team, so I started scouting. Scouting causes you to talk to tons of strangers, which gives you the opportunity to talk to some of the best users in the league before they really get started. Whether those users end up on your team or not, it's still a joy to get to know them. Over time I got more and more involved in Norfolk, until I actually became a GM, which feels pretty crazy looking back. Being a GM has been the greatest joy I have experienced in this league. Gm'ng involves a great bit of busy work in some ways, but you are also responsible for building and maintaining a team culture, as well as building the team itself. DSFL GM'ng is unique in that winning really shouldn't be your main focus. Developing your players should be. To me, this took a lot of the stress some might have over the job, as I was able to continue a lot of the practices I had already been enjoying in scouting. Helping players learn the ropes of the forums, helping them update, and helping them earn are all fun for me. I really don’t view the work as a chore, I view it as work that I love. Keeping everyone’s heads up when we’re losing and celebrating with them when we win is lovely. We also exceeded everyone’s expectations this past season. Practically every win was an upset, so the fact that we made playoffs made me immensely proud of my team. The personal connection you get with your draft picks is wonder. Oh yea, drafting is my favorite part of the league no doubt, so being able to make final decisions on it feels amazing. We got 5 fantastic earners out of a non-reddit draft, and I am incredibly happy with that. I can’t wait to see where my first batch of Seawolves gets drafted.
Since expansion occurred, I have thought that New York’s branding has been a step above the rest of the league. The reason being that I feel it does an amazing job of not only being a logo that creates a domineering and threatening mascot, but I also think it truly captures the feeling of New York City (at least to a person that has never been there) through various stylistic elements. First off we have the gorilla. Of course this harkens back to King Kong and immediately conjures up images of him hanging on to the Empire State Building. The gorilla on the logo just looks fantastic. It looks ready to strike with its sharp teeth. Next, the marquee style text that states the team’s name. This represents the glitzy, glamorous style of New York. The bright lights of the city that never sleeps. The New York that Sinatra sang about. The rectangular shapes behind the gorilla serve a dual purpose of giving the logo a more defined and balanced shape while calling to mind the skyscrapers of New York City. Finally, the colors. I find that shade of green perfect, though I might be alone in my reasoning as to why. First, it lets the rest of the logo do the talking, but secondly, I find it represents the other part of New York. The part that the tourists and outsiders don’t know to well. The grittier, real life part of the concrete jungle. Even if the artist, who I believe was @KoltClassic , didn’t intend for all these themes to come out from the branding, the fact that I was able to come up with them myself anyway just shows how well done it was.
To answer the second part of the question, San Jose needs a facelift. It’s just not dynamic and uninspiring. No shade to the artist though, I couldn’t have done better.
20) Pretend injuries are a thing in the ISFL and your team has had a lot of them lately – so many that your GM has asked you to play out of position. What position are they asking you to play and what about your player build will help you succeed in this role?
I have always considered my player to be a very modern archetype of an NFL linebacker who is skilled in coverage. With that in mind I would imagine my player, due to emergency injuries, would be placed into the safety position. This might unfortunately mean that my good friend Matt Cross is injured though, which makes me quite sad. I initially had considered cornerback, but there is simply so many years of skill and technique that goes into those 1v1 matchups, having to keep up with receivers while staying knowledgeable of what routes they may run, that my player at linebacker simply couldn’t keep up. Now while playing at safety isn’t necessarily an easier position, being further back would give DeSoto a tiny bit of extra time and an opportunity to assess what is happening during a play. With maxed out intelligence and speed, DeSoto would have a better opportunity of assessing what routes may potentially being run by receivers and what the direction of the ball may be while still possessing the speed to be able to cover a great bit of ground quickly. Maxed out strength will unfortunately not be very effective from this position. Agility, which I have delayed upgrading to this point, would’ve suited me much better in that regard. Regardless, my coach could put me in a more natural environment by simply setting my up to blitz from the safety position. Safeties also have more of an impact on the run game than cornerbacks, so this also influenced my decision to pick safety.
9) What is it that keeps you interested in the league? Is it your love of dot football, the community, a specific job or role you play, or something else? What do you like most about it? What could be improved?
I originally joined the league because of its RPG elements. My brother and I would play the old NCAA football video games, specifically their "Heisman" modes, which were essentially like playing an RPG of your player through college. They were fun, but over time it seemed like more and more of its features were stripped. EA, am I right? Finding this league filled that hole that had existed, and still does. My imagination used to always fill in the holes that EA had left, but here I can actually do a bit of roleplay as a real professional player while also interacting with other's in their own characters. Sometimes I wish that happened a bit more than it actually does, but I know the league is different for everyone, and some just view it as a collection of chat rooms, which it basically is. In fact, that chat room aspect is another part of it that I love. I have met so many people by this point, and I think I was really lucky to join with the class that I did. My fellow Norfolk rookies were a great group, and we were welcomed lovingly by the alums. Norfolk has always fostered a very welcoming, wholesome environment which fit me perfectly, and they became my league family. I couldn't help but want to get more involved with the team, so I started scouting. Scouting causes you to talk to tons of strangers, which gives you the opportunity to talk to some of the best users in the league before they really get started. Whether those users end up on your team or not, it's still a joy to get to know them. Over time I got more and more involved in Norfolk, until I actually became a GM, which feels pretty crazy looking back. Being a GM has been the greatest joy I have experienced in this league. Gm'ng involves a great bit of busy work in some ways, but you are also responsible for building and maintaining a team culture, as well as building the team itself. DSFL GM'ng is unique in that winning really shouldn't be your main focus. Developing your players should be. To me, this took a lot of the stress some might have over the job, as I was able to continue a lot of the practices I had already been enjoying in scouting. Helping players learn the ropes of the forums, helping them update, and helping them earn are all fun for me. I really don’t view the work as a chore, I view it as work that I love. Keeping everyone’s heads up when we’re losing and celebrating with them when we win is lovely. We also exceeded everyone’s expectations this past season. Practically every win was an upset, so the fact that we made playoffs made me immensely proud of my team. The personal connection you get with your draft picks is wonder. Oh yea, drafting is my favorite part of the league no doubt, so being able to make final decisions on it feels amazing. We got 5 fantastic earners out of a non-reddit draft, and I am incredibly happy with that. I can’t wait to see where my first batch of Seawolves gets drafted.