Road to Release 8: Take the Online Challenge!

[battists]

Road to Release 8: Take the Online Challenge!
When you've conquered the world of OOTP solo play and you're ready for the next level of challenge, you're ready to step up to an OOTP Online League. In OOTP 11, both league commissioners and team owners will have even more tools to make the best online experience even better. Let's take a quick look!

Why Online Leagues?
When I've asked OOTPers who have never played online why they haven't, they typically say that they just didn't understand what was involved, or they didn't understand why it was any different from playing solo. The truth is, while winning in solo OOTP can be challenging, there's no doubt that guiding a team to the championship against other live general managers provides the greatest challenge of all. Additionally, online leagues often generate vibrant and compelling stories and cultures that keep the league thriving for years of real-world time. And participating in an online league is extremely simple. It doesn't even require a persistent Internet connection. You just need to be connected every few days (depending on the league) to download an updated league file and send in your updates!

I asked around a bit among the online leaguers I know, and here are some of the best reasons to consider playing in an online league:

• Human competition - This is far and away the reason most commonly cited. It's one thing to find a way to trick the computer into agreeing to an unfair trade. It's quite another to pry away another human GM's star prospect in a trade deadline deal. On top of that, your opponents have personalities as well, which can lead to more realistic and satisfying rivalries, and yes, even a little playoff trash talk!
• Immersion - Because you deal with the rest of the league on a regular basis, most online GMs get more involved in their online leagues, and get more familiar with players on other teams in the league.
• Creativity - Many online leagues offer things like "writing incentives" to league GMs, which results in some fantastic articles being written. It's fantastic to wake up one morning to see someone's prediction for your upcoming season, with your team featured prominently!

Those are just a few of the more commonly-stated reasons for trying out an OOTP online league! With a wide array of leagues available out there, there are plenty of ways to play and plenty of people with whom you can share the OOTP experience, from seasoned veterans to first-time owners!

Online League Spotlights
Out of the Park Baseball's online league features have resulted in some long-living and incredibly diverse online leagues, many of which are already planning their move to version 11. Here are just a few examples of actual OOTP online leagues out there right now, just to give you an idea:



PEBA - Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance (Commissioner: Corsairs) - A 24-team league based primarily in the U.S., PEBA is amongst OOTP's premier participation-focused fictional leagues. In addition to a fully-featured setup, owners take pride in bringing fictional players to life through creative storytelling and active forums discussions. The PEBA will be converting to OOTP 11 during their 2012-13 offseason.



SGCBL - Solonor's Groovy Computer Baseball League (Commissioner: Solonor) - One of OOTP's most creative and eclectic online leagues, the SGCBL has been active since 2003 and is approaching its 20th season. A silly naming suggestion blossomed into a full-blown universe loosely based on Tolkien's Middle Earth. With a mix of male and female participants, the SGCBL is one of OOTP's most diverse leagues in terms of age and nationality. Having supported every OOTP version since 5, the league expects to move to OOTP 11 soon after final release.



PRML - Promotion Relegation Madness League (Commissioner: Jaxxvain) - Winner of allsimbaseball's free league hosting giveaway, PRML (or "Primal," as it is called) is a promotion/relegation league which is akin to European soccer leagues. It also emphasizes the post-season, with 16 of the 22 teams reaching the playoffs per season.

If you're interested in exploring an online league, come look at our Online League Forum. This forum is where leagues look for new members, and vice-versa! Once OOTP 11 has been released, a new forum will be created for OOTP 11 leagues as well!

New Online Features in OOTP 11
OOTP's overall set of new features, such as the new draft and player comparison, will benefit online leagues as well as solo ones. However, there have also been a few online-specific changes that have been added in OOTP 11:

• E-mail - In OOTP 11, commissioners can quickly send league-wide e-mail reports summarizing the last sim. As part of both the automator and Online League controls, commissioners can elect to send an e-mail during each sim or manually whenever they choose. League owners can now also enter their own e-mail addresses to to receive messages on their individual profiles.
• FTP Modes and Trace Options] - OOTP 11 adds the ability to switch between active and passive FTP modes on Windows clients. Owners can now also keep a log of their FTP exports and send them to commissioners for help when they are having problems exporting. The new FTP Trace Log option is available in the revised OOTP preferences screen.
• Enhanced Safety and Security - When it comes to online security, you can never be too careful. OOTP 11 has further refined its suite of online league setup features to simplify the administration process for commissioners and help keep online leagues secure. The revised online settings screen breaks out each type of setting, giving commissioerns total control over exactly where files are exported to and downloaded from on the league web server. It also gives commissioners the ability to create separate FTP accounts for themselves and team owners to further secure important league files. When combined with best practices for securely running web sites, this gives league commissioners and their owners peace of mind.

Community Mods in Support of Online Leagues
Two of the hallmarks of OOTP are its customizability and extensibility. The OOTP Mod community has always been fantastic, and several veteran modders have created tools that powerfully extend online league capabilities. Two of the best known (and possibly most important) tools are Getch's Utilities ("OOTPOU") and the StatsLab Online Utilities.

Getch's Utilities is a set of tools written in CGI/PERL that add numerous capabilities to online league for commissioners and owners. StatsLab is a PHP/My SQL based set of tools that includes many of the same features as Getch, with some additional features of its own. Both tools are available for OOTP 9 and 10, and new versions are expected for 11 soon after its release. These tools include many features designed specifically for online leagues, such as:

• All Star Voting Utility
• End of Season Awards Utility
• Development Tracker
• Draft Utility
• Export Tracker
• Hall of Fame Voting Utility
• Last Sim Utilities
• Ratings Reports

Best of all, both tools are 100% FREE. Grab them for your online (and even offline solo) league and add an entirely new dimension to your OOTP experience! And keep an eye out for the release of updated versions once OOTP 11 is available.

OOTP 10
OOTPOU (Getch's Utilities") for OOTP X
StatsLab SQL Utilities for OOTPX

OOTP 9
OOTPOU (Getch's Utilities") for OOTP 9
StatsLab SQL Utilities

Preorder now!
It's never been a better time to test your GM skills online than with OOTP 11. OOTP 11 puts a host of online improvements, countless new core features, and a redesigned user interface into your hands so that you can shape your franchise into a dynasty. What do think? Do you have what it takes to beat the competition in the grand slam of baseball simulations?

Preorder now for Windows/Mac or for Linux!

Click here for more information about OOTP 11!

Previous Road to Release Articles
If you missed one of the previous RTR articles, here are some quick links for you:

• Road to Release 1: The Interface Tutorial
• Road to Release 2: Player Comparison, Manager Notes, and Single Game Records
• Road to Release 3: Drafting realism like you've never seen before!
• Road to Release 4: Making History with OOTP 11
• Road to Release 5: New Skin, Operation Sports Preview, and a Few More Tidbits
• Road to Release 6: A Trip into History
• Road to Release 7: A Cornucopia of New Features

[Dark Horse]

first?

Wow, never did that before.

[Gavyl]

Online play is not my cup of tea, but still - Looks great.

[ry1220]

Nice to see the PRML get a reference!!

[bailey]

I'm thinking that the ability to see whether your commissioner received your export or not, or if you just can't remember if you exported, should be a part of the game and not rely on a mod.

[Jeffy25]

I am just now trying my first online league, the only problem for me is committing enough time to be able to consistently focus on one.

updates look good though.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by bailey

I'm thinking that the ability to see whether your commissioner received your export or not, or if you just can't remember if you exported, should be a part of the game and not rely on a mod.

I agree, but I'd take it a step further:

Originally Posted by kq76

Exports Results Report

By the title I simply mean a report that lists the teams in an online league and whether or not their last exports worked or not and if not, why not. IIRC, there's a list of what exports took when the simmer sims, but it'd be great if it was included in the reports that get posted online so that everyone can see the results.

Exports Results Report

So basically, I'd like to know not just did the file transfer to the ftp server, but did it actually work when imported?

The utilities's reports are great (particularly StatsLab's since it colour codes the current and previous sims' exports), but sometimes my export will go through, but it won't work. The game does give the commish info about exports failing. It'd be great to get that info in an online report, especially if it had suggestions on what the problem might be and how to possibly resolve it.

I'd even love to see an online report that shows each manager's export history. I used to keep a simple table (teams along the top, import dates down the side) and it was quite helpful in pointing out which teams you should keep an eye on to make sure they didn't go too long without management. It'd even be good for those leagues that like to award participation bonuses of some kind.

[JackRules1]

I'm waitng for my first online league, the Laseron Baseball Association, to get cranked up. I'm sure it will enhance my enjoyment of OOTP even more.

[TGH-Adfabre]

Originally Posted by JackRules1

I'm waitng for my first online league, the Laseron Baseball Association, to get cranked up. I'm sure it will enhance my enjoyment of OOTP even more.

They are awesome.

[BlitzburghBucco]

Things like StatsLab and Getch utilities are things that should be hardcoded into OOTP, and not have to rely on the community, as opposed to say, baseball cards.

[Jaxxvain]

I would love to see an option for only downloading my team's files.

Just a bit of files I need as an owner to download, so I could read MY box scores and what not.

If I clicked something in game that was not up to date, I should get a prompt to see if I want to download the full league files.

[daves]

I never played in online OOTP leagues before. Can you play a single game against someone online?

[MorseMoose]

Originally Posted by daves

I never played in online OOTP leagues before. Can you play a single game against someone online?

in before lock .

[battists]

Originally Posted by daves

I never played in online OOTP leagues before. Can you play a single game against someone online?

No, in online leagues, the commissioner simulates the results of the games. However, depending on how the commissioner has set things up, he can also save replays of each game, so you could watch the entire game being played out (not in real time).

[RchW]

Originally Posted by daves

I never played in online OOTP leagues before. Can you play a single game against someone online?

Oh boy, H2H is a very touchy subject here.

[RchW]

Dola

Battisti, stop interfering.

[Bobbuttons]

Originally Posted by battists

No, in online leagues, the commissioner simulates the results of the games. However, depending on how the commissioner has set things up, he can also save replays of each game, so you could watch the entire game being played out (not in real time).

Didn't we used to have a broadcast feature a couple of versions ago? That was interesting. I'd have liked to see more done with that over the years instead of scrapping it.

[Stu]

A little disappointed by the lack of new features for online leagues.

I would love the ability to import a csv file that contains draft results instead of entering every pick manually. You could just use a standard format and I'm sure the utility creators would be able to support it.

[Casimir]

Originally Posted by Gavyl

Online play is not my cup of tea, but still - Looks great.

That used to be my opinion as well, but I've been in one for about 15 months covering almost 5 seasons and I've found it to be quite a blast.