Happy 2019 to everyone; let’s hope that this is our best year yet in the HRP community. I also want to let you know what we are planning here at the SRF for 2019 which we are very excited about.

The SimRacing Form is entering its 20^th year as an online newspaper for simulated horseracing. We began in June of 1999 covering the SimulatedSports.COM horse racing game. We became a part of the HRP community in the fall of 2004 and established assigned writers by January 2005. The concept of the SRF was to write stories of the horses and the people in the game. The SRF was designed to spotlight the players and the community. Today we are recommitting ourselves to that promise.

What will be new in the SRF for 2019

It’s a new year, a new start and the SRF will undergo some changes that we feel will better embrace the community. The goal is not only to inform the players of news stories around HRP but to also engage the players with other activities and resources that we feel will be beneficial to them.

• Streamline Site

The first thing we plan to do is the most mundane. We will streamline the navigation on the SRF site. This should make things a little easier to navigate through the various links. We feel this will clean things up a bit and reduce scrolling and searching around.

• Informative Resources

As mentioned above, we plan on engaging our readers by offering them things to do on the SRF site that are both informative and fun to participate in. On the informative side we will be adding the following: Guides/Tips/Useful links, New Player Resources.

• Guides/Tips/Useful links- We will publish various guides to help the players have a better understanding of the game. These guides and tips will come from various resources and anyone in the community can contribute, if you have a site and would like to link through the SRF just contact us, we welcome that. We are pleased that La Canada has donated his great Players Guide (already posted in the SRF)which is excellent reading for new players and a good reference for seasoned players as well and it will have a permanent spot in the SRF for all to read, no more searching around the forums every few months any longer.
• New Player Resources– We will also publish informative resources to help the new players in the game. This we will do through articles, interviews and links. We also welcome any contribution from any of our readers.

• Other options (tentative)

Horse Advertising Page:  (selling, breeding, promoting) located on the SRF site.

HRP/SRF Wiki page: history of the game, reader interest

Have More Fun

The SRF in the past has been mainly focused on the stories of the game which we are committed to continue. However, it’s 2019 now we believe we can add to that, we feel we can bring a little more excitement and fun into the game. So with that in mind this is what we are planning.

• SRF Exclusive Competitions– Plans are being made to begin a SRF weekly/monthly handicapping competition on the SRF site. These competitions will be open to verified SRF members (Those who purchase SRF figures) We thank everyone who has contributed to the SRF through speed figure purchases and feel this is something we can do to reward our SRF members. More details about the competitions including prizes will be released once we get closer to implementing.

• Other Weekly games– In addition to the handicapping competitions. The SRF will be offering various weekly games. More details to come on this soon.

This is just an idea of what we are planning. We also have more ideas that we would like to do, but I just wanted to give you some insights of our current thoughts. There is no specific timeline but we hope to begin implementing these in the upcoming weeks and months

Community

The SRF has felt honored to serving the HRP community for the last 15 years. As I stated, we are recommitting ourselves to writing about the horses and the people in the game. It is our hope and intent to make everyone in this community feel that the SRF is about them that they are a part of this publication. Our writers try their best to bring your stories into the game. They make it more than just about digitized equines and numerical statistics. They are writing about the community, this brings a reality into the game, a life. I thank my top star writers and editors NYNL, Threshold, TBoy, Max, Mauro for the job they do each day and the commitment they have given the SRF over the years. It’s not easy and has little glory but they are committed and that’s all anyone can ask for. They are the best!

El Primero Rodeo

As we move forward, we will be expanding our staff. This way we can begin covering more topics of interest. In our first move we are pleased to announce that we have added an additional member to our team,  EL Primero Rodeo. His job will begin with interviews of trainers in the game to get their insights into the game with a personal touch. Large and small scale and free stables will be covered. It should be very interesting and informative reading. So please welcome him to the SRF team.

Input from the Community

The SRF is about the community; we welcome anyone’s opinion or contribution. We want you to feel that the SRF represents your voice. We have room for a couple of more writers so if interested please get in touch with either me or Mauro. We also welcome anyone who has a site that is informative. We welcome any link into the SRF system that can benefit the community as a whole.

In closing we have set some goals for 2019. I am hopeful that these goals are successful and can be implemented rather quickly. I thank all of you again for visiting the SRF. I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories of the horses and people in the game and I hope we can bring you bigger and better things in 2019.

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Categories: EDITORIAL