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***luke*** · 10-25-2024, 10:27 PM

About 11 months ago I posted an article SIm League Universe Activity Checks to look at what an early Portal Launch has done to the SHL, but also take a look at the health of our little slice of the Sim League world

To copy from my previous article, this is the background of activity checks

History of Activity checks:

Activity checks was not a staple from the get go. The SHL, started in 2010, first implemented weekly activity checks in 2014. So for 4 years we truly don’t know the size of the SHL during that time. We can always guess / make assumptions by the size and growth of the league. And then there were seasonal check ins as well. But it doesnt give the full picture of the league. But the start of 2014, we are able to get a weekly updated number, of the rough size of the SHL. Then, once the ISFL, PBE and SSL was created as offshoots of the SHL, they started activity checks from day one, so it made it a lot easier to track their growth over time.

Swiggly Lines agian

But this time on imgur.

lets start with the newest sim league then go backwards

SSL

[Image: JxogxKC.png]

The Newest to the sim league universe to us. However, the 2nd to introduce their own version of an updating / general use portal. Thanks to @Canadice 's (and others) extreme passion for the SSL. However, with the activity check side of things, a bit lackluster. However, with launching the portal a couple months ago, they have seen an uptick in activity. They have a great sim engine, and a great community behind them. Hopefully they start to pick up more traction as well. Soccer is an underutilized sim league avenue. And hopefully with more recruiting, they will get to the numbers like PBE or ISFL. They have everything they need to do so. Just the opportunity to get there

PBE

[Image: mH0QiBP.png]

The 2nd youngest sim league, however only 21 weeks behind the ISFL. the ISFL and PBE are like sister leagues to me. They both were ofshoots of the SHL community that were looking for other sports to make sim league of. And so far they've both been a great success. With PBE especially, they probably have the best sim engine out there, and the most stats to delve into from a statistics side of things. A baseball nerds dream. In terms of the health of the league, theyve pretty much stayed the same in terms of the # of users since September of 2020. Growing to be a steady 270-300 AC claims a week type of league. Which is good for sustaining the league, but I think there is 2 key things holding them back. Just as an outsider not too familiar with the inner workings of PBE.
1. Still being on JCINK. Like, just move to a mybb forum or something. Like many sim leagues that are reliant of being on the ancient dinosaurs of forums. PBE stuck itself to the oldest of the dinosaurs that are left standing. If only they could be on invision free... But seriously, I think to take the next step of making the forum more presentable is switching to a mybb type forum as the first step. They have a great product, just need to make it friendlier to easier to create an account -> creating a player. I know they've done great work with making it a lot easier. but the friction still remains

2. Have an actual banking system. It is giving me 2018 SHL flashbacks seeing a spreadsheet to track banking stuff. Contgrats to kckolbe for reaching 1 billion over there

ISFL

[Image: Vcrg9PV.png]

Formerly known as the NSFL, the ISFL did a great service to the league and switched to the ISFL. Like the PBE, they too are in a decent spot in the league by activity checks wise. They are also hovering at the 270-300 AC claims a week. however, they have an ability to grow much larger than that. Seeing the spikes there, in 2020 all the way up to 359 claims in early 2020. 364 claims in the beginning of 2021. Then most recently 323 claims in the 2023's.

They also had a 2 week claim period last christmas time that confused me for a second. Dont do that again Surrender

However, whats different than PBE to ISFL is that they have a mybb forum for one, as well as an automatic banking system. They should have a leg up advantage to PBE, and either draw more people or keep more people around. I dont know ISFL as much as I know SHL or even PBE. So I cannot comment as much as I can about why they have the ability to grow, but is spinning its wheels in the mud.

SHL

Finally what we have all been waiting for. the SHL sqiggly lines. There will be 2 since I want to focus on the growth since the portal. but also zoom out as a whole
[Image: 7NGb4Z5.png]

So lets start with the top one, the all time SHL activity checks. First started in 2014. the SHL to my knowledge has the earliest history of activity checks that I can get my data hungry fingers on. Could be that the VHL has some in an archive area of their forum but I cannot find it. And they also dont share their activity check history through their portal either. However, we see the SHL go through a ton of phases of its life. Most notibly the search in 2018 with the S43, S46, and S47 draft classes being the most notable draft classes. With the S46 draft class being the largest in league history. They also experienced a COVID boom like most leagues. Then peaking at 450 AC's towards 2021. Then like most sim leagues, the dip coming out of COVID. However, what is the most different from the SHL and everyone else. Is that we were fortunate enough to have some talented individuals and a lot of determination to create a portal for the league. Making a ton of league processes easier. Easier to join the league, easier to update, earn TPE, etc. Easier to market the league as something you can have fun in.

And from there, a lot of recruitment from the other sim leagues as well once the portal launch. A lot of people coming from ISFL, PBE, VHL came over to try out the portal. That along with good recruitment, the league seen a switchup that is different than the other leagues. They saw growth. Not only that, but pretty consistent growth.

If you switch to the 2nd graph. The portal released near the end of 2023. WHere the AC's went from 344 -> 389. Then it kept on climbing until it settled about about 450-460 AC's at the peak, and 420's at the valleys. With most people from ISFL and PBE that wanted to try out the SHL, already over here, we are now limited by the amount of recruiting the league can actually do. With the PBE and ISFL being more or less stagnant, its up to SHL to start focusing on recruiting smarter. And taking a peek behind the curtain it looks like they started to the past offseason. The recruiting team I think doing a great job pivoting to recruiting from other discords.

At the end of the day however. Id love to see the PBE and ISFL go from stagnant to growing members. All rising tides lifts all boats. once you get them into 1 sim league its easier to go to another sim league. The friction is less there.

But yeah, here is the combined data

Combined Data

[Image: x5YFzCS.png]

***cake307*** · 10-25-2024, 10:39 PM

Interesting to note that SSL is having a massive draft class for s18, which may help in the long run there and then echo through to SHL. This is great work, you can really see the impact the portal had!