[Muzamba]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

This is reworked, and you cannot see a popularity rating no more... it's now more of a hidden thing that changes dynamically. I prefer it that way now, having coded it in OOTP 6.5 in a different way.

I must admit I find this news extremely disappointing. In fact, I think it's the most disturbing thing I've read so far about the new release. I know most OOTP'ers probably don't understand why this is such a major concern for me, so let me explain.

The addition of player popularity was the single reason I purchased V6.5. For years, I've been lobbying to include more personality in the game. So naturally, I assumed OOTP was heading in that direction with this feature.

I was hoping the newest version would increase the significance of player personalities. I anticipated the game finally allowing us to manually edit the popularity rating, and even expand it into a full "personality rating" that would affect various elements of the game. But now I'm worried this will disappear altogether. I'm not sure how a "hidden" rating would even be implemented. My guess is that it would depend solely on how good the player is statistically. If instead, it's completely random, how indeed would we know whether a player is "popular" or not until it is too late, i.e. he has been signed or traded away. (And will things like ASG selection still be affected by this covert popularity rating?)

What's particularly distressing about this development is that it's yet another part of the game that's being removed (or at least my ability to view it is.) Several weeks ago, I started a thread in which I asked what features would be getting axed in the new release. At the time, there were only a few, relatively small things, like promotion days and arguing a call. And now, we can add a "public" popularity rating to this list. So once again, I'm left wondering if any other features will be getting removed or re-tooled for OOTP '06.

I was under the impression that OOTP was becoming a more customizable/editable game. This revelation would make me think otherwise. There are some aspects of the game that I see a benefit in keeping secret. But this isn't one of them...

Which leads me to the bigger picture...

Popularity ratings shouldn't be hidden, because there is no way to determine anything about a player's personality within the context of the game. And to me, that's the biggest thing OOTP is lacking at this point -- personality.

When I play OOTP, I often feel like I'm watching the results of robots playing baseball. That might be fine for hardcore statheads (which I admit I am not) but there's a reason baseball has been my favorite sport since childhood. It's not just the statistical depth of the game, it's the history, the tradition, the colorful characters. It's about reading the newspaper to see how contract negotiations are going with your favorite player and what kind of trouble that jerk player from the arch-rival team has gotten into. It's about checking out the latest trade rumors, which team is moving where, and who tested positive for what. (Okay, I may be getting carried away a bit. But you get the idea.) I understand that this stuff isn't for everyone. Some of us just want to sim a nice "clean" game of baseball. But all you purists out there, keep in mind that while things like ugly contract negotiations and drug/steroid suspensions are admittedly products of baseball's modern era, even players back in the day had lives off the field. They'd get injured in barroom fights and car accidents, get called off to fight in the war, and have to miss a game because of a death in the family or the birth of a child.

Way back when I first bought OOTP, which was V3 nearly five years ago, I was intrigued to see the coding in the injury file that gave a number for "off the field" injuries. I proceeded to type in a lengthy list of off-field events that could potentially befall a player. Never mind that I couldn't control the frequency of the event, meaning a player would be just as vulnerable to death by bee sting or lawnmower mishap as he was the common cold or a family emergency. Alas, none of these events EVER showed up during game play. I even went so far at one point as to convert the "hit by a line drive" injury to "off-field event", just so I could read the occasional "Diagnosis: Drug Suspension" in the league injury report. (On the rare instance I was playing out a game, it was simultaneously amusing and frustratring to see a player get hit by a line drive and leave the game due to the birth of a child. )

Sadly, this lack of off-field presence was never rectified, save for the disappointingly underutilized email notices informing you that one of your own players had been injured in a car accident or a bar fight. Of course, these incidents were never reported anywhere else in the game, nor did you ever hear of similar incidents occuring to players on other teams.

So you can imagine my jubilation upon hearing that 6.5 would show popularity. The way I figured, this was the first step in giving players a life off the baseball diamond. Realistically, I knew the first incarnation would be very basic and likely need some serious tweaking, but I was at least convinced we were on the right track. I already had visions of OOTP7 including editable personality ratings, which would affect the occurance of specific off-field events. I had dreams of seeing certain players demanding trades and serving suspensions, because they were egomaniacal pricks. Perhaps, I imagined, we would eventually even see players signing with certain teams because their old manager or former teammates were there.

Now it looks like this dream will have to at least get put on hold for a while. I'm still hoping, come release day, I will be pleasantly surprised. But as this date draws nigh, it's looking less and less likely that personality will be a major part of OOTP2006.

I know many board members have taken exception with the opinions of Malleus Dei over the years, but he made a valid, if somewhat unpopular, point a few weeks ago. As Mal sees it, too much time and energy has been devoted to the inclusion of a worldwide baseball universe in V7. While I'm all for the internationalization of the game, I do wonder if this has taken priority over other aspects of the game that would be of more interest to the average OOTP player. Granted, it will be cool to have actual leagues being simmed out in different countries, but I realistically doubt I'll spend much time checking out boxscores from the Bhutan Baseball League or playing out the Equatorial Guinea Championship Series.

Again, I'm not criticizing the inclusion of this aspect of the game. In fact, I'm generally on board with pretty much any new feature that gets added to OOTP, whether I plan on using it or not, as long as it's an option. I just feel that time would have been better spent on connecting OOTP with the outside world. And by "world", I don't necessarily mean different nations and continents, but the outside world beyond the playing field.

I recognize that while the new OOTP isn't using any of the same coding as the other SI games, it does appear to be following a similar model to SI, that is to say a representation of the entire international community. And those of us here in America need to remember that Markus is German and the SI guys are based out of the UK. If I, as an American, were creating a cricket sim or an Australian Rules Football sim, I'm sure I would want to be able to base leagues here in the US. Therefore, I imagine this is a natural addition for the developers.

Nonetheless, the reality of baseball in the world is that, unlike soccer - which is essentially SI's bread and butter - it just isn't that significant outside of North and Latin America and East Asia. I can guarantee you that baseball teams in Slovenia or Luxembourg are roughly the equivelant of most low-level semi-pro or even beer league softball teams here in the States. This is not an ethnocentric statement, it's just the truth. I seriously doubt most of us will have any interest in leagues outside of the US, Canada, Mexico, the DR, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and maybe the Central American nations and certain Carribean nations. Yes, there is the occasional player that hails from somewhere in Europe or Africa or lower South America, but we're talking roughly one out of probably a thousand players (including the minor leagues) that will originate from outside the countries I mentioned. Personally, I would prefer to just have these players pop up out of nowhere as free agents or show up in the amateur draft pool than for the game to eat up my hard drive space on literally thousands of players whose names I will never even see. (By the way, is this even possible? I assume I can simply create a nation named "all others", but I'm thinking it'll generate some freaky player names! LOL)

I know, this topic has been discussed ad nauseum on these boards ever since the details of the new version were revealed. Please don't think I'm becoming a whiny malcontent or anything. Fact is, I've already purchased OOTP 2006, just like I've purchased every version since OOTP3. And I will continue to support OOTP, come hell or high water, based on the fact that it's the single best sports simulation game ever developed. Period!

And don't get me wrong, I'm extremely pleased with the list of new features that are being implemented, many of which I've been clamoring for for years (real managers, hometowns affecting free agency, no trade clauses, etc.) As a matter of fact, I fully expect this to be the single biggest step forward this franchise has taken since I discovered it.

Consider this constructive criticism, or at least an annoyingly squeaky wheel.

However, I'm begging you... don't take away popularity ratings. Make it an option to hide them, if you must. Just please, PLEASE don't take away the one hint at personality OOTP gives us.

And while I'm already down on my knees, as a loyal customer, could you pretty please with sugar on top answer a few of my biggest questions?

1. Will there be editable limited/partial no trade clauses?
2. Will customizable off-field events show up in the game?
3. What about suspensions for on-field incidents?

And of course, any feedback you can give addressing my concerns from above would be greatly appreciated.

Once again, I hope nobody thinks I'm being overly critical with this post. I simply wanted to voice my concern.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your comments.