Morale: On or Off

[koohead]

Quick simple poll...just wondering how many people play with Morale on vs off.

[RchW]

I like it on. I've even traded chronically mad players.

[StyxNCa]

Definitely off. I like teams with unique character and the morale system makes sure that can't happen. All teams are basically the same.

Besides, the years I am playing (1910 right now), if a player didn't like how he was managed he had another option....go home.

[Charlie Hough]

Definitely off. I'm a moral nihilist.

[johnnybourbon]

I've really only noticed that the morale issue (as far as demanding trades and such) comes up with other teams in my league with ex-star players who want playing time.
It doesnt affect me as much as I run an-on-the-cheap style team with has-beens and prospects...and a league low payroll.

[conception]

If my team is good enough, most of those whiny players will shut up. If not, morale can actually be one of the hardest things to improve in OOTP and therefore it adds a challenge that can't necessarily be solved overnight.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by conception

If my team is good enough, most of those whiny players will shut up. If not, morale can actually be one of the hardest things to improve in OOTP and therefore it adds a challenge that can't necessarily be solved overnight.

The problem with the morale thing is that IRL a manager or GM can have a face to face with a player which can alter a players thinking in a hurry. We can't. Adding things to a game are fine but adding things that can be resolved IRL from real human interaction is a bit off since that option is not available to a game player hence the "addition" to the game is not realistic. This has been my argument as well when it comes to allowing us to make baserunning decisions in the game since we can't talk to a player or base coach in the dugout and can't even fire or hire base coaches.

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by StyxNCa

The problem with the morale thing is that IRL a manager or GM can have a face to face with a player which can alter a players thinking in a hurry. We can't. Adding things to a game are fine but adding things that can be resolved IRL from real human interaction is a bit off since that option is not available to a game player hence the "addition" to the game is not realistic. This has been my argument as well when it comes to allowing us to make baserunning decisions in the game since we can't talk to a player or base coach in the dugout and can't even fire or hire base coaches.

Morale was a feature that was introduced during the SI era for OOTP. Morale is a huge component of Football Manager, and it has evolved over the history of the series to be something that is very dynamic and that the human manager can influence through direct player interaction, comments in the media, and new contracts.

I think Markus must have abandoned the development of this feature once the relationship with SI ended. Personally I would rather see it go away completely, but there may be many others who use it and like it.

As far as baserunning decisions go, allowing the human manager to make these has been a part of baseball sims from the beginning. No one has yet released a game in which base coaches exist and make the decisions. I'm okay with allowing the human manager to decide as if he was the base coach. If you think about it, a manager hires base coaches in order to implement his philosophy. So, in a perfect world, the base coaches are going to do what the human manager would have done anyway.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

I think Markus must have abandoned the development of this feature once the relationship with SI ended. Personally I would rather see it go away completely, but there may be many others who use it and like it..

I haven't bothered making an issue out of it since it is optional. One of the strengths of OOTP are just how many things are optional.

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

As far as baserunning decisions go, allowing the human manager to make these has been a part of baseball sims from the beginning. No one has yet released a game in which base coaches exist and make the decisions. I'm okay with allowing the human manager to decide as if he was the base coach. If you think about it, a manager hires base coaches in order to implement his philosophy. So, in a perfect world, the base coaches are going to do what the human manager would have done anyway.

Yes but I've been told the ability for us to make baserunning decisions wouldn't be realistic because IRL the manager doesn't make those calls and as I said before, OOTP isn't real life and we are left at the mercy of the AI to make those decisions for us. As much as everyone would love OOTP to mimic real life 100% it just isn't possible because of the missing human interaction that exists IRL so there has to be some things involved in the game to make up for that missing element.

[koohead]

Thanks all for the thoughts and opinions. I've always played with morale on but Styx's post in the minor league thread made me wonder if many others had it turned off. I too get frustrated when 4 of my MR all want to be closers...or a guy with 2 good pitches and 1 horrible changeup expects to be in the rotation...and because of their morale their performance takes a hit. I tossed around the idea of turning it off, but I think I'll leave it on just so it's an additional handicap for myself making the game a bit more challenging. Although I do have to say that even the grumpiest of players tend to cheer up when the team is performing well and winning pennants. It's just when I don't make the playoffs that I have to resort to trading away bad apples.

[James M. Rousseau]

This is why you always keep a "god mode" GM to switch to to edit a player that has no reason to be mad.

Also, go for players with good loyality ratings.. they may expect, or demand to be a closer.. but they won't be mad if they aren't.