I joined HD on May 30th, 2008. My career record is 6059-1478. I've won exactly 1 National Championship and between my two current teams have a 16-season streak of not making it out of the first-round of the NT. Included in that streak are 6 defeats by a made basket at the buzzer and another 6 defeats by 15+ points. Yet here I am, looking to maybe pick up a third team. Why do I do it? The grind towards a second title? The (imaginary) heartbreak of those losses?
Better yet, why do you HD? HD vets...why are you still here? What keeps you at it? Newbies... What about you?

Addiction.

I started HD in '07 and couldn't make a S16 in 60 seasons. Quit. Spring of '17 I return with a vengeance. After learning the game from a combination of 0nly, benis, and arfy (in that order) I became one of the elite of the elite coaches in the game. I led the way in two different chat groups way before discord. One with veterans of the game and some close friends I've made over the years, the other was for new guys that I mentored. My coaching tree and my communication ran rampant thru the game. I was on fire like NBA Jam.

Decided to move up to D1 as my career in the lower divisions ran its course. I started off with 2 titles in D1 fairly quickly with tier 2 type schools. Moved up to mostly A+ baseline schools across the board. And in my mind, piman314 here I come! Right?

Wrong. I now SUCK and can't win anything. If firing was in play, I'd be canned at one school, and probably heading that way in another. I now just go thru the motions and complain (not real complaining. Crybaby half joking complaining!). Haven't won in over a real life year and it's driving me insane.

The first part of that was buttered up to make the real part of the story, my downfall, more entertaining. I know many have played and never won big. And that's tough. I get it. But it's equally tough when you're used to winning and it just stops happening. Some of my most fun times in HD was when I was active in the community, and helping coaches with EVERY question I got, and then some. Now it's rare I even answer a sitemail after reading it (sorry guys!). I'm like the grinch of HD now. Bah humbug!

Would be nice to find that fire again. But I'm afraid it's burnt out. I'll still be here until I win at least one more tho. So when that happens in 2027, I'll come back here and bring joy!

Getting that morning box score is like Christmas everyday

I enjoy following real life recruiting and roster structuring. This is all that in a condensed version. I have never won big in 90 plus seasons but I have been close... that was nice. I really enjoy taking 0-27 programs and making them competitive S16 type teams, then jumping ship and starting fresh somewhere else. I read all the flaws people post about the game but at the end of the day, for me, it's a pretty cool diversion from the 8-5.

I was recruited to play hardball dynasty by Aaron Gleeman back in 2007, using a handle I don’t have anymore because the email was lost. Hardball Dynasty was fun for a bit (baseball is my true love), but was unplayably formulaic and predictable in ways I just couldn’t overlook. I came back to it as pkoopman in 2013 for another try (didn’t last any longer) but this time I decided to give HD a try. I skipped it before because the idea of starting in D3 and spending all those seasons - years - before you even get to sniff D1 was just not appealing to me. I don’t even remember why I gave it a try, must have been a FREE HD promotion or something, but I liked it enough to stay. My older son had also started as shoe3 later in 2013, a soph in HS at the time. It was a bit too complicated for him to really enjoy with all the AP classes ramping up though, so he started to slip out and gave his teams - Carlton in Smith and Medgar Evars in Naismith - back to me. I won my first title with Carlton shortly after that.

I was a casual player, and likely on my way out when 3.0 was announced. The redesign really reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the game. There are game engine problems I complain about of course, but I still love the game that exists (and understand most of what I complain about is very hard to fix without a complete re-write, because of the ancient code being cursed with ether-goblins, or some such). I play first and foremost for my own amusement. I enjoy winning of course, I’m sure we all do; but I much more enjoy feeling in control of a college basketball program long term. I like the sandbox feel, I like spitting in meta’s face, doing things the way I enjoy doing them. And most of all, I like competing against great coaches in great conferences night in and night out. My favorite time of the season is always the conference tourney. Kind of sums up my approach to HD - I know most folks think I’m doing it wrong. That’s the fun part for me.

Posted by topdogggbm on 8/18/2022 9:46:00 PM (view original):
I started HD in '07 and couldn't make a S16 in 60 seasons. Quit. Spring of '17 I return with a vengeance. After learning the game from a combination of 0nly, benis, and arfy (in that order) I became one of the elite of the elite coaches in the game. I led the way in two different chat groups way before discord. One with veterans of the game and some close friends I've made over the years, the other was for new guys that I mentored. My coaching tree and my communication ran rampant thru the game. I was on fire like NBA Jam.

Decided to move up to D1 as my career in the lower divisions ran its course. I started off with 2 titles in D1 fairly quickly with tier 2 type schools. Moved up to mostly A+ baseline schools across the board. And in my mind, piman314 here I come! Right?

Wrong. I now SUCK and can't win anything. If firing was in play, I'd be canned at one school, and probably heading that way in another. I now just go thru the motions and complain (not real complaining. Crybaby half joking complaining!). Haven't won in over a real life year and it's driving me insane.

The first part of that was buttered up to make the real part of the story, my downfall, more entertaining. I know many have played and never won big. And that's tough. I get it. But it's equally tough when you're used to winning and it just stops happening. Some of my most fun times in HD was when I was active in the community, and helping coaches with EVERY question I got, and then some. Now it's rare I even answer a sitemail after reading it (sorry guys!). I'm like the grinch of HD now. Bah humbug!

Would be nice to find that fire again. But I'm afraid it's burnt out. I'll still be here until I win at least one more tho. So when that happens in 2027, I'll come back here and bring joy!

i know it sound brutal but, go retire for like 4-6 months and hopefully you'll find it again. the biggest mistake i ever made in HD was not retiring when i got super burnt out the first time. i found ways to amuse myself, building a d2 super conference, staying on the forums and stuff, mentoring, but i continued to carry 3-4 teams throughout which i neglected horribly, and that neglect and suckitude just ate at me and ruined the actual coaching part of the game for years. could have replaced 4 years of being 'retired in place' with 4 months of actual retirement and it would have been much better.

i guess there is the risk of not coming back, but if that's the answer, so be it. for me, i had my lower division and higher division success all at once, all up front, and i just ran out of goals. but having goals you aren't burning to achieve isn't much different. eventually i had a new goal and the fire to chase it, like 5 years later, and i had some really good times. then i retired again but here i am again... a bit burnt out with my 1 team but you know, i have gotten a bunch of enjoyment out of 3.0 and stuff, its all good. and also in there, i found several years (including now) where i'm not really goal chasing but just kinda having fun, i did a lot of running new sets and switching teams which i enjoyed as well. but the breaks REALLY helped make that all enjoyable.

edit - i guess i'll also add, you've accomplished enough, you really have nothing to prove, you may want to just try to mentally disengage from the success chasing. its a totally different approach, when its about winning versus screwing around having fun. when i came back to 3.0 i wanted to learn the new system and win, i set some success goals but i started winning too quickly and decided to re-retire after just 3 seasons, even though i had over 3 years 100% retirement going into it. the success chasing just wasn't doing it for me. but then after a couple months i decided to co-coach with chap and we were just having fun and running weird schemes like fb/zone and fb/fcp (i guess not that weird but we both had limited success and wanted to play with it, and we did so at kinda ****** schools to bring a fun challenge), and i did take like a month or two of known to be temporary retirement after the co-coaching and before getting my own team again. but i've pretty much been having fun the whole time on a non-success chasing path for a couple years now. i loosely aspire to stop sucking at florida a&m some day, i always figure that at some point i will turn it on but mostly, that time is always 6 months out for a variety of reasons, things i need to do, learning to coach triangle or i'm not really even sure what i've been doing this whole time. its all good though. i also know that if i start success-chasing again, i have a year tops before retirement, and i'm not super keen to start that clock.

Posted by gillispie on 8/19/2022 12:03:00 PM (view original):

Posted by topdogggbm on 8/18/2022 9:46:00 PM (view original):
I started HD in '07 and couldn't make a S16 in 60 seasons. Quit. Spring of '17 I return with a vengeance. After learning the game from a combination of 0nly, benis, and arfy (in that order) I became one of the elite of the elite coaches in the game. I led the way in two different chat groups way before discord. One with veterans of the game and some close friends I've made over the years, the other was for new guys that I mentored. My coaching tree and my communication ran rampant thru the game. I was on fire like NBA Jam.

Decided to move up to D1 as my career in the lower divisions ran its course. I started off with 2 titles in D1 fairly quickly with tier 2 type schools. Moved up to mostly A+ baseline schools across the board. And in my mind, piman314 here I come! Right?

Wrong. I now SUCK and can't win anything. If firing was in play, I'd be canned at one school, and probably heading that way in another. I now just go thru the motions and complain (not real complaining. Crybaby half joking complaining!). Haven't won in over a real life year and it's driving me insane.

The first part of that was buttered up to make the real part of the story, my downfall, more entertaining. I know many have played and never won big. And that's tough. I get it. But it's equally tough when you're used to winning and it just stops happening. Some of my most fun times in HD was when I was active in the community, and helping coaches with EVERY question I got, and then some. Now it's rare I even answer a sitemail after reading it (sorry guys!). I'm like the grinch of HD now. Bah humbug!

Would be nice to find that fire again. But I'm afraid it's burnt out. I'll still be here until I win at least one more tho. So when that happens in 2027, I'll come back here and bring joy!

i know it sound brutal but, go retire for like 4-6 months and hopefully you'll find it again. the biggest mistake i ever made in HD was not retiring when i got super burnt out the first time. i found ways to amuse myself, building a d2 super conference, staying on the forums and stuff, mentoring, but i continued to carry 3-4 teams throughout which i neglected horribly, and that neglect and suckitude just ate at me and ruined the actual coaching part of the game for years. could have replaced 4 years of being 'retired in place' with 4 months of actual retirement and it would have been much better.

i guess there is the risk of not coming back, but if that's the answer, so be it. for me, i had my lower division and higher division success all at once, all up front, and i just ran out of goals. but having goals you aren't burning to achieve isn't much different. eventually i had a new goal and the fire to chase it, like 5 years later, and i had some really good times. then i retired again but here i am again... a bit burnt out with my 1 team but you know, i have gotten a bunch of enjoyment out of 3.0 and stuff, its all good. and also in there, i found several years (including now) where i'm not really goal chasing but just kinda having fun, i did a lot of running new sets and switching teams which i enjoyed as well. but the breaks REALLY helped make that all enjoyable.

edit - i guess i'll also add, you've accomplished enough, you really have nothing to prove, you may want to just try to mentally disengage from the success chasing. its a totally different approach, when its about winning versus screwing around having fun. when i came back to 3.0 i wanted to learn the new system and win, i set some success goals but i started winning too quickly and decided to re-retire after just 3 seasons, even though i had over 3 years 100% retirement going into it. the success chasing just wasn't doing it for me. but then after a couple months i decided to co-coach with chap and we were just having fun and running weird schemes like fb/zone and fb/fcp (i guess not that weird but we both had limited success and wanted to play with it, and we did so at kinda ****** schools to bring a fun challenge), and i did take like a month or two of known to be temporary retirement after the co-coaching and before getting my own team again. but i've pretty much been having fun the whole time on a non-success chasing path for a couple years now. i loosely aspire to stop sucking at florida a&m some day, i always figure that at some point i will turn it on but mostly, that time is always 6 months out for a variety of reasons, things i need to do, learning to coach triangle or i'm not really even sure what i've been doing this whole time. its all good though. i also know that if i start success-chasing again, i have a year tops before retirement, and i'm not super keen to start that clock.

I don't disagree with any of that. Hard to turn off being competitive tho. But I'm fine! I just suck now. And even that's ok. I wax just adding to the cause.

Posted by topdogggbm on 8/18/2022 9:46:00 PM (view original):
I started HD in '07 and couldn't make a S16 in 60 seasons. Quit. Spring of '17 I return with a vengeance. After learning the game from a combination of 0nly, benis, and arfy (in that order) I became one of the elite of the elite coaches in the game. I led the way in two different chat groups way before discord. One with veterans of the game and some close friends I've made over the years, the other was for new guys that I mentored. My coaching tree and my communication ran rampant thru the game. I was on fire like NBA Jam.

Decided to move up to D1 as my career in the lower divisions ran its course. I started off with 2 titles in D1 fairly quickly with tier 2 type schools. Moved up to mostly A+ baseline schools across the board. And in my mind, piman314 here I come! Right?

Wrong. I now SUCK and can't win anything. If firing was in play, I'd be canned at one school, and probably heading that way in another. I now just go thru the motions and complain (not real complaining. Crybaby half joking complaining!). Haven't won in over a real life year and it's driving me insane.

The first part of that was buttered up to make the real part of the story, my downfall, more entertaining. I know many have played and never won big. And that's tough. I get it. But it's equally tough when you're used to winning and it just stops happening. Some of my most fun times in HD was when I was active in the community, and helping coaches with EVERY question I got, and then some. Now it's rare I even answer a sitemail after reading it (sorry guys!). I'm like the grinch of HD now. Bah humbug!

Would be nice to find that fire again. But I'm afraid it's burnt out. I'll still be here until I win at least one more tho. So when that happens in 2027, I'll come back here and bring joy!

I would advise you to go back to D2. Yes, you had success at D1, too, but you were the King of D2. Go back and reclaim your crown, and I would bet your fire from the game would be rejuvenated.

When I first played I had a lot of success at D3 and was happy as could be, but I also felt a need to go to D1 (skipped over D2) and prove myself there, too. I never had the same success and overall found the D1 experience unappealing for several reasons that are unimportant to this discussion. And when 3.0 rolled out, I chose to quit the game. Years later, I got the itch to return and the only thing I wanted to do was go back to my happy place: D3. Go to your happy place.

WOW Started in 2002. Took a few years off and now I'm back. I talk to creator of this madness everyday and I have 0 Championships!

Started in 2006 when I was googling Fantasy sports. Got about 37000 total HD games under my belt and just love the game. I remember when the Slowdown -5 was gold and you could have a team free throw average of A.

Joined in 2006 and played for a long time. Left at some point and then came back during Covid. I enjoy the challenge of the game still but the forums were a lot more fun back in the day. I'm mostly playing now to wait out my recruiting bad luck streak and see it swing the other way. I would have multiple NC in Tark since returning if not for recruiting bad luck!

Posted by uglyskunk3 on 8/19/2022 5:09:00 PM (view original):

Posted by topdogggbm on 8/18/2022 9:46:00 PM (view original):
I started HD in '07 and couldn't make a S16 in 60 seasons. Quit. Spring of '17 I return with a vengeance. After learning the game from a combination of 0nly, benis, and arfy (in that order) I became one of the elite of the elite coaches in the game. I led the way in two different chat groups way before discord. One with veterans of the game and some close friends I've made over the years, the other was for new guys that I mentored. My coaching tree and my communication ran rampant thru the game. I was on fire like NBA Jam.

Decided to move up to D1 as my career in the lower divisions ran its course. I started off with 2 titles in D1 fairly quickly with tier 2 type schools. Moved up to mostly A+ baseline schools across the board. And in my mind, piman314 here I come! Right?

Wrong. I now SUCK and can't win anything. If firing was in play, I'd be canned at one school, and probably heading that way in another. I now just go thru the motions and complain (not real complaining. Crybaby half joking complaining!). Haven't won in over a real life year and it's driving me insane.

The first part of that was buttered up to make the real part of the story, my downfall, more entertaining. I know many have played and never won big. And that's tough. I get it. But it's equally tough when you're used to winning and it just stops happening. Some of my most fun times in HD was when I was active in the community, and helping coaches with EVERY question I got, and then some. Now it's rare I even answer a sitemail after reading it (sorry guys!). I'm like the grinch of HD now. Bah humbug!

Would be nice to find that fire again. But I'm afraid it's burnt out. I'll still be here until I win at least one more tho. So when that happens in 2027, I'll come back here and bring joy!

I would advise you to go back to D2. Yes, you had success at D1, too, but you were the King of D2. Go back and reclaim your crown, and I would bet your fire from the game would be rejuvenated.

When I first played I had a lot of success at D3 and was happy as could be, but I also felt a need to go to D1 (skipped over D2) and prove myself there, too. I never had the same success and overall found the D1 experience unappealing for several reasons that are unimportant to this discussion. And when 3.0 rolled out, I chose to quit the game. Years later, I got the itch to return and the only thing I wanted to do was go back to my happy place: D3. Go to your happy place.

D2 is actually a way different game now. And personally I'm just not interested in going back and re-learning it. You are right as far as the approach. But I'm a D1 coach now and don't have interest in playing D2 again. I'm still solid in D1 and I exaggerate how "bad" I am. I compete. I just have frustration as an 'A+ D1 coach' as I continue to fall short in the end. I did just make the title game in Crum with an 8 seed. And we were a worthy talent, not a lucky 8 seed. I made a F4 with Portland a ways back. It's just the big schools that frustrate me. I thought I'd be doing fantastic with Kansas and UConn (and soon with Arizona). Not the case. There's light in the tunnel tho!!!

Appreciate the advice and the comment

Posted by rds_lsu on 8/19/2022 7:16:00 PM (view original):
Joined in 2006 and played for a long time. Left at some point and then came back during Covid. I enjoy the challenge of the game still but the forums were a lot more fun back in the day. I'm mostly playing now to wait out my recruiting bad luck streak and see it swing the other way. I would have multiple NC in Tark since returning if not for recruiting bad luck!

Yes the forums have tamed. Discord is where it's at now. Real time makes it a lot better as well.

Back to the original topic now! This wax a great thread to start.

I'm newer than a lot of people here. I started in early 2015. Was playing another college basketball sim game for about a year. Not nearly as detailed and in-depth as WIS. That went down for an extended period of time, so I Googled "college basketball sim" and ended up here. Loved it ever since.

Growing up with sports video games, I always liked to watch CPU - CPU games instead of playing the games. I loved the idea of building a team and watching them perform, then analyzing the stats. And recruit or trade for the pieces I needed. Playing WIS is pretty much what I've been doing since childhood, just with other real people, which makes it even better.

As frustrated as I get with HD at times, I don't ever see myself quitting. I just get so much enjoyment from it still.

Edit: this is my 1,300th post. Neat.