Anyone still not purchased yet...

[daveyk39]

I'd be interested in hearing the reasons why you've not yet laid out for the game.

I purchased 2006, played briefly and never really liked it. No specific reason for that, at least none that I can remember a year later, and no disrespect intended, it just never grabbed my interest.

The 2007 demo, however, has grabbed me and I will probably jump over the fence in the next 2 weeks. That said, I am still being cautious after the 2006 experience.

[marky32082]

Originally Posted by rbartlett

To get people to fully understand what the game is about you MUST let them play the game for a full year.

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

This is where I disagree. People rightly or wrongly make an informed decision within the first 30 mins of playing a game. Giving them more playing time isn't going to necessarily up the conversion rate.

Mr. General Zod sir if I may put this into perspective: you have a product that touts it's ability to simulate the inner workings of baseball. A great deal of those inner workings occur in the off season and I am of the opinion (though I don't have 2007 yet) that it does these things very well. Show off your product man!

Maybe I'll put it another way using actual game functions:

Imagine I am a prospective buyer. I work my way through the season and only have a small amount of success. The hook though (as any good Cub fan knows) is there's always next year.

The way the demo is now, this is your only hook.

Now if you change the demo so it can go for 1 year of game time your hook changes slightly. You've given the player the ability to go to the winter meetings, maybe trade that big salary for a rising star. Then through free agency and blow the bank on a superstar.

Now the hook is that next year is starting and the player has already gotten a taste of what they can do.

The only downside to retooling the demo that I can see is the cost associated with the time to accomplish it. You're certainly not going to lose any customers and you may actually gain some new ones.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

That is what I thought - I don't get why it's such a stumbling block this year over other years

Uhh, but no other year had a 2006 before it that turned so many people off of the franchise. It's relatively easy to get someone to come to your restaurant again after they've had a good experience. It's not so easy once they get a bad experience, even if they had good experiences before the bad one.

[JTSMOOTH]

Uhh, but no other year had a 2006 before it that turned so many people off of the franchise. It's relatively easy to get someone to come to your restaurant again after they've had a good experience. It's not so easy once they get a bad experience, even if they had good experiences before the bad one.

Tis very true...I just posted something very similiar, but you beat me to it by 3 mins, so I'll just feed off of your well put post.

Alot of people are wary of buying OOTP this year after what they feel was a pretty disappointing 2006 version. Therefore, more are interested in taking the game for a more detailed test drive to avoid a similiar situtation.

[Elendil]

Originally Posted by westendcards

I have not purchased and will not until there is a way to play in a "god" mode! Please improve this!!!

You can play in God mode, controlling every single aspect of every single team in your universe. I did it during the beta process, & I know other testers did as well. (Don't plan to put myself through that again, but... de gustibus non est disputandum.)

[OmahaBaseball]

I appreciate your comments and recognize that there are so many different ways that this game be played. My comments in a previous post (page 3 I think) indicated that the actual game time was sufficient (even rather generous of SI) but as has been expressed so well in other posts in this thread, the in-game demo time was limited in such a way as to limit my ability to make a decision.

I think that is the challenge in all of this - while SI would like this to be an objective standard decision, it is clearly one that is very subjective; especially in light of those who felt dissatisfied with last year's version.

Originally Posted by redsox45

To be clear, I think the 21 day demo period is sufficient.

You ought to be able to make up your mind in three weeks, if you are allowed to play the game as you want to play it after the demo.

I'm a historical simmer. If I read that I can sim baseball history, and I decide I want to get a taste of historicals with the demo, I am going to be disappointed.

For the record, I haven't played the demo, but enough people have been turned off by its packaging that it has to be leaving a bad taste in people's mouths.

For those of you who are jaded with the demo, please try and look past it at the game itself. It's a great game and will only get better with your input.

Will

[fantom1979]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

That is what I thought - I don't get why it's such a stumbling block this year over other years

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

Sadly, we wont be extending the amount of in-game time allowed in the demo.

The second quote if from June 13th, 2006. I think this is a problem that has been brought up year after year, it is not something that has just cropped up this year.

In all honesty, I almost did not purchase the game after trying the demo. After the 2006 experience, I really wanted to test certain features in the demo to see if the game was improved. By having the demo stop mid season, I was unable to test these features and was rather turned off. Luckily, excellent reviews from other people that had disliked 2006 convinced me to take a shot at this years version.

[hydrostar]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

Ok, but those playing say 6.5 had to make a decision to purchase that based on the same criteria?

I don't think it's fair to expect the consumer base to take a leap of faith everytime...and especially not in a game where offseason is of such huge importance. For many, it's the best part of the game.

[The Wolf]

Excuses, excuses,excuses.

Buy the game already, or I go outside and shoot a coyote.

[hydrostar]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Excuses, excuses,excuses.

Buy the game already, or I go outside and shoot a coyote.

Hey, I had an advance preview of the game, so it wasn't an issue for me. I got to try enough to know this was a major improvement over last year's debacle.

I bought it, and I certainly don't regret it this time. It's a blast!

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by hydrostar

I bought it, and I certainly don't regret it this time. It's a blast!

I'm with you!

[Claymore]

It's good stuff. I certainly reccomend it. And I was one those that were on the fence, after playing last years version.

[Duckman]

Hi Marc,

Being an international customer, the key reason I have yet to buy would be the fact I have to pay in British Pounds.

To pay 29.99 pounds would cost me approximately 72 aussie dollars.

Given the option of paying the 34.95 US dollars, it would only cost me 42 aussie dollars.

Right now i can justify $42 to the ole ball n chain, but $72 is just pushing my luck a little toooo much

Cheers

[Hazza]

Can't you pay in Euros, which ~= 45Aud?

[Marc Duffy]

There is (or should be) no £ option. Its either USD or Euros

[Duckman]

gotta learn those pesky currency symbols...

that certainly makes it much more appealing....

cheers

[TwinMonster]

I haven't purchased yet for two main reasons: 1. I'm still running Windows 98SE and would have to do several upgrades to my pathetic computer and 2. I'm in the midst of writing two rather involved books. I have promised myself when I am done with the majority of those two books and finally stop editing the first book I wrote last year, then I will reward myself with some serious gaming. I figure by then OOTP 2008 will be out....

[Wheele8]

I've purchased every version of the game since OOTP3, and I'm going to purchase this, but I'm just waiting for any quickstart or roster file that includes real life players and teams, whether that be a 2007 file or something historical within the last 60 years. I used to love creating my own historical universes, but I just don't have the time any longer and want to jump right into something already started for me. I'd love to see some historical quick starts out there. I think it's just a matter of people who built their universes sharing it with the community.

[udbacker58]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

This is where I disagree. People rightly or wrongly make an informed decision within the first 30 mins of playing a game. Giving them more playing time isn't going to necessarily up the conversion rate.

I still have not bought the game, but I may sometime in the future (maybe when my next paycheck comes in). I'm in college and just don't have a lot of money to spend on games.

I just don't see where it would be a problem to allow the user to play one full calander year in the demo. I know it may be too troublesome to do this year, but it could easily be done next year. The problem is, it sounds like you have heard this in previous years and have not changed it, so I fear it will never happen. So much of a sports game is about what happens during the offseason. It seems like a poor decision to keep people from testing that part of the game. It makes it seem as you are hiding something. Why should there be a limit on in game time when you already have a limit on how many actual days one is allowed to try the demo? If I want to sim a 20 year career to see what happens to the talent level of the league, how the draft and other offseason actions work, and try out the historical aspects of the game; I should be able to in the 3 weeks I am allowed to use the demo.

I just think your comment on how people make a decision in the first 30 minutes is incorrect. To be honest, the first time I played the game, I thought it was too confusing and I really didn't like the interface. But the more I play it, the more I like it. Unfortunatly, I would really like to have actual players and stats; the only way to do this is to create a historical league starting in '06 and simming to '07. The problem is, you can only play until August. If I would have been allowed to play for more than 8 months, I may have already bought the game; but instead I sit here on the fence, torn about what I should do.

[MorseMoose]

I haven't seen any posts from Apple players. Any links?