Reading · Vol. 10Scroll to read

HOOPSIM · OFFICIAL COLUMN VOL. 10 · OCT 9, 2026

State of
the Game

NEW · HQ

SPECIAL EDITION · WALK INTO YOUR FRONT OFFICE

Dr. PossessionAri Lindqvist · @DrPossession · Engine & realism

HQ: walk into your front office

HQ is new on HoopSim for computers: your club's building in 3D, ten rooms you walk into with the keyboard, and a League Hall where every GM who's online can bump into each other and talk trades at a table.

Every part of running a club in HoopSim already exists: agents, player meetings, the staff room, medical, the depth chart, the press. Until today they were tabs. Now they're rooms, and you walk between them.

HQ is a new item at the far left of the top bar when you play on a computer. It opens in your club's building, seen from above at an angle, with you standing at the elevators. You move with W A S D or the arrow keys, and hold Shift to run.

A club's HQ seen from above: a corridor with ten rooms, three doors lit orange, a Needs you list and a map — Ten rooms off one corridor, the elevators to the League Hall on the left, Needs you and the map in the corners.

It's built for a keyboard and a big screen, so it lives on a computer only. On your phone everything works as it always has.

Ten rooms, one corridor

Your building is one corridor with five rooms on each side: your office, the film room, the coaches' office, the locker room and the war room on one side, then the agents' room, player meetings, medical, the press room and the back alley on the other.

THE ROOMS

1
Your officeThe inbox, the cap sheet and your biggest contracts.
2
Film roomYour last game on the big screen, one click from Atlas.
3
Coaches' officeThe AI staff room: coach, assistants, scout, capologist.
4
Locker roomThe depth chart, the game plan and what to fix before tip-off.
5
War roomYour draft board and the free agents.
6
Agents' roomEvery agent case with its real buttons, and a reply box.
7
Player meetingsThe player who asked for a word, in his own thread.
8
MedicalWho's on the table, and Run Medical.
9
Press roomThe questions waiting for you. Your answers earn PP.
10
Back alleyUncle Denny, under the street lamp.

Each door is lit by the game itself. When an agent is waiting, a player wants a word or someone is on the training table, that door glows orange; red means it can't wait. The Needs you list in the corner shows the same rooms, and the map in the other corner shows where you are. Walk past a door and it tells you what's inside before you go in.

Walking down the HQ corridor past the agents' room, its door lit orange, with a prompt saying two cases are waiting — The camera follows you. Near a door, the prompt tells you what's waiting inside.

Sit down and the real thing opens

Every room has a glowing circle on the floor. Step onto it and you sit down: the camera eases in on the table, and the real feature opens beside you. It's not a copy. It's the same agent cards, the same player threads, the same staff room you already use, with the same buttons.

Sitting down in the medical room: players on the training tables, the trainer at the desk, and a panel with Run Medical results — Step on the circle and the room's real panel opens: here, who's on the table and a Medical read.

In medical you can run a Medical on anyone on the table. In the locker room your depth chart hangs on the wall and the panel tells you what to fix before tip-off. The film room has your last game's win-probability line on the big screen, one click from Atlas or the box score. Press Esc and you walk back out to the door.

The locker room: the depth chart on a wall board and in the side panel — Your depth chart on the wall board and in the panel, with links to the depth chart and game plan pages.

Some things won't wait for you to come by. When it's urgent, the agent walks out into the corridor to find you. You can talk now or tell him later.

An agent walking out into the HQ corridor to find the GM, with a card offering Talk now or Later — An agent walks out to find you in the corridor. Talk now or later.

The League Hall

Take the elevator up and you're in the League Hall: one big room shared by every GM who's on right now. It has four trade tables in the middle, a bar, press row, the agents' lounge and the league office.

Everyone you see walking around is a real GM, moving live. A status rides over each head, like "Buying picks" or "Not trading", and the panel on the left lists who's in the Hall and who's online elsewhere. If your league has AI turned on, the AI GMs, the reporters and the agents walk the floor too, and they'll stop and face you when you come close.

IN THE HALL

1
ETalk to the GM in front of you: your real DM thread opens.
2
1 to 6Wave, dap, deal?, eye roll, hype, ice.
3
YSet the status over your head.
4
IInvite the GM next to you up to your HQ.
5
A tableWalk up to sit. Two GMs share one live deal.

Trade at the table

Walk up to a table and you sit down. When another GM sits across from you, the same trade opens for both of you. Either of you can put players and picks on either side, and the other sees it change the moment it happens. The salary check runs as you go and tags each player with what he does to the money.

Two GMs seated at a trade table in the League Hall with the shared trade panel open — One deal on the table for both of you, with the salary check running live.

When the deal looks right, both of you press R for ready. Any change after that and you both have to say ready again. Then Enter sends it as a real proposal, the same one you'd send from the Messenger, and the other GM can accept or decline right there at the table.

Bring someone up to your office

Want to talk away from the floor? Stand next to a GM and press I. They get a card asking them up to your HQ. If they say yes, they ride the elevator into your building and you're taken to your office.

An invite card in the League Hall asking a GM up to another club's HQ, with Go up and Not now — The other GM gets a card. Yes takes them up the elevator to your office.

A guest sees your colours and your building, but every door except your office is shut. No agents, no players, no staff, nothing on the walls. Your desk works as a trade table, so walk up to it together and the same shared deal opens.

A guest arriving at another club's HQ: every door shut and marked Private except the host's office — The host's building and colours. Only the office is open; every other door is shut and marked Private.

WHO SEES WHAT

ONLY YOUYour HQEvery room and every panelYour agents, players, staff and screens

INVITEDA guestYour building and coloursYour office and the deskNo other room, nothing private

Your rooms are yours. The Hall is for everyone.

“The tabs were always rooms. Now you can walk into them.”

NEXT IN THE LAB

1How it feels. Walking, the camera and the moments in between, tuned from what you tell me.

2Busy tables. How many trades start at a table in the Hall instead of a DM.

3Who's on. When the Hall is busiest, so you know when to go up.

Open HQ tonight on a computer, take the elevator up and see who's on. If you find someone at a table, sit down.

— Dr. Possession