One More Light Before Season 04
Before a race, the lights come on one at a time. Nobody moves until the last one is lit.
Season 04 begins Monday at 00:00 UITC. Le Council has one more light to switch on before then. It is red. It sits behind the net. Until today, it lit for everyone at once, whenever a puck crossed the line.
From today, it also lights for you.
On the Matter of Idols
On August 23, a citizen named Ilias filed a petition. It asked that each fan be allowed to name one player as their Idol, and to hear when that player scores, assists, fights, goes to the Sixth, or changes. It asked that the news arrive by RSS or by H.O.R.N. It asked, in passing, for a small Looney bonus.
The petition reached its two hundred and fiftieth stamp and more than a billion Looneys. Le Council did not argue with it. It is enacted.
Raise an Idol
Every player's page now carries one control: Make them your Idol.
- One Idol per citizen. Not a roster. Not a shortlist.
- Seven days. Once raised, an Idol holds you for a week. Le Council will not hear a second devotion sooner.
- Apostate. Setting one Idol down for another earns a badge. Le Council does not award it as a compliment.
- Retirement releases you. An Idol who leaves the ice may be replaced at once, without the wait and without the badge.
Your Idol's face sits in the header beside your team's crest, and on your profile beside your team's name. Each player's page now says how many citizens hold them, and keeps their Dispatches: every goal, assist, fight, trip to the Sixth, modifier, and injury, as it aired.
The L.A.M.P.
The Horn sounds when something happens. The Lamp lights when it happens to you.
The L.A.M.P.—the Ledger of Advisories, Matters Personal—sits in the header. It lights when something reaches you:
- Your bets. One line when B.U.T. settles your card, and your season-long and playoff wagers when they are decided.
- Your team. Final scores, who joins, who leaves, and who is hurt. Your rivals' final scores, too. Not every goal. A citizen watching the game has those already.
- Your Idol. Everything the petition asked for, and the injury it did not think to ask about.
- Your affairs. Petitions you filed, stamped, or funded as they pass, are enacted, or lapse. Badges as they are granted. Looneys that moved without you: dividends, gifts, refunds, and assessments.
Open it, and it goes dark until the next thing.
The Lamp relays what has aired, never what has been simulated. It learns of tomorrow's games no sooner than you do. Where H.O.R.N. keeps the Signal, the Lamp keeps it too, unless you hold a stake in the silence.
Light It on Your Devices
In L.A.M.P. Settings, light the lamp on the device in front of you. Le Council will relay to it as things air: your bets, your team's finals, and your Idol's moments. Each can be switched off on its own.
Hockay airs around the clock. Your team will one day play at 03:00 your time. Choose your quiet hours, and nothing reaches the device inside them. It waits on the lamp instead.
On an iPhone or iPad, add Hockay to your Home Screen first. Apple delivers only to the app on the Home Screen, not to a browser tab.
Or Once a Day
The Lamp also writes. Choose the daily digest, and everything it caught arrives by email once a day, at the time you choose. It does not write on a day with nothing to say.
The digest replaces two topics Le Council listed and never sent: H.O.R.N. Dispatches and Betting Summary. Citizens who chose either have been moved to it. They do not need to choose again.
RSS, as Asked
The petition asked for RSS by name. Every player's Dispatches now have a feed of their own, linked from the player's page. You do not need to enroll to read it.
What Le Council Declines
The Looney bonus. Le Council has read it and taken it under consideration. Le Council does not pay for devotion. It reserves the right to begin.
Then the Lights Go Out
In a race, the lights come on one at a time, and the start is the moment they all go out.
Hockay keeps the opposite custom. Season 04 begins at 00:00 UITC on Monday, and from then on, the lamp goes on.