[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

That - together with the fact that Markus probably knows already what he plans to do with OOTP10 -- suggests that Markus takes very little of our input into consideration.

Injury log already addressed this in post #71, but I'll add my two cents' worth as well.

What you said isn't necessarily correct, because Markus did add new features and responded to suggestions for improvements during the beta period. The customizable playoffs currently in the game were added during the beta period, and was based on the (extremely) detailed proposal I had put together and posted up in the beta forum. People had been asking for awhile for some sort of more customizable playoffs in the game, but not much had been done, probably because Markus would have had to sit down and figure out a way to specifically achieve what was only given as a general suggestion. The proposal I put forth relieved him of that burden since I had thought through the design aspects of customizable playoffs in considerable detail, and as a result he could just run with the design I proposed.

(As I recall, it only took him a day or two to code the customizable playoffs that are now in the game. The moral of the story, I would say, is this: the more detailed one's suggestion is, the more specific thought put into it, the better chance of it being adopted. The proposal I wrote up evolved over the better part of two years; the basic concept was first hatched during OOTP2006's beta. The final proposal ran thirty pages, though roughly half of that was taken up with screenshot examples of how it would work.)

Originally Posted by pstrickert

Eugene's post on the beta board. Three months have gone by with no reply from Markus. Why?

Injury log touched upon what I think are the reasons at the end of post #81. I would have suggested Eugene either e-mail or PM Markus directly, or wait until the start of the beta for OOTP10 and then post, e-mail, or PM (with the latter two having the advantage of direct communication).

Originally Posted by injury log

I do mean the phrase as I wrote it - the amount of unpaid work so many of us do for this game is really quite incredible, in the literal sense of the word.

I don't know how many hours in total I spent on the customizable playoffs proposal, but it was a lot (and it didn't help that I kept modifying things as I went along). I didn't mind doing it though, as I firmly believe the best chance of getting a suggestion adopted for the game, especially a substantial one, is for it to be as precise and detailed as possible. And to achieve that means putting in a lot of time on it. I also look at such efforts as a hobby of sorts, and in exploring various topics it's gotten me to do research on aspects of baseball I might never have otherwise looked at or thought about.

I will say, however, I'd be more than happy to take a six-month contract with OOTP Developments as an OOTP advisor/researcher/features designer/what have you if such an opportunity ever came up (and I'd be an inexpensive hire too).

I can probably name three areas where I could spend a huge amount of time writing up extensive proposals for the game...

Originally Posted by pstrickert

Fourth, he sometimes promises (or hints strongly) that he will address certain issues. Months later, nothing is done. I can remember Eugene, I, and others -- in the meantime -- pleaded with Markus to address some PbP issues. I think we tried every trick in the book to get his attention. Even groveling. It was like pulling teeth to get Markus to respond. Case in point: Markus promised on the General Discussion board (and more than once) that he would enhance the PbP in OOTP9. That was good news for the text team, or so we thought. We had design plans in place BEFORE beta testing even began. What happened? Nothing.

But how much of that was due to the old adage of "no plan survives first contact with the enemy"? That is, circumstances and situations can come up which cause the original plans to have to be set aside or otherwise changed.

I think a lot of the issues raised so far in this thread could be solved if Markus had the resources to hire an additional coder or two so that they could concentrate on specific areas...