Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty/Association Story

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Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty/Association Story

Postby Wyze on Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:22 am

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I'm sure at one time or another, we each have followed a Dynasty or Association and thought to ourselves "Boy, I wish I could do that," and once we finally try it, we realize it is a lot harder than it seems. At first, we want to be the guy that everyone gives a thumbs up to or we want to be the guy that brings back the glory days of the New York Knicks. Unfortunately, too many times we are disappointed with the lack of replies and start another Dynasty in hopes of a more interested audience. In the following article, some tips and guidelines assembled by some of the pros here at NLSC, will lay the groundwork for you, on your path to constructing the next great Dynasty.

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1. Pick one team, and stick with it
Nobody wants to see the forum spammed with 5+ topics created by the same guy, each declaring he is starting a new Dynasty. People will grow less and less interested in each new Dynasty you start.

2. Choose a team you are a fan of
Don't choose the team that you think everyone else will follow because in the end, the longevity of your Dynasty will come down to how much you like your team. A good Dynasty will get followed no matter which team you decide on.

3. Find a layout that works for you and stick with it
Writing about the games should be easy if you have a template in which you can go by... and it doesn't have to be spectacular. Often the simplest layouts are the most successful.

4. Make multiple backup saves
Pretty self-explanatory. Anytime we see someone's lost a Dynasty due to this we think, "the dog ate my homework" excuse. And like clockwork, that person's gung-ho and into a new Dynasty, with a new favorite team and new favorite players within days.

5. Include as many details about your team as possible
This includes pictures, position, ratings, etc.

Starting Five

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PG - Mario Chalmers (74)
SG - Dwyane Wade (95)
SF - LeBron James (97)
PF - Chris Bosh (89)
C - Brad Miller (73)


6. Include as many details about the games as possible.
Box scores, injuries, lead changes and as always, "pictures are worth 1000 words"

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7. Enjoy the Silence (or, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?")
Just because nobody's clapping doesn't mean no one's listening. I've done enough game recaps to know that replies CAN'T be your sole reason for keeping a Dynasty. If it is? You're guaranteed to be disappointed and will eventually quit.

Also remember, folks have lives; sometimes they'll be too busy but will comment a few days or posts later. Sometimes a particular recap will move them to comment, while another one won't; that's the nature of things. Comment fluctuations are to be expected.

8. Post constructively (or, "What goes around, comes around.")

I don't mean to be a Rah! Rah! Cheerleader spamming every active thread with, "NICE WIN!!!! (Y)"; that's probably less useful for the Dynasty/Assoc. maker than no comment at all.

DO take the time to read their recap and mention something related. If it's a criticism, don't come off as a heel about it. Just tell them and give them a chance to make adjustments the next time.

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1. Use paragraphs
By using paragraphs, it makes your post look cleaner, neater and overall more appealing to read. Thus, people will be more likely to read it and post.

Example [ YES ]

I'm of the belief that where there's smoke, there's fire. I can't see the special that airs tonight on ESPN being anything other than a failed attempt at LeBron apologizing to Cleveland.

He's making the Cleveland fans look like fools, and bringing unwanted attention and embarrassment to them. No matter what the outcome of the show is tonight, this was the wrong approach to handle the situation. Nobody is bigger than the game, please respect the game enough to just have a press conference to announce your decision.

I don't care that he wants to go to Miami. Just go, don't drag Cleveland's face through the mud on your way out the door. That's uncalled for. You can have all the one hour TV shows you want in Miami, don't put this on National TV.

I've never gotten too sucked in to Lebron and his antics. Maybe its because I was never a huge basketball fan. But I'll be okay no matter what. I don't need your apology on ESPN tonight. I'm not a 6 yr old, you don't have to console me after you give me bad news.

The sun will come up tomorrow in Cleveland, and life will go on without you. Please just sign your contract and leave us alone from now on. Its been real, its been great; but it hasn't been really great.


Example [ NO ]

I'm of the belief that where there's smoke, there's fire. I can't see the special that airs tonight on ESPN being anything other than a failed attempt at LeBron apologizing to Cleveland.He's making the Cleveland fans look like fools, and bringing unwanted attention and embarrassment to them. No matter what the outcome of the show is tonight, this was the wrong approach to handle the situation. Nobody is bigger than the game, please respect the game enough to just have a press conference to announce your decision.I don't care that he wants to go to Miami. Just go, don't drag Cleveland's face through the mud on your way out the door. That's uncalled for. You can have all the one hour TV shows you want in Miami, don't put this on National TV.I've never gotten too sucked in to Lebron and his antics. Maybe its because I was never a huge basketball fan. But I'll be okay no matter what. I don't need your apology on ESPN tonight. I'm not a 6 yr old, you don't have to console me after you give me bad news.The sun will come up tomorrow in Cleveland, and life will go on without you. Please just sign your contract and leave us alone from now on. Its been real, its been great; but it hasn't been really great.

2. Use proper punctuation and grammar.
Self explanatory. Make sure to take proper care to spell city and player name's correctly. (It is understandable if English is not your primary language, but please try your best)

Zydrunas Ilgauskas plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers


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1. Use uniform pictures
This again, emphasizes the neatness and visual appeal of your Dynasty story.

Example [ YES ]

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Example [ NO ]

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2. Get pictures of players in your uniform

This one is really up to the user's discretion, but for me this is a nice touch to add. For example: if you've recently acquired Kobe Bryant and you're controlling the Boston Celtics; what better way to create a discussion with your readers than to post a picture of him in the Celtics jersey?

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1. Evolve (or, "There are no rules, just tools.")
Be creative. Don't be locked into a particular template or look. It's nice to be consistent, but you can also lose your edge when things become too monotonous. It's a tricky balance since you also want to stick to what works; it's all trial, error and the attitude to continue.

If someone offers you constructive criticism? Listen. You don't necessarily have to jump, roll over and do what everyone tells you, but try to at least understand where they're coming from and what they're having issues with. Remember that you can't please everyone and some people, well, they just have issues with everything.

2. Get people involved
When the readers can interact with the writer and the story, people will feel more inclined to follow along. It can be as simple as asking the audience for an opinion on a trade situation or as elaborate as a custom draft class. The only limit you have is the one you put on yourself.

3. Give generated players life
We all know that NBA Live and 2k (insert year) both create all these generated rookies that kind of have no personality because nobody knows about them. Simple solution; give them personality! Give them a role in your story and soon they can develop a life of their own (eg: Ty Maximilian or "That Guy").

4. It's not just about the game
Writing about the games and the league standings/stats is all well and good, but what's happening behind the scenes? Has Allen Iverson missed a practice? Does Captain Jack want to be traded to a good team? Is Dwyane Wade sick of playing with a bunch of Tito Jacksons?

The player stories are often the most important for engaging your readers, so it often pays to think outside the game you're playing.


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1. Limit the All-Star Game to a weekend
Stacking your team with FA signings and pre-season trades is a sure fire way to lose interest. See what's gone down in Miami? Most people are already not interested :lol: Actually, not true; I am quiet interested as are most hoops enthusiasts. In virtual dynasties though? Tougher to pull off, but not impossible.

2. Don't trade away your whole team
Although it may be tempting to package your bench corps and send them packing to another team, try not to. It may seem like a good idea in that moment in time, but you will likely later regret it when your bench is depleted or you have a bunch of old vets, or a team full of generated rooks. Also, it is not advisable to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade.

3. If your winning every game by 30, up the difficulty
Again, this one is self explanatory. If you are playing as the Nets and you are blowing teams out night after night, it's time to up the difficulty setting. Still blowing teams out on Superstar? Try adjusting the sliders to create more of a challenge.

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1. Have fun (or, "I aint getting paid for this shiz.")
Honestly ask yourself, "Am I actually having fun doing this anymore?" If the answer is NO? Take a break and do something completely non-related for a week or two. I've taken breaks as long as a few months only to come back more "into it" and re-inspired.

2. Balance your RL (or, "Everything in moderation.")
In contrast to #1, keep priorities in mind. Sometimes Dynasty making can be a little too fun and you can get a bit too preoccupied and consumed by wanting to post play post play post post post etc etc.

Unless you're getting paid to do this, be mindful of the things you NEED to do (homework, job, spending time with the sig other) and save Dynasty making as a guilty pleasure/reward for after you've taken care of RL business.

If it's been hours of non-stop gaming and your gal is repeatedly entering the room, evil-eying you without a word and leaving the room, she's about to blow. It's time to shut things down and ask her what she feels like doing tonight.

3. When to call it quits (or, "Goodbye cruel world.")
Being "bored of your team" isn't necessarily an excuse to switch teams. You're supposed to be a GM right? Bring in players that are going to keep you interested and make the game fun again for you. Or, make changes/trades happen in other teams that are struggling in your Dynasty; sometimes those moves make things interesting enough to continue because you can't wait to see how your squad will match up against them.

Ultimately? Real Life circumstances will pretty much dictate when it's time to hang up your GM clipboard and go do something else.
Last edited by Wyze on Wed Jul 14, 2010 9:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Andrew on Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:47 am

Great work guys, this is a great idea that I'm sure will be helpful to those looking to start successful Dynasty threads. Hopefully we can get some other ideas in there as they occur to us but I think we've already got a fantastic starting point. Well done. :)
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Lamrock on Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:56 am

Great work guys. Good to have here for dynasty newbies and vets alike. I only skimmed it, so this may have been included, but I might also suggest not making too many trades. I didn't create all-star teams in Flying High In The ATL and Nellieball, but I did trade away my entire bench, which I regretted in the long run.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Axel The Great on Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:56 am

Good read. (Y) Using these guidelines, I hope to make my dynasty the best it can be. Also, another thing that could be added: don't win all your games, people get bored of just stories where you win all the games, make your dynasty a challenge.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby BritNBAfan on Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:36 am

This is great I have only just started one and hope to improve it by using this help, do you guys think it is possible to still have an interesting dynasty going without pictures taken from it though? As I am unable to connect to XBOX live.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Kenny on Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:43 am

Well compiled Wyze; I think the titles to each section are a really nice touch (y)

The two suggestions from Lamrock and Axel13 are great as well. I know I did a lot of trades at the start of TNL, but if I went back I probably would have kept a few more players than I did. As much as I like the guy, getting rid of Kenyon Martin's obsurd contract seemed like a must at the time :lol:

The winning every game thing I suppose comes under what difficulty you set yourself and what not. A link to recommend sliders could perhaps be an option?

Kobe looks great in that Celtics jersey by the way ;)

BritNBAfan wrote:This is great I have only just started one and hope to improve it by using this help, do you guys think it is possible to still have an interesting dynasty going without pictures taken from it though? As I am unable to connect to XBOX live.


Pictures aren't a neccessity really, but if you're having problems getting pics from your XBox, you can always use real life pictures from Google. I guess it's really just a presentation thing. If you have a good layout, pictures aren't that important :)
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby kibaxx7 on Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:56 am

Nobody wants to see the forum spammed with 50+ topics created by the same guy, each declaring he is starting a new Dynasty. People will grow less and less interested in each new Dynasty you start.


Corrected :shake: I will surely follow this steps when I make my comeback...
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Andrew on Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:09 am

badreligionau wrote:
BritNBAfan wrote:This is great I have only just started one and hope to improve it by using this help, do you guys think it is possible to still have an interesting dynasty going without pictures taken from it though? As I am unable to connect to XBOX live.


Pictures aren't a neccessity really, but if you're having problems getting pics from your XBox, you can always use real life pictures from Google. I guess it's really just a presentation thing. If you have a good layout, pictures aren't that important :)


Agreed. If the write-ups are worth reading you don't need to overload a Dynasty thread with pictures and in my view pictures for the sake of having pictures isn't a good approach either. Using real photos here and there when appropriate is definitely a suitable solution though.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Axel The Great on Tue Jul 13, 2010 1:37 pm

I usually use pictures to show a nice dunk, block, etc. I usually use them to refer to players I don't mention in the game recaps though.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Andrew on Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:35 pm

I feel that's the best approach when it comes to pictures, show something meaningful (and certainly anything out of the ordinary if it happens) and wherever possible have the pictures actually tell a story. I'd point to Clutch's Dynasty as a good example of that, though all the best Dynasty threads make good use of pictures when they use them and don't overdo it.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Phil89 on Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:18 pm

Axel13 wrote:I usually use pictures to show a nice dunk, block, etc. I usually use them to refer to players I don't mention in the game recaps though.

Yeah, me too. Sometimes I feature a player I've just signed for a couple of games. Or maybe a picture of a match up between star players.
I got a good picture of Kobe defending Durant in my latest one.

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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Clutch on Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:48 pm

nice work Wyze; didn't realize you were going to compile everything together though, so one thing i spotted was you now need to change #2 "Balance your RL" in the last section to reference #1 "Have fun" (instead of #4 as it is currently, since the numbering got rearranged); other than that? well done (Y)
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby benji on Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:59 pm

2K side could use this.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Martti. on Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:45 pm

Great stuff. Sorry for not replying to your PM, but you already had most of the stuff I had in mind. (Y)
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Murat on Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:56 am

Great work... thanks
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Wyze on Wed Jul 14, 2010 9:44 am

Ideas added and fixed (Y)
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Andrew on Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:00 am

As benji said, this could probably be posted in the Association section as well, with a few terms changed as necessary. :)
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby MassimoV on Wed Jul 14, 2010 6:14 pm

great work guys,im starting an association right now :D
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby The X on Wed Jul 14, 2010 9:05 pm

Nice list, don't agree with everything but for the most part it covers what they need to cover. Definitely put this over in Association section also (Y)

Thierry. wrote:
Nobody wants to see the forum spammed with 50+ topics created by the same guy, each declaring he is starting a new Dynasty. People will grow less and less interested in each new Dynasty you start.


Corrected :shake: I will surely follow this steps when I make my comeback...

You have been told most of these steps previously, you just chose to ignore them.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby kibaxx7 on Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:22 am

The X wrote:You have been told most of these steps previously, you just chose to ignore them.


I know man. :| As I said I want to change my image when 2k11 comes...
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Axel The Great on Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:13 am

And you've said that how many times?
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Martti. on Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:19 am

Replies mostly involve advice and opinions, but whatever we say, you stick with the same thing. I don't know why you do stories here, if you don't want advice.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby kibaxx7 on Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:23 am

Martti. wrote:I don't know why you do stories here, if you don't want advice.


I do want advice, but then I completely forgot about the suggestions you guys said when I start to post recaps :shake: Tomorrow I have a day off so I'll start to check all of them in previous threads. :)
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Andrew on Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:43 am

I'm not sure if it necessarily applies to you Thierry but something that could go under the "Have Fun" heading that I've always felt is important is that you should be maintaining a thread because you're enjoying the Dynasty/Association and not the other way around. In other words, your enthusiasm and enjoyment of the game should be driving the thread rather than you playing the game to maintain a thread. There needs to be a balance between the energy you're putting into the game and the thread, because it shouldn't feel like a chore or detract from your enjoyment of the game.
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Re: Guidelines For A Successful Dynasty

Postby Kenny on Fri Jul 16, 2010 3:23 pm

You know Thierry, I'm still not sure who your favourite team is. Whoever it is, I reckon you should choose them. There's 29 chances out of 30 that it isn't the Lakers, so if it's one of those teams, there's always motivation (ie: end the Lakers reign).
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