[Gambo]

Thanks Chicago.

Since this is a discussion I'll put in some of my opinions.

OOTP is not the best game for Statistical Replays. I'll admit it yes.

(Side discussion begins here...)
When Markus makes his opinion about feeling it is the best I understand where he is coming from. I may be off base in saying this but Markus is a European and in my experience their thirst for historical simulations (not just sports) is based in the idea of creating the environment and the user becoming immersed in it. There is a great reason that Europeans have developed some the most immersive fantasy worlds. (Tolkien anybody?). Also, their military simulations are some of greatest ever for this reason. Markus I believe just does not feel exact replication of statistics per player is the most important thing if the world is not right. His goal is to make you feel like you are managing the Yankees in 1961 and not the 1961 Yankees.

For this reason above all I do not expect OOTP will anytime soon give baseball statistical purists the results they expect.

Having a degree in History and minoring in classical cultures I was taught to ignore the specifics of events and understand the world around them and why the events occured. OOTP gives me the ability to do this as an active participant in the world of Baseball like no other can.

(Back to my normal discussion)
I currently play semi-historical leagues in OOTP. I like to make my leagues as comprehensive as possible. Uniforms, Minors. The reason I created my custom databases is to make them more comprehensive to include more minor leaguers and others. I implement Minor Leaguers, Negro Leaguers and also make edits for my own use. (But I sure do expect the players, no matter who,to be as realistic as possible) For example what would have happened it Bo Jackson never got hurt? OOTP lets me use a database that deletes all those fateful years after the NFL playoff game and see what would have happened. The world is real around him but the game engine will take over and simulate the rest of his career. An amazing option in my opinion.

I've also done statistical replays with OOTP and other games. I've done replays in APBA and Strat. A couple of years ago I did a 1977 replay with the Yankees in APBA and then tried to do the same thing with OOTP. It was good but just didn't feel the same. It just didn't interest me as much as the other option available in OOTP (and at a fraction of the cost)

I've not played DM or Puresim so I don't know how they'd do for me. I played APBA Football for years but when everybody went to ActionPC and claimed it was better statistically I agreed but it didn't feel right to me. I play Second and Ten now, it's not as good statistically but gives me a more similar feel to APBA.

So in the end my opinion is that. OOTP has a better feel and is more immersive that other games. It may not play as quick as other "simulations" or have the exact statistical results as others but creates the historical world better than any other. If you want a "what if" or "can I do better" or "what would I do" simulation then OOTP is the game for you.

I would like to add one word of warning. Many simulations are known to tweak results to get more accurate results in the end. It was a big issue in the earlier days of sport simulation and still exists today but can be hidden better. Though not statistical APBA implements a fatigue model that forced usage to be correct and would penalize overused players. Many stat sims now do this for statistics. If a player over or under performs they will magically streak or slump as the year progresses outside of their performance. (Why did my player go 9-10 the last 3 games and it says he's now slumping and hasn't even played another game). I'm weary of games that promote tweaks to player performance, outliers or extraneous events. Fancy terms for noticing weird performances and having the program correcting/remove tham as this is either info that does not match what is expected or is a result of randomization. Many claim arcade games have automatic "catch up coding" that falsely creates competion, it's just as easy to do this his simulations.

Go to other message boards and ask the developers about how they have improved statistical realism. The proof is in the pudding.

At least I know that OOTP uses neutralized databases and yearly result comparisons to make adjustments each season for the whole league without changing player ratings on the fly to produce better real life statistics. Last years improvements in historical accuracy was done by tweaking the system of neutralized statistics, simulating seasons and base league modifiers for the beginning and completion of each year for the league to start with. It provides league totals to be more correct each year while the players individual ratings don't change.