The Filth Wizard
Just here for the zipline
- Jul 26, 2007
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- 162,726
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- #1
TFW - Hi all, welcome to this weeks episode of 'My First Game' and we've got a real throwback here with the revitalised Dingster. Welcome to the show mate.
I'm going to preface this chat by saying for the first time I actually did some research into this interview as we are heading all the way back to Season 3, fifteen years ago, which really shows the longevity of our guest. There are a couple of interesting little surprises to come to show how drastically the league has changed in that time. Dingster, you debuted in Round 2, 2003 (now known as S3) for the newly named Junkyard Dogs (formerly Pagan's Ducks), the North board aligned team and the first thing to notice is the game was all up and posted on the first page which shows that banter wasn't really the name of the game back then. Mate, I know I'm going to test you here but I wanted to ask you for a little insight into what the league was like back then. There were ten teams and a season per year... how was a season played out? Do you have any memories that stand out in particular?
Dinger - Defs was very different back then. It's funny to me when posters say it was better in the old days. As you saw, match threads back then were only one or two pages and there was next to no banter. So I've definitely seen the SFA continue to evolve and I'm sure that won't stop.
I was asked by Blueworms to play for the Junkyard Dogs. It was more a bums on seats approach back then. In my first match Mobbs posted the game and was the leading the poster. The next best spammed with 4 posts! It was a fair first game to play in. We played the Wonders and won 26.19.175 to 13.14.92. I kicked a goal but this will blow you away. Sixteen of the twenty JYDs kicked a goal!
TFW - Thanks Dingster. As you know, this is a media piece called 'My First Game' and you basically just stole my whole article.
DID I ***ING ASK YOU TO DO THAT???
(Dingster restrained and then held me for ten minutes, whispering the lyrics of the North club song into my ears and heart (to hearts etc).
Dingster - Well that's probs for the best as I started on the bench and had two possies including a goal. There were some great North posters in the team. Do you remember Darky and Spidergirl?
Also before we move on there were some interesting sim explanations from Mobbs.
(Mobbs) Basically, the stats are correct, and the commentary is ... umm ... there's a bit of artistic licence.
Technically, the commentary sometimes picks up the wrong player (MOST often its just picking up an onballer when it should be the key position player, or vice versa).
Creatively, I like to think that the commentators suffer from the odd human error!
and...
(Mobbs) here we go, here's the context :
4 : 18.02 - QUICK HANDS TO MAGPIEGAL19.
4 : 18.11 - IF THAT'S A GOAL I'LL NEVER BREAK WIND AGAIN.
4 : 18.19 - GREAT GOAL BY TYLER DURDEN.
MagpieGal would have been an onballer, and she would have had the ball in the same position as where you, Tyler, was located at the time as a key position player.
Its an error in the commentating that causes the key position player to be reported as kicking the goal that was clearly kicked by the onballer.
I have been trying to fix that bug for years without success!
TFW - Having a look at one of the later games you've provided me (yes, we're going off the usual beaten track here), round 14 of 2003... the Junkyard Dogs played the Darkness and had a loss. Your stats were again a tad average so we won't dwell on them but one of the most remarkable parts of that sim (taking out the all caps nature of the sim) is this gem:
INJURIES/SUSPENSIONS
JDOG: Dingster - 2 weeks - injury (achilles)
DE: Goalden Hawk - 1 week - suspension (chargin)
I'll have to say I had no idea that Qooty ever involved injuries and suspensions until you brought this to my attention. Do you remember when these were removed from the game? Can you imagine how hard it would be for clubs now to keep up with things like this when submitting squads. The melts would have been substantial to say the least. I can't imagine you would have been happy missing two weeks injured when your last recorded possession in that match was in the final two minutes.
Do you remember if these were randomly assigned by the sim or if Mobbs just added them in at the end? I do find it strange that even the suspension goes unacknowledged in the text.
Dingster - I sent Mobbs a PM to get clarification on the injuries. I think they disappeared the next season so it will be interesting to know how Mobbs worked it.
No flies on Mobbs! Very interesting...
Hi Dingster! Injuries and Suspensions are a feature of the sim that can be switched on for a season if popular decision calls for it. We ran it for a season, maybe 2. I got them to run it again a few years later but it proved terribly unpopular because the kids want Full Forward Best & Fairest and Premiership Player every year and randomized outages curbed their enthusiasm.
It was random, it just chose a random number of players to injure/suspend from 0 to 2, and picked a reason from a random list (injuries and suspensions were identical to the sim, they caused nothing more than an announcement a player was unavailable).
Hope this answers your question!
TFW - Awesome... that's actually fascinating, isn't it? I can see some huge melts if a random injury or suspension cost somebody come awards time.
Dingster - Yeah. It'll be a real eye opener for a lot of people. Also put the growth of the league into perspective. Mobbs might make a good interview target for you down the track.
Anything more you want to explore? How I became a Bear?
TFW - Nah.
Dingster, this has been a bit more of a historical thread than any we've done (and as we've known each other a good decade now it's a pleasure)... whilst we're changing the format of my prestige media series, Dingster: My last game...
How much do you love it now compared to then?
Dingster - Definitely more. You get out of the league what you put in and there are so many more people involved to banter and have a laugh with these days. That and new rookies continually coming in to revitalize clubs and the league as a whole. You're a great example of someone who has adapted to change and gets the most out of the SFA experience.
There's always scope for improvement and one thing I'd like to see is veterans who are becoming a bit stale try another club rather than leave. That way they get to know another group of people better and rekindle their own interest. They still have a lot to offer.
TFW - Aw, thanks. I reckon I'm a veteran now too and you're right, I'd much rather see people create their next chapter rather than move on or fade away. I think you've been a true example of finding second and third winds (hold for fart joke).
Thanks heaps for your time mate and congratulations on your season.
Dingster - You're my greatest inspiration and truest hero. Thank you for being you.
I'm going to preface this chat by saying for the first time I actually did some research into this interview as we are heading all the way back to Season 3, fifteen years ago, which really shows the longevity of our guest. There are a couple of interesting little surprises to come to show how drastically the league has changed in that time. Dingster, you debuted in Round 2, 2003 (now known as S3) for the newly named Junkyard Dogs (formerly Pagan's Ducks), the North board aligned team and the first thing to notice is the game was all up and posted on the first page which shows that banter wasn't really the name of the game back then. Mate, I know I'm going to test you here but I wanted to ask you for a little insight into what the league was like back then. There were ten teams and a season per year... how was a season played out? Do you have any memories that stand out in particular?
Dinger - Defs was very different back then. It's funny to me when posters say it was better in the old days. As you saw, match threads back then were only one or two pages and there was next to no banter. So I've definitely seen the SFA continue to evolve and I'm sure that won't stop.
I was asked by Blueworms to play for the Junkyard Dogs. It was more a bums on seats approach back then. In my first match Mobbs posted the game and was the leading the poster. The next best spammed with 4 posts! It was a fair first game to play in. We played the Wonders and won 26.19.175 to 13.14.92. I kicked a goal but this will blow you away. Sixteen of the twenty JYDs kicked a goal!
TFW - Thanks Dingster. As you know, this is a media piece called 'My First Game' and you basically just stole my whole article.
DID I ***ING ASK YOU TO DO THAT???
(Dingster restrained and then held me for ten minutes, whispering the lyrics of the North club song into my ears and heart (to hearts etc).
Dingster - Well that's probs for the best as I started on the bench and had two possies including a goal. There were some great North posters in the team. Do you remember Darky and Spidergirl?
Also before we move on there were some interesting sim explanations from Mobbs.
(Mobbs) Basically, the stats are correct, and the commentary is ... umm ... there's a bit of artistic licence.
Technically, the commentary sometimes picks up the wrong player (MOST often its just picking up an onballer when it should be the key position player, or vice versa).
Creatively, I like to think that the commentators suffer from the odd human error!
and...
(Mobbs) here we go, here's the context :
4 : 18.02 - QUICK HANDS TO MAGPIEGAL19.
4 : 18.11 - IF THAT'S A GOAL I'LL NEVER BREAK WIND AGAIN.
4 : 18.19 - GREAT GOAL BY TYLER DURDEN.
MagpieGal would have been an onballer, and she would have had the ball in the same position as where you, Tyler, was located at the time as a key position player.
Its an error in the commentating that causes the key position player to be reported as kicking the goal that was clearly kicked by the onballer.
I have been trying to fix that bug for years without success!
TFW - Having a look at one of the later games you've provided me (yes, we're going off the usual beaten track here), round 14 of 2003... the Junkyard Dogs played the Darkness and had a loss. Your stats were again a tad average so we won't dwell on them but one of the most remarkable parts of that sim (taking out the all caps nature of the sim) is this gem:
INJURIES/SUSPENSIONS
JDOG: Dingster - 2 weeks - injury (achilles)
DE: Goalden Hawk - 1 week - suspension (chargin)
I'll have to say I had no idea that Qooty ever involved injuries and suspensions until you brought this to my attention. Do you remember when these were removed from the game? Can you imagine how hard it would be for clubs now to keep up with things like this when submitting squads. The melts would have been substantial to say the least. I can't imagine you would have been happy missing two weeks injured when your last recorded possession in that match was in the final two minutes.
Do you remember if these were randomly assigned by the sim or if Mobbs just added them in at the end? I do find it strange that even the suspension goes unacknowledged in the text.
Dingster - I sent Mobbs a PM to get clarification on the injuries. I think they disappeared the next season so it will be interesting to know how Mobbs worked it.
No flies on Mobbs! Very interesting...
Hi Dingster! Injuries and Suspensions are a feature of the sim that can be switched on for a season if popular decision calls for it. We ran it for a season, maybe 2. I got them to run it again a few years later but it proved terribly unpopular because the kids want Full Forward Best & Fairest and Premiership Player every year and randomized outages curbed their enthusiasm.
It was random, it just chose a random number of players to injure/suspend from 0 to 2, and picked a reason from a random list (injuries and suspensions were identical to the sim, they caused nothing more than an announcement a player was unavailable).
Hope this answers your question!
TFW - Awesome... that's actually fascinating, isn't it? I can see some huge melts if a random injury or suspension cost somebody come awards time.
Dingster - Yeah. It'll be a real eye opener for a lot of people. Also put the growth of the league into perspective. Mobbs might make a good interview target for you down the track.
Anything more you want to explore? How I became a Bear?
TFW - Nah.
Dingster, this has been a bit more of a historical thread than any we've done (and as we've known each other a good decade now it's a pleasure)... whilst we're changing the format of my prestige media series, Dingster: My last game...
How much do you love it now compared to then?
Dingster - Definitely more. You get out of the league what you put in and there are so many more people involved to banter and have a laugh with these days. That and new rookies continually coming in to revitalize clubs and the league as a whole. You're a great example of someone who has adapted to change and gets the most out of the SFA experience.
There's always scope for improvement and one thing I'd like to see is veterans who are becoming a bit stale try another club rather than leave. That way they get to know another group of people better and rekindle their own interest. They still have a lot to offer.
TFW - Aw, thanks. I reckon I'm a veteran now too and you're right, I'd much rather see people create their next chapter rather than move on or fade away. I think you've been a true example of finding second and third winds (hold for fart joke).
Thanks heaps for your time mate and congratulations on your season.
Dingster - You're my greatest inspiration and truest hero. Thank you for being you.
