Historical vs fictional players

[robc]

Hi,

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I searched back through 6 months of posts that contain fictional and historical and couldn't find the answer.

Do you prefer your solo leagues with fictional or historical players? What do you find the biggest pros and / or cons of each?

Thanks,
Rob

[robc]

So far I have only played historical. I just haven't been able to get myself to start a fictional league. I like the nostalgia of seeing the players from my youth.

It seems like fictional may provide more of a challenge, so I am tempted by it.

[robc]

Hmm, so far fictional has a small lead. If any fictional players have some time I would like to read their opinion on why they like fictional better!

[RchW]

It's really to prevent unnecessary angst when Joe Dimaggio ends up a 4th OF on the Phillies. I get caught up in the names so I prefer the fictional side.

[jtb]

Originally Posted by RchW

It's really to prevent unnecessary angst when Joe Dimaggio ends up a 4th OF on the Phillies. I get caught up in the names so I prefer the fictional side.

I agree completely. It takes a bit more time to get to know the fictional players, but it is definitely worth it.

[TGH-Adfabre]

Fictional Online league only.
Phenominal game.

[dcpcarmona]

Strictly fictional, that way player expections are low.

[Eugene Church]

I played with historical players for 11 seasons using OOTP6.51 and had trouble coping with great players playing poorly. It didn't happen often, but it bothered me when it happened.

I tediously input all player ratings myself, which Version 6.51 allowed you to do. And 90% of the time it was accurate. I had trouble accepting Tom Seaver being 7-22 with a 5.00 ERA and Hank Aaron hitting .250 for a career.

As others have expressed, you are never disappointed with fictional players.

Plus you don't have any idea of how the teams will fare like you do with real teams. In general, the good teams will be good teams in OOTPB. But I don't like it if the 1927 Yankees don't dominate and finish third.

I have found I can get very attached to my fictional teams and players.

[robc]

Maybe I'll have to try a fictional league. It seems a lot of players like them. I think it might be hard for me to get excited over guys who I don't recognize though.

[bubba22plus]

I love 'em both!

[Ktulu]

Originally Posted by robc

Maybe I'll have to try a fictional league. It seems a lot of players like them. I think it might be hard for me to get excited over guys who I don't recognize though.

One way to get to know them is to run smaller leagues and do all award/all-star voting manually. Doing the voting allows you to learn who the stars of your league are pretty fast. Also you can put players on your shortlist and choose to receive news about them in your email. So for instance you can add the number one draft pick to your shortlist and follow his career progress through the news you receive about him.

Fictional only here, but I do sometimes import individual real players every once and a while.

[robc]

Originally Posted by Ktulu

One way to get to know them is to run smaller leagues and do all award/all-star voting manually. Doing the voting allows you to learn who the stars of your league are pretty fast. Also you can put players on your shortlist and choose to receive news about them in your email. So for instance you can add the number one draft pick to your shortlist and follow his career progress through the news you receive about him.

Fictional only here, but I do sometimes import individual real players every once and a while.

That is a good idea about the all star voting. It forces you to evaluate the players. I am pretty good about looking to see how players are doing on the teams I play against, so I guess I would start to recognize them too.

[King10Sooted]

i acutally just simmed about 35 years in my baseball world. I would stop every year and shortlist the MLB #1 draft pick and follow their career. I think if you spend time playing the game and looking at teams and stats you will learn the big names in the league pretty quick.

Fictional all the way.

[Eugene Church]

Excellent suggestion by ktulu to manually pick the award winners. I also have found it very helpful in learning the players... plus I do a much better job of picking the award winners and the All-Stars. The AI does a very poor job on the All-Stars in my league. It will pick 3-4 middle relievers with very few innings. Same thing for the Gold Glove winners.

I watch all of the playoff games and do a short recap of each so that I will learn more about the players and the teams.

I sim the first six innings of each playoff game and then play it out the rest of the way batter-by-batter in the one pitch mode.

I have just played my 7th season. I know the teams and players, but I still have trouble knowing who plays for who. Sadly I have 64 teams in my league. Way too many to learn and remember, but I still enjoy it. Next time my league will be 16 teams.

I will keep it simple.

[JTSMOOTH]

Originally Posted by robc

Maybe I'll have to try a fictional league. It seems a lot of players like them. I think it might be hard for me to get excited over guys who I don't recognize though.

I used to think that way, but I played in a few fictional leagues over the years and you grow quite attached to some of them. I still think about some of the players I had from an online league that folded over a year ago

[rogmax11]

I often play with both, but usually find fictionals all too often are prone to weird ratings:
batters with absurdly low k or bb totals, or pitchers that seem like Pedro on steroids. Its a problem because try as I might, I cant get past historicals over ( or under ) achieving past a relatively tight margin of variance, and yet fictionals all too often are glaringly unrealistic.

My compromise/solution? I create fictional leagues with historical players, changing names manually most of the time; the stats come out more realistic relative to the chosen era, and the sheer number of players being renamed often induces a useful "fog of war" that allows the pleasure of discovery to trump expectations.
It does take a lot of time though, and I find set-up/creation/ modification more often the fun part, with relatively less time spent on simming. I seldom make it past 60 years; must be the old ADD acting up.

[robc]

Originally Posted by rogmax11

I often play with both, but usually find fictionals all too often are prone to weird ratings:
batters with absurdly low k or bb totals, or pitchers that seem like Pedro on steroids. Its a problem because try as I might, I cant get past historicals over ( or under ) achieving past a relatively tight margin of variance, and yet fictionals all too often are glaringly unrealistic.

My compromise/solution? I create fictional leagues with historical players, changing names manually most of the time; the stats come out more realistic relative to the chosen era, and the sheer number of players being renamed often induces a useful "fog of war" that allows the pleasure of discovery to trump expectations.
It does take a lot of time though, and I find set-up/creation/ modification more often the fun part, with relatively less time spent on simming. I seldom make it past 60 years; must be the old ADD acting up.

Sounds like OOTP needs a feature to randomize historical names. That would make it much easier to play the way you mentioned.

[robc]

Originally Posted by rogmax11

I often play with both, but usually find fictionals all too often are prone to weird ratings:
batters with absurdly low k or bb totals, or pitchers that seem like Pedro on steroids. Its a problem because try as I might, I cant get past historicals over ( or under ) achieving past a relatively tight margin of variance, and yet fictionals all too often are glaringly unrealistic.

My compromise/solution? I create fictional leagues with historical players, changing names manually most of the time; the stats come out more realistic relative to the chosen era, and the sheer number of players being renamed often induces a useful "fog of war" that allows the pleasure of discovery to trump expectations.
It does take a lot of time though, and I find set-up/creation/ modification more often the fun part, with relatively less time spent on simming. I seldom make it past 60 years; must be the old ADD acting up.

Actually this feature was in the help file under League Functions - Other functions. Would this randomize the names like you want.

Randomize Player Names - Randomizes the player names of all players in the selected league and any affiliated leagues.

[MMA_Dave]

Originally Posted by JTSMOOTH

I used to think that way, but I played in a few fictional leagues over the years and you grow quite attached to some of them. I still think about some of the players I had from an online league that folded over a year ago

Also consider writing a recap of each game or running a dynasty thread. You grow more attached to players the more work you put in, IMO.

[BaseballMan]

I dont think you should expect the 27 yankees to be the same as the real 27 yankees if you have trades & injurys on. Historical players may have the same
talent in each import but i guess i like seeing how close a historical player succeeded or failed to live up to expectations.
I understand how some feel that its more fun to get to know the fictional players but dont you still expect certain fictional players to perform a certain way? I mean if you look at a fictional player that has the same ratings as Babe Ruth of 1927 did would you not expect that player to hit 60 hrs? Its the same thing only difference is the name is different
I guess i might enjoy fictional play if i were to keep a league going but if i simmed only 100 years im not sure i would enjoy it as much as i do historical play.