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***SDCore*** · 02-17-2019, 06:08 AM

A newbies look into the SHL.

This is going to be an introspective look into the Simulation Hockey League, from a guy who joined no more than 36 hours ago. Bear with me as I am learning, but I wanted to share my experience with joining this cool concept and fascinating take on Role-Playing games. Now I might get some slack for calling this a Role-Playing game (RP for short). This can carry a negative stigma, especially in the sports world, as people see RP gamers as lonely, nerdy, geeky, or whatever adjective you’d like to describe. I myself am a RP gamer, I play DND and Tabletop games frequently with friends, as well as attend Comic Con every year, a fact I’m proud of. I also drink beer, watch sports, play sports, and the such, so the stigma or notion of what an RP gamer looks like is flawed.

In my opinion this is a great bridge between the offline RP gaming world and the online RP gaming world. People playing and communicating in a virtual way over created characters, but it’s hockey. Everyone wants to be the star player, or the bruiser, or the goalie who steals the game to win the cup. As far as I can tell, the SHL gives you the hint at doing that, which all good RP games do. The theory and concept behind the game is amazing. You control a hockey player in a virtual space on a virtual team and can build and train him or (her!!) however you want.

The game has a lot of great people doing on-boarding. This is helpful, because at first you log into a forum and it can look very confusing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop being confusing for the first couple of hours navigating the landscape of the forum. This is alleviated a bit by the Create-a-player tool, which helps you allocated TPE, STR & Weakness, position, and general information. From there, you follow the steps to get your first PT, gear, recruiting, and updates. This is where things get confusing again. The SHL asks you to use hyperlinks, now I’m tech savy so this was no problem, but this can be a real choke point for the future. This is not being critical, just an observation. Luckily SHL has a great support system and has been able to guide people through the entire process. Again, this is your greatest strength.
The best thing the SHL has done is to create acceptance among its players. There is a general feeling of belonging within the forum and the game. Discord is the sites biggest tool. From what I’ve seen as a new player in the SHL is that, yes it’s hockey, yes it’s RP, yes it’s community, but that last part is what makes it special.

This game is built and based on community. They are trying to make it more user friendly, more open to the world, but in the end it’s the most accessible RP game I’ve played. That might be because most who are playing, don’t realize this is an RP game or we all accept it, either way SHL is here to stay and I enjoy it.

CK

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