My Ultimate WishList

[Muzamba]

Here is my ultimate list of suggestions for the new OOTPBM and subsequent releases...

( = new idea since original post)

MOST IMPORTANT: (but probably already included in OOTPBM, to some degree)
1. Partial and Ltd. NTCs - Plus the trade moratorium on new FAs until June 15th
2. Home Regions - Not just hometowns, but whole regions affecting FA and front office signings
3. "Shadowing" of Owners/GMs/FMs
4. Free Agent Factors - Playing close to home, market size, playing time, DH possibility, star status, tradition, familiarity
-Would love to see FAs making offers to my team on occasion AND the ability to offer a role to a FA (Position Players: starting [pos.], reserve [pos.], unspecified; Pitchers: starter, reliever, closer, unspecified)
5. Rain-Outs and Doubleheaders - Affecting player fatigue

For details concerning the above, you should check out my corresponding post in the General Discussion area. I have several questions relating to each of these.

Here's a link to the other thread:
My Ultimate WishList: The Questions

Now, on to more ideas!

VERY IMPORTANT: (but have seen no confirmation of inclusion in OOTPBM thus far)
1. Off-Field Incidents - These would include things like family emergencies, death bereavement, birth of a child, illness, and off-field accidents. Each incident would have a corresponding minimum/average/maximum games missed.
2. Suspensions/Fines - These would be broken into two categories, possibly with two separate corresponding text files. On-Field Offenses would include things like arguing with umpires, fighting, throwing at batters, and charging the mound. Off-Field Offenses would include things like being arrested, getting a DUI, testing positive for steroids, publicly criticizing the team or league, off-field altercations, or any "conduct detrimental to the team/league". Each suspendable offense would have a corresponding minimum/average/maximum games suspended for and min/max/avg fine.
3. Personality Ratings - This could eventually become specific to certain aspects of the player's life (like his attitude toward teammates, other teams, the coaching staff, the front office, the media, the fans, or society in general.) But to start with, I'd at least like to see a basic Positive, Neutral, or Negative rating. A player with a Negative rating will incur more ejections/suspensions, be more difficult to negotiate contracts with, and be more likely to make trade demands. A player with a Positive rating would be more likely to have a higher Popularity rating, even if he's not statistically that good.
4. Contentment Status - Each player could be rated in terms of how he feels about his team's performance, his amount of playing time, his contract status, and his life off the field. If his contentment in the first 3 areas is low, the player may become more likely to request a trade or refuse to sign an extension. If his off-field contentment is low, it may affect his on-field performance.
5. All Star Game Options - We should have the ability to control the following aspects of the ASG: Roster Size, Representation (Best Players Available or Every Team Represented), Format (Interleague or USA/home nation vs. World), Location (Random or Rotate or Same Every Year), Managers (World Series Winners or Best Current Record), Pitcher Usage (Favor SPs or Use Normal Staff), Substitutions (Showcase Talent or Normal Roster Management), and whether or not to consider a player's popularity and his team's market size in determing who is selected. It would also be nice to have the ability to simply drag & drop non-selected players into ASG rosters.
6. Additional Awards - The following awards should be added: MVP*, Reliever of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Executive (GM) of the Year, MVPs for each round of the playoffs, and All Star Game MVP. Also, there should be an option to give out one award for each "sub-league" or just one leaguewide award. (* - A true MVP would be whoever had the better season between the Batter of the Year and Pitcher of the Year)
7. New HoF Criteria - Include stats like stolen bases, strikeouts, and defensive abilities, as well as awards and titles won, when factoring worthiness for induction. (Managers should be eligible for induction too.) There should also be an option to wait "X" number of years after a player retires before he is eligible.
8. New HoF Configuration - Instead of the current "wall" of plaques, there should be a simple list of all inductees, which can be sorted by Name, Induction Year, Primary Position, and Primary Team. A photo "plaque" of the player, along with their career stats, could still be displayed upon clicking their name in the list.
9. New Injuries Setup - I'd like to see this included within the game itself, not just in the injury.txt file. I believe there should be a list of plays/causes (running the bases, hit by pitch, making a catch, etc.) that correspond to a source file that includes any specific injury that might result from that play/cause. Each play/cause would also correspond to the position(s) affected (Pitcher, Fielder, Batter, Any) and the frequency of a player(s) getting injured from that play/cause. Within the specific injury files, each injury would have the minimum/maximum severity, the min/avg/max games missed, and the frequency of the injury occuring.
10. New "Stop Simming If..." Triggers - Options to automatically stop simming for the following: Any HoF-level milestone about to be reached by a player, a team is about to clinch a playoff berth or win a postseason series, a team is about to break a record (winning streak or leaguewide statistical record), any major career or single-season record about to be broken by a player, a player is about to hit for the cycle. There should also be an option to sim until any specific event on the calendar. (See Advancing Calendar below)
11. Expansion Draft - This is pretty much self-explanatory. (See other posts for specific suggestions)
12. Advancing Calendar - A graphical monthly calendar with all events (awards announcements, staff/front office signing period, FA signing period, arbitration-offer deadline, rule 5 draft, arbitration hearings, spring training, exhibition season, roster-cut deadline, opening day, weekly/monthly awards, amateur draft, All Star Game, non-waiver trade deadline, waiver trade-deadline, roster expansion, postseason, etc.) that would work just like the individual Team Calendars do.
13. Dynamic In-Game Weather Window and Clock - Display the current temperature, weather conditions (sunny/clear, party cloudy, mostly cloudy, light rain/snow, rain/snow) as well as the wind speed/direction, in a small box during the game. The clock would show the current time updating throughout the game with every pitch, along with the duration of the game so far. (I'd like to think these would be "simple" features to add, since these details are in theory monitored continually in the background.)
14. Award/HoF Balloting & All-Star Voting Totals - Display top 5 or 10 vote-getters for major postseason awards and top 10 voting at each position once a week for the month leading up to the ASG.)
15. Team Needs/Surpluses - Specify all team needs, surpluses, and the current number of player at each position in your organization on a chart that can be easily accessed from the Player Trade, Free Agent, Waiver Wire, Rule V Draft, and Amateur Draft screens. This means not just the position, but whether starters, reserves, and/or prospects are needed. So this "Position Status" table may look something like this:
POS. - TOTAL - STARTERS - RESERVES - MINORS
C - 6 - NEEDED! - Fine - Surplus
1B - 4 - NEEDED! - NEEDED! - Fine
2B - 9 - Surplus - Fine - Fine
3B - 6 - Fine - Surplus - NEEDED!
SS - 7 - NEEDED! - Fine - Fine
LF - 7 - Fine - NEEDED! - Surplus
CF - 3 - Fine - NEEDED! - NEEDED!
RF - 6 - NEEDED! - Surplus - Fine
DH - 0 - n/a - n/a - n/a
SP - 18 - Surplus - n/a - NEEDED!
RP - 22 - Fine - n/a - Surplus
CL - 1 - NEEDED! - n/a - n/a

"SMALL" ADDITIONS:
-Add "Player of the Game" to boxscore windows
-Next to a player's name in the ASG, include their real team's abbreviation, especially on the roster screen and lineups
-Any names appearing within news stories should be hyperlinked to the player's card (not just at the end of the story)
-Photos of the current pitcher and batter appearing on the in-game screen
-Incorporate the "Argue the Call" function into the game-play, depending on the umpire's temperment (see "Umpires" below) (NOTE: I normally don't like anything to be removed from the game, but this would be my one exception, provided it still happens automatically in the game when you're not playing as the field manager yourself. Then again, even if you are, it could still be a random occurence after a controversial call... like maybe the ump just "thought" he heard you say something to him after the play and tosses you )
-Allow for longer names to be entered. This usually isn't a problem, but I'm imagining with all the new foreign names that will be included in the new version, we're gonna need an extra 8-10 characters in this field.
-On the Transactions screen, show the total number of players in the organization, in addition to the total number at each level.
-Could there be a confirmation button on the Transactions screen, so that when we're tweaking our rosters, we don't see players being promoted and demoted and promoted again multiple times in one day on the League Transaction page?
-I know the interface is completely revamped, but just to make sure... When accessing the various editors on the League Setup screen (or even when searching for players on from the Misc. Setup page), one shouldn't have to return to League Setup on the drop-down menu to get back to the main League Setup page.
-I'd like to see on the League Standings screen which teams have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. And since it appears as if the magic number will now remain visible throughout the season, this would be a reasonable complement. Perhaps there could just be an 'X' (or an 'E' for "eliminated" or whatever) in the Magic Number column once a team no longer has a chance at reaching the postseason.

PIPE DREAMS & IDEAS FOR FUTURE VERSIONS:
-Season Preview - Summarize offseason developments (including team relocations, stadium changes, and roster additions/subtractions) and predict final standings, postseason results, award winners, and players within reach of certain milestones.
-Rumor Mill - Automatically-generated news stories about players on the trading block (or those just demanding a trade) and potential signings.
-Advanced Front Office Functions - Relocation, Stadium Construction/Renovation, Stadium Naming Rights, Expanded Broadcast Rights, Merchandising/Concessions (And bring back Promotion Days, only add more of them!)
-Umpires - Randomly chosen from a pool for each game, they would be rated by Eye/Skill and would have a Temper Rating. (Umps with a high Temper rating would be quicker to eject a player or manager.)
-Player Agents - All players would be assigned an agent from a pool of agents. Tougher agents would make their free agent clients harder to sign and those already under contract more difficult to satisfy.
-Automatically Generate "Historically-Accurate" Configurations - A click of a button would automatically set up Financials, League Rules, League Structure, Ballparks, Player Demographics, and Era Settings to correspond with whatever year it is in your league.
-Tournaments - Allow various types of single or double elimination tournaments, a la the WBC or CWS.
-Top Rivalries - A list of 3 or so teams that bring in more attendance and the chance for more on-field altercations.
-Retired Player Cards - When a player retires, his card automatically reformats itself, dropping age and current skill level, while emphasizing career totals and achievements.
-Home Run Derby - This could either be played out like a game or just synopsized as a news story right before the ASG.
-"Highlight Reel" (Replay) - For all news stories chronicling on-field events, a button could be clicked to show a "replay" of what happened, just like the in-game replay button.
-Pitch/Hit Locations - Graphical representations after each pitch to simulate ball movement. (While Pitch Location would require a whole new display, Hit Location could be shown on the regular field image using straight lines for line-drives, dashed lines for fly balls, and dotted lines for bouncers.) These could be available for the previous few at-bats in the game and for the individual batter's at-bats so far during the game.
-Player Intro - Possibilty to assign a wav file to each player, so that a few seconds of music, or even just a recorded announcement of his name, would be played as he comes to the plate/mound.
-Multiple-Team Trades - If feasible, although it can easily be done already.
-Related Players - Just for fun, a mention on a player's card of any other players/coaches in the league (active or retired) who are "related" to the player.
-Stadium Generator - Would create stadium pics, using accurate dimensions (and even ad space.)
-Logo/Cap Generator - Either a database of pre-designed logos, or a generator that would take into account the team's name, nickname, and/or letters to assign an appropriate logo and team cap, which would be used by the...
-Player Photo Generator - Using a player's vital/demographic information, a realistic-looking photo could be generated. (Consider utilizing FaceGen software for this.) All players could have the exact same pose, so a dynamic team cap can be overlayed onto the photo. This way, the cap will always be current, even if the player switches teams. Perhaps a less-detailed "action pose" photo could also be generated to use in other places, like news stories.
-Player Mode - Basically just ITP built into the game.
-Play-By-Play Sound & Other In-Game Sounds - Would require each player and team to have a phonetic spelling of his/their name, in order for it to be incorporated into a pre-recorded play-by-play.
-Head-to-Head Play - This would be a huge addition for a future version!
-3D Game Action - Of course, after this is implemented years from now, the only thing left to do is add the ability to download yourself into the game and actually live within your OOTP world. (ok, just kidding.. or am I?!? )

[mgsports]

Good ideas! Advanced Calender is must because I just like to do the Rule 5 and College Draft for my teams! All-Star option would be a good option along with Inter League play option! Expansion Draft is must because I would like to add Orlando as a team to my league!
Rumor Mill, Advanced Front Office Functions,Multiple-Team Trades, Season Preview and Home Run Derby are their good options

[Vris]

Obviously someone who put a lot of thought into that post. Great job! I hope some of your ideas come through!

[attackemu]

Very nice suggestions. Pretty much everything in your post would make a great addition to the game.

[Chappy]

Marc, Markus, hire this guy!

I still remember that time a few versions back where he made screenshots with his ideas on them...

[andjbock]

I would like to see the ability to offer arbitration to vets or at least have the option.



Hey if Clemens can still be offered arbitration, we should be able to do it to (or not) for everyone.

[Muzamba]

Originally Posted by Chappy

Marc, Markus, hire this guy!

I still remember that time a few versions back where he made screenshots with his ideas on them...

Yep, that was me. And I still have those screenshots, although they're based on the OOTP4 setup. Still, I'd be happy to modify some of them and re-post them online, if anyone would be interested in seeing them. This might be a good way to at least illustrate some of the ideas I mentioned above. Let me know if anyone wants to me to post them again.

And btw, thanks for all the positive feedback, guys. I'm glad to see my ideas are meeting with your approval. Let's hope many of these features make the cut.

[DiMaggio5CF]

Two things that I would add that you kind of touched on.

For the ASG, the option to set a 3-inning limit on pitchers.

For the MVP, maybe an option that the MVP should come from a playoff team. In this option, someone from a non-playoff team could win the award, but would have to have significantly better numbers than a playoff player to do so.

[Faroo6]

Awesome Ideas. I wanna touch on a few things.

Player Agents - obviously some players act as their own agents.

Player Intro - assign an mp3 to a player and then have the game play the first 10 - 15 seconds.

I would like to see more options for stop simming emails. Broken into Injuries, DL updates, Trades, Others. Or maybe when it says you have email tell you what type it is.

[Erik]

Originally Posted by Faroo6

Player Intro - assign an mp3 to a player and then have the game play the first 10 - 15 seconds.

My problem with this is that rarely does a player actual come up to bat for 10-15 seconds. Perhaps I'm alone but I am real quick on the trigger, especially when no one is on base and its hitters 3-4-5 in the line-up. I have a feeling a sound file would bog down the speed of the game. The game would be loading up the sound file while, hopefully, my player is already swinging away on a pitch. Let's say he grounds out on the first pitch, would the sound file even bother opening up or would it move on to the next day?

[Faroo6]

Originally Posted by Erik

My problem with this is that rarely does a player actual come up to bat for 10-15 seconds. Perhaps I'm alone but I am real quick on the trigger, especially when no one is on base and its hitters 3-4-5 in the line-up. I have a feeling a sound file would bog down the speed of the game. The game would be loading up the sound file while, hopefully, my player is already swinging away on a pitch. Let's say he grounds out on the first pitch, would the sound file even bother opening up or would it move on to the next day?

Have it play the first 5 seconds then. Thats about how long the PbB takes right. It could be an option to turn on and off. I was just stating the use of mp3 vs .wav files.