Login

Kalakar · 12-23-2023, 04:11 PM

This was my first experience in a simulation league, and I joined a little over 5 years ago. Everything was fresh and new and exciting and being competitive I really jumped into it and dedicated so much time to the betterment of the league. A job offer popped up sometime after I created in season 46. Little did I know that it would change my life, for the better or worse. The league was looking for a new SHL simmer after Evok retired from her simming duties. I remember asking on Discord about the job, what it entailed, and TDZ had a few words of caution towards the job which made sense. But I wanted the money, I wanted to max earn, and I could see my draft classmates filling up their bank accounts and I couldn't keep up. Understandably, being a newer user and a first gen user to boot, the SHL HO was reticent to give such an important job to an unknown user. JR went on to get the job and they hired CampinKiller to head the SMJHL simming duties. I was to be his backup, to learn the ropes and maybe one day be in his seat.

At about the same time, the IIHF simming job became available, so not knowing how much I would sim in the junior league, I decided to apply to get myself some experience. I handled a few sims in S48 and S49 when CK was unavailable and things were looking good. Back before the days of Franchise Hockey Manager, we used to sim with SimonT Hockey Simulator. It used to be a fairly simple duty, 10 minutes thing before heading to work in the morning, see my bank account go up with minimum work, it was all good stuff.

At the start of S50, CK stepped down and I was hired as the full time SMJHL simmer. I managed the following seasons with relatively few mistakes, I still made some of course, but I think I was fairly consistent to keep everything running smoothly. Simming the IIHF was a nice change of pace, but since I had to run both leagues, I didn't really have any time off.

Season 53 marked the biggest change in the league. We moved to Franchise Hockey Manager 6 and I was thrust into a lot of new responsibilities. The backbone of the file was a lot of work, that had to be done in a short amount of time, but it really became a well oiled machine. I would sit at my desk after junior drafts and be excited at having to create over 100 new players even though we had a team for it, I was just really enjoying the work. The new experience was really a game changer for the league. We could see stuff happen on the ice, it was a lot easier to follow than STHS, and the engagement from the league went through the roof. But it also meant that we had to live stream both leagues now and with everything being new, I would live sim every single game every day. 2 hours sims were common. I found out on the developer's websites that we could customize our league, so I started doing custom jerseys, custom sounds, custom ice surfaces to make it our own.

By Season 54 it was clear live simming every single game was a lot, so I started doing fewer and it definitely helped my sanity. While we simmed 7 days a week on STHS, it was a breeze to go through compared to what was FHM at the time. Thankfully we had a day off on sundays to recuperate, but it was still a one man job for each league. By S56, JR stepped down from the SHL simming job, and with every eyes turned towards me, I accepted the SHL simmer duties. 2 years after applying on the job initially, I was finally where I really wanted to be. Simming the SMJHL was a great experience I'll never regret, but everybody knew that most people were only interested in the SHL league.

I simmed during the pandemic and thankfully I never caught covid, managed to keep my job in real life and really enjoyed being there for the league and making myself available to GMs and anyone else. I would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to correct mistakes or send GMs files so they could make adjustments before sims. I remember a resim or two during my time, some late sims, a few missed goalie swaps, a snowstorm that left me with no power so I would have to delay but I decided to go to McDonald's to sim instead to not impede the league, a Rex Kirkby suspension that still haunts me, by forgetting to place him back into the lineup after initially doing so but catching a mistake and fixing it and then receiving a few angry DM's understandibly and a couple of GMs telling me to touch grass and yes I could go on that hike that I had been wanting to go for a while.

For two years I would sim at 3pm 6 days a week, 90 minutes to 120 minutes a day. 100 to 150 viewers during the pandemic was not unheard of with everyone staying home and working from home. I think that's what did it for me in the end. I was high on that activity from the league, the people that would come on a daily basis and I would chat with for two years that when things started opening back up years later, there were fewer and fewer viewers on the stream. Sitting there for 90 minutes a day with 15 people lurking was getting to me. It also didn't help that at the same time, one of my favorite games was about to release an expansion and I really wanted to go back to it, but I knew I wouldn't be able to commit to both things, and I would get addicted to the game again.

I was asked multiple times by HO to hire help but to me it felt like co-parenting a child. I had helped build and maintain the SHL league for years and even though I knew I was burning out I didn't want to let go and give away everything I had done. My standards have always been incredibly high in everything I do, so I was scared that other people wouldn't see it the way I do, but it was my turn to take a back seat. After 15 seasons simming under my belt, 7 in the SHL, 6 in the SMJHL and the IIHF, 1 in the WJC, I stepped away and retired.

Edit: I'm probably missing a ton of stuff but this is just for a deep dive and I'm already 500 words over the minimum so I can't write any more thanks!!

*Scrufdaddy* · 12-24-2023, 08:41 PM

Approved! @Kalakar @CptSquall

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us