Online League GM Archetypes

Furious · 08-10-2021, 03:07 AM

This is The Sinister Sextet, the six types of people who make running an OOTP league such an unceasingly joyous experience. There is considerable overlap here, as many people manage to embrace the aspects of more than one of these archetypes. Ultimately, they are all one guy: The Time Waster, the guy who (usually) very briefly fills a vacancy in your league before forcing you to have to fill it again.

The Serial Joiner
The “Join Our League” threads in the OOTP forums are littered with this guy’s posts. “Count me in!”, “Sure, I’ll join!”, “Where do I sign?” in thread after thread after thread. I have trouble believing The Serial Joiner sticks in all 109 of the leagues he’s claimed he wants to join, or if he ever even completes the process of joining any, and I can’t begin to speculate what his motivation is for pretending to be interested in your league when he clearly isn’t. Check each prospective GMs’ post history before letting them waste your time; an endless stream of “I want in!” posts is an obvious red flag.

The Overwhelmed Neophyte
As every OOTP commissioner knows, often the biggest hurdle is just getting someone completely set up with the ability to download and export. This hurdle can sometimes be enormous with an inexperienced GM, especially one who is easily confused by technology. I can’t count the number of times I have spent hours working with someone to get them set up, only to have them quit before we’re finished because they can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, the fact that they’ve decided to cut bait just means that you get to go through the whole process over again with someone else, possibly another Overwhelmed Neophyte.

The Specialist
OOTP can be configured countless different ways, and that’s great. I get that everybody has their preferences, and maybe I shouldn’t judge. But to me some variables seem consequential, and some seem trivial as hell. If you have a strong preference for fictional leagues, you probably shouldn’t join a historical league, and vice-versa. If you love stats-only leagues, you probably shouldn’t join a ratings league, and vice-versa. But a 20-80 ratings system vs. a 1-10, or some other numerical option? Who cares? Does your enjoyment of the game really hinge on something that minor? Having a preference—sure, I can see that. That preference serving as a deal-breaker? Can’t see it.

In any case, it’s not the preference that’s the issue. It’s joining a league and then leaving because you “didn’t know” the league didn’t check every one of your little boxes. I don’t know about all leagues, but mine states clearly what we’re doing, and I ask everyone to read those clear statements before agreeing to join. “I didn’t know your league uses Slack instead of Discord” when you claim to have read what I’ve given you to read is not a good excuse for having wasted my time.

Mr. Has-a-Life
This guy starts out okay but then the exports start becoming less and less frequent as summer vacation ends or he remembers he’s married or it suddenly dawns on him that he actually hates baseball. I guess these people join without realizing there’s a time commitment. I know, sometimes situations change, and people who have extra time for unimportant OOTP leagues turn into people who don’t. In some cases I think they could have seen it coming and saved you the trouble.

The Grass Is Greener Guy
This guy has some similarity to The Specialist, but the difference is that Greener Grass Guy joins your league knowing he’s not that attracted to it, and he’s just killing time until some younger league with better legs and a brighter smile comes along. Then he drops your league like a hot potato.

The Ghost
Joins and then vanishes from existence without a word. Usually The Ghost adopts his spectral form very soon after joining but sometimes he’s flesh-and-blood for several years before going ‘poof’. The Ghost is never a welcome addition to any league, and yet he haunts them all.

Lest anybody get offended, I’m obviously just having a little fun here. The only guy on this list who really irks me is The Ghost, because short of some serious life-changing experience, there is no excuse for not dropping someone a line to let them know you’ve changed your mind. I hold no ill-will towards anyone who quits my league and lets me know they are quitting my league. I’ve had several people quit and later re-join, which I wouldn’t be allowing if they had gone Ghost on me the first time.

kcroyalgm · 08-12-2021, 11:12 AM

How true and accurate.

Goopy16 · 08-12-2021, 02:38 PM

Count me in, I'll join, where do I sign?

Goopy16 · 08-12-2021, 02:40 PM

The previous message was a joke but these are so true, I appreciate great GM's and leagues, its a lot of work. Also make it hard for active Gm's when you want to trade or draft. Worst for me is is the I'll check and let you know, and when you follow up a few days later, oh I'll check and let you know

cyrusb · 08-16-2021, 06:14 PM

Love the list, so accurate. Before the The Serial Joiner dies and becomes The Ghost, he tends to take the form of "The Stock Broker" who loves to fire off monumental trades to either win-now or completely rebuild, before disappearing as quickly as he came.

If not for these archetypical GMs, being a commissioner probably wouldn't really be that much work!

darkcloud4579 · 08-16-2021, 07:37 PM

Jokes aside, online leagues to manage & play in 2021 are the same as they were in 2005 and it's pretty bad that the experience is still so damn cumbersome. If it didn't require so much overhead to run an online league in OOTP, they'd surely be more popular and attract people who stick around given the limitless possibilities that folks can conjure for running leagues.

stevem810 · 08-17-2021, 05:37 PM

The list did evoke some smiles along the way.

My first 'league' experience was way back when pc's just started becoming affordable for home use. I think we had 6 of us in an APBA league and we would play a 5 game series, post to a floppy disk (you read that right), and dropped it in the mailbox to the commish. LOL. But, mail delivery was pretty prompt, ha ha.

Strictly honor system as there was nothing stopping someone from playing games over and over. It was fun. One and done.

MmmRocks · 08-17-2021, 06:00 PM

I've been guilty of being a grass is greener guy. But if a league isn't really my taste I'll at least play out the season and leave the team in better shape than I found out.

08-10-2021, 03:07 AM	#1
Furious Major Leagues Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 314	Online League GM Archetypes This is The Sinister Sextet, the six types of people who make running an OOTP league such an unceasingly joyous experience. There is considerable overlap here, as many people manage to embrace the aspects of more than one of these archetypes. Ultimately, they are all one guy: The Time Waster, the guy who (usually) very briefly fills a vacancy in your league before forcing you to have to fill it again. The Serial Joiner The “Join Our League” threads in the OOTP forums are littered with this guy’s posts. “Count me in!”, “Sure, I’ll join!”, “Where do I sign?” in thread after thread after thread. I have trouble believing The Serial Joiner sticks in all 109 of the leagues he’s claimed he wants to join, or if he ever even completes the process of joining any, and I can’t begin to speculate what his motivation is for pretending to be interested in your league when he clearly isn’t. Check each prospective GMs’ post history before letting them waste your time; an endless stream of “I want in!” posts is an obvious red flag. The Overwhelmed Neophyte As every OOTP commissioner knows, often the biggest hurdle is just getting someone completely set up with the ability to download and export. This hurdle can sometimes be enormous with an inexperienced GM, especially one who is easily confused by technology. I can’t count the number of times I have spent hours working with someone to get them set up, only to have them quit before we’re finished because they can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, the fact that they’ve decided to cut bait just means that you get to go through the whole process over again with someone else, possibly another Overwhelmed Neophyte. The Specialist OOTP can be configured countless different ways, and that’s great. I get that everybody has their preferences, and maybe I shouldn’t judge. But to me some variables seem consequential, and some seem trivial as hell. If you have a strong preference for fictional leagues, you probably shouldn’t join a historical league, and vice-versa. If you love stats-only leagues, you probably shouldn’t join a ratings league, and vice-versa. But a 20-80 ratings system vs. a 1-10, or some other numerical option? Who cares? Does your enjoyment of the game really hinge on something that minor? Having a preference—sure, I can see that. That preference serving as a deal-breaker? Can’t see it. In any case, it’s not the preference that’s the issue. It’s joining a league and then leaving because you “didn’t know” the league didn’t check every one of your little boxes. I don’t know about all leagues, but mine states clearly what we’re doing, and I ask everyone to read those clear statements before agreeing to join. “I didn’t know your league uses Slack instead of Discord” when you claim to have read what I’ve given you to read is not a good excuse for having wasted my time. Mr. Has-a-Life This guy starts out okay but then the exports start becoming less and less frequent as summer vacation ends or he remembers he’s married or it suddenly dawns on him that he actually hates baseball. I guess these people join without realizing there’s a time commitment. I know, sometimes situations change, and people who have extra time for unimportant OOTP leagues turn into people who don’t. In some cases I think they could have seen it coming and saved you the trouble. The Grass Is Greener Guy This guy has some similarity to The Specialist, but the difference is that Greener Grass Guy joins your league knowing he’s not that attracted to it, and he’s just killing time until some younger league with better legs and a brighter smile comes along. Then he drops your league like a hot potato. The Ghost Joins and then vanishes from existence without a word. Usually The Ghost adopts his spectral form very soon after joining but sometimes he’s flesh-and-blood for several years before going ‘poof’. The Ghost is never a welcome addition to any league, and yet he haunts them all. Lest anybody get offended, I’m obviously just having a little fun here. The only guy on this list who really irks me is The Ghost, because short of some serious life-changing experience, there is no excuse for not dropping someone a line to let them know you’ve changed your mind. I hold no ill-will towards anyone who quits my league and lets me know they are quitting my league. I’ve had several people quit and later re-join, which I wouldn’t be allowing if they had gone Ghost on me the first time.

08-12-2021, 11:12 AM	#2
kcroyalgm All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 645	How true and accurate. __________________ Up Kerry! 39 Time All-Ireland Senior Football Champions

08-17-2021, 05:37 PM	#7
stevem810 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Sarasota Posts: 2,079	The list did evoke some smiles along the way. My first 'league' experience was way back when pc's just started becoming affordable for home use. I think we had 6 of us in an APBA league and we would play a 5 game series, post to a floppy disk (you read that right), and dropped it in the mailbox to the commish. LOL. But, mail delivery was pretty prompt, ha ha. Strictly honor system as there was nothing stopping someone from playing games over and over. It was fun. One and done. __________________ Julien Henri Version https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...22#post4626122 Michigan Town Ball https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...28#post4630528

08-12-2021, 02:38 PM	#3
Goopy16 Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 14	Count me in, I'll join, where do I sign?

08-12-2021, 02:40 PM	#4
Goopy16 Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 14	The previous message was a joke but these are so true, I appreciate great GM's and leagues, its a lot of work. Also make it hard for active Gm's when you want to trade or draft. Worst for me is is the I'll check and let you know, and when you follow up a few days later, oh I'll check and let you know

08-16-2021, 06:14 PM	#5
cyrusb Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 110	Love the list, so accurate. Before the The Serial Joiner dies and becomes The Ghost, he tends to take the form of "The Stock Broker" who loves to fire off monumental trades to either win-now or completely rebuild, before disappearing as quickly as he came. If not for these archetypical GMs, being a commissioner probably wouldn't really be that much work!

08-16-2021, 07:37 PM	#6
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,712	Jokes aside, online leagues to manage & play in 2021 are the same as they were in 2005 and it's pretty bad that the experience is still so damn cumbersome. If it didn't require so much overhead to run an online league in OOTP, they'd surely be more popular and attract people who stick around given the limitless possibilities that folks can conjure for running leagues.

08-17-2021, 06:00 PM	#8
MmmRocks Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 155 Infractions: 0/1 (3)	I've been guilty of being a grass is greener guy. But if a league isn't really my taste I'll at least play out the season and leave the team in better shape than I found out.