Have the Devs given up?

[Hwilensky]

The brazen passing of money between accounts has reached an all time high. Joe Adell has a L10 of 35K, Cy Acosta has an L10 6k, Jose Garcia has an L10 48K. So damn annoying!!

[dishnet34]

I have no doubt that the developers and game moderators have not given up. As Kris has said before, most if not all of the transactions people post about have already been caught, and those teams have likely already been actioned. In some cases, the action can take a bit as situations are investigated. A lot of the sales the team sees are a handful from one team to another, but they also see more complex and complicated situations that require additional investigation and resources to ensure that the proper teams are identified and proper action is taken.

The thing that really grinds my gears is that the fraudulent sales don't get wiped from the L10 formula. If they could be scrubbed like that, or if it's even technically possible to do that, that would be absolutely stellar for the game's optics. With how dead the AH is nowadays, you're seeing these kind of things happen a lot more frequently.

[Quinta]

Originally Posted by dishnet34

I have no doubt that the developers and game moderators have not given up. As Kris has said before, most if not all of the transactions people post about have already been caught, and those teams have likely already been actioned. In some cases, the action can take a bit as situations are investigated. A lot of the sales the team sees are a handful from one team to another, but they also see more complex and complicated situations that require additional investigation and resources to ensure that the proper teams are identified and proper action is taken.

While this is all true (and I certainly agree removing the information from the L10 would give some indication that something is happening), I just cannot believe all of this is being fixed. It may resource constraints or other difficulties but as Hwilensky correctly notes the AH is dramatically overrun by PP swapping. It is the worst it has ever been. There are easier solutions than their resource intensive "investigative approach" unexplored.

[Hwilensky]

Just seems like a free for all, and taking away some of the fun. Thats all!!

[professor ape]

Originally Posted by Hwilensky

Just seems like a free for all, and taking away some of the fun. Thats all!!

Play fair and trust that the offenders will be dealt with.

[Leo_The_Lip]

I know, I know. They are trying their best.

However, the absurd last ten transaxtion prices in the AH make it even more laborious and uninteresting to sell-off my tourney packs.

I; think is the last straw, the camel's back is broken.

[Bunktown Ballers]

Originally Posted by Hwilensky

Just seems like a free for all, and taking away some of the fun. Thats all!!

It's ;ile this all year....Rich stay rich like it was designed to do

[Bunktown Ballers]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

I know, I know. They are trying their best.

However, the absurd last ten transaxtion prices in the AH make it even more laborious and uninteresting to sell-off my tourney packs.

I; think is the last straw, the camel's back is broken.

Nah they'll hook you back in next year...So many people warned of this issue long ago. It ha sdriven me way from this company this year. I'm playing out my season and looking for a new alternative game next year. What started out as a passion for this company has turned to greed. [snipped].....OOTP will be unrecognizeable from previous years.
Sad Story to me

[professor ape]

Originally Posted by Bunktown Ballers

[snipped]

I’m wondering which are worse at complaining about something that we love; OOTP players or Star Wars fans. Yes, the company wants to make money with the game and it is certainly true that they could completely screw it up. However, if they want to make money then they need people to buy the product. There is already MLB The Show and other games to fill the need for a more action oriented game. They would have to be complete idiots to not recognize that they occupy a different niche and should be putting their resources behind dominating their space. We’ll see how it goes.

[TwanLX2000]

Originally Posted by Bunktown Ballers

[snipped]

I think we can grieve changes that happen when upstarts inevitably capitalize on a great product, but I think it's unfair to attribute everything to greed when someone has the opportunity to make a living off of their passion. Yes, I'm sure the developers could continue to crank out 18-hour days for the rest of their life, but I can't begrudge anyone with the opportunity to work a little less to enjoy the fruits of their labor if a larger company is offering to buy.

What I will say is that truly innovative entrepreneurs tend to grow "beyond" their single upstart once things come to fruition, and they will continue to innovate and bring us more wonderful things over the course of their lifetime. Those who luck their way into one good idea (whether their own or "borrowed") tend to be content to spend the rest of their life in retirement and philanthropy as the person that once did that thing.

I'm pleased with my experience. Nothing is perfect, but I've played plenty of games that inevitably put up a paywall just to have access to certain features of the game. You can legitimately play all functions and succeed at PT without spending extra money beyond the OOTP platform, and I'm sure that GO has allowed them to expand their product well beyond that. If the inevitable decline happens because less passionate people take control of the product, I'll fondly remember the game and the community and explore what these developers are doing next.

[ubernoob]

Originally Posted by Bunktown Ballers

[snipped]

Wow nice job being racist and dumb!

[Fabtron7]

Originally Posted by ubernoob

Wow nice job being racist and dumb!

Wow... No kidding, that's pretty awful.

[Syd Thrift]

I'm also very curious how this is a developer problem. It's an OOTP problem for sure but it strikes me as an admin problem. Whoever's in charge of tracking money-transfer-between-accounts purchases isn't catching enough people. If those are actually devs doing that job then OOTPDev has much deeper issues than many of us imagine... which, I guess having guys running both dev and ops isn't unheard of, and the fact that these people would be unavailable when they're needed for, you know, development might be a reason why they'd be away... but I'd still assume that *developers*, you know, people you pay a premium for because they know how to do things that non-developer people don't, aren't handling these kinds of non-special-training issues.

[Ty Cobb]

It's a business model problem, that's for sure. I'd wager that's getting looked at by the new parent company.

The larger question is, if we need huge changes to the Auction structure, will the 95%+ of honest and legitimate players be tolerant and understanding because of the small group breaking the rules?

[Hwilensky]

It is so prevalent right now it absolutely disgusting.

[Hertston]

Originally Posted by Hwilensky

It is so prevalent right now it absolutely disgusting.

God knows why. It's not as if there's ever anything in the AH these days worth buying with it.

[HRBaker]

I can't help but wonder if the last few months of a PT version year isn't doomed to create a not-so-ideal scenario. I mean, really... how many teams are still active? 30% maybe (and that might be optimistic). All the teams that are in the 4th quarter of this version have 90% of the best cards and of course most teams are the same - what else could it be?


And focusing your energy on the new release is only logical. In a month, the rest of us will most likely abandon v22.


I think if your going to be fair, PT's "real" lifetime is about 9 months; 6 months during the baseball season and a 3 month stretch after that. Expecting the game to be in perfect balance for a full 12 months is unrealistic unless the release of better cards is slowed down about 30%.


Another way to look at it; the game can be bought at this point for $10. Once a new player gets into the game and see's how strong the 11 month teams are and how much money it would take to compete, they likely choose to wait till the new release. This means OOTP is making very little money at this point in the game lifecycle. If your not making a profit between January and March, your not going to put much effort into the game operations of a retiring version.


Next year I think I'll plan of playing solid and setting my goals for a Thanksgiving exit. 95% of my enjoyment will have been experienced by that time anyway.

[Bunktown Ballers]

Originally Posted by Hwilensky

Just seems like a free for all, and taking away some of the fun. Thats all!!

The death of OOTP is coming....PT has ruined it for me...Seems like all attention has gone there....

[Bunktown Ballers]

Originally Posted by HRBaker

I can't help but wonder if the last few months of a PT version year isn't doomed to create a not-so-ideal scenario. I mean, really... how many teams are still active? 30% maybe (and that might be optimistic). All the teams that are in the 4th quarter of this version have 90% of the best cards and of course most teams are the same - what else could it be?


And focusing your energy on the new release is only logical. In a month, the rest of us will most likely abandon v22.


I think if your going to be fair, PT's "real" lifetime is about 9 months; 6 months during the baseball season and a 3 month stretch after that. Expecting the game to be in perfect balance for a full 12 months is unrealistic unless the release of better cards is slowed down about 30%.


Another way to look at it; the game can be bought at this point for $10. Once a new player gets into the game and see's how strong the 11 month teams are and how much money it would take to compete, they likely choose to wait till the new release. This means OOTP is making very little money at this point in the game lifecycle. If your not making a profit between January and March, your not going to put much effort into the game operations of a retiring version.


Next year I think I'll plan of playing solid and setting my goals for a Thanksgiving exit. 95% of my enjoyment will have been experienced by that time anyway.

I've spent money so I'm gonna play out but this is last season of Perfect Team for me. Back to the basics of OOTP that brought many so much love for the game of baseball......

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Bunktown Ballers

The death of OOTP is coming....PT has ruined it for me...Seems like all attention has gone there....

Then you've been playing too much PT to notice all the work that's been done to the base game, quite frankly. Over the past couple/few years they added 3D, which I personally never thought I needed but now I kind of can't live without it. It's turned the game into what I remember Microleague Baseball or Earl Weaver Baseball being back in the day, only of course the game is waaaay deeper than Microleague or EWB ever were.

Additionally there've been pretty huge additions to coaching and scouting and a lot of QoL improvements to things like the ability to set up team, lineup, and player stat screens so that they only show the stats you want to see. The latter seems like a small thing but man... I'm sure that for people who have smaller screens and want the most bang for their buck it's big, but IME it's much, much more immersive playing historical sims and not having quick and easy access to things like WAR and FIP (I have to say, the latter in particular... I've been reading a bunch of scouting report / stathead stuff from the 80s recently and it's very easy to forget that as recently as the mid-90s people thought it was possible for a pitcher to have an ability to reduce hits on balls in play above and beyond striking people out).

YMMV and to a degree I think OOTP in its current form has a limited shelf life - eventually someone, either OOTP or an as yet uncreated competitor, is going to switch to a physics based model and it's going to change everything - but to me these are reasons to embrace what we have now and enjoy it while it lasts rather than being nostalgic for the last 10 years before the last 10 years have passed. If anything to me OOTP has been filling a hole left by actual baseball for a few years now.