Interplayer relationships
 

One non-OOTP game I'm a big fan of is Crusader Kings 2 and one reason is all the roleplaying. Now, I'm not asking for a new version of Inside the Park, but one thing I *would* like to see is the database expanding so that it can include relationships between individual players. Stuff like...

- Some players just having a (you could make it random) natural affinity for each other or, conversely, disliking each other.

- To some extent you might have like-minded players (those with high Work Ethic or Play for Winner ratings) have a bonus affinity, whereas players with opposite ratings might have a malus. I'd still prefer there to be a lot of randomness, as sometimes a workhorse likes to have a fun-loving low-Work Ethic prankster around to lighten the mood, and conversely sometimes two guys who are driven to perform will just flat-out not like each other.

- Semi-random events causing a negative or positive effect between two players (I say semi-random because you'd expect a "clubhouse cancer" type to have more negative effects and a "leader" to have more positive ones). I can think of, like, a million of these, from Golden Tate allegedly sleeping with Russell Wilson's girlfriend to Phil Linz playing his harmonica after Yogi Berra told the team to shut up. Honestly if you created enough of these I would find it to be a lot of fun to read about my pretend baseball players having the kinds of squabbles you get when 25 young adults travel together for 6 months.

- Similar semi-random events between pitchers and catchers, with the end result being that a positive effect might have a slight impact on a pitcher's performance.

- Along those same lines, if a player is listed as a backup to someone else on a roster and they think they should be starting, that animus ought to be directed at the player as much as at the manager.

- Fights between players with high negative affinities might result in one of them demanding a trade or that the other party be traded (for instance, the Dick Allen - Frank Thomas fight). Perhaps a manager with good people-managing skills could prevent too much badness from happening out of this, but if you don't deal with it in some way, shape, or form, it could result in both players being extremely angry at the management.

- If two players who dislike each other immensely wind up staying on the same team and playing together for a while, it'd be cool to see clubhouses divide as a result - events cause guys who are friends with Player A to get maluses to their relationship not just with Player B but with some of Player B's friends.

- Affinities need not be symmetrical. One guy might really, really hate another guy who is indifferent about their relationship.

- Come time for contract talks, players with good relationships should want to play for each other whereas if they don't, that should put a serious crimp in negotiations. Imagine the Yankees trying to sign Randy Johnson while Jim Leyritz was still playing there.

So... I believe that some of this already exists between managers and players. I'd just like to see it get more granular and also to apply to players. Additionally, it'd be cool to not just have a space for team chemistry in the team pages but on each player and manager "card" where you could not only see the affinity with other players (I'm envisioning them being -200 to +200 like CK2) but ideally, like Paradox games, you could mouse over the affinity rating, perhaps, and see the various bonuses and maluses that led to the relationship being what it is.

Can't a lot of what you're describing be handled with storylines?

Storylines would definitely contribute to it but in order for this to work right, you'd want to have a base where each player has a relationship with everyone else. Otherwise, it's all random and you have, like, guys going fishing together one week and calling each other names and demanding to be traded the next.

IIRC Baseball Mogul of all franchises did this, or at least tried it, a few years back. I don't really want to point to them for, like, much of anything, though, so instead I like the comparison to Paradox games like the upcoming Imperator: Rome.

I would love this.

Some of it, to an extent, is there so this is just fleshing it out.

For example, some players are upset about slackers but the game is all passive aggressive about it.

If I asked the player (or the coaches) who exactly is causing issues or to describe why the clubhouse is fractured, I'd expect some names.

I'd also like to see more storylines about this kind of thing. Everyone is just "suffering in silence" even if they are Outspoken or otherwise have high Controversy ratings.

And even then, everyone has a breaking point.

On a rare occasion, I might get an email from a player or coach, usually at the major league level, if veterans are added or more leadership, etc.

Does more of this show up if you choose to be manager only (or even GM/manager)? That would compel me to try that mode of play more often if so...

As an aside, I'd love to see ITP with what the OOTP team knows now and how they are building out the game with the more robust engine(s) we are seeing now.

I'd like to see personalities handled in the same way FM handles them, with most (not all) such events tied to playing time, media comments, or contract issues as opposed to lots of random events between players. Events would also be directed at the manager more often as opposed to between players. That way there would be sort of an art form in managing the team as there is in FM.

Ofc these events would only apply with a manager and not to people playing as a GM (in which event they'd be handled by the AI manager, giving much more depth to that side of the game too).

How much a player is affected by these events has to be tied to something too. Reggie didn't seem to care what anyone else thought of him - it never affected his performance. Same with Ty Cobb. But another player might be greatly affected by discord - even when it is a different player who is angry. Perhaps that could be tied to 'controversy' score - players with a high score cause more problems but are less affected by them.

This thread is the right direction regardless of what method gets used. IMO once coaching and minor league management get sorted out, there's not much else that needs work outside of personalities and media. Short of working on the in-game animations and completely new features like PT, pretty much anything I can think of is already in the game.

I agree also that players should name names when they have problems, but I get the impression the game doesn't currently work that way. Like someone might have a problem with too many outspoken players on the team, but in game terms it might just mean that the combined controversy score of your major league roster is too high as opposed to him not liking a particular player.

i'm not sure i want my shortstop to marry his horse-cousin.