Hello everyone,

I am adlorenz (Adam Lorenz) and I wanted to introduce myself as the new Product Manager for WhatIfSports. I started part-time at the beginning of November, and with seble’s help I have been cross training with some of the team members and trying to learn as much as I can about all the products.

I am coming to WhatIfSports from Activision/Blizzard where I was Technical Program Manager for Blizzard’s strategy digital card game, Hearthstone. I believe what I have learned at Activision/Blizzard, and at my other previous roles, will help me work with all of you to make WhatIfSports games and community better.

Why is WhatIfSports hiring a Product Manager? Well, this position was born because seble will be leaving WhatIfSports in the near future. In addition to myself, we have hired a new developer (Meet Chris here: https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=524141&threadID=11987140#l_11987140) to fill seble’s shoes who is just as excited as I am to be working at WhatIfSports. seble has been such an important part of the WhatIfSports community and has essentially kept the lights on all by himself since joining SportsHub. I would ask that if you all feel compelled to do so, please reach out to seble and thank him for all he has done for us.

The most important thing you need to know about me is, I left my previous role because frankly, I love WhatIfSports. I think the game is a blast and has so much potential. With that said there is a lot of work to get these games to the next level. During my interview process, our parent company SportsHub expressed interest in investing in the development of the various modes and our community, otherwise I would not be here. What you can expect from me:

1. Open communication: My email address is [email protected]. You can message me if you need to, but this is not to replace our intake mechanism for customer support and [email protected]. (I will direct you there if emailing me is not the right medium for your message) I do see all the customer support tickets and receive all the various other email formats to my inbox already. If there is one thing I know about this community there are some undying sports fans and people that believe in this game as well. If you email me, you will get a response, it may take some time but you will get a response.

2. Feature/Bug Reporting: Right now we have a backlog of feature requests and bug requests that dates back close to 5 years. While I understand there is a lot of value to these, and I will review these for vital improvements and fixes. I would like to start fresh with the community. This is to ensure that features and fixes that are delivered are things that are important to the user base right now, rather than 5 years ago.

3. Community Engagement: Because there are more of us running the product now I would like to get involved in the community, if you have YouTube channels or projects you’ve created to enhance WhatIfSports like the newly created GridIron companion app, yatzr’s tool (which I know sadly is no longer working) for Gridiron Dynasty, the max toggle chrome extension like in Hoops Dynasty, I would like to see them all. This community is incredible, and tools and content creation are vitally important to the growth and health of the game.
   
   Additionally, our new developer and I will be joining majique on his live stream called “This, That, and the Other” on December 3rd @ 9pm ET, for a chat about WhatIfSports and try to answer the questions you may have about our roles and direction. Here is a link in the forums to where the channel currently lives. I will post this information again next week as a reminder. https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=519142

4. Roadmapping/ Timelining: We are a sport simulation game and just like every other game, as consumers you need to know what we have planned and what we are trying to accomplish. Because there is such a steep learning curve with seble’s eventual departure, I would say within 6 to 12 months from now we should have a grasp of what we will be trying to deliver and enhance and the pace at which we can deliver this to the games. Once we have established this, we will share that with the user base. WhatIfSports is a vast portfolio of games with essentially 8+ different game modes, and in the case of the Dynasty Modes you could argue every division plays differently making it a separate game itself.

Thanks again everyone and I am looking forward to making WhatIfSports the game we all want it to be.

-adlorenz

Big thanks to seble for keeping those lights on, it can't have been easy. But also I'm very happy to see positive momentum towards more than that! AD it's definitely your year let's goooooo

Thanks Seble for the contributions over the years! And good luck AD in your new role!

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to say goodbye - kind of. I'll be hanging around until the end of the year to get the new guys up to speed. WIS has defined my professional career, so it's bittersweet for me to move on from it. An opportunity arose for me to join up with the original Admin, Tarek, on a relatively new venture he started up. Working on WIS has been a dream for me, combining sports/games and technology in such a unique way. I couldn't have been more lucky to be a part of it from the beginning and get to know all the great people who love the games.

I've been working with Adam for several weeks and was part of the hiring process for the new developer. I can say confidently that WIS will be in great hands going forward. Having a separation between product and development will be a major boost. I'm excited to see what direction these guys take the games.

While I will be stepping away in my official capacity, I'll definitely be hanging around to play the games. The upside is I'll finally be able to complain to somebody else when I lose a game.

Thanks to all of you for making WIS what it is!

- Scott

Scott, thank you so much for everything you have done! I feel like the site could have gone under had it not been for your willingness to do the necessary work to keep it alive, and I will always be grateful to you for that.

Welcome aboard Adam! Love your enthusiasm. Been here since 2004, and I'd be happy to share some ideas on how to improve the site. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the WIS community!

Thank you, Scott. The simulations speak for themselves and are a testament to your vision, talent, and passion. -Chris

Good Luck Seble and thank you for all the hard work you've put in over the years! The great news (for me) is I will be undefeated in every world I play now or I should be because I've blamed every lose on you. :) Now if I do get a "L" it will be Adams fault and I will not hesitate to blame you Adam after all it can't be my fault! Welcome Adam!

sorry to see you go Scott. you have been a huge asset to WIS and thank you for your undying love of this site. Hope to see you playing in leagues here soon.

This qualifies as good news, and thank you Seble for keeping the lights on. We certainly appreciate it.

Thanks for all you've done, seble, and good luck with your new opportunity! Looking forward to seeing what Adam and his team will be doing in 2021 and beyond.

Thanks, Seble for the thankless work of keeping it all going. Good luck. Welcome Adam - looking forward to seeing new developments.

It's human nature to default to complaints instead of praise. I think many of us had no idea one guy was pretty much holding the whole shebang together. So for all my complaints I do recognize now the weight you've been carrying, seble, and want to extend my deep appreciation for keeping all the plates spinning all these years. Thank you!

Adam, the best piece of advice I can offer is to be transparent with us. Or at least as much as you are able to be, given the sometimes-delicate nature of the WIS ecosystem.. I believe we are a forgiving lot when we're being told the truth and and a grouchy group when we have no idea what's going on. I think that's because most of us believe this is OUR GAME as much as it is WIS'. We form attachments with the game and each other. That's the beauty of this hobby. To paraphrase a great old sports quote, "HBD isn't life or death. It's much more important than that.

I know we all want to support this transition. Thanks for bringing us into the loop.

"The upside is I'll finally be able to complain to somebody else when I lose a game."

Hahaha! The0nlyis will be happy to have your company!

I've been playing WhatifSports for a long time cause it's an amazingly fun and unique experience. So many people have great (and not so great) ideas on how to change it. We may not always agree on the direction we want to see everything go but we all desire the game to continue to improve over time and for the community to grow. Oh and we can also all agree that seble is a legend. Hang his imaginary jersey in the digital rafters. Welcome aboard, Adam. Looking forward to seeing the next phase of WIS.