My OOTP Story

[surly manservant]

This time last year I'd not heard of OOTP, now I'm addicted, thought I'd take the time to tell my story with the game. I think I'm an unlikely guy to take this game up, I'm Australian and live in Singapore, and the game I grew up loving (and still love) is cricket. I've always been interested in American sports, and I read and loved Moneyball when it came out, that and Bill Simmons Red Sox columns in the early 2000s ESPN got me interested in baseball, but it was kind of a casual interest.

Fast forward to last year at this time. I travel a lot for work (about half my time), so there's an awful lot of time on planes and in lounges, and I started thinking I'd look for something other than reading to do (I never watch movies on planes). There are no cricket sims so I started looking for baseball and from the reviews OOTP was the clear choice.

Started out playing MLB Quickstart for the Red Sox, but at first every time I got to the post season it was all too much for me (Rule 5 Draft, off season moves), so I'd just start over. You have to understand how little I knew about baseball, when I first saw the term "tagging up", I had to look it up. The financial side hooked me though, and when I managed to get through an offseason my immersion increased hugely. In one of my games I finally won the World Series wit the Red Sox in 2018, then switched to the Dodgers and won three straight in the 2030s with talent I'd developed, still my proudest OOTP moment.

After that I switched to fantasy, and the immersion increased exponentially. I created a 32 team MLB realigned by geography and played that until the fantasy bug bit again and I created a new game that has me completely hooked. I miss Sydney, where I come from, so I created a league with teams based on the suburbs I used to hang out in and it's weird but it really makes me not miss home as much to see the names of those places every night when I play.

Now I'm trying to learn logo and uniform design (I have been using the nickname project but want the team name on the logo as well as away uniforms), not to mention scheduling (I play a 106 game season, two 6 team divisions, and I want Friday and Saturday games to start during the day and to play the all star every Jan 1).

I now listen to not one but two baseball podcasts to help me figure out how to trade. I've printed out two pages from FanGraphs to help me understand WOBA, WAR and ERA+. I could go on but you get the picture, I love this game. There's no way I'm not buying OOTP17, I need to get my Randwick Hooks to the championship!

[kq76]

Great story! Thanks for sharing it. I'd love to see your Sydney league.

[Markus Heinsohn]

A great story, thank you for sharing!

[Ravi]

Nice post

I'm kind of like you in that I hadn't heard of OOTP either a year ago, but stumbled on it in a humble bundle and that got me hooked (and I have since upgraded to OOTP 16). The difference is that while I don't live in the US, I grew up with the game and knew the rules of course. I also understood the basics of baseball strategy, but made a lot of mistakes at first like trading away my back-up catcher cause I didn't even know player fatigue was in the game.

I play historical, which I think puts me in the minority on here, but it is a real thrill for me to feel like I'm watching greats from the past take the field (Babe Ruth is a real beast in this game..lol) and the play-by-play is just fantastic.

One thing though, there are a number of cricket sims on steam. Maybe not as in-depth as OOTP but they are out there.

[frank_olaf]

Really good story. I also just started playing in the last year and am loving it.

Out of curiosity, which podcast do you listen to?

Thanks.

[Bluenoser]

Another thing you can do with your local Aus league (I do this a lot) is name some the fictional players after people you know and grew up with. (School friends, work friends, etc) Adds to the familiarity and immersion imo.

[Padreman]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

Another thing you can do with your local Aus league (I do this a lot) is name some the fictional players after people you know and grew up with. (School friends, work friends, etc) Adds to the familiarity and immersion imo.

Or people I don't like much cause they jerks or whatever I name them but pick players that suck and just watch them get cut or see them bounce from team to team and league to league. I did name this guy I could not stand and picked a a young player that I thought would be crappy well the player only had two cups of coffee in the big leagues but his 877 home runs in the minors. He did bounce from different minor leagues but still 877 home runs

[surly manservant]

Originally Posted by frank_olaf

Really good story. I also just started playing in the last year and am loving it.

Out of curiosity, which podcast do you listen to?

Thanks.

I listen to Fangraphs and Effectively Wild.

[Izz]

Awesome stuff, mate!

[jpeters1734]

it's amazing how video games can get us into sports we never really liked in real life. Same thing happened with me and soccer.

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

it's amazing how video games can get us into sports we never really liked in real life. Same thing happened with me and soccer.

Even within a sport I already liked, OOTP has kept me more into baseball than I otherwise would be at this stage of my life, especially with a real life team that has sucked for a couple years, and a child that might need attention at the drop of a hat. We even watch games together sometimes, and I narrate my own version of the Play-by-Play to him so that he can "watch" a baseball game when the real weeknight games come on too late for him to watch.

It's all about immersion.

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by JMDurron

Even within a sport I already liked, OOTP has kept me more into baseball than I otherwise would be at this stage of my life, especially with a real life team that has sucked for a couple years, and a child that might need attention at the drop of a hat. We even watch games together sometimes, and I narrate my own version of the Play-by-Play to him so that he can "watch" a baseball game when the real weeknight games come on too late for him to watch.

It's all about immersion.

I can't even get my boy to sit down for a real baseball game. Nice work!

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

I can't even get my boy to sit down for a real baseball game. Nice work!

Mine's the same way, actually.

We watch the MLB.TV highlights of Red Sox games the next day, because he can't make it maybe through 3 entire half-innings of play. In one-pitch mode with instant PbP, though, an entire OOTP game (barring extra innings or 20+ runs combined) takes about as long as a full inning of real world play.

Thanks.

[Honorable_Pawn]

Originally Posted by surly manservant

this time last year i'd not heard of ootp, now i'm addicted, thought i'd take the time to tell my story with the game. I think i'm an unlikely guy to take this game up, i'm australian and live in singapore, and the game i grew up loving (and still love) is cricket. I've always been interested in american sports, and i read and loved moneyball when it came out, that and bill simmons red sox columns in the early 2000s espn got me interested in baseball, but it was kind of a casual interest.

Fast forward to last year at this time. I travel a lot for work (about half my time), so there's an awful lot of time on planes and in lounges, and i started thinking i'd look for something other than reading to do (i never watch movies on planes). There are no cricket sims so i started looking for baseball and from the reviews ootp was the clear choice.

Started out playing mlb quickstart for the red sox, but at first every time i got to the post season it was all too much for me (rule 5 draft, off season moves), so i'd just start over. You have to understand how little i knew about baseball, when i first saw the term "tagging up", i had to look it up. The financial side hooked me though, and when i managed to get through an offseason my immersion increased hugely. In one of my games i finally won the world series wit the red sox in 2018, then switched to the dodgers and won three straight in the 2030s with talent i'd developed, still my proudest ootp moment.

After that i switched to fantasy, and the immersion increased exponentially. I created a 32 team mlb realigned by geography and played that until the fantasy bug bit again and i created a new game that has me completely hooked. I miss sydney, where i come from, so i created a league with teams based on the suburbs i used to hang out in and it's weird but it really makes me not miss home as much to see the names of those places every night when i play.

Now i'm trying to learn logo and uniform design (i have been using the nickname project but want the team name on the logo as well as away uniforms), not to mention scheduling (i play a 106 game season, two 6 team divisions, and i want friday and saturday games to start during the day and to play the all star every jan 1).

I now listen to not one but two baseball podcasts to help me figure out how to trade. I've printed out two pages from fangraphs to help me understand woba, war and era+. I could go on but you get the picture, i love this game. There's no way i'm not buying ootp17, i need to get my randwick hooks to the championship!

[Honorable_Pawn]

Originally Posted by Padreman

Or people I don't like much cause they jerks or whatever I name them but pick players that suck and just watch them get cut or see them bounce from team to team and league to league. I did name this guy I could not stand and picked a a young player that I thought would be crappy well the player only had two cups of coffee in the big leagues but his 877 home runs in the minors. He did bounce from different minor leagues but still 877 home runs

You hit 877 minor league home runs in my universe you get the minor league batting title named after you.