Getting Immersed in Fictional Worlds

Ruthian23 · 05-03-2010, 11:05 AM

I've been playing OOTP since OOTP 5 and to date I've mostly played real world and historical leagues. I'd really like to play a serious fictional game, but I find that I have a difficult time getting as immersed in a universe where I don't know anything about the players or teams. Like I said, despite this I really want to give fictional a try, but I just have a really hard time getting into a league. Have any fictional players experienced this before? What do you do to get immersed in your fictional leagues? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

David Watts · 05-03-2010, 11:07 AM

Start small.

EKomrska15 · 05-03-2010, 11:11 AM

Start small, build up a history in your league...And already have your team pinpointed from the start...What I did was sim up to a certain point, then take over the team and just do the drafts for a certain amount of years so that way I felt I had some ownership of the teams direction and then I was completely immersed that is until my file became corrupt

MimesisBTG · 05-03-2010, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Watts

Start small.

I'm designing my own fictional league now, and I wonder how small is too small for an OOTP league? I know that I can always expand later, but I fear that if my league is too small then there won't be as much player movement, which is one of my favorite parts of the game.

I guess I'm wondering what people might recommend as a good starting size for a fictional league?

ShoelessJ03 · 05-03-2010, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MimesisBTG

I'm designing my own fictional league now, and I wonder how small is too small for an OOTP league? I know that I can always expand later, but I fear that if my league is too small then there won't be as much player movement, which is one of my favorite parts of the game.

I guess I'm wondering what people might recommend as a good starting size for a fictional league?

I usually start with 12-16 teams.

I also find that it helps me to identify and feel a bond with the league by creating logos and jerseys for the teams within the universe.

If nothing else, it lends a personality / identity to the team right off the bat.

kingcharlesxii · 05-03-2010, 12:20 PM

Yeah, I find I tend to get immersed in a team if they're players I have selected, either via initial draft, trade or amateur draft. I make sure my major league has logos and uniforms and minor leagues if I have time. I don't make it too complex or big, you can get bigger later.

Finally, even though I usually sim, I try to play out a bunch of games my first year, usually against division rivals, so that I can get a feel for my team and the players on it. You learn to love guys that hit that game-winning homer and hate the guys that consistently choke in the clutch. That's a lot harder to see in simming. Even if you're really opposed to playing out the game, at least read the box scores and game logs of the sims.

spleen1015 · 05-03-2010, 12:23 PM

blueturf's quickstart

Download this quickstart, sim 20 years and take over the worse team for a few years and see how you like it.

If you don't want to use something like this, I would at least download a fiction quickstart and see how you like it.

Who Killed Kenny? · 05-03-2010, 12:37 PM

Add yourself to the league. Edit a player in a draft and use the facegen importer to import yourself a player. Then draft yourself and control your career or play as commish and follow it from a distance. You'll be immersed following your career and you'll meet other players, coaches, and owners along the way. You'll find soon that you'll hate certain teams and other players and love others.

Dave Hansen · 05-03-2010, 12:55 PM

1. Hold a starting draft and select your players at the start.

2. Use real MLB logos, uniforms, etc.

3. Use real player photos and rename them for your fictional players...I use 30 or so St Louis Cardinal minor league player photos for my guys...already dressed in cardinal caps...if I make a trade say from the Red Soxs, I choose a Boston minor league real player photo...nice visual enhancement to see home grow talent vs. FA/trades as the seasons progress.

4. Play out each of your games say for the first month...by 30 days I am well immersed with all my players...although I've always played out all my team's games since OOTP 4 for the greatest possible immersion, not everyone's cup of tea.

5. D/L the improved sound packs for in game feel...customize your in game screen with widgets.

6. And for the true hardcore guy...scorecard your team's games.

Bottom Of The Sixth · 05-03-2010, 01:29 PM

Ruthian23,

Since you know all about historical leagues, why no create a fictional league that mirrors the history of MLB? Start out with 16 teams, 8 in one division and 8 in the other. Either start out managing a team or auto sim to a certain point in time where you want to take over control of a team. Along the way, you can expand your league with new teams and or even relocate teams, which happened historically.

Or create a historical league and delete all the historical players and use fictional players. That way everyone starts out as a "John Doe" and you don't have a "crystal ball" to know who will be the future HOF players so it will help prevent you from loading up a team with all super stars!!!

Good Luck

ryanivr · 05-03-2010, 01:42 PM

Write a dynasty. You'll learn the players in no time.

Isura · 05-03-2010, 04:08 PM

Manage a really bad team. Turn off ratings. You'll have to GM and manage at the seat of your pants!

mike2228 · 05-03-2010, 04:13 PM

Don't endable "can not be fired" mode. Pay attention to the single season and hall of fame records. Come up with your own names for teams. Ironically in my first fictional league i named 1 team the bronx high landers making them effectively the yankees and they actually ended up winning 3 of the first 4 world championships and a bunch after that.

Ramzavail · 05-03-2010, 04:35 PM

Here's a NY Fictional World I started if you want to try.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...-progress.html

Charlie Hough · 05-03-2010, 05:30 PM

I've never played many fictional games myself, but I've found that the best way to develop a sincere interest in the project is to take the time to develop the cities, team nicknames, logos, color schemes, stadiums, and the other details that round out your fictional world.

By investing this time and effort, it can build a sense of anticipation and excitement once it comes time to create the league and put everything in place. There are great mods to download for logos, uniforms, ballcaps, and stadium images, and you can use Gambo's stadium chart to enter your own ballpark dimensions and have ballpark factors automatically calculated for you.

Also, I agree with others that starting small would be a good idea. You could create an 8-team league similar to some of the independent leagues in the early 1900s. You could do a fictional historical league or a fictional modern day game. But starting small could help you learn the players more quickly and give the project more familiarity right away.

conception · 05-03-2010, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

I've never played many fictional games myself, but I've found that the best way to develop a sincere interest in the project is to take the time to develop the cities, team nicknames, logos, color schemes, stadiums, and the other details that round out your fictional world.

By investing this time and effort, it can build a sense of anticipation and excitement once it comes time to create the league and put everything in place. There are great mods to download for logos, uniforms, ballcaps, and stadium images, and you can use Gambo's stadium chart to enter your own ballpark dimensions and have ballpark factors automatically calculated for you.

Also, I agree with others that starting small would be a good idea. You could create an 8-team league similar to some of the independent leagues in the early 1900s. You could do a fictional historical league or a fictional modern day game. But starting small could help you learn the players more quickly and give the project more familiarity right away.

Yeah, these things definitely add character to a league. I especially like playing through the games when I've got custom stadiums in place, with ballpark factors that I've crafted on my own. I enjoy knowing that Las Vegas in my league is a huge hitters park because the stadium (on the strip) is really small.

Syd Thrift · 05-03-2010, 05:56 PM

Starting small is good. My current fictional dynasty has 16 teams, one level of minors based on the International League and American Association of the time, and one unaffiliated level of minors (the PCL). I think that writing about your teams is the fastest path to get to know them. One thing I do in my writing (although not so far in dynasties) is to put together a little character study on the major players in whatever I'm working on. Included in that:

A brief biography (where the person grew up, what they did to get where they are, that kind of thing)
Physical appearance notes (not really that important except for maybe getting a couple adjectives that can describe the person, like "fat" or "athletic")
Mannerisms
A favorite line you can center your thinking about them around (say, giving an owner the line "that's the way, old boy!" Doesn't that give you a quick and dirty idea of who you're talking about that you can write more into?)

I do a bit more than this but as noted I'm not generally writing dynasties but failed, unpublishable novels. Still, the more crap you make up about your league, the more yours it will be and in the end the more immersed you'll get in it.

Ambermonk · 05-03-2010, 06:05 PM

I play in a 16 team Major League with 3 minor league divisions (AAA, AA, A). Here's what gets me into the league...

1) Spend a lot of time on the draft; I have developed Word or Excel sheets for: Pre-Draft Organization evaluation (all 4 of my teams), New-player draft evaluations, Draft-Day summary worksheet, Pre-draft trade activity, Organization draft selections, and post-draft evaluation.

2) Team & Player appearance; For each team in all leagues: Select cities, mascots, logos, team jerseys, and Ballparks. Every player in the Majors gets his picture, but the single-A players have to earn theirs (see below).

3) Play out the games; I play out & watch all of my major league team's games - and I do the same for my single-A team as well. The best & easiest way to get to know your players is simply to watch them play every day.

In my early days with OOTP I just played out the Major League team, but I gradually came to the realization that I wanted to see how my rookie players were doing - so I started playing out the Single-A team's games. And guess what? Those games have become my favorite to play/watch!

It's great fun to watch your rookies struggle to learn how to play the game as pros. Every game-day or so I check the 'Minor League System Report' and the 'Player Development Report' to see how my young players are doing.

4) Scouting Opponent Teams (and awarding Pics); Before each series in my Single-A league, I evaluate my opponent's roster. I create Facegen pics for each batter (with 20 ABs) who is batting over .300, and for each pitcher (with 10 innings pitched) who's ERA is below 3.00. When these opposing players show up in my games (with their pics), I know they can be dangerous.

It's great fun awarding pics to players. Not only is it fun to reward accomplishment, but I love to see how the player will look in his customized jersey. I'm ofter quite 'pic-y' when it comes to Facegen pics. I will often generate quite a few pics until I get one that looks good for the player, and I'll often play with beards & mustaches to get just the look I want. I might even change his name or nickname as well.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of OOTP is watching all of the Single-A players work their way up the ladder to become Major League material, and several times I have found myself trading for Single-A players that impressed me during my games against them!

Hope these thoughts will add to your enjoyment of the game.

GEP · 05-03-2010, 06:19 PM

I think playing out every/most/lots of game is the key. To me, it doesn't matter how big the league is -- whether it's four teams or forty -- or whether you build from scratch through the inaugural draft (my preferred method) or sim 20 years of history. That's all just a matter of personal taste as to how you like to build your league and the cosmetics you want out of your game.

The important thing is, to get to know your players, you have to watch them play. Box scores just don't cut it -- you need to watch the action. Reading that you won your first world series is one thing. But it doesn't compare to watching your centerfielder throw a strike from the warning track to nail the league MVP trying to score the tying run in the 9th. It's been two years and I can still quote that PbP transcript (and my reaction to each line as it scrolled across my screen) from memory.

ukhotstove · 05-03-2010, 06:24 PM

I'll probably be going over what people have already said but my 2 cents would be, start small going with say a 16 team league at most. Also why not start with 16 towns within the state you live in, that way you can either go with the small town feel or in seasons to come expand into the larger cities within your state or even out of state teams.

Also create notes about your players, depending how deep you want your league notes they could be as an example Joe Bloggs wife gave birth to a son, this way you could even have Joe Bloggs jr in years to come. I'd also make up the team nicknames yourself, if you go with the towns you know I'm sure you could come up with nicknames and it gives it that personal touch.

05-03-2010, 11:05 AM	#1
Ruthian23 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 740	Getting Immersed in Fictional Worlds I've been playing OOTP since OOTP 5 and to date I've mostly played real world and historical leagues. I'd really like to play a serious fictional game, but I find that I have a difficult time getting as immersed in a universe where I don't know anything about the players or teams. Like I said, despite this I really want to give fictional a try, but I just have a really hard time getting into a league. Have any fictional players experienced this before? What do you do to get immersed in your fictional leagues? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

05-03-2010, 01:29 PM	#10
Bottom Of The Sixth All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of Lincoln Posts: 1,239	Ruthian23, Since you know all about historical leagues, why no create a fictional league that mirrors the history of MLB? Start out with 16 teams, 8 in one division and 8 in the other. Either start out managing a team or auto sim to a certain point in time where you want to take over control of a team. Along the way, you can expand your league with new teams and or even relocate teams, which happened historically. Or create a historical league and delete all the historical players and use fictional players. That way everyone starts out as a "John Doe" and you don't have a "crystal ball" to know who will be the future HOF players so it will help prevent you from loading up a team with all super stars!!! Good Luck Last edited by Bottom Of The Sixth; 05-03-2010 at 01:35 PM.

05-03-2010, 06:05 PM	#18
Ambermonk All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Morro Bay, CA Posts: 1,257	I play in a 16 team Major League with 3 minor league divisions (AAA, AA, A). Here's what gets me into the league... 1) Spend a lot of time on the draft; I have developed Word or Excel sheets for: Pre-Draft Organization evaluation (all 4 of my teams), New-player draft evaluations, Draft-Day summary worksheet, Pre-draft trade activity, Organization draft selections, and post-draft evaluation. 2) Team & Player appearance; For each team in all leagues: Select cities, mascots, logos, team jerseys, and Ballparks. Every player in the Majors gets his picture, but the single-A players have to earn theirs (see below). 3) Play out the games; I play out & watch all of my major league team's games - and I do the same for my single-A team as well. The best & easiest way to get to know your players is simply to watch them play every day. In my early days with OOTP I just played out the Major League team, but I gradually came to the realization that I wanted to see how my rookie players were doing - so I started playing out the Single-A team's games. And guess what? Those games have become my favorite to play/watch! It's great fun to watch your rookies struggle to learn how to play the game as pros. Every game-day or so I check the 'Minor League System Report' and the 'Player Development Report' to see how my young players are doing. 4) Scouting Opponent Teams (and awarding Pics); Before each series in my Single-A league, I evaluate my opponent's roster. I create Facegen pics for each batter (with 20 ABs) who is batting over .300, and for each pitcher (with 10 innings pitched) who's ERA is below 3.00. When these opposing players show up in my games (with their pics), I know they can be dangerous. It's great fun awarding pics to players. Not only is it fun to reward accomplishment, but I love to see how the player will look in his customized jersey. I'm ofter quite 'pic-y' when it comes to Facegen pics. I will often generate quite a few pics until I get one that looks good for the player, and I'll often play with beards & mustaches to get just the look I want. I might even change his name or nickname as well. One of the most enjoyable aspects of OOTP is watching all of the Single-A players work their way up the ladder to become Major League material, and several times I have found myself trading for Single-A players that impressed me during my games against them! Hope these thoughts will add to your enjoyment of the game. __________________ *I cast this question into your soul, that I might know how deep it is* - Friedrich Nietzsche It often shows a fine command of language - to say nothing! - Bertrand Russell

05-03-2010, 06:24 PM	#20
ukhotstove Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: North of England Gods Country Posts: 7,175	I'll probably be going over what people have already said but my 2 cents would be, start small going with say a 16 team league at most. Also why not start with 16 towns within the state you live in, that way you can either go with the small town feel or in seasons to come expand into the larger cities within your state or even out of state teams. Also create notes about your players, depending how deep you want your league notes they could be as an example Joe Bloggs wife gave birth to a son, this way you could even have Joe Bloggs jr in years to come. I'd also make up the team nicknames yourself, if you go with the towns you know I'm sure you could come up with nicknames and it gives it that personal touch. __________________ Detroit Diesel Dynasty San Antonio Calzones of Laredo Dynasty

05-03-2010, 11:07 AM	#2
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 8,881	Start small.

05-03-2010, 11:11 AM	#3
EKomrska15 All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1,477	Start small, build up a history in your league...And already have your team pinpointed from the start...What I did was sim up to a certain point, then take over the team and just do the drafts for a certain amount of years so that way I felt I had some ownership of the teams direction and then I was completely immersed that is until my file became corrupt

05-03-2010, 12:20 PM	#6
kingcharlesxii Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 2,730	Yeah, I find I tend to get immersed in a team if they're players I have selected, either via initial draft, trade or amateur draft. I make sure my major league has logos and uniforms and minor leagues if I have time. I don't make it too complex or big, you can get bigger later. Finally, even though I usually sim, I try to play out a bunch of games my first year, usually against division rivals, so that I can get a feel for my team and the players on it. You learn to love guys that hit that game-winning homer and hate the guys that consistently choke in the clutch. That's a lot harder to see in simming. Even if you're really opposed to playing out the game, at least read the box scores and game logs of the sims.

05-03-2010, 12:23 PM	#7
spleen1015 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,951	blueturf's quickstart Download this quickstart, sim 20 years and take over the worse team for a few years and see how you like it. If you don't want to use something like this, I would at least download a fiction quickstart and see how you like it.

05-03-2010, 12:37 PM	#8
Who Killed Kenny? Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 410	Add yourself to the league. Edit a player in a draft and use the facegen importer to import yourself a player. Then draft yourself and control your career or play as commish and follow it from a distance. You'll be immersed following your career and you'll meet other players, coaches, and owners along the way. You'll find soon that you'll hate certain teams and other players and love others.

05-03-2010, 12:55 PM	#9
Dave Hansen Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 335	1. Hold a starting draft and select your players at the start. 2. Use real MLB logos, uniforms, etc. 3. Use real player photos and rename them for your fictional players...I use 30 or so St Louis Cardinal minor league player photos for my guys...already dressed in cardinal caps...if I make a trade say from the Red Soxs, I choose a Boston minor league real player photo...nice visual enhancement to see home grow talent vs. FA/trades as the seasons progress. 4. Play out each of your games say for the first month...by 30 days I am well immersed with all my players...although I've always played out all my team's games since OOTP 4 for the greatest possible immersion, not everyone's cup of tea. 5. D/L the improved sound packs for in game feel...customize your in game screen with widgets. 6. And for the true hardcore guy...scorecard your team's games.

05-03-2010, 01:42 PM	#11
ryanivr All Star Reserve Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 899	Write a dynasty. You'll learn the players in no time.

05-03-2010, 04:08 PM	#12
Isura Major Leagues Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 361	Manage a really bad team. Turn off ratings. You'll have to GM and manage at the seat of your pants!

05-03-2010, 04:13 PM	#13
mike2228 Major Leagues Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 491	Don't endable "can not be fired" mode. Pay attention to the single season and hall of fame records. Come up with your own names for teams. Ironically in my first fictional league i named 1 team the bronx high landers making them effectively the yankees and they actually ended up winning 3 of the first 4 world championships and a bunch after that.

05-03-2010, 04:35 PM	#14
Ramzavail All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: NY Posts: 586	Here's a NY Fictional World I started if you want to try. http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...-progress.html

05-03-2010, 05:30 PM	#15
Charlie Hough Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 3,625	I've never played many fictional games myself, but I've found that the best way to develop a sincere interest in the project is to take the time to develop the cities, team nicknames, logos, color schemes, stadiums, and the other details that round out your fictional world. By investing this time and effort, it can build a sense of anticipation and excitement once it comes time to create the league and put everything in place. There are great mods to download for logos, uniforms, ballcaps, and stadium images, and you can use Gambo's stadium chart to enter your own ballpark dimensions and have ballpark factors automatically calculated for you. Also, I agree with others that starting small would be a good idea. You could create an 8-team league similar to some of the independent leagues in the early 1900s. You could do a fictional historical league or a fictional modern day game. But starting small could help you learn the players more quickly and give the project more familiarity right away.

05-03-2010, 06:19 PM	#19
GEP Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 132	I think playing out every/most/lots of game is the key. To me, it doesn't matter how big the league is -- whether it's four teams or forty -- or whether you build from scratch through the inaugural draft (my preferred method) or sim 20 years of history. That's all just a matter of personal taste as to how you like to build your league and the cosmetics you want out of your game. The important thing is, to get to know your players, you have to watch them play. Box scores just don't cut it -- you need to watch the action. Reading that you won your first world series is one thing. But it doesn't compare to watching your centerfielder throw a strike from the warning track to nail the league MVP trying to score the tying run in the 9th. It's been two years and I can still quote that PbP transcript (and my reaction to each line as it scrolled across my screen) from memory.