Personalities

[SmoothGentleman]

One of my biggest questions and has been lacking any football sim I've played is a real implementation of player and coach personalities. Press Conferences and Interviews are a huge part of professional football and I'd like to see those implemented for players, coaches, GM's, and owners.

It would also be nice to see storylines like OOTP where friction could occur on the team and hurt team chemistry or have a TO-esq player who divides locker rooms and it becomes a decision if you want the great player or is the headache hurting the team too much for your taste.

"Box Players" are often spoke about in the draft in relation to players with personality or legal issues, it'd be nice if they came into effect when teams were scouting and could cause a 1st or 2nd round talent to drop to the 3rd or 4th because of character flaws and teams passing on them.

Coaching personalities also are important with a team and individual coaches have not gotten along and that could play an effect. Personality as a whole could add many layers to the game that keep it interesting and increase how tied in you can get to your team and teams around your universe.

[goalieump413]

A good idea, and I think the "storyline" feature implementation might work. I, too, like the idea of press conferences being added to the game, but they're more important, IMO, to how the team or a player is perceived in the media and the public.

A couple of examples:

• A "players' coach" attracts free agents
• A "stern" coach gets better execution from players
• A "locker room leader" player helps his fellow players stay focused
• A "diva" player attracts the spotlight, but to the detriment of his team's chemistry

Chad Johnson was a loudmouth. The media loved him though. He was a great pass catcher, but he eventually killed his career because of his off-the-field troubles. He was an example of what sort of decision an organization has to make each year when signing players who, in many cases, can bring the riches of talent, but at the cost of team frustration.

In OOTP14, there are the personality ratings that the game uses to modify other ratings and help you determine how you build your team. I'm sure these same ratings, or something similar, will be used in BTS.

[reo]

I second all this.

[MarkInCincy]

To me it seems that pro FB has more personality types than most other sports

Hernandez/Ray Lewis
TO/Chad Johnson
Pacman Jones
Peyton
Incognito
Suh
etc

[Muzamba]

Personality is something I hope is implemented a little better in BTS than it has been in OOTP.

I've maintained for years that a "social disposition" personality rating should be added in OOTP to distinguish players who are troublesome, both on and off the field. Markus has consistently disagreed and believes that this type of character can be accurately represented by combining other aspects of one's personality, like greed, intelligence, work ethic, and others that are already included in OOTP. However, I don't believe you can identify criminal types or "clubhouse cancers" simply by measuring these individual qualities, as not all troublemakers are greedy, dumb, and/or lazy.

Granted, Markus' reluctance to add a separate "social" personality rating probably has as much to do with his not wanting to tinker with the code than his actual belief about what traits define a problematic player. Therefore, I would strongly recommend including this in BTS from the get-go.

[Francis Cole]

We do need something in BTS for those sorts of things, but the idea of having a message come up on screen saying something like "Your Player X will now no longer be on your roster as he has been indicted for Murder" just seems crass to me.

[Muzamba]

Originally Posted by Francis Cole

We do need something in BTS for those sorts of things, but the idea of having a message come up on screen saying something like "Your Player X will now no longer be on your roster as he has been indicted for Murder" just seems crass to me.

Well, there are a few ways to deal with this sort of thing, some of which are already utilized in OOTP.

First, we obviously need to keep in mind that - assuming the BTS storyline engine will work pretty much the same as OOTP's - users can always edit the storylines db to remove any content they personally feel is objectionable.

Another relatively simple option is to offer 2 separate storyline db files, one of which would be the unabridged collection of articles, while the other would be geared more toward "general audiences" (That is, any potentially offensive content edited out.)

Just last year, Andreas added a tag to the OOTP storylines db that prevents certain articles (like those describing deaths of specific family members, for instance) from ever being applied to real MLB players. Instead, only general references (e.g. "Player X will miss 2 game due to personal issues") come up when referencing real-life individuals that appear in the game. Of course, applying this tag doesn't prevent the storyline from showing up in the game for fictional players. Also, it becomes incumbent upon the storyline's author to determine whether or not a particular article should apply to real players, a judgment which certain users may not always agree with. For example, an article saying "Player Y got into a bar fight" probably doesn't bear a "fictional player only" flag, but even that may be a bit over the top for some users.

Which leads me to what I believe is the best option to deal with this sort of thing...

On the initial Options screen, allow the user to check which types of storylines he wants to see appear in the game and whether they should apply to real players.

Some categories could include:

- violent crimes
- drug/steroid use
- deaths of players/personnel
- deaths of players/personnel's specific family members
- severe injuries or illnesses involving players/personnel
- any articles involving players/personnel's children
- "fluff" pieces
- relationships
- random trivia

This method gives the user control over deciding which content they deem appropriate or inappropriate in the game.

I think I speak for many of my fellow OOTPers when I say that quite a few of us want our in-game experience to seem as realistic as possible, even if that means the rare awkward or uncomfortable storyline (because that's real life.)

However, at the same time, as a storyline author, I don't want to force my view of what is or isn't offensive on anyone else. I'd prefer that the user be given that power at the outset.

[goalieump413]

Originally Posted by Muzamba

...Which leads me to what I believe is the best option to deal with this sort of thing. On the initial Options screen, allow the user to check which types of storylines he wants to see appear in the game and whether they should apply to real players...

This is a great idea. I wonder whether it would be applied league wide though. In other words, even if you uncheck the boxes, per se, would these story lines continue for the other organizations in the league? Would that have in game effects?

And I'll offer this perspective too: I think the current (and future) OOTP offerings provide a reasonable degree of player personality to enter into the game. There are noticeable effects when a player is an idiot vs when he's a bright guy. When it comes to contract negotiations, leadership, etc., there seems to be enough of an effect that a massive system change may not help.

Also consider: When it comes to the NFL, not every player's personality has the same impact on other players, team performance etc. Typically, veteran players have a greater expectation to be locker room leaders, so for a veteran, being a vocal guy is helpful (Ray Lewis). Whereas, a 2nd year player who tries to step into that same role may find his energy better spent improving his style of play and keeping his nose clean.

Richard Sherman is a big talker, but he's also a big player that makes a lot of plays. I wouldn't call him a team leader though. Even though he plays for my World Champion Seahawks, his vocabulary to the media indicates his desire to be noticed as an indiviual more than a part of the team. Earl Thomas, on the other hand, has his mind set differently and, from my perspective, is a better team player.

Bottom line: I wouldn't want the frequency of personality-based events to distract BTS players from the joy of simming football. In real life, many of these events are taken care of from within and don't hurt the organization.

[CNOSLIM]

I for one would diffently want the realest game possible -- for example i draft a superstar QB ( tom brady) -- pre-season starts -- player gets career injury / dies from anything / goes to jail / or quits to play another sport. I would totally be like what the hell -- but ill also be like i wanna play this game more -- i play TEW2013 (wrestling sim) and my wrestlers dies from drug overdoses and I'm like wow that sucks -- but awesome at the same time -- so my point is the more real life it is, that means more deeply involved ill be in playing the game