Feedback Needed / OOTP 11 Features

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Muzamba

Roster Transactions:

• Add to Secondary Roster
• Remove from Secondary Roster
• Place on Waivers
• Place on Irrevocable Waivers
• Remove from Waivers
• Release
• Designate for Assignment

I'm going to mention this again, but I really think the different kinds of waivers should be differentiated, as there are different kinds of waivers for different purposes. For example, removing a player from the secondary (40-man) roster requires placing the player on irrevocable waivers, specifically, outright waivers (since you're assigning the player outright to the minors). Differentiating between the different types of waivers would help new users in understanding what restrictions there are on what sorts of transactions, and make it clear what kind of transaction is being attempted.

There are currently four types of waivers in MLB: (1) outright assignment waivers; (2) optional assignment waivers; (3) trade waivers; and (4) unconditional release waivers. There used to be a fifth type, reacquisition waivers, which were used prior to 1986 when a club wanted to reacquire a player for the major league active roster who had been earlier outrighted to the minor leagues.

In terms of "Add to Secondary Roster" there also needs to be a differentiation, since adding a player with options remaining to the secondary roster allows that player to remain in the minors, whereas adding a player without options remaining to the secondary roster also requires that player to be on the active roster.

With all the above in mind, I would amend your list to read as follows:

• Add to Secondary Roster and Active Roster
• Add to Secondary Roster
• Remove from Active Roster and Secondary Roster (place on outright waivers)
• Remove from Secondary Roster (place on outright waivers)
• Place on Option/Trade Waivers
• Remove from Option/Trade Waivers
• Release (place on release waivers)
• Designate for Assignment

The selections which don't apply to the given player would naturally be greyed out.

Also, some items could be added to your list if certain improvements are made to spring training rosters, playoff rosters, and how the reserve roster system works.

Originally Posted by Muzamba

Disabled List

• Place on 15-Day DL
• Place on 60-Day DL
• Remove from DL
• Place on Bereavement List
• Remove from Bereavement List

Two further options that ought to be added to your list:

• Transfer player from 15-day DL to 60-day DL
• Activate player from DL and option to minor league club

A nitpick, but I would change "Remove from" in the third and fifth items in your list to read "Activate from" since that is a more accurate description of what's happening.

[JTSMOOTH]

[QUOTE=Le Grande Orange;2833005]I'm going to mention this again, but I really think the different kinds of waivers should be differentiated, as there are different kinds of waivers for different purposes. For example, removing a player from the secondary (40-man) roster requires placing the player on irrevocable waivers, specifically, outright waivers (since you're assigning the player outright to the minors). Differentiating between the different types of waivers would help new users in understanding what restrictions there are on what sorts of transactions, and make it clear what kind of transaction is being attempted.
QUOTE]

Would love to see that happen. One minor annoyance in OOTP is seeing a player on waivers and placing a claim, only to have the player pulled back off waivers.

Oh and nice work on the mockup screens Muzamba, very nice. Alot of info on there.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Muzamba

Here are some more mock-ups I created for previous versions. They involve a general redesign of the Player Profile screens.

Header

I removed the player's nickname (it never looked right to me up there), plus added his current team, league level, and what organization he plays for. Plus a biggie: I included the star ratings at the top, so they can be easily compared by scanning through multiple profiles.

The 5 tabs within the Player Profile would include: Biographical Info, Status & Contract, Scouting & Ratings, Stats (including Batting/Pitching/Fielding), and History & News. The Biographical Info screen would pop up by default when you right-click on a player's name.

Biographical Info

The Functions area is where you can make changes to the player's photo and perform common actions, including some new ones I'm hoping make it into the game eventually. These are the options currently accessible via the "Actions" button, plus many others that can be done on other screens. I feel that this design makes it easier and more efficient to perform these tasks, as they would all be located in one convenient location. When a button is clicked, a dropdown menu appears. (Also note that the grayed-out buttons are functions that can't be performed for the individual player with their current settings.)

Here's how the "Functions" dropdowns would be organized...


Picture Tools:

• Use Real Photo
• Use FaceGen Photo
• Edit FaceGen Photo
• Regenerate Photo
• Freeze Photo
• Change Hair Color
• Change Facial Hair
• Change Background
• Change Angle
• Disable Photo

Roster Transactions:

• Add to Secondary Roster
• Remove from Secondary Roster
• Place on Waivers
• Place on Irrevocable Waivers
• Remove from Waivers
• Release
• Designate for Assignment

Promotion / Demotion:

• Promote to Major Leagues
• Promote / Demote to AAA
• Promote / Demote to AA
• Demote to A Club #1
• Demote to A Club #2
• Demote to A Club #3
• Transfer to A Club #1
• Transfer to A Club #2
• Transfer to A Club #3

Disabled List

• Place on 15-Day DL
• Place on 60-Day DL
• Remove from DL
• Place on Bereavement List
• Remove from Bereavement List

Trade Options

• Open Trade Window
• Open Contract Negotiations
• Ask to Waive No-Trade Clause
• Add to "Actively Shopping" List
• Add to "Listening to Offers" List
• Remove from Trading Block
• Add to "Untouchable" List
• Remove from "Untouchable" List

Other Actions

• Scout
• Set Game Strategy
• Assess Fine
• Add to Shortlist
• Remove from Shortlist
• Force to Retire
• Copy Player
• Delete Player

In addition to the Functions, the Biographical Profile screen would feature the following sections: Sound Cues, Physical Attributes, Personality, Background Info, Familiarity, and Text Scouting Report

Sound Cues would allow the player's name to be "spoken" by an in-game PbP Announcer and a 10-second music clip to be played when a player comes to the plate or takes the mound.

Physical Attributes is self-explanatory, although I threw in "Gender" just in case people really wanted to do a women's league.

Personality includes an all-important Character Rating that determines how often the player gets into trouble on and off the field, which could eventually be divided into ratings that reflect attitude toward opponents, umpires, teammates, managers/coaches, front office, and society in general. It also determines how likely he may be to make playing time and trade demands.

Background is also fairly obvious, but it would contain some additional info, like more specific geographical locations for more realistic free agency preferences, high school / college attended, and family info, which could be useful in determining off-field morale and may even foreshadow offspring ultimately playing in the league.

Familiarity would help determine where a player may want to play, based on how many of his relatives, friends, or former teammates are on the team. Having enemies could result in a greater probability of conflict when the 2 players face each other in a game.

The Text Scouting Report is displayed on this screen for convenience.

Status & Contract

The Status & Contract screen contains 5 sections: Health, Non-Injury / Suspension Status, Morale, Current Contract, Contract Extension, Service, Miscellaneous, and Signability Factors.

Health is basically self-explanatory, as is Fatigue.

Non-Injury / Suspension Status lets you know why and for how long a player may be out due to suspension or other off-field factors.

Morale would be the same as before, but would also take into account his happiness with what's going on off the field in his personal life, as well as his contract status.

Current Contract info is pretty much the same as before, although the information is more detailed. Also note that there would be different types of No-Trade Clauses: Full, Partial (listing the teams a player CAN be traded to), and Limited (listing the teams a player CAN'T be traded to.)

Contract Extension contains basically the same info, but for an upcoming extension to the contract that has already been signed.

Service info is generally the same, although it would also implement the 10-5 Rule and list teams the player can or can't be traded to if there is a Prtl./Ltd. NTC in his contract.

Miscellaneous info includes the player's agent, which could determine how difficult contract negotiations might be (if agents are eventually included in the game) and how likely the player is, given the current circumstances, to sign or re-sign with your team.

Signability Factors show what a player values, as far as where he wants to sign as a free agent or which teams he would include in a partial or limited NTC.

History & News

The History section shows all Transactions, Injuries/Suspensions, League Records, major Milestones in the player's career, his Personal Best season and game performances, Major Accomplishments, and a list of News Involving Player, with a window for viewing selected articles to the right.

Footer

At the bottom, you'll notice I consolidated all the (frankly, unnecessary) buttons/drop-downs into 4 functional buttons: Help (to the left), Editor, Print Screen, and Convert to HTML.

The Help button would give easy access to help for the specified screen, either by linking to the area in the manual where info on the screen is located, or by presenting the info in a pop-up window transposed over the screen.

The Editor button (which would appear on EVERY screen within the Player Profile) would allow all information contained therein to be customized, not just the limited number of fields that are currently editable.

Print Screen does what is says: prints out the screen (and may include the option of saving a screenshot, as well.)

And the Convert to HTML creates a web page with all the info contained on the screen. This would replace the limited SION Player Page the game currently employs.

(I didn't include the Scouting & Ratings or Stats screens.)

While I like your creativity and design, these screens are just way too busy. Star ratings for things like money offered, contract length, playing time, proximity, etc etc. No thanks, that's far too much micro-management.

I like the screens we have now for the most part.

I do like the injury and awards history being more organized. It's something I was going to suggest, but just put a table at the bottom of the current page instead of having one continuous list by date as it is now.

[Eephus Swift]

Also, it would be cool to show how many Championship rings a given player has (and possible with what teams) at a glance in the 'leaderboard appearances' section of their player card.

I swear that was a feature at one point in time, but maybe I'm imagining that.

This is obviously non-critical, but it would be a fun thing to track.

[Faaip De Oiad]

I would like to see an organization wide strategy section. For instance: All players aged 19 go to Vermont (SSA). Then every year it rolls over you have an up and out scenario.

[Muzamba]

Originally Posted by BruceM

...these screens are just way too busy

I'm thinking you're not gonna like my other mock-ups much, then

Yeah, there's a fine line between too much information and not enough information. It kinda depends on what info is important to each individual. Honestly, I'm not overly concerned about some of the content I included in the mock-up. And I wouldn't expect all of this to be in the next version or even in the next few versions. It's more about what type of data might eventually work its way in over time and how it could ultimately be laid out. But keep in mind, my proposed Player Profile layout actually utilizes less screens than are currently used in the game. So it might be more an issue of "clutter" vs. convenience.

As for the individual ratings for free agency preferences, I'm okay with them being left off the screen or not being editable by the user, but I at least would like all of the values I listed to be taken into consideration when a player is a free agent or is choosing teams to be included in a partial no-trade clause.

[Muzamba]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

I'm going to mention this again, but I really think the different kinds of waivers should be differentiated, as there are different kinds of waivers for different purposes. For example, removing a player from the secondary (40-man) roster requires placing the player on irrevocable waivers, specifically, outright waivers (since you're assigning the player outright to the minors). Differentiating between the different types of waivers would help new users in understanding what restrictions there are on what sorts of transactions, and make it clear what kind of transaction is being attempted.

There are currently four types of waivers in MLB: (1) outright assignment waivers; (2) optional assignment waivers; (3) trade waivers; and (4) unconditional release waivers. There used to be a fifth type, reacquisition waivers, which were used prior to 1986 when a club wanted to reacquire a player for the major league active roster who had been earlier outrighted to the minor leagues.

In terms of "Add to Secondary Roster" there also needs to be a differentiation, since adding a player with options remaining to the secondary roster allows that player to remain in the minors, whereas adding a player without options remaining to the secondary roster also requires that player to be on the active roster.

With all the above in mind, I would amend your list to read as follows:

• Add to Secondary Roster and Active Roster
• Add to Secondary Roster
• Remove from Active Roster and Secondary Roster (place on outright waivers)
• Remove from Secondary Roster (place on outright waivers)
• Place on Option/Trade Waivers
• Remove from Option/Trade Waivers
• Release (place on release waivers)
• Designate for Assignment

The selections which don't apply to the given player would naturally be greyed out.

Also, some items could be added to your list if certain improvements are made to spring training rosters, playoff rosters, and how the reserve roster system works.


Two further options that ought to be added to your list:

• Transfer player from 15-day DL to 60-day DL
• Activate player from DL and option to minor league club

A nitpick, but I would change "Remove from" in the third and fifth items in your list to read "Activate from" since that is a more accurate description of what's happening.

100% agreed!

As always, I will defer to you when it comes to official MLB rules. Like you, I'm a stickler for accuracy and would love for every MLB rule currently or formerly in use--and even some that perhaps could/should be--being included in OOTP. (Okay, I know that's probably not practical, but the more Markus can work in there, the better!)

Please feel free to correct any mistakes or point out any omissions you find in my mock-ups so I can fix them. (While I'm hoping to be considered for the design team, I'm not sure if that's gonna happen. Therefore, this may be my best opportunity to get my design ideas out there, so I want them to be as thorough and accurate as possible. )

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Muzamba

Like you, I'm a stickler for accuracy and would love for every MLB rule currently or formerly in use--and even some that perhaps could/should be--being included in OOTP.

Yeah, there are a number of "what if" rules that could be incorporated. The "Competitive Balance Draft" mentioned in the Blue Ribbon Panel report from 2000 comes to mind.

It would be fascinating to eventual have the option to recreate rule scenarios from other leagues. For example, recreating the restricted/unrestricted free agent classes seen in the NBA, NFL, and NHL. Imagine if in OOTP you could have a league set up which has the equivalent of the NFL's "Franchise Player" designation rule.

Of course, a lot of that type of stuff is still far off since there's plenty of things more deserving of inclusion in the shorter term.

[ms2002]

To me, the most important next step for OOTP is to update with the new statistical metrics (wOBA, WAR, FIP, UZR/TZR, etc.) and add more personality to the game beyond the numbers (give the players more personality, more media, more distinguishable GMs and managers). Here's some things I've been taking note of:

• AI GMs should have different ideologies and methods of evaluating its ballplayers: Traditional, Sabremetric, and Neutral.

  1) Traditional GMs should place heavy emphasis on AVG, ERA, W-L, SV, HR, RBI, SB, E - the raw numbers. They would also emphasize intangibles (leadership, etc.) and scouting. Real-life examples include Dayton Moore, Bill Bavasi, Omar Minaya, Jim Bowden, Kenny Williams.

  2) Sabremetric GMs should place heavy emphasis on OBP, wOBA, WAR/VORP, FIP/cERA, UZR/TZR - the secondary numbers. Real-life examples include Billy Beane, Theo Epstein, Mark Shapiro, Andrew Friedman, JP Ricciardi.

  3) Neutral GMs should be mix between the two. Real-life examples include Brian Cashman, Jack Zduriencik, Doug Melvin, Kevin Towers.

• Managers should have unique personalities: Although it should be more aesthetic than anything, there should be Piniella's and LaRussa's in OOTP.
• Fielding revision: Update the fielding metrics to UZR or TZR that are used today. 2009 has been the year that everyone's attention has turned to fielding evaluation metrics. OOTP should follow the trend. In turn, this can give a more concrete relation between the fielding ratings and W/L.
• Update to the more commonly used statistics: wOBA, FIP, UZR/TZR, WAR should all be incorporated into the game. VORP should be replaced with WAR, since it is the more relevant statistic these days. Research says that a team full of 0 WAR (replacement level) players would result in 50 wins. Given this information, the OOTP engine could be revamped to incorporate this research (ie. teams with roughly 40 WAR should be around a 90 win team).
• Add employment history for coaches and scouts. It becomes a lot more interesting when hiring staff if you can see where they've worked before, so you can examine draft history and the resulting player performance.
• Custom-made stadiums. Have OOTP generate 2D stadiums with logos and unique features that correlate with wall and dimension data.
• Rough 2D game engine?
• Minor league rehabilitation assignments
• More stable markets: There should be far less fluctuating based on success. I see small market teams transform into big market teams far too often in OOTP.
• Long-haired FaceGen: There are currently no Randy Johnson's, Ian Kinsler's or Tim Lincecum's in OOTP. Or Vlad Guerrerro's or Manny's.

[ShaneCarson]

Originally Posted by ms2002

To me, the most important next step for OOTP is to update with the new statistical metrics (wOBA, WAR, FIP, UZR/TZR, etc.) and add more personality to the game beyond the numbers (give the players more personality, more media, more distinguishable GMs and managers). Here's some things I've been taking note of:

• AI GMs should have different ideologies and methods of evaluating its ballplayers: Traditional, Sabremetric, and Neutral.

  1) Traditional GMs should place heavy emphasis on AVG, ERA, W-L, SV, HR, RBI, SB, E - the raw numbers. They would also emphasize intangibles (leadership, etc.) and scouting. Real-life examples include Dayton Moore, Bill Bavasi, Omar Minaya, Jim Bowden, Kenny Williams.

  2) Sabremetric GMs should place heavy emphasis on OBP, wOBA, WAR/VORP, FIP/cERA, UZR/TZR - the secondary numbers. Real-life examples include Billy Beane, Theo Epstein, Mark Shapiro, Andrew Friedman, JP Ricciardi.

  3) Neutral GMs should be mix between the two. Real-life examples include Brian Cashman, Jack Zduriencik, Doug Melvin, Kevin Towers.

• Managers should have unique personalities: Although it should be more aesthetic than anything, there should be Piniella's and LaRussa's in OOTP.
• Fielding revision: Update the fielding metrics to UZR or TZR that are used today. 2009 has been the year that everyone's attention has turned to fielding evaluation metrics. OOTP should follow the trend. In turn, this can give a more concrete relation between the fielding ratings and W/L.
• Update to the more commonly used statistics: wOBA, FIP, UZR/TZR, WAR should all be incorporated into the game. VORP should be replaced with WAR, since it is the more relevant statistic these days. Research says that a team full of 0 WAR (replacement level) players would result in 50 wins. Given this information, the OOTP engine could be revamped to incorporate this research (ie. teams with roughly 40 WAR should be around a 90 win team).
• Add employment history for coaches and scouts. It becomes a lot more interesting when hiring staff if you can see where they've worked before, so you can examine draft history and the resulting player performance.
• Custom-made stadiums. Have OOTP generate 2D stadiums with logos and unique features that correlate with wall and dimension data.
• Rough 2D game engine?
• Minor league rehabilitation assignments
• More stable markets: There should be far less fluctuating based on success. I see small market teams transform into big market teams far too often in OOTP.
• Long-haired FaceGen: There are currently no Randy Johnson's, Ian Kinsler's or Tim Lincecum's in OOTP. Or Vlad Guerrerro's or Manny's.

Loving all of this.

[Le Grande Orange]

I could mention many suggestions, but in keeping with the 'more personality' angle ms2002 mentioned and the 'more immersion' request I've seen a lot, I would recommend the following as a feature to be considered:

Dynamic league AI.

'Dynamic league AI' means that, instead of the OOTP user having to make all the decisions as to how their league unfolds in terms of schedule lengths, playoff setup, team locations, when expansion occurs, which expansion clubs are chosen, how divisional realignment takes place, etc., those sorts of decisions would be governed by the AI so that the league's history in these areas will unfold dynamically. So rather than the user having to orchestrate these kinds of changes, the user can instead sit back and 'go along for the ride' so to speak. The league essentially takes on a life of its own.

Not only that, but if you created a league and then immediately saved it and sent the league file to a number of different OOTP users, each user would have the history of that league unfold slightly differently due to the dynamic nature. One user might have the league expanding earlier or later than another, different playoff formats might be used at different times, divisions might be aligned in a different manner, and so forth. For each user the league unfolds in a different way and with its own unique path.

Of course, for those users who prefer to exercise exacting control over their league in these sorts of areas, they could still do that. But for those users who want a 'hands off' experience with their league, they'd select the 'Dynamic league AI' option.

[Sabermetric Baseball]

I'd like to see the following features added....

• Rather than having to toggle a pitcher's role back and forth to see their ratings in a given role, have their Starting Pitcher ratings and Relief Pitcher ratings both viewable on their player pages and HTML reports.
• Add Potential Ratings for fielding. Also, change the fielding rating system in the Player Editor to more closely resemble hitting (i.e. if I want to add a position rating for shortstop, I simply type in a number next to shortstop and he gets a rating).
• Players are currently added to the Amateur Draft one year before their real life MLB debut. At league creation, allow the option to set this differently. If I'm starting a league in 1995 and set the Amateur Draft to "Three Years before Real Life Debut", then all 1996 and 1997 debutees will be added to their minor league teams when the league is created and the first Amateur Draft will be of 1998 debutees.
• A new feature in OOTP 10 was that all players on the 40-man roster are automatically added to the active roster in Spring Training. This is extremely cumbersome for online league commissioners when teams miss an export. Add a league setting that allows commissioners to disable this feature.
• Teams should be able to sign players to minor league contracts with a financial value. In other words, if a stud teenage prospect is a free agent, I should be able to sign him to a multi-million dollar deal without needing to add him to the 40-man roster.
• OOTP 10 featured the ability to "Generate Ratings" in the Player Editor for hitting and pitching ratings. Extend this functionality to generate Speed and Defense ratings. You could perhaps use SB's and CS's per 550 AB for the speed ratings, and the same calculations used to determine Defense ratings at player creation.
• Add a Breaking News article for when a top prospect is called up. Also add "Major League Debut" as an item in the player's history.
• Add the ability to search the Lahman database for players playing within a date range, and then add them as free agents to your league file if they are not in the league already. If I'm in the 2000 season and Mike Mussina somehow got deleted from my league, then I ran a search for all players from 1999-2001 then Mussina would be amongst the players added to the free agent pool.

Additionally, I'd like to see the following features, though I'm listing them here separately since they might already exist.....

• Integrate a player's popularity with their likelihood of being selected to the All-Star team and winning awards.
• Have attendance increase for home games where a player is close to reaching a milestone.
• Add a Breaking News article for when a player sets a new single-season record for a major stat category. Also, add this item as an event in their Player History.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by ms2002

To me, the most important next step for OOTP is to update with the new statistical metrics (wOBA, WAR, FIP, UZR/TZR, etc.) and add more personality to the game beyond the numbers (give the players more personality, more media, more distinguishable GMs and managers). Here's some things I've been taking note of:

• AI GMs should have different ideologies and methods of evaluating its ballplayers: Traditional, Sabremetric, and Neutral.

  1) Traditional GMs should place heavy emphasis on AVG, ERA, W-L, SV, HR, RBI, SB, E - the raw numbers. They would also emphasize intangibles (leadership, etc.) and scouting. Real-life examples include Dayton Moore, Bill Bavasi, Omar Minaya, Jim Bowden, Kenny Williams.
  

  2) Sabremetric GMs should place heavy emphasis on OBP, wOBA, WAR/VORP, FIP/cERA, UZR/TZR - the secondary numbers. Real-life examples include Billy Beane, Theo Epstein, Mark Shapiro, Andrew Friedman, JP Ricciardi.
  

  3) Neutral GMs should be mix between the two. Real-life examples include Brian Cashman, Jack Zduriencik, Doug Melvin, Kevin Towers.
  

• Managers should have unique personalities: Although it should be more aesthetic than anything, there should be Piniella's and LaRussa's in OOTP.
• Fielding revision: Update the fielding metrics to UZR or TZR that are used today. 2009 has been the year that everyone's attention has turned to fielding evaluation metrics. OOTP should follow the trend. In turn, this can give a more concrete relation between the fielding ratings and W/L.
• Update to the more commonly used statistics: wOBA, FIP, UZR/TZR, WAR should all be incorporated into the game. VORP should be replaced with WAR, since it is the more relevant statistic these days. Research says that a team full of 0 WAR (replacement level) players would result in 50 wins. Given this information, the OOTP engine could be revamped to incorporate this research (ie. teams with roughly 40 WAR should be around a 90 win team).
• Add employment history for coaches and scouts. It becomes a lot more interesting when hiring staff if you can see where they've worked before, so you can examine draft history and the resulting player performance.
• Custom-made stadiums. Have OOTP generate 2D stadiums with logos and unique features that correlate with wall and dimension data.
• Rough 2D game engine?
• Minor league rehabilitation assignments
• More stable markets: There should be far less fluctuating based on success. I see small market teams transform into big market teams far too often in OOTP.
• Long-haired FaceGen: There are currently no Randy Johnson's, Ian Kinsler's or Tim Lincecum's in OOTP. Or Vlad Guerrerro's or Manny's.

I like most of these quite a bit. One in particular...minor league rehab. That was one thing I told my best friend a few months ago that I would love to see. It would definitely beat a player coming off the DL and stepping back on the field without missing a beat from how he played before his turn on the DL.

[Scott Vibert]

Originally Posted by Muzamba

I'm thinking you're not gonna like my other mock-ups much, then

Yeah, there's a fine line between too much information and not enough information. It kinda depends on what info is important to each individual. Honestly, I'm not overly concerned about some of the content I included in the mock-up. And I wouldn't expect all of this to be in the next version or even in the next few versions. It's more about what type of data might eventually work its way in over time and how it could ultimately be laid out. But keep in mind, my proposed Player Profile layout actually utilizes less screens than are currently used in the game. So it might be more an issue of "clutter" vs. convenience.

I think at least for me is there seems like an awful lot of irrelevant information to me, I'll be honest, while I don't mind seeing a players Marital Status, if there is a reason for it (maybe a random event where a players performance might suffer if he's going through a divorce or something); I don't need to know the names of his wife and/or kids. That kind of stuff, at least to me doesn't give any greater immersion, its just clutter and something readily ignored. Frankly even the marital status thing could be chucked with the "divorce" or "new birth" event occurring randomly to particular players.

Similarly all that data would have to be tracked in an already bloated database, given the choice between more stats and the ages of my 5th starter in AA's kids, I'll take the former.

I do like some of the options, and I'm always in favor of lessening the number of screens I have to flip back and forth between, but I'm also in favor of keeping the information displayed and used, relevant to the game in some way shape or form.

[ucsarge]

1) Left-click to highlight (or at least hover-highlight) a row. On a wide monitor my eye doesn't track well from the player name on the left to a stat column on the right. (At least it doesn't my mac)

2) When setting the team colors, jerseys, etc. they have the player representation that changes with each update. There is also options to zoom and change the background. Nice to have the option to apply background, zoom and angle to every player on the team (team setting). Time consuming to randomly pick a certain background since they don't cycle in order.

3) Ability to list whether the player is on the 40 man roster or not as a 'Custom' option item from the 'View' pull down. That way from the roster screen you can see quickly who is eligible (I spend a lot more time on the roster screen then the transaction screen). I know I can just hit the transaction tab but that is an extra step especially since 'level' is a choice already. See image, I like having views like this:



4) 'Days rest' view option choice

5) Ability to delay HOF inductions until a certain year in the future. This way you can get a sense of what numbers are going 'to cut it'. Then players might accumulate 'legend' points as they win hardware, hitting game winning hits in the postseason, break records, establish as best player of the decade, etc. which will give weight to their HOF credentials and then retroactively induct. Either that or have Black/Grey Ink/HOF Monitor listings.

6) Partnership with Baseball-Reference.com for 'look and feel' etc. of BNN (probably been suggested before prolly more wish-list)

7) On the sortable-stat screen, have your players highlighted like the other leader boards

[Muzamba]

Originally Posted by Scott Vibert

I think at least for me is there seems like an awful lot of irrelevant information to me, I'll be honest, while I don't mind seeing a players Marital Status, if there is a reason for it (maybe a random event where a players performance might suffer if he's going through a divorce or something); I don't need to know the names of his wife and/or kids. That kind of stuff, at least to me doesn't give any greater immersion, its just clutter and something readily ignored. Frankly even the marital status thing could be chucked with the "divorce" or "new birth" event occurring randomly to particular players.

Similarly all that data would have to be tracked in an already bloated database, given the choice between more stats and the ages of my 5th starter in AA's kids, I'll take the former.

I do like some of the options, and I'm always in favor of lessening the number of screens I have to flip back and forth between, but I'm also in favor of keeping the information displayed and used, relevant to the game in some way shape or form.

I totally get where you're coming from. I agree that some of the info I included isn't absolutely necessary. While I DO want to see players' morale affected by off-field events--like a divorce, for instance--and for them to periodically miss time for the birth of a child, I don't personally care too much if there's a lack of continuity in that department. In other words, if a 16-year-old John Jones Jr. shows up on a high school feeder team, I'm not gonna go back 16 years in my sim and see if John Jones Sr. missed a game due to a child being born. I'm not that nitpicky.

Again, a lot of the data is there to give an idea of what could ultimately be added down the road. For example, I would eventually love to see a new incarnation of ITP incorporated into OOTP, allowing you to start a career as an amateur player and work your way up to the bigs, become a coach/manager, and maybe eventually a GM or even an owner. So if this ever became a reality (like, by about OOTP18 ) things like marital status and children would actually become pertinent.

As for now, I agree that this type of data is unnecessary. However, most of the other info, in my opinion, is relevant... at least in terms of what I would like to see added to the game.

If anyone has any other questions as to why I included certain information, please feel free to ask. To me, that's what this is all about--sharing and debating our ideas on how to make OOTP better in the future.

[lschaef]

• The color coding under Team Needs shows how urgent the need is. Red is most urgent, while yellow means less urgent and green means the team is set at this position. The letters at the top stand for "Starters", "Reserves", and "Minors" and indicate where the needs are within the team/organization

Color coded icons are great for some, but there should be the option to change to non-color based icons, such as +, -. Mouse Over tooltips can be helpful.

I'm red/green color blind. The mock-up screen would still probably work for me, but I don't think it gives me the info I need at a quick glance like it should. Have to think a little too much.

[lschaef]

Here are some of my thoughts.

1. If there is an injury at the end of a half of an inning, the team should not have to declare a replacement until a) the player's spot in the lineup is up to bat or b) his team has to return to the field.

2. When making subs, there needs to be a way to either undo a mistake or allow you to move players around until you hit a "submit" button. It can be really annoying when your finger slips and you accidentally take out your cleanup hitter.

3. When viewing stats, you can currently view "This Week's" stats and "Last Week's" stats, but I think it would be more useful to have a "Last 7 days" view. This can be useful to make sure players are getting consistent IP or AB.

4. Would like to see to see the player personality ratings to start showing up more. Maybe when a first year player has a good game a news article will mention a team mate with a good leadership rating as helping him with something. Or you might get an email from a coach that says that a player with a lower work ethic rating isn't putting in as much work at fielding his position as he should.

[Muzamba]

Originally Posted by lschaef

Color coded icons are great for some, but there should be the option to change to non-color based icons, such as +, -. Mouse Over tooltips can be helpful.

I'm red/green color blind. The mock-up screen would still probably work for me, but I don't think it gives me the info I need at a quick glance like it should. Have to think a little too much.

Wow. Good point! I didn't even think of that! And here I have a pretty bad vision problem of my own, so I should have been more sensitive to those that might have trouble distinguishing colors.

So yes, I think a +/- or other symbols would be just as good, at least as a "Game Preferences" option. (I just hope something other than numbers or text are used for this, since my brain doesn't recognize them as quickly as it does colors/symbols. )

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

[Killing Time]

Well over five percent of men suffer from colorblindness in one form or another.