Does anybody feel funny doing this sim stuff?

[lgkeeper]

Add my name to the growing list of 29 year olds.
Married, one kid here and I've been playing for about 4 years.

No, I don't tell anyone outside of my family about my "hobby." Ihave started to tell a few of my buddies at work, but when I saw the look on their faces, I stopped. People at work rip me for the amount of poker I play. I get jokes about that all the time (because I don't tell them that I've made about as much at the tables in the last 6 months then I have at work).

My wife knows the basic deal. She laughs at my dynasty reports - ("so you write about imaginary games and people you don't even know comment on them?" to which I say "no, they usually only respond when the reports are good."...."so, why do you do it then?"

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by lgkeeper

and people you don't even know comment on them

One of the odd unexpected effects of the Internet (I was one of the original users, and I can tell you for a fact that it was never anticipated) has the formation of virtual communities of interest online by people with common hobbies (or interests, or fetishes, or whatever). Whereas there might be one other person with anyone's unusual hobby/interest in their home town - or none - online there are likely to be many such, and they can and do form online communities of people with common interests.

As a result, some of the "people you don't even know" online may have far more in common with you than any of the people that you *do* know offline.

[Cuss]

I am never telling anybody about my hobby.

[UngratefulDead]

I don't feel silly about it, but I still try to avoid telling people about it. Just because I don't find an activity embarassing personally doesn't mean I can't make it that way trying to figure out how to explain it.

[wireman]

I started out when I was a child, maybe 10 years old, playing a "sim" of my own design that used dice and charts. I loved keeping the statistics. When I got my first computer in the late '70s, I programmed my first crude game. Eventually, I got SSI's Computer Baseball for my Apple II, and I was off and running. I had gotten to Old-Time Baseball and High Heat before OOTP, but this is really pretty much what I was looking for.

I've explained it all to my wife and our kids (who are in their 30s) and some of my co-workers. They don't get it, really, but they all knew I was crazy anyway.

I think Mal got it exactly right: "Life is way too short to worry about what other people think. Do what you want to do."

[Linus]

All these posts have convinced me that I need to keep my OOTP addiction in the closet!

[D Love]

Are you implying that you worked alongside Gore to invent the internet??

Originally Posted by Malleus Dei

One of the odd unexpected effects of the Internet (I was one of the original users, and I can tell you for a fact that it was never anticipated) has the formation of virtual communities of interest online by people with common hobbies (or interests, or fetishes, or whatever). Whereas there might be one other person with anyone's unusual hobby/interest in their home town - or none - online there are likely to be many such, and they can and do form online communities of people with common interests.

As a result, some of the "people you don't even know" online may have far more in common with you than any of the people that you *do* know offline.

[Skywalker76]

Although my girlfriend doesn't understand a thing I'm doing I think she's kind of jealous about my "addiction". One of the reasons might be that here in Germany being a baseball fan is something mystic. Nobody plays it and nobody understands it. I guess understanding and watching something that other people don't understand is kind of unique and kind of fascinating. That's my big "plus" while playing OOTP or watching baseball.

Oh, btw. I'm 29!

[Sublimity]

Wow, I feel like I stumbled into OOTP Anonymous.

As someone else mentioned, I feel like I would have a hard time explaining to someone just what it is the game is like if they weren't already knowledgable about sim games, so I just say I'm playing a computer baseball game. But yeah, it's all about moderation. Gotta make sure you have time to take care of other stuff.

[disposableheros]

Originally Posted by D Love

Are you implying that you worked alongside Gore to invent the internet??

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by D Love

Are you implying that you worked alongside Gore to invent the internet??

No, just that I was an ARPANET user (the forerunner of the Internet which eventually evolved into it) back in the day. I think I may even have been there for what may have been the first online game, but I'm not sure if it was or not - I don't think anyone was keeping track of those things then.

FYI, Al Gore was still in law school when the Internet was being invented. You can look it up.

[Jermanfu]

Funny thing is, World of Warcraft gets most of my wife's ire, so when I am playing OOTP, it kind of flies under the radar. But to the OP, no, I don't feel nerdy playing OOTP. I guess that makes me that much more of a nerd

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by Jermanfu

Funny thing is, World of Warcraft gets most of my wife's ire

MMORPG's at the higher levels often require the commitment of large blocks of time, and once those time blocks begin the player can't really leave because he'd let the group/team/raid/whatever down, and many wives just do not like it when their husband is not at their beck and call because he is gaming. OOTP we can at least put down for a few minutes, or sim the rest of the game out, while we take care of whatever it is that the wife has to have done right this minute.

[Twelvefield]

My wife is fine with my computer gaming. Not thrilled, but not upset, either.

As for OOTPB, I might as well be like the Jehovah's Witness who's got the Vatican as his door-knocking mission. I really, really enjoy OOTPB, but no matter how much I preach the gospel, niether my wife, nor my family, nor my friends, nor my (former) co-workers are even one iota interested in this game. Even with the '05 version being given away for free, nobody I know wants to play it.

My wife comes from a baseball family. Her mom and her aunt played in an all-star women's baseball league, in one of those itinerant teams that went from town to town challenging (and defeating) the local talent. While my wife nor I are terribly enamoured with the financial excesses of Bud Selig and his stormtoopers, nor of the strike-happy MLBPA, baseball is a game we both appreciate and enjoy. So, it's wierd that she doesn't like OOTPB. Or maybe she's still mad at me from when she found out that my fifty-ish eponymous manager in the '05 version was marrying a 19-year-old named "Shirley".

I have to resort to the Internet to find like-minded OOTPB users. If anything bothers my wife, then, it's not the games I play, but my trolling of game forums to find people who like the same games I do.

[Erik]

I got into OOTP because the commissioner of my on-line league was switching over from FPS to OOTP after the league file crashed. At first I didn't really care for it. I liked the set-up of FPS better for on-line play because you didn't have to individually click on players to see their ratings and things. It just seemed easier to play on-line FPS than OOTP.

Then I started my own league in OOTP and I got really into it. I enjoy it much more now than I did in the league which I have since left. That is why I only play solo leagues now. But to each their own.

I've mentioned the game to a few people but don't explain how its a text-based simulation game only. I've only mentioned the concept of being able to import the historical rosters and play a career, etc.

My brother makes fun of me for playing a game that you only click 1 button a lot of the time to play. My girlfriend has no idea how much I actually play. I don't usually bring it up and we don't live together so its no problem. She does know that I play Madden often and makes fun of me for that though.

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by Twelvefield

So, it's wierd that she doesn't like OOTPB. Or maybe she's still mad at me from when she found out that my fifty-ish eponymous manager in the '05 version was marrying a 19-year-old named "Shirley".

ROFL.

This jewel is going home to my wife tonight. She'll appreciate it, as she's commented before that the game is 'creepy' on that front.

-E

[Treadle]

Originally Posted by eriqjaffe

I've been playing sim baseball since Ethan Allen's "All Star Baseball" when I was probably like 6.

Man I still remember how big Babe Ruth's '9' section was!

I have gotten to teh poitn regarding my family where I don't have time to run a league anymore so I switched to Baseball Mogul Online. It is TOTALLY worth the money if you're getting tired of integrate all the roster moves, do the sims and post the results.

[datrain021]

baseball mogul cant handle OOTP's jock strap

[Puckett guy]

I have to say I have enjoyed reading the posts in this thread. Thanks to the person who started this topic. We are all proof that it's never too late to have a happy childhood.

I am evidently one of the senior citizens here at the young age of 55. I fell in love with sports management games in 1964 at the height of my nerdiness which was in 8th grade. I saved up the $8.95 to order the APBA Baseball board game. For any other old-timers out there who have played it, you know how captivating that game could be, all you needed was a little imagination. (Ah, the pleasure of rolling a "66"!) Here I am 41 years later and I am still hooked on this form of entertainment. My lovely wife of 30 years and my three adult daughters have simply accepted that this is the way I am. I look forward to doing this for another 40 years. I can't wait for the games of the future game that will feature AI created lifelike video of every play.

Fortunately I do enough "normal" stuff, so the family doesn't get on me too much when I head for the computer to "play my games". Finally, I would like to say this hobby, like many others, is a fine way to keep your sanity and relieve some stress. I have a tough day job with lots of responsibility. Managing a fantasy sports team in the evening is a fine way to escape to another world for a few hours.

[Malleus Dei]

I just read in the February CGW that the average age of gamers is 30, so no wonder we have so many 29-year-olds here. Personally, I have boots older than that.