Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3
When I first started OOTP, I played out games. I felt like it took too long, so I started simming more often (I'd only play maybe 1 or 2 games a week). Gradually, this turned into total simulation, acting as simply the GM and letting the AI manage all the on-field matters. While I still like this approach, for the speed at which you can get through a season, I have to say that playing out the games is better by far.
I recently switched back to playing out every game, and my god, I had forgotten what it was like to feel a true connection with your players. All those seasons I had simmed, trading a whole bunch in the offseason, giving up fan favorites in the name of making the team better, taking a "what have you done for me lately" attitude when re-signing guys... I used to THINK that I was connected to my players, but I never realized how removed from the team I actually was.
Previously, it was nothing. I made deals left and right. The league was full of guys who played on my team for a year and then got traded. I felt no loyalty to them, and because of that, I was always able to improve the team and took so many different franchises to so many championships that, as I pointed out above, I would get bored with the league. Now, I'm sitting at just over .500 for the third straight season, but I wouldn't give up this core of guys for the world. I try to make a deadline deal for that SP we so desperately need, and I look at the list of guys I could trade... and I don't want to trade them. They're no longer just numbers in a chart; I know these guys. Sure, they're not REAL, but I still feel like I'm connected with them. I believe in them, and I know that when I finally do win a championship with them, it's going to be so much more special because of it.
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