Origins

[majormet]

I started this thread because it seems if those of us that are big Dynasty fans are a very unique bunch. So it would be interested to know what draws us to this kind of fun, what do we find most fascinating about simulations, career simulations etc...

For me I am 54, so I grew up waiting for the local newspaper to arrive home to keep track of all the stats of every player in the league with a pencil and an eraser, and a lot of notebooks. It would be very frustrating to find out the West coast game would not end up in the box scores, and I would have to wait another day to see how many hits Ron Cey got for the Dodgers that day. That is why the Sporting News was so huge as they had all the boxscores. I also would order all of the Sporting News products like the Baseball Register and such, and follow all the minor league players and wonder why guys like Marshall Brant could never hit at the major league level.

Around 1978 or so I ordered a game from Baseball Digest call Longball. Baseball Digest was great in April to see the rosters as most of the offseason trades were not well publicized so finding out Ray Sadecki was traded may be 3 months after the fact. Longball was a hexagon dice game and I had a friend and we ran a season redrafting the players, it was mostly accurate except I think Jim Sundberg was a better hitter in the dice game. Downside was you would have to order the players every year and games too awhile to play as you had to look up contingencies for every play.

Around 1980 or so, another friend and me created our down simplified dice game where we mixed real and fictional players and kept our manual stats. The game did not have any special ratings for players so it was just a way to create a lot of boxscores and random stats.

Over the years, I got older and "cooler" and abandoned simulation life until I got married and then had a commodore computer and there were some baseball games, all single season replays and poor simulations and you had to keep your own stats.

Eventually it was Diamond Mind Baseball and I ran online leagues for many years, helped me learn html... and those were just single season replays.

Found out about OOTP early on and have only run solitaire type leagues because it is has been such a immersible force for so long.

What draws me to these kinds of dynasies

1. World Building- I mean where else can you create your own universe with 96 teams and give pro teams to cities that will never have cities

2. Probability - I was a statistics major in college and just love randomness, I love the mixture of randomness incorporated with predictability.

3. What If's - So many players like Lyman Bostock, Ken Hubbs, Jose Fernandez over the years could have had bigger careers. What if great players that fizzled like Joe Charboneau could get a new life.

4. Writing - I enjoy creating fiction and this is the only time I seem to freely write. My business I run is creativity-less.

5. Creating History - Baseball has records, milestones, rare events, and it is so rich in it's own history that when you create your own history it is has meaning. Typing out dynasty results has been a great way to reinforce the dynasty history. George Davis has to be great because I have typed his name a lot.

6. Gameplay - running a team within a dynasty is fun, it is so hard to actually win a title that it keeps you coming back. Just when you think you are done because you win a title you are back and sucked in again and want that thrill back.


Not sure what everyone else's stories are but it is clear to me that I am not as weird as I thought I was when I come here.

[jasg224]

Originally Posted by majormet

So it would be interested to know what draws us to this kind of fun, what do we find most fascinating about simulations, career simulations etc...

I'm 20, I started watching baseball like 3-2 years ago and it somewhat coincided with the return of LMP baseball to Guadalajara. They repurposed the athletics complex as a baseball stadium which is like a 5 minute walk from my house. At that time I also started watching the Blue Jays because of Marco Estrada.


I play(ed) a lot of Football Manager so I searched for baseball managing games so I could learn more about baseball and that's how I came across OOTP. What I like about it is just looking at all the mexican players haha, I like building my teams around that identity and seeing how far I can get.


The project I'm working on rn is great because I get to research and read and learn about the history of baseball in my country which not that many people know about. This way I also get to see the great players my grandpa tells me about like the GOAT pitcher Vicente "Huevo" Romo or the "Sonoran Superman" Héctor Espino.

[majormet]

Originally Posted by jasg224

I'm 20, I started watching baseball like 3-2 years ago and it somewhat coincided with the return of LMP baseball to Guadalajara. They repurposed the athletics complex as a baseball stadium which is like a 5 minute walk from my house. At that time I also started watching the Blue Jays because of Marco Estrada.


I play(ed) a lot of Football Manager so I searched for baseball managing games so I could learn more about baseball and that's how I came across OOTP. What I like about it is just looking at all the mexican players haha, I like building my teams around that identity and seeing how far I can get.


The project I'm working on rn is great because I get to research and read and learn about the history of baseball in my country which not that many people know about. This way I also get to see the great players my grandpa tells me about like the GOAT pitcher Vicente "Huevo" Romo or the "Sonoran Superman" Héctor Espino.

I see your Mexican League thread and follow it. I was just happy to expand my league to Mexico City and Guadalajara and I am adding Tijuana for 2023 and in final expansion Cozumel in 2024. Cozumel is where I like to vacation most, it is so underrated.

I remember Romo at the end of his career, there have been a lot of solid Mexican players over the year, and a lot of proud history. Oliver Perez is one of those players that should been the best ever but he hit such a brickwall. But there are a lot of good players and one day the MLB will expand there.

[Tiger Fan]

My story is very much the same as yours. I am 55 and, like you, grew up pouring over the stats in The Sporting News before discovering a table top dice game. In my case it was Extra Innings and later APBA and Strat. Also player Earl Weaver and remember in college me and a bunch of friends editing all the players in Nintendo's Baseball Stars to create a league. I discoverd OOTP in version 2 and with a background in sports broadcasting really enjoyed doing dynasty reports as an outlet for my writing desire after I discovered there was no money in radio and moved on to another career.

I originally did strictly historical sims and did a large one every year for the first half a dozen or so versions of OOTP that I called the History of Baseball and replayed from 1901 to modern day. I did it hands off, as commissioner only, as the greatest joy I got from the game was watching history play out and discovering more about the many lesser-known ballplayers who happened to shine in one of my HOB replays.

I branched out to a number of other sports and have also done a few multi-sport replays using OOTP, FHM and several other games covering football, basketball and boxing. Around OOTP8 I slowed down for a while as family and 2 boys playing a lot of hockey, baseball and basketball between them took over but now that they are older I got back into dynasty writing a couple of years ago. I have several going right now with the main one being a solo project that is using historical players to sim out the pseudo-history of the MLB, NHL and pro and college basketball.

I also discovered the joy of online leagues about a year and a half ago. I had never really played in one until I joined a fictional league called Figment Baseball and it was really the first time in all my years playing OOTP that I heavily focused on running a team. I have a dynasty going on it as well (so do several other GM's and the commissioner as it is a very active and fun league) so I am finding I enjoy fictional leagues as much, or perhaps even more than the historical sims I have done.

I love reading all the dynasty's on this board. There are some very creative people and a wide-range of league ideas and writing styles to make many of them very interesting to follow.

[jasg224]

Originally Posted by majormet

I see your Mexican League thread and follow it. I was just happy to expand my league to Mexico City and Guadalajara and I am adding Tijuana for 2023 and in final expansion Cozumel in 2024. Cozumel is where I like to vacation most, it is so underrated.

I remember Romo at the end of his career, there have been a lot of solid Mexican players over the year, and a lot of proud history. Oliver Perez is one of those players that should been the best ever but he hit such a brickwall. But there are a lot of good players and one day the MLB will expand there.

What team name did you chose for Guadalajara?


Hopefully one day we will get a team like Canada does with the Blue Jays. The MLB has tested it out already with the Mexico Series in Monterrey and I believe there were talks about hosting Mexico Series in Culiacán and Guadalajara.

[majormet]

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

My story is very much the same as yours. I am 55 and, like you, grew up pouring over the stats in The Sporting News before discovering a table top dice game. In my case it was Extra Innings and later APBA and Strat. Also player Earl Weaver and remember in college me and a bunch of friends editing all the players in Nintendo's Baseball Stars to create a league. I discoverd OOTP in version 2 and with a background in sports broadcasting really enjoyed doing dynasty reports as an outlet for my writing desire after I discovered there was no money in radio and moved on to another career.

I originally did strictly historical sims and did a large one every year for the first half a dozen or so versions of OOTP that I called the History of Baseball and replayed from 1901 to modern day. I did it hands off, as commissioner only, as the greatest joy I got from the game was watching history play out and discovering more about the many lesser-known ballplayers who happened to shine in one of my HOB replays.

I branched out to a number of other sports and have also done a few multi-sport replays using OOTP, FHM and several other games covering football, basketball and boxing. Around OOTP8 I slowed down for a while as family and 2 boys playing a lot of hockey, baseball and basketball between them took over but now that they are older I got back into dynasty writing a couple of years ago. I have several going right now with the main one being a solo project that is using historical players to sim out the pseudo-history of the MLB, NHL and pro and college basketball.

I also discovered the joy of online leagues about a year and a half ago. I had never really played in one until I joined a fictional league called Figment Baseball and it was really the first time in all my years playing OOTP that I heavily focused on running a team. I have a dynasty going on it as well (so do several other GM's and the commissioner as it is a very active and fun league) so I am finding I enjoy fictional leagues as much, or perhaps even more than the historical sims I have done.

I love reading all the dynasty's on this board. There are some very creative people and a wide-range of league ideas and writing styles to make many of them very interesting to follow.

I have read your posts back many years ago, like you had taken some hiatuses when real life took over, but this is a great escape in these times for sure.

I enjoy your multisport thread, I am a big hockey fan so one day I may attack that. I had APBA Basketball it took like 4 hours to play a basketball game it was terrible, but they were one of the standards back in the day for sure, they did OK when they made computer games.

[majormet]

Originally Posted by jasg224

What team name did you chose for Guadalajara?


Hopefully one day we will get a team like Canada does with the Blue Jays. The MLB has tested it out already with the Mexico Series in Monterrey and I believe there were talks about hosting Mexico Series in Culiacán and Guadalajara.

I would say Puerto Rico gets the team first because they will be a state soon, but there will be a team in Mexico in the next 12 years.

I kind of just looked a stock logos and used the names in the OOTP, so the Guadalajara team is the Bighorns. They joined the league in 2022 which just completed and went 48-114 which isn't bad considering how many teams are added. Ken Boyer is their franchise player after the first season but they will start to draft better, they play in the same division as Mexico City Salukis who are in their 2nd year and are advancing. Tijuana starts off in the National League in 2023, but Tijuana is in the West.

[rpriske]

Is it possible that there is a 'right age' for this kind of game? I ask, because I am also in the same age range, at 52.

My first baseball game was one created by myself and my cousin that involved using baseball cards and the stats on the back to play games on the basement floor with a marble.

My first REAL game was Statis Pro, back in 1986. My plan then was to play every game in the season, for every team.

Needless to say, I never finished that project.

I later picked up Statis Pro Basketball and tried (and failed) the same thing.

I have now been playing OOTP for eight years and I love that I can actually do what I was trying to do back then. I don't personally play out the 'other' games, though I do for 'my' teams. I run five Dynasties at a time and can't imagine stopping (despite the frustrations of this unstable game).

[Tiger Fan]

Originally Posted by rpriske

Is it possible that there is a 'right age' for this kind of game? I ask, because I am also in the same age range, at 52.
.

Maybe so many of us here because we pre-date the graphics heavy video game era.

[ForeverRoyalKC]

For me, it's because I am a big baseball and stats fan. From my pre-teen days of me and my friends playing baseball in the backyard complete with raking and spraying down the dirt in the back yard, having a pregame interview show and keeping our stats through our "season."
Then in my teens and early twenties, a friend of mine had Earl Weaver Baseball and ohhh man....like not eating for two days and then suddenly happening upon a Thanksgiving table! Stats, making up fantasy teams (before actual fantasy teams)!
Now it's evolved into hiring myself to take over! If I dont like players Dayton Moore drafted or tries to keep hanging on to *cough*...Bubba Starling...*cough*, they are outta here!
It's a mixture of things for me! A deep vat of baseball ingredients!

[majormet]

Originally Posted by rpriske

Is it possible that there is a 'right age' for this kind of game? I ask, because I am also in the same age range, at 52.

My first baseball game was one created by myself and my cousin that involved using baseball cards and the stats on the back to play games on the basement floor with a marble.

My first REAL game was Statis Pro, back in 1986. My plan then was to play every game in the season, for every team.

Needless to say, I never finished that project.

I later picked up Statis Pro Basketball and tried (and failed) the same thing.

I have now been playing OOTP for eight years and I love that I can actually do what I was trying to do back then. I don't personally play out the 'other' games, though I do for 'my' teams. I run five Dynasties at a time and can't imagine stopping (despite the frustrations of this unstable game).

Yeah there is not time in life to watch every game, I just run the team for their 162 game schedule. That would include world series etc... I guess if my team is out of it, I have to speed race to the end for the next season

Like Tigerfan said I think because we grew up in an era where information was scarce and we did not grow up on fancy video games, I mean how fancy was Space Invaders LOL. that we tend to find interest in a lot of this.

My son is 25 I think he gets a kick out of the world building element to it, but has no understanding of my love for statistics. My parents hated that they had a $150 calculator that I ended up wearing out doing stats for all my sports sims and tracking real stats.

[majormet]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoyalKC

For me, it's because I am a big baseball and stats fan. From my pre-teen days of me and my friends playing baseball in the backyard complete with raking and spraying down the dirt in the back yard, having a pregame interview show and keeping our stats through our "season."
Then in my teens and early twenties, a friend of mine had Earl Weaver Baseball and ohhh man....like not eating for two days and then suddenly happening upon a Thanksgiving table! Stats, making up fantasy teams (before actual fantasy teams)!
Now it's evolved into hiring myself to take over! If I dont like players Dayton Moore drafted or tries to keep hanging on to *cough*...Bubba Starling...*cough*, they are outta here!
It's a mixture of things for me! A deep vat of baseball ingredients!

I like the change reality aspect that you suggest, I guess as a Royals fan your life was kind of similar to mine as a Mets fan success when you were young then a 30 year period of futility and then our worlds collided in 2015.

I think just finding a game with stats compiler was huge back in the day... then with AI and all the trading and you are sucked into your own little world.

[jasg224]

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

Maybe so many of us here because we pre-date the graphics heavy video game era.

I think for the younger people like me it's the stats aspect. Games like The Show aren't deep enough in that aspect for my liking. I remember playing FIFA 2004 with my brother and keeping track of the stats like Games, Goals, Assists and Clean Sheets. We even played out our own versions of the irl leagues and made up our own World Cups and Champions Leagues.