IFL Hiatus

[Andrea Anderson]

btw Jake you are amazing. I've never seen those graphs before.


Edit: In response to Kheldar.

First thought as a temporary replacement for IFL is bringing back some implementation of the Tag Team League. Maybe multisport tag team... Lots of time to figure it out.

A tag-team league would be nice. I wrote one up for DoM a few years ago and never got it off the ground, but I'd assume DoF would bring more people.

It's just sad that IFL being canceled this year even brought up these ideas. These events could be hosted at any time, even before this announcement was brought up. There's only so much time throughout the year, but many small, non-months long events could still be done.

[Kalamere]

Do something positive for the community!

Aside from discussing why a well liked event was taken away without it being discussed, or opinions actually gauged and weighed prior to the unilateral decision being made.

Do as I say and not as I do?

Where is this sense of positive community building when we flat out refuse to discuss why IFL can't be held or why someone else can't run it (which has precedence, btw)?

Given I made the call, the only person it would be fair to throw that in the face of would be me. Telling anyone to go out and do something positive for the community is not something I've said however - so I think you're "do as I say ..." statement is rather misplaced. I actually was planning to defend whomever did say that with this post so went searching and found nobody had, which I guess would be why you didn't attribute it to anyone.

I really can't deny that I read your posts like that and my first instinct is to respond with "bite me, it's my ball and I'll take it home if I damn well feel like it." To a degree though, it would be somewhat hypocritical of me to do so.

The fact of the matter is that I largely consider RoH and the rules to the various sports to be public domain at this point and I get annoyed as hell when, for example, DoS rules get changed without ever having been discussed by the community. It's only fair that I should consider the games I run in the same vein. There's some difference in the way they were founded, get run, have survived through time, etc. that put IFL in a slightly different category, but despite that I can understand and appreciate the point of view.

I hope there's not a feeling that I've run IFL in a closed and hypocritical manner. I've tried to hold regular post season discussions around potential changes and those times when I have made unilateral decisions on things I've been more than happy to lay out the reasoning behind them and hold discussions around them.

I did not invite discussion around this particular topic. I guess it just didn't occur to be to do so, since it wasn't really a change in anything - just a delay as to when next I would be dedicating the time to run the league. Generally special events come and go - TDL and ToR haven't been seen in years, Hydra took 2014 off, Ragnarok I had assumed wasn't happening this year since last year's time frame had already passed, IG hasn't happened in ages, even the original IFL vanished for 7 years. All those happened with, perhaps some stated disappointment, but I can't recall any having been accompanied by outrage at the lack of being asked if it was ok.

That said, despite not having been looking for discussion, here we are. I've made my reasons for it known and will continue to discuss if you or anyone else would like to do so. I will say, however, that this is not a vote nor a democratic process.

As with the stance I've taken around our other rules and events; I feel there is an obligation to seek community input and discussion, to hear opinions from all participants regardless or rank or current activity level and to take it all into consideration when making a judgement. Ultimately a sport coordinator's job (or an event runner in this case), however, is to protect the public trust, the game itself and should keep an eye towards community needs. The majority isn't always right and even when they are it doesn't mean the minority should always be ignored. Involvement, compromise, understanding are the things to strive for - but the final call is ours to make. It is important to me that you (generic) understand a decision that I make and know I'm not making it for my own personal gain or just "because I said so". It's less paramount that you agree with that decision.

[Claire Gallows]

I did not invite discussion around this particular topic. I guess it just didn't occur to be to do so, since it wasn't really a change in anything - just a delay as to when next I would be dedicating the time to run the league. Generally special events come and go - TDL and ToR haven't been seen in years, Hydra took 2014 off, Ragnarok I had assumed wasn't happening this year since last year's time frame had already passed, IG hasn't happened in ages, even the original IFL vanished for 7 years. All those happened with, perhaps some stated disappointment, but I can't recall any having been accompanied by outrage at the lack of being asked if it was ok.

Bold is my emphasis. And correctamundo, for some of the same reasons stated in the recent threads. And because it needs a face lift. But yeah, no Ragnarok this year.

[Andrea Anderson]

And because it needs a face lift. But yeah, no Ragnarok this year.

Mebbe Matt will request his 5 WoLs!

[Nigel Alder]

Given I made the call, the only person it would be fair to throw that in the face of would be me. Telling anyone to go out and do something positive for the community is not something I've said however - so I think you're "do as I say ..." statement is rather misplaced. I actually was planning to defend whomever did say that with this post so went searching and found nobody had, which I guess would be why you didn't attribute it to anyone.

I really can't deny that I read your posts like that and my first instinct is to respond with "bite me, it's my ball and I'll take it home if I damn well feel like it." To a degree though, it would be somewhat hypocritical of me to do so.

The fact of the matter is that I largely consider RoH and the rules to the various sports to be public domain at this point and I get annoyed as hell when, for example, DoS rules get changed without ever having been discussed by the community. It's only fair that I should consider the games I run in the same vein. There's some difference in the way they were founded, get run, have survived through time, etc. that put IFL in a slightly different category, but despite that I can understand and appreciate the point of view.

I hope there's not a feeling that I've run IFL in a closed and hypocritical manner. I've tried to hold regular post season discussions around potential changes and those times when I have made unilateral decisions on things I've been more than happy to lay out the reasoning behind them and hold discussions around them.

I did not invite discussion around this particular topic. I guess it just didn't occur to be to do so, since it wasn't really a change in anything - just a delay as to when next I would be dedicating the time to run the league. Generally special events come and go - TDL and ToR haven't been seen in years, Hydra took 2014 off, Ragnarok I had assumed wasn't happening this year since last year's time frame had already passed, IG hasn't happened in ages, even the original IFL vanished for 7 years. All those happened with, perhaps some stated disappointment, but I can't recall any having been accompanied by outrage at the lack of being asked if it was ok.

That said, despite not having been looking for discussion, here we are. I've made my reasons for it known and will continue to discuss if you or anyone else would like to do so. I will say, however, that this is not a vote nor a democratic process.

As with the stance I've taken around our other rules and events; I feel there is an obligation to seek community input and discussion, to hear opinions from all participants regardless or rank or current activity level and to take it all into consideration when making a judgement. Ultimately a sport coordinator's job (or an event runner in this case), however, is to protect the public trust, the game itself and should keep an eye towards community needs. The majority isn't always right and even when they are it doesn't mean the minority should always be ignored. Involvement, compromise, understanding are the things to strive for - but the final call is ours to make. It is important to me that you (generic) understand a decision that I make and know I'm not making it for my own personal gain or just "because I said so". It's less paramount that you agree with that decision.

Thank you for taking the time to discuss this. I appreciate hearing your input.

You mentioned initially that the reason IFL was going on hiatus was due to a sense of relief when it was over.

So what can we do as a community to prevent IFL from being on hiatus next season?

What discussions can we have to improve people's feelings on IFL?

Bob was the only one who raised his voice in this thread and admitted to being burnt out and feeling relieved when IFL was over. His reasons are his own and not mine to discuss, but we discussed them at length and they are valid.

From what I understand there are others who feel similarly as Bob. You've probably spoken to them in IMs, or heard from the rumor mill about them due to the reason you cited as cancelling IFL for this season.

So what can we as individuals and a community do to improve the burnout people experience from IFL to the point that you would feel comfortable holding the event again? What can we all do as a community to discuss why something that is supposed to be fun is no longer enjoyable?

[Kalamere]

So what can we as individuals and a community do to improve the burnout people experience from IFL to the point that you would feel comfortable holding the event again? What can we all do as a community to discuss why something that is supposed to be fun is no longer enjoyable?

Ever been to a Brazilian steak house? We have one not too far from me called Texas de Brazil (it's a chain, so may well be one near you) and it's pretty awesome if you are a lover of steak. It tends to be on the salty side, but the cuts are cooked damn near perfect and the servers come to your table with all these different choices and slice you off a bit. Filet, flank, etc., and it's an all you can eat thing. They give you this chip that's red one side, green on the other and all you need to do is turn it over to green when you want them to come by and serve you some more.

A year or two ago I ended up at this place two weekends in a row for some kinda of special family event between our own household and then again with friends of the family for something they were celebrating. Two weekends in a row I absolutely gorged myself on steak. A good filet is perhaps my favorite meal ever and at all you can eat, I might have slight control issues.

After those two weekends though, I don't think anyone in my house wanted steak again for about a month. We did a lot of chicken and grilled pork that Summer.

A long way to go to make my point, but ultimately it's this: I don't think anyone has bad feelings about IFL, or at least I think there are only maybe a few that do. You can read this thread or other similar ones we've had, or through the Words of Praise thread, and see that for the most part people really enjoy IFL and the leagues and special events we have around the site. There is, however, such a concept as too much of a good thing.

We can talk about better pacing or coordination between event coordinators, greater intermingling between IFL and DoF regulation, alternating years, etc. and see where we get to. I'd say two things on that though:

(a) Even though I didn't want to eat steak again for a month or two, I still had a great time those two consecutive weekends I did the steak house and frankly wouldn't go back and do it differently. Sure, it was a little overkill, but it was fun and the food was great. My lesson learned is not that I should have paced it better. My lesson was that I should expect when not pacing it to plan on chicken for the rest of the Summer. Which is to say: I don't know that it's a problem that truly needs fixing, which brings me to

(b) occasional down time, in this case 1 year out of 4, isn't necessarily a terrible thing. We had fun with IFL and we will have fun with IFL again in the future. Occasionally not running it opens up the time for something else... maybe it's an emphasis on regulation and challenges (which is what I personally hope for) or maybe it's an opportunity to breath life back into things we used to do (IG, TagTeam) but haven't done for a long while due to lack of interest or not wanting to interfere with other events, or maybe it's something new altogether - a reworked Duel Assassin or whatever it is Sabine is plotting.

I'm humbled and flattered that a love of IFL brings about conversations like this. I truly am. A year off right now though is something I think is for the best. I think I know how we got here, but I don't know that I agree precautions need to be taken to prevent it from happening in the future or that it is such a bad thing.

Hope that makes sense.

~Kal

[JC]

Now I'm hungry. Thanks Kal.

[Nigel Alder]

Okay. So this is what I was looking for. Discussion instead of being told asking for discussion was negative (and also it being implied that since I don't volunteer I wasn't contributing anything positive).

So if I'm understanding this correctly, you think that IFL being too much of a good thing negatively impacts regulation. You don't believe that IFL left a bad taste in people's mouths. You believe that its a positive event that people appreciate.

The experience for me and my team was overwhelmingly positive. That's because when we discussed the entire idea, Cor and I made sure that we were going to put an emphasis on having fun and being as interactive as possible throughout the season. And it succeeded. Sure we didn't win but we had a great time in the process. We chose team members based on the fact that we knew they wouldn't ruin anyone's fun. We chose team members who would be willing to ask the rest of the team "Are you guys mad at me because I lost?" And we also chose team members based on the idea if that question was ever asked, an honest and emphatic "No!" Would be given.

This is why I wanted to see at least some discussion from either side of the fence prior to discovering that IFL was on hiatus. If there are people out there who had bad experiences I challenge you to think very objectively as to what created such a negative experience for you and ask yourself what you can do to change it.

On the more community end of the spectrum, I was hoping to hear someone mention that they felt burnt out or was relieved it was over and hear their reasoning. I wanted to hear this so we could all open up a dialogue on how to possibly alleviate these negative feelings. Maybe tweaks to the format or rules. Possibly even discussing, like adults, that certain behaviors contribute to ruining people enjoying themselves and getting people to take a good long look in the mirror and how they behave. This is supposed to be fun. When did it stop being that way? Are you contributing to it not being fun? Are you making assumptions that stop yourself from having fun?

This is an arduous undertaking that I know looks daunting initially. But since we're on the subject we can't continue to live in denial that league dueling alone is the only reason why there are low numbers of participation in regulation. There are contributing factors involved, and some of them are subjects that aren't easy to face but need to be discussed.

It seems like, to me, we would rather bury our heads in the sand then actually attempt to civilly discuss pressing issues. And what frustrated me the most about this thread and the attitudes surrounding discussing IFL and people's feelings towards was that we were going to continue to act like ostriches and refuse to acknowledge the real problems that are depleting people's willingness to participate.

I didn't want you to put IFL on hiatus because we as a community aren't enjoying ourselves. If we aren't enjoying ourselves we should be discussing the reasons why instead of avoiding them.

[Andrea Anderson]

On the more community end of the spectrum, I was hoping to hear someone mention that they felt burnt out or was relieved it was over and hear their reasoning.

I'll be honest and say I felt burnt out after IFL. I was both participating and coaching a team in Ragnarok, I was on two teams in Hydra -- the same can be said for IFL as well, though I was also the leader of one of the teams I was on. Challenges, regulation dueling, and calling throughout them all. I was one of those callers sitting on Twilight Isle on Tuesday night and watching the IFL room hold 30+ People while it was just me, myself, and I who was dwelling on the Isle. And I was happy that, through private discussions and finally Caller Board discussions, it was concluded that moving the ROH Duel nights to the IFL room was a good idea. It was nice being able to roleplay with others in a more active room, even if I might only be calling 1 or 2 duels that night. 1 or 2 duels is better than sitting on the isle alone IMO.

My gameplan into going into IFL as a team leader was simple. Don't be a dick, that's it. Help teach tactics and promote a good atmosphere. I'm sure there were sore feelings for losses, and no matter how many times I said "It's fine! This is a team effort, it's not on one persons shoulders!" and "I'll take the Iron Fist match this week, let me worry about it!" -- a loss is a loss and sometimes having to hold that L to your chest is a little too much. Whenever the discussion of IFL comes up in private with me I get brought back to how I was the final match in the playoffs of IFL and I lost. My final loss was the make or break for my team. If I won, Dirty: Black would have won it all. If I lose, Team Fist took it. I was on both teams, but I still felt terrible for losing. That's how I know, no matter how many pep talks, holding that L is going to be a bad feeling.

At the time I went "I'm glad there's going to be a huge gap between now and IFL next year. I think I'm going to sit out Hydra, relax some, and come back into IFL with a fresh head." That was my personal plan. Then I helped spearhead the DoF Event for IceDancer and discussed things with Matt and Kheldar that brought about a tournament where I dueled like.. 30+ Fights in a 2 week period, so that didn't help my burnout either, lol, but I'm the type to bounce back after a few weeks of doing other things ( which, at times, would be me coming into dueling rooms on alts and having funsie fights where I didn't care if I won or lost ). But these are all things I did to myself and don't fault Sylus, Claire, Kalamere, or any event organizer.

The point I'm trying to make is that I don't blame leagues fully for my own personal burnout. I can't speak for anyone else, but this is my story and this is how I felt. But you know what? There were so many great things that happened during IFL that I really, really enjoyed.

I enjoyed coming out to each of my teammates fights on Dirty: Black, as their coach, and supporting them both OOC and IC. I did not speak to DemiBob's player much before IFL, but throughout and after? We've become friends and talk almost on a daily. I got to show a new duelist, Jojo, the ropes and expanded on a simple concept of friendship made OOC between the characters and brought it to life. I got to see Niha's amazing low-rank wins vs stronger opponents and cheered her on during it. Blondie and Dean's return and their inclusions to the the team, Grace's dance fighting and weird but funny outfits and interactions with the players on Lazerricks. And roleplay scenes like the moment when King and Bailey fought one another and a comment was made, in character ( and I want to stress this: there were no hard OOC feelings due to this. It was all good play where different opinions held by different characters were brought to life ), and Terry stopped the duel and spoke up for Bailey's life choices.

These are the things I enjoyed about IFL. Not the winning or losing, even though winning is great -- but it was not the forefront of my playtime when it came to Dirty: Black.

I could go on about all the fun I had with the AZN Invasion team for the past two years, but that's a whole other story. ( Lena is adorable though and always has been, and Kimone is still the best captain in my eyes with how they made it a point - after every week - to congratulate the winning team if we lost, or offered some nice words to the other captain when we won. And Morgan with his spinkicks, but then it worked 90% of the time and I'm like "WELL **** I CAN'T COMPLAIN". )

I'm totally rambling, but that's my experience, and it's why I felt a little off when I heard IFL would not be coming back this year. Am I sad to see it go? Yes. But Kalamere will be bringing it back next year and all I can do is twiddle my thumbs and wait. No amount of arguing, proof pointing, or anything of the sort is going to change his mind it seems -- so I will have to respect it. But I will say that I thank Kalamere from the bottom of my heart for bringing IFL back when he did, because without it - I don't think I would have had these experiences during my time on ROH.

[DemiBob]

Okay. So this is what I was looking for. Discussion instead of being told asking for discussion was negative (and also it being implied that since I don't volunteer I wasn't contributing anything positive).

So if I'm understanding this correctly, you think that IFL being too much of a good thing negatively impacts regulation. You don't believe that IFL left a bad taste in people's mouths. You believe that its a positive event that people appreciate.

The experience for me and my team was overwhelmingly positive. That's because when we discussed the entire idea, Cor and I made sure that we were going to put an emphasis on having fun and being as interactive as possible throughout the season. And it succeeded. Sure we didn't win but we had a great time in the process. We chose team members based on the fact that we knew they wouldn't ruin anyone's fun. We chose team members who would be willing to ask the rest of the team "Are you guys mad at me because I lost?" And we also chose team members based on the idea if that question was ever asked, an honest and emphatic "No!" Would be given.

This is why I wanted to see at least some discussion from either side of the fence prior to discovering that IFL was on hiatus. If there are people out there who had bad experiences I challenge you to think very objectively as to what created such a negative experience for you and ask yourself what you can do to change it.

On the more community end of the spectrum, I was hoping to hear someone mention that they felt burnt out or was relieved it was over and hear their reasoning. I wanted to hear this so we could all open up a dialogue on how to possibly alleviate these negative feelings. Maybe tweaks to the format or rules. Possibly even discussing, like adults, that certain behaviors contribute to ruining people enjoying themselves and getting people to take a good long look in the mirror and how they behave. This is supposed to be fun. When did it stop being that way? Are you contributing to it not being fun? Are you making assumptions that stop yourself from having fun?

This is an arduous undertaking that I know looks daunting initially. But since we're on the subject we can't continue to live in denial that league dueling alone is the only reason why there are low numbers of participation in regulation. There are contributing factors involved, and some of them are subjects that aren't easy to face but need to be discussed.

It seems like, to me, we would rather bury our heads in the sand then actually attempt to civilly discuss pressing issues. And what frustrated me the most about this thread and the attitudes surrounding discussing IFL and people's feelings towards was that we were going to continue to act like ostriches and refuse to acknowledge the real problems that are depleting people's willingness to participate.

I didn't want you to put IFL on hiatus because we as a community aren't enjoying ourselves. If we aren't enjoying ourselves we should be discussing the reasons why instead of avoiding them.

Some good points here. I don't want them to get missed. The issue is less IFL and more just how the community works right now. I don't know how many people are really having fun dueling and that's sort of depressing to think about.

[Corlanthis]

Here's my personal take on things. Since feelings are more important than actual facts now, I'll just throw this out there.

Last IFL I had my characters slated to be on two different teams during the pre-season. Some things came up that changed those plans and completely devestated my interest in both IFL and this community as a whole and I can't say my view of this community in general hasn't shifted irrevocably and suffered because of those experiences.

It wasn't until Nigel approached me about creating the Lazerricks, spinning it at me as a just-for-fun team that my interest returned. And I'm glad he did because I had one of the most enjoyable IFL experiences I've ever had and one of the most enjoyable Dueling experiences along with it. And I really really hope the rest of my team feels the same way, because I tried to create that environment for them. Experiences vary, and it wasn't *always* fun, but I hope at the end the result was a net positive.

But what IFL did not do, is reinvigorate my interest in regulation dueling. That's not a failure on the part of the Coordinators, or the Sports, or the Duelists. That's on me. I just don't have any interest in it and if it hasn't changed despite all of the insane effort Harris puts into making his tenures as Diamond as fun and as event-filled as he does, I can't imagine anything else is going to (though never say never).

So, I'm looking forward to IFL. Not IG Wars. Not Duel Assassin (But let me be clear, those are both awesome events. That's no slight against them) Not whatever anyone comes up with. IFL. Because that's where I was able to bond with a truly amazing group of people who pulled me up out of something I wasn't sure I was ever making it out of, at the time.

We've already been talking about plans for Laserricks Season 2. Waiting to show off new themes and new ridiculousness. New Cakes to Play For.

So, Kalamere. When you say you aren't running IFL again, and all you offer is vague feelings and reasonings and stories about eating steak two weeks in a row, like that in any way compares to waiting a year for the one event you are super amped about, it feels like a gut punch man. Like you are taking that experience away from me.

Jesus man, you even said you wouldn't do anything differently if you could go back and do it again. But no no, not you duelists. You don't get to do fun things two years in a row. Because feelings.

I'm not upset at *you*. You have your reasons, even if I don't like them and don't agree with them. You're doing what you think is best, even if I think it's completely nonsensical and flies in the face of the numbers Jake and Colin posted. I want to make that super clear. I support everything about your right to decide whether you hold it or not, I just don't understand the decision. At all. And because I don't understand where you're coming from with this decision it just boils back to me feeling like you are taking my fun away from me.

You mentioned you hope other people run other events. I mean, cool. I hope they do too. More events are great. But I don't care about those other events.

Find something new that's fun to do!

No, man.

I have something fun I wanted to do with my team. Had, I guess. Because you're throwing around these time frames like you don't actually operate in the real world with the rest of us. Years, guy. One year between last season and this season if you'd run it. That's a hell of a long time for the one thing you were looking forward to. And now it's another year on top of that.

[Rakeesh]

Like you are taking that experience away from me.

There's a difference between Kalamere taking something away from you, personally keeping you from something that you were looking forward to, and Kalamere opting out of what I can probably assume is something like a 200-300 hour voluntary administrative commitment because of reasons (at least one of which includes him feeling like he needs a break, according to one of his latest posts).

I also understand you feeling how you feel, because it's a let down. But it wasn't something owed to you, and now everyone can either choose to:

- Be upset about it and try to convince Kalamere to change his mind.
- Be upset about it and decide to not do anything out of lack of interest or protest.
- Be upset about it and decide to try to help make something fun happen in its place.

Your feelings are totally valid, but what you do with those feelings are totally up to you. Your team can still get together and do something else. It's only IFL or bust if you decide that that's how it is, and that's ultimately up to you ... not Kalamere.

It's all about perspective, and we all have control over our own.

[Andrea Anderson]

Off topic but, can I have a list of the Screen Names for all the writers who did articles last year in IFL? RDI ones are preferred if they have them. Or if any writer doesn't mind outing themselves on their name names so once I have this thing I'm doing finished I can include them.

[G]

On the more community end of the spectrum, I was hoping to hear someone mention that they felt burnt out or was relieved it was over and hear their reasoning. I wanted to hear this so we could all open up a dialogue on how to possibly alleviate these negative feelings. Maybe tweaks to the format or rules. Possibly even discussing, like adults, that certain behaviors contribute to ruining people enjoying themselves and getting people to take a good long look in the mirror and how they behave. This is supposed to be fun. When did it stop being that way? Are you contributing to it not being fun? Are you making assumptions that stop yourself from having fun?

I didn't participate in IFL this past season. I have only participated in Madness and felt a great deal of relief with the fact that my second character was knocked out in the second round.

Every year of a team event, I've had players, either on my team or on the team I've been a part of, or on other teams who talk to me usually breathe a sigh of relief that it's over. For me, personally, I've breathed several sighs of relief when the season ends.

I'm bringing it up because of the sort of request to hear from this side of things.

The reasons? Here's some of mine.

The stress of running a team and trying to accommodate both *all* the duelists on my team, and hoping to whatever gods you believe in that the opposing teams duelists won't be jerks and be reasonable in scheduling their times, *as well as* show up. A majority are good for their times, but there has been struggles with players who somehow get matched with each other who don't get along. Then I get to deal with "Just use the sub" or some sort of thing, or have to struggle with the opposing team. If I want a week off, chances are I gotta be the sub.

Trust issues. This is more personal, but can I trust that the duelist *I* am fighting is actually the duelist *I* am fighting? Or are they getting help from others? Whether they are or aren't, I DO NOT like the person that feeling turns me into. I don't like the feeling of not trusting my opponent or their team. I don't like feeling that way and it adds more stress. That takes a lot out of me and makes me EXTREMELY HAPPY that the season is over.

Being asked to help another team can add stress. Do I just relax, or are my teammates hoping that I have a good match and win the week for them? When I fail, how do I know that my teammates aren't grumbling about my failure without telling me? Again, personal issue that I have to deal with. And teammates probably aren't talking about me, but what do I know? Feeling like it's a possibility sucks and adds more pressure and stress.

Wanting a week off so not scheduling on one team but getting scheduled or forced into a match on another. And even if I do get that week off, the stress of feeling the obligation to be at all my teams matches, or planning for the following week. Added stress and pressure.

Even if the team was just for fun and not to be taken seriously, it's not who I am, I take my matches seriously enough to hate it when I lose, even if it didn't matter. I'm not saying I take it so seriously that I'm all "gung-ho gotta win no matter the cost" but seriously enough that I've gotta do my best to win at that specific moment. Again, it's a me thing, but I'm giving my reasons for why I'm glad when a season is over.

Stress, trust, and pressure were enough for me to just be glad as hell a season ends and that the last IFL season I didn't participate. That there's no season this year is okay by me. Because as a community member, I've thought that there's been an over-saturation of events and a need to let there be a recharge time for everyone. Of course, that's not entirely up to me, but it's a feeling I have.

I can't speak for everyone else who seemed glad a season was over and told me about it, but those are my reasons. I feel more relaxed when a season is over.

[Nigel Alder]

The reasons? Here's some of mine.

The stress of running a team and trying to accommodate both *all* the duelists on my team, and hoping to whatever gods you believe in that the opposing teams duelists won't be jerks and be reasonable in scheduling their times, *as well as* show up. A majority are good for their times, but there has been struggles with players who somehow get matched with each other who don't get along. Then I get to deal with "Just use the sub" or some sort of thing, or have to struggle with the opposing team. If I want a week off, chances are I gotta be the sub.

Do you think you could stress to your teammates wanting the week off and make it sound like something you need to do to increase your fun? Do you want to stay friends with, or even teammates with, people who would sacrifice your fun in the face of winning?

Sure, it's plenty of fun to win. But at the cost of hurting your overall enjoyment of this hobby you've put so much time and effort into over the years? I respect all the things you've done for this community and you've done too much work, put too much time and effort into it to not enjoy yourself at all times. We all work. This is supposed to be play. Its starting to sound like work to me when we feel this sort of way about our fun time.

Trust issues. This is more personal, but can I trust that the duelist *I* am fighting is actually the duelist *I* am fighting? Or are they getting help from others? Whether they are or aren't, I DO NOT like the person that feeling turns me into. I don't like the feeling of not trusting my opponent or their team. I don't like feeling that way and it adds more stress. That takes a lot out of me and makes me EXTREMELY HAPPY that the season is over.

Here's where I give you major props. This is one of those really difficult issues to discuss that people seem to put their heads in the sand over. We've all become distrustful. The community barely trusts each other to follow hard and fast rules of the game that we expected people to follow without question.

Is this a warranted mistrust? Is this really making the game enjoyable over all?

This is one of those big issues hurting regulation that no one wants to discuss. As Apple and Jake have shown, its not league dueling hurting regulation. So is this sense of mistrust more than just a G issue? From what I've seen? Yes. It is. And no one wants to touch the subject with a 2000 ft pole.

Being asked to help another team can add stress. Do I just relax, or are my teammates hoping that I have a good match and win the week for them? When I fail, how do I know that my teammates aren't grumbling about my failure without telling me? Again, personal issue that I have to deal with. And teammates probably aren't talking about me, but what do I know? Feeling like it's a possibility sucks and adds more pressure and stress.

Wanting a week off so not scheduling on one team but getting scheduled or forced into a match on another. And even if I do get that week off, the stress of feeling the obligation to be at all my teams matches, or planning for the following week. Added stress and pressure.

Even if the team was just for fun and not to be taken seriously, it's not who I am, I take my matches seriously enough to hate it when I lose, even if it didn't matter. I'm not saying I take it so seriously that I'm all "gung-ho gotta win no matter the cost" but seriously enough that I've gotta do my best to win at that specific moment. Again, it's a me thing, but I'm giving my reasons for why I'm glad when a season is over.

Stress, trust, and pressure were enough for me to just be glad as hell a season ends and that the last IFL season I didn't participate. That there's no season this year is okay by me. Because as a community member, I've thought that there's been an over-saturation of events and a need to let there be a recharge time for everyone. Of course, that's not entirely up to me, but it's a feeling I have.

I can't speak for everyone else who seemed glad a season was over and told me about it, but those are my reasons. I feel more relaxed when a season is over.

Again, could we approach this from a different view point? Could Kal limit teams to one alt per team? This way it gets rid of your stress from having to be on one team and help another as an alt. This way no one feels guilt or stress for choosing the one team they want to be on.

G makes another good point. If G wants a week off he should get it without feeling like his team would pressure him into being sub. Even if its an unspoken thing, we're all adults who can communicate like adults. G should be able to tell his teammates he wants the week off just to decompress from the stress without feeling guilty like he's a detriment to the team.

Maybe we need to all keep reminding each other that winning isn't the only enjoyable part of this hobby. Coming together. Interacting. Laughing, Celebrating each other's victories. Comforting each other's losses. That is where the fun resides. How did we all forget that?