Player Retention Ideas - how to attract and keep new players?

[smozoma]

16 minutes ago, TomKabs93 said:

1. Yes seasons are too long, it gets tiring

2. Yes 94 has enough lag issues playing just north american opponents, I know we gotta take what we can get but the added latency sucks donkey nuts

3. Similar to #1, if the seasons were shorter with stricter deadlines this wouldnt be such a problem

4. Okay cool guy, if you cant handle losing then we dont need you anyway

5. Aim is a thing of the past, discord seems to be working well

 

4 isn't useful... He means when people take it too seriously and aren't friendly, regardless of how good they are. Toxic players and posters who make what should be a game into stressful interactions, drama, pissing contest...

Here is a quick guide for Discord chat: http://forum.nhl94.com/index.php?/topic/18063-test-games-and-getting-connected/. There are also installable versions for your computer/phone/tablet if you want to get background notifications.

For #1 and #3 unfortunately the low number of SNES players these days problem prevents there from being much of a solution for someone who wants to log on, play his games, then log off. Everyone's busy and has a schedule, gotta be able to compromise. I do think Discord can help a bit in that there is more of a constant chat going on that you can observe passively to see who's around (rather than pinging people on AIM)

 

[TomKabs93]

2 hours ago, smozoma said:

 

4 isn't useful... He means when people take it too seriously and aren't friendly, regardless of how good they are. Toxic players and posters who make what should be a game into stressful interactions, drama, pissing contest...

 

Politically correct forums are no fun 

 

I dont think everyone comes here just for dry discussions about the game, and for setting up games / leagues

 

Trash talk and banter is a big part of hockey in general. I'm not saying that F-bombs should be uncensored or anything, but I feel like every time I open up my mouth Im about to get a finger wagging lol

 

tldr: I feel like I should be able to tell jballlicker he sucks if I want. I havent even played the guy before and we dont even like the same system, so this aint personal

#freedomofvirtualspeech

[Premium]

You don't have to be friendly. At the end of the day, the trash talkers are just speaking without thought while the guys like smozoma go to bed with their feelings hurt over an AIM comment or a forum post. So who is taking it too seriously... the ones who let it affect their lives and talk to their wives about it, or the ones who are doing it out of competitiveness?

--------------------------------------

In order for players to be retained, leagues need to have rules, and punishments need to be harsh.

[Brutus]

16 minutes ago, Premium said:

In order for players to be retained, leagues need to have rules, and punishments need to be harsh.

So, there is a lot of talk about what needs to be, does not need to be, what ruined, what didn't ruin, etc, but clearly, it is in a real down state.

I KNOW for a fact that at least 3-4 guys dropped because of Plabax (going back a few years to get above 1, being AJ).  I disagree with it being a valid reason, but it was the reason given to me more than once, so AT TIMES, player interaction can drive someone away. To me, I find it weird to have 1/3 of the site naming guys like Plabax for the decrease in player volume and then on the flip side, Plabax talking about it like ONLY strict rules are to be blamed.  It is a little ironic to have the kid state the ONLY reason for drop off is due to lack of tight rules while being one of the "other" reasons listed if you were to track down all the guys who left and took a poll on "Why did you leave?"

 

I've run more leagues than most of late, and I feel my opinion weighs more for knowing the reasons for dropouts, and they aren't based on the players or the rules of the leagues.
#1 Modern gaming for online play/competition in other forums is too easily accessible.  If you disagree, you haven't been gaming anywhere else lately.  You can play 6 vs 6 with HD quality graphics in hockey, walk by a TV when someone has Madden or the Show on, and you'd swear they are watching a real life game.  And to play these games onine, you just turn them on and play.
#2 Having to PLUG into your modem and not play wireless greatly reduces the times dudes are able to be available to game.  Most of us have to wait until the wife/kids are in bed/out of the way before we can plug in & play.  On top of having to be plugged into the modem, the wife/kids/roommates can't be streaming Netflix while we try to play our NHL94.
#3 A large chunk of the crowd got older, and real life knocked them out of the habit.  I used to play D&D games online back in college but I've never went back.  I used to play Madden with my brother.  I used to play the latest baseball game with him as well.  Once I stopped doing them, going back to them requires too much mental re-affirmation for my mind to handle it.  I think once someone gets out of the habit of doing anything, there exist a strong chance they don't come back.

I'm not trying to poo-poo any efforts to grow the community, help new guys come in and join the fun, create cool leagues, etc.  And, I'm not trying to place blame anywhere.

I've had some great experiences playing NHL94 online and in person.  There are times in my life where things got too hectic and I stopped playing for a while.  If say NBA2k was more entertaining for me online, or the MLB the Show's server wasn't crap, etc, I probably would not have come back last year, and I run some of the leagues!

 

 

[Brutus]

I also firmly believe the site is set up terribly for a newcomer.

 

I mentioned this when I first came across this site a little over 4 years ago.  If any of the admins are interested in changing it, feel free to reach out to me.  It would require a lot of mental work on my part to lay out how things should be, but it is utter chaos to anyone who stumbles across this site to try to catch on to what they need, what is new, what is old, what is a league, what is active, what isn't.  I never said much but if those in charge were hoping to catch on to Kingof94II for more action, a better setup would be one of the top things I'd list.

There is just too much information coming at you in an order that barely makes sense to me as a vet, much less as someone new.  I remember being like half way through an hour read into some league's forum pages when I first got on the site only to realize the dates are from WAY back and the league was now dead.  I know we've updated some of the forum/league info, but I'd take a large wager on a poll to the last 15 guys who've joined the site being STILL confused somewhat

 

[Premium]

Close to hundreds of people have left due to the failure to run a well-structured league. Nobody should be concerned if two guys leave because of me.

Fact is, the people who leave "because of me" are also leaving because there is nothing else to look forward to anyway. Their thought process is, "the leagues suck, I suck, the only person doing anything is Plabax, and I don't like him.. So I'll just leave"

[TomKabs93]

I think vet retention is more important than noob retention tbh. Lets be real it takes a pretty specific  type of person to be interested in  playing nhl 94 online, and chances are those types of people have stumbled across this site before.

Yeah this site is wack and not easy for newcomers to understand, but if they have the specific genetic combination to wanna play this game online for years, then they probably will make the effort to google the site and figure it out.

I believe we're putting more effort than what its worth worrying about attracting and keeping noobs. The vets are already here (or were before), we should be more concerned with accomodating the soldiers we have. 

[Brutus]

15 minutes ago, TomKabs93 said:

I think vet retention is more important than noob retention tbh. Lets be real it takes a pretty specific  type of person to be interested in  playing nhl 94 online, and chances are those types of people have stumbled across this site before.

Yeah this site is wack and not easy for newcomers to understand, but if they have the specific genetic combination to wanna play this game online for years, then they probably will make the effort to google the site and figure it out.

I believe we're putting more effort than what its worth worrying about attracting and keeping noobs. The vets are already here (or were before), we should be more concerned with accomodating the soldiers we have. 

Um, there are no soldiers left.

Sorry but you aren't playing right now, or you'd know this.  You can't get to 16 solid vets to do a league right now. 

I'm the guy with 95% of the guys who have been active on the site in the past 2 years cell phone numbers.  I'm the ONLY GUY that anyone seemed comfortable giving this to.  There exist a reason for it, and you two wouldn't know it if it smacked you upside the head

[Brutus]

But, as long as you need to plug into a modem to play the game, and it also requires that  no one else in your house using Netflix, etc, it's TOUGH to schedule games.

 

Hell, Plabax used to have to wait till like 2 am to play me while waiting for his Dad to goto bed.  I mean, he didn't mind, and I didn't mind, but I'm sure it made it tough for the kid to just pop on and play some exi's.

 

The harder it is to pop on, and play say 2-3 games and then get out, the harder it is to make the whole "online" thing work.

[smozoma]

3 hours ago, TomKabs93 said:

Politically correct forums are no fun 

I dont think everyone comes here just for dry discussions about the game, and for setting up games / leagues

Trash talk and banter is a big part of hockey in general. I'm not saying that F-bombs should be uncensored or anything, but I feel like every time I open up my mouth Im about to get a finger wagging lol

tldr: I feel like I should be able to tell jballlicker he sucks if I want. I havent even played the guy before and we dont even like the same system, so this aint personal

#freedomofvirtualspeech

 

It's not about being politically correct. If you go to play some casual game in real life, you don't trash talk guys who aren't into it. Like think about it.. if you go to some kind of walk-in game (say ping pong, whatever), and you start playing a guy, and he says, "I used to come here a lot but I got sick of the braggarts and tryhards, I'm just here to have some fun", what's the point of saying "if you cant handle losing then we dont need you anyway."? That's not banter.

[Premium]

2 hours ago, Brutus said:

Um, there are no soldiers left.

Sorry but you aren't playing right now, or you'd know this.  You can't get to 16 solid vets to do a league right now. 

I'm the guy with 95% of the guys who have been active on the site in the past 2 years cell phone numbers.  I'm the ONLY GUY that anyone seemed comfortable giving this to.  There exist a reason for it, and you two wouldn't know it if it smacked you upside the head

The community is stupid for NOT enforcing the cell phone thing as a rule to those who need it. What is anyone going to do with a phone number besides text them to play? The community has been f**king around too long and catering to slacking "buds" instead of those who really care about the game.

2 hours ago, Brutus said:

But, as long as you need to plug into a modem to play the game, and it also requires that  no one else in your house using Netflix, etc, it's TOUGH to schedule games.

Is it really? Outside of guys who purposely avoid playing their games (slackers), there have never been any real tough scheduling issues. Plabax League is a good example. It was the only league with rules, and it was the only league to have a healthy pace.

1 hour ago, smozoma said:

It's not about being politically correct. If you go to play some casual game in real life, you don't trash talk guys who aren't into it. Like think about it.. if you go to some kind of walk-in game (say ping pong, whatever), and you start playing a guy, and he says, "I used to come here a lot but I got sick of the braggarts and tryhards, I'm just here to have some fun", what's the point of saying "if you cant handle losing then we dont need you anyway."? That's not banter.

Your example uses a casual game whereas this community is made up of the best players in the world who don't play this game casually. The better you are at something, the less you do it for fun. TomKabs is not a casual player.

[TomKabs93]

Yeah im not sure whats casual about playing in online nhl 94 leagues. If you want casual, get a ps4 or xbox one and play new nhls there, theyre easily accessible. 

Using an ethernet cable and hamachi and a crappy emulator and setting up games on discord with a select few people to me isnt casual.

Brutus, I know that 94 is dead right now. I dont play leagues but I still check into this site and see whats going on. Apparently im too negative though lol, if you associate yourself with plabax youre automatically a villain. 

Brutus the way you talk is that its totally dead, so just give up if thats the case. Also, if you need to pester people on their cell phone to get them to play their games then theyre not committed enough to begin with.

Smoz, come on man not every post should have to be filled with rainbows of positivity. If you think my post isnt useful, it doesnt necessarily mean that its useless. Just let it be dude, being a moderator doesnt mean you should review every persons post for slight traces of negativity. 

I cringe when I read replies to my posts like this, but I cant force myself to refrain from speaking my mind on here. I still love you a-holes tho 

Edited May 13, 2017 by TomKabs93

[Brutus]

I'm careful to word it like this, It's slow right now, dead in action.  Which is why I've joined in of late in trying to help some new buds come in.

i joined in against your statement of focusing on vets because there aren't enough to form a league.  How you going to retain guys if you don't even have enough to keep a league running.  Just seems illogical to be defensive about vets when there aren't enough to even run back Plabax 2.0, much less even Plabax cause he quit too.

 

The rest is just garbage.  Plabax points about strict rules are not invalid but as usual, he displays a clear flaw/gap in his logic, and takes it to some extreme.

Most of us read his post & its glaringly obvious, but not all.   Spending time arguing with someone who is only posting to argue is a waste of my time.  I just put up an initial disclaimer so newer people to this forum know we aren't all dumb a-holes/pricks.

 

[Brutus]

Blowback against you TK is not intentional & I do feel there is a hyper sensative forum going on at times.

But that would fit in with the world in general right now

 

[TomKabs93]

Its okay brutus I understand. I guess I was more trying to say in hindsight that maybe we should have focused on vet retention all through the years more. But I know its neither here nor there as theyre all pretty much gone

Yeah this forum does sound a lot like the real world rn. I mean I totally understand getting rid of the usage of "gay" "retard" etc as insults, as I even feel bad when I let one slip around the house. It's wrong and im fully on board with that

I just want to be able to call someone a b***h when I feel its necessary / I want to

[Brutus]

For those new to the community forum, and you are reading this, let me give you this to chew on.

IF Tom Brady spoke/acted like Terrell Owens, then you would understand Plabax better.  This kid won almost all the championships, but has some strange personality defects for online play/banter/posting, etc. 

TomKabs93 came on to the scene, and flashed that Michael Jordan type talent, but suffered a career ending injury after he won the slam dunk contest!  He beloved by all, and one of the few who befriended Plabax.  He's created a video compilation of deke moves to practice that is probably the best thing I can point anyone too in order to upgrade your offense.

 

The participation level of this site used to be really high.  About 2 years ago, it dropped down for a while, and then picked back up.  It's not a normal game/site.  It's from 1994 and the participation goes up and down.  I wouldn't be surprised to find 50 plus guys playing on this site 2 years from now, and then again, wouldn't be surprised to also see it down to 10 at some time.

 

Best thing I can say is if you are interested, follow the yellow brick road to Discord, where guys are on live most nights to help get you setup and get some exis in.

[aqualizard]

1 hour ago, Brutus said:

I wouldn't be surprised to find 50 plus guys playing on this site 2 years from now, and then again, wouldn't be surprised to also see it down to 10 at some time.

I think when the doc and the Kof94 II come out -- around the same time! -- we can expect a boost.  Especially if we are prepared for it!   (MIkey said he would add a URL to the credits, like "Interested in joining? Check out www.nhl94.com/join or something, where we can have info...)  Will it be thousands? No.  But maybe dozens, and if we do it right, possibly over a hundred?  (I can dream, right?)  

Regarding Plabax, I happen to agree with most of his ideas.  His delivery often makes me cringe, and I think his trolling interferes with his good ideas, but what can you do?  I share his frustrations, honestly... I sure wish he would keep doing his leagues, though!  That stood the greatest chance of changing things around here.  But he is fed up.  I get it.  

TomKabs is a good guy, and him aligning himself with Plabax doesn't matter to most, I am sure.  I know I don't care. (I mean, I align myself with Plabax's ideas, though not his methods.)  I do think TK was a bit thin skinned regarding taking offense to Smozoma's critique, but I get where TK is coming from.

Think we just gotta focus more here on how to retain guys, and less on the in fighting. (As I said, I can dream, right?)

Edited May 13, 2017 by aqualizard
typo

[Premium]

Reputation DOES matter. If you are aligned with me then it's a negative. Guarantee that raph or smoz can say anything I say and get 25 likes per comment and even a "Bud of the Year" award.

[CoachMac]

23 hours ago, Premium said:

Close to hundreds of people have left due to the failure to run a well-structured league. Nobody should be concerned if two guys leave because of me.

Fact is, the people who leave "because of me" are also leaving because there is nothing else to look forward to anyway. Their thought process is, "the leagues suck, I suck, the only person doing anything is Plabax, and I don't like him.. So I'll just leave"

Classic!

Cracks me up every time I read it!

You ran a great league then quit!
Why?
 

[Premium]

3 hours ago, CoachMac said:

Classic!

Cracks me up every time I read it!

You ran a great league then quit!
Why?
 

Anyone is free to run my league.

[Premium]

Why did I quit? I have nothing to prove. I have conquered the game of NHL '94. 

[jbalicki10]

Tomfag93 salty from eating Palbax ****?

[jer_33]

I feel like it's just the natural ebb/flow of hockey in general - spring/summer is just a slow time. We witness it almost every year - and it's the main reason that Classic is often turfed in the Spring.

This community still blows me away. Playing a 90's console sports game, online vs players from around the world, with an extremely welcoming group of players who have torn it down to it's code to allow for draft leagues, updated roms, classic roms, olympic roms. There's even a new way to play in 2v2.

The coolest thing though, is that many (or most) of the top players are super accessible. It really is a great group of guys. I think I'll make it my mission this summer to really try and track down some of the vets that I started with (Mind, Witt, Eggink, Dadonch etc..) and make sure that they stop in on DISCORD occasionally to say hello. Who knows, maybe they'll get the itch again.

I truly believe that as technology continues to advance, that this community has the people to help push it ahead.

My dream would be to have a emulator box, it's own internet connected console on which you could play/chat/stream emulated games all-in-one.

Maybe it's a retro-pie, or an android box, but it would be a small inexpensive set-up that should only require being plugged-in.

 

 

 

[Samuel Quirion]

I want to join this league. How can i do ?

[aqualizard]

5 hours ago, Samuel Quirion said:

I want to join this league. How can i do ?

Hello, and welcome!

Fastest way to get started is here: Test Games and Getting Connected!

[kidswasted]

On 11/10/2016 at 10:26 PM, smozoma said:

Also, just leave registration open all the time. Nice simple "Register for next season" button. On the registration page "Next season starts Feb 1st, 2017. You will receive an email 2 weeks earlier as a reminder (and to verify you're still interested."

Also, back in early blitz days, the Farm league was actulay pretty popular, but I was just too busy/lazy to keep it going. So a "join at any time C league" could be a good idea, which I think someone brought up above already.

I wanted to give my feedback as I've really just started getting into this site after lurking for a few years thanks to the SoChel tourney. I know this thread is a few years old so I apologize if some of this stuff has already been implemented.

As @smozoma mentioned, a weekly/monthly newsletter of upcoming leagues registering or ROM hacks being released would be beneficial.

Having a dedicated registration button for each league would be great too in case you don't proactively check on it often. Once the league is officially registering maybe you get an email notification letting you know. If you decide to register then you can do so. If you decide not to maybe there's a way to notify the league admin. Otherwise if you do not respond after X  number of days you will be removed from the league's list of pending coaches. I happened to see a league registering a few weeks ago through Discord for Gens even though I mainly play SNES. I just wanted to get my foot in the door and join a league. Coming back to the newsletter it would be nice to get notified of any leagues registering. An even better option would be to opt in/out for Gens vs. SNES or both!

I think the Retroarch installation package was really easy to configure and setup a USB controller.

Having a dedicated game night is key, especially being married and having kids. I already have one with my online poker buddies so it seems to work well. This keeps a dedicated time to always meet up and play league or exhibition games.

I'm not sure how many regular season games are typically played in a given league but I would think any more than 30-40 could deter rookies from investing consistently. For larger leagues (20+ teams) maybe play each team twice or only teams in your conference 3 times so each matchup is essentially a best of 3. Smaller leagues(under 20 teams) could play more games and try to keep it under 30-40 games.

With leagues there could be a rookie conference vs a veteran conference so the rookies can beat each other up while the vets still have fun beating each other up all season. The only issue with this is whoever wins the vet bracket will almost be guaranteed the cup. Otherwise there could be leagues for A/B or C/D similar to pickup ice hockey. I know I've seen some of these on this site and I think it's a great idea.

Another thing with rookies is the learning curve with tips and tricks such as D control(SNES), manual goalie, pass shots, hitting Y to get your guy up from being knocked down(SNES). I know someone started the nhl94strategy.com site which is great but is incomplete. Obviously we all have lives and not a lot of time to focus on such things like updating. I'd love to help anyway I can but I'm still learning a lot about the game myself. I never used D control or manual growing up lol.

Anyways let me know what you think and if any of this has already been implemented. I love this site and I'm just cruising through threads all day at work. Just don't tell my boss!

[Decadent]

I just found this site yesterday and spent a good amount of time trying to understand what was going on which led me here. As someone less than 24 hours into this foray, I'd like to give my perspective as an outsider. Documenting it now is better than waiting a few months and forgetting what it was like to be an outside. 

First, I just want to say the only reason I'm taking the time to give this feedback is because I appreciate what you have all done so far, I hope to be a part of the community, and I give this feedback with good intentions so that the community might be better off for it. I'm in no way a troll just spewing criticisms from a dark corner of the internet because it makes me feel better. I simply don't have the inclination or time.

To start, I'll preface that I'll parallel this little diatribe to that of a business trying to obtain and retain customers. If you all want to increase the number of people in the community and thus the amount of people playing this game, ask yourself what you would do as a business if you were trying to charge people for this experience. Simplifying that approach for the benefit of this post, a business should:

1. Sell the experience,
2. Reduce the friction for the prospect to be a customer,
3. Provide great customer support.

So, the specifics...

A. The homepage is busy. Actually, both are. After a couple of hours of bouncing around and reading everything I'm still not sure why there are two homepages. It's all too much information for someone new. A business would create one homepage, sell the experience, and make it very clear what the visitor to the site was supposed to do next (the "call to action")...which is download the software to play. Everything else is a distraction for a new user. If you need all that other information later, great...bury it out of sight in the menu and funnel the new users there once they're up and running. 

B. I downloaded the software for my mac to install it and was a little confused. I know what an emulator and ROM is which gives me a bit of a leg up on other newbies, but I'm in no way up to date on what all the technologies are -- I haven't used an emulator in 10 years. So, there were some little nuances like the unusual interface and getting past Apple's security that made it a bit confusing. The site's instructions helped a bit, a simple Youtube tutorial would have been much more helpful.

Those two roadblocks are probably enough to keep most people away. I kept going because my brother and I used to play this game for hours a day as kids and we're looking to recreate the experience remotely so we're a little extra motivated. We ordered controllers and will be able to figure out how to start playing against one another, but I'm honestly not even sure what to do to get into some pickup games or register for upcoming leagues/tournaments.

C. I'm sure you're all busy and being a full-time customer service rep is not on your bucket list. That being said, it'd be nice if I knew that to go for help I should consult this message board, go to the Discord channel, go to the facebook group, or click one of the email links to ask for help. Again, too many options, too much friction. Funnel everyone to the most active place and consider killing the rest.

Again, I don't want to sound like an angry, ungrateful person who showed up to spit vile. That's not my intention. It seems like this community has been active for a long time and everything has been piecemealed together as technology has progressed, with no major revamp to refresh the groundwork.

I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually and hope to see you all in some games at some point in the future.

[kingraph]

1 hour ago, Decadent said:

I just found this site yesterday and spent a good amount of time trying to understand what was going on which led me here. As someone less than 24 hours into this foray, I'd like to give my perspective as an outsider. Documenting it now is better than waiting a few months and forgetting what it was like to be an outside. 

First, I just want to say the only reason I'm taking the time to give this feedback is because I appreciate what you have all done so far, I hope to be a part of the community, and I give this feedback with good intentions so that the community might be better off for it. I'm in no way a troll just spewing criticisms from a dark corner of the internet because it makes me feel better. I simply don't have the inclination or time.

To start, I'll preface that I'll parallel this little diatribe to that of a business trying to obtain and retain customers. If you all want to increase the number of people in the community and thus the amount of people playing this game, ask yourself what you would do as a business if you were trying to charge people for this experience. Simplifying that approach for the benefit of this post, a business should:

1. Sell the experience,
2. Reduce the friction for the prospect to be a customer,
3. Provide great customer support.

So, the specifics...

A. The homepage is busy. Actually, both are. After a couple of hours of bouncing around and reading everything I'm still not sure why there are two homepages. It's all too much information for someone new. A business would create one homepage, sell the experience, and make it very clear what the visitor to the site was supposed to do next (the "call to action")...which is download the software to play. Everything else is a distraction for a new user. If you need all that other information later, great...bury it out of sight in the menu and funnel the new users there once they're up and running. 

B. I downloaded the software for my mac to install it and was a little confused. I know what an emulator and ROM is which gives me a bit of a leg up on other newbies, but I'm in no way up to date on what all the technologies are -- I haven't used an emulator in 10 years. So, there were some little nuances like the unusual interface and getting past Apple's security that made it a bit confusing. The site's instructions helped a bit, a simple Youtube tutorial would have been much more helpful.

Those two roadblocks are probably enough to keep most people away. I kept going because my brother and I used to play this game for hours a day as kids and we're looking to recreate the experience remotely so we're a little extra motivated. We ordered controllers and will be able to figure out how to start playing against one another, but I'm honestly not even sure what to do to get into some pickup games or register for upcoming leagues/tournaments.

C. I'm sure you're all busy and being a full-time customer service rep is not on your bucket list. That being said, it'd be nice if I knew that to go for help I should consult this message board, go to the Discord channel, go to the facebook group, or click one of the email links to ask for help. Again, too many options, too much friction. Funnel everyone to the most active place and consider killing the rest.

Again, I don't want to sound like an angry, ungrateful person who showed up to spit vile. That's not my intention. It seems like this community has been active for a long time and everything has been piecemealed together as technology has progressed, with no major revamp to refresh the groundwork.

I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually and hope to see you all in some games at some point in the future.

This is perhaps the most constructive and helpful feedback received!  Thanks for taking the time to share, this is good advice and something we need to consider.

[DanK]

On 9/7/2020 at 11:20 AM, kingraph said:

This is perhaps the most constructive and helpful feedback received!  Thanks for taking the time to share, this is good advice and something we need to consider.

I'm bored waiting on something to hit my inbox for work so I've been bouncing around the forums and ended up here. I think the constructive posts on this topic are f**king excellent, and since I'm also a rookie (new here as of April 2020) I'll focus primarily on the stuff that @kidswastedand @Decadent, all of which I think is great. 

1. I don't know how hard it used to be get setup for online play, but i agree that the RA setup/links on the homepage is f**king dynamite now and it is suuuuuper welcoming for new guys to get up and running playing games, in my opinion. I'm a complete computer imbecile, but to address Decadent's customer service point, I felt really warmly welcomed here right off the bat. Guys like @halifax, @smozoma, @chaos, @kingraph and @danTML7 (just to name a few) were really helpful with any tech issues I had whatsoever, and even went out of their way to reach out and make sure I had my s**t together (s**t together re: '94, that is. I def DON'T have my real-life s**t together...). I try to always remember that and to pay that forward now when new guys continue to show up around here. Guys like that are what builds community and what keep it together.

2. Agree that # of games in a season should have an upper limit, generally, and 30-40 sounds f**king great to me. If there's guys who want to play in a league with a full 82-game season, god bless 'em, and I hope they can find the numbers to fill it. But I started playing this game when I was like 12 or 13 (the OG EA hockey and '93 on gens were my first taste) and I feel as though, at 41 years old now, I'm in the average age cohort for most people around here. I have kids and a wife, as do a lot of us, so scheduling is just always gonna be a thing. I don't, however, feel that that's anything to lose sleep over. We're here b/c we love the game. It is what it is. COVID and mandatory work-from-home has allowed for more opportunity to play online, but guys who really want to play will always find a way. Don't get me wrong, I'm not pooh-pooh'ing the idea of a "Game Night", i just think that's something that's better instituted organically through the community, as opposed to mandated by the mods or league runners. Hopefully I'm not strawmanning this point, as that's certainly not my intention.

3. I think Decadent makes a really nice point re: having a centralized "communication hub", be it forums, discord, etc., but I don't know what the best solution is. Identifying problems is always easier than finding solutions, and so I'm absolutely sympathetic to having to solve this one. But I do agree that multiple avenues of communication just naturally increases the chances of people missing out on opportunities for leagues or whatever that they'd otherwise have jumped at.

4. Unrelated to Kidswasteds' and Decadent's points, reading back a bit further it would appear that some people don't understand what "chirping" is really all about. It's a f**king art form, and it is VERY important for maintaining a strong community, especially in f**king ice hockey (just my opinion). We're not 12-yr old kids around here, talking s**t about headshots in Call of Duty and owning noobs. Chirping isn't calling someone you've not acquainted with a "little b***h" when you're up by 7 goals in the 2nd period. Chirping is about making friends and about being humbled yourself, as much as it is hanging s**t on other people. Just like good comedy, you f**king chirp upwards towards power, not downwards to belittle someone. And you do your goddamn research. When I asked "is @angryjay93 good at this game?" on one of @danTML7's twitch streams, it wouldn't be funny (and still maybe it wasn't) if I hadn't done my research and watched videos/clips/youtube of AJ beating the f**k out of people by playing like an actual God of Olympus. When I talk s**t about how Hartford (The WHALE) is god's gift to '94 hockey, i know damn well what their team rating is, and that they'd likely never be used in top-level play in an actual tournament around here. But I also know that Brass Bonanza is a banger of a goal song, and if i can make @annatarhave to listen to it even ONE time, while he's en route to f**king curb-stomping me by a touchdown or more, then I'll die happy in Valhalla. And I know it's annoying to @legowhen I try to remember back to all the French i learned in 8th grade so i can ask where is the library after a sick one-timer (it's "Ou est la bibliothèque", btw), but Lego is a f**king awesome guy, and he knows I'm just a loudmouthed asshat. And he'll also probably still win the game. Be cool, talk s**t, but do it in that order. This is BY FAR my longest bullet point so I guess it's pretty obvious where my priorities lie, lol.

I'll shut my f**king yapper now and go eat lunch, but thank you to so many of you guys for the really thoughtful posts here on this topic. This place f**king rules, and we should treat it as our responsibility to keep it that way, and to make it even better wherever/however we can. Cheers, motherfuckers!

DanK

[AtomicRaven]

If you want to play just exis and record stats against other coaches without  joining a league yet, try https://nhl94rocks.com/

It can track series, gms, has stats, rosters etc. Its set so you can choose any team during a series.

@Aqualizard and I originally built 4 yrs ago to track our long standing rivalry, of which I am now 70/30 wins  over 465  series!

https://nhl94rocks.com/resultsLeaderSeries.php?homeUser=2&awayUser=1&leagueType=-1

It mirrors most of the ROMs for lg play and It may be nice for new guys to track their exis if they don't want to join leagues yet.

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by AtomicRaven