Survey Says: Part 1, The Damned OOTP

[Kingdom]

Quick intro. I wasn't sure what to expect for responses when I sent the PM out to 20 individuals. I did expect some not to respond, and there were a few, but I definitely didn't expect the resounding and overwhelming response and not just that, the depth of the responses. Putting it all together, I'd have a book's worth of information I could impart on everyone. So I am going to break this up into segments so that it's not TOO MUCH in one shot. I hope you enjoy these, as this kicks off our new section. I really enjoyed reading everyone's responses. It's very clear to me that we have a pretty diverse, unique, yet entertaining bunch that comprise our sim leagues. Let us go forward with awesome. As with this entire survey, responses are anonymous. IF you want to own up to your answers, go for it, otherwise, you don't have to.


The first question I posed on the survey is also the unnerving parts of OOTP, particularly 6.5. Now as I did make up this question, the number one response was expected. And it was loud and clear. But there were also several other gripes stated that had multiple votes. So let's dive:


What didn't have more than one response?

There was actually a specific response that I figured would have more support, but surprisingly didn't. And that's the Trade Council. There were also responses for tanking, playoff randomness, and quirks that cause players not to sign or resign with teams.

What had multiple responses?

Checking in with 3 responses each for the subject matter, GMs identified inconsistency with ratings in that players' performance does not match their ratings. The other response, "idiot GMs". And yes, I laughed, and no, I didn't list that as my own response. Additional notes for multiple responses include uneven talent development per team and the excruciating wait for players to actually develop. There have been times that I have honestly felt in any given sim league, a few certain teams had an extremely high amount of luck when it came to players gaining talent or developing faster than players on other teams. But I never really thought of that as an answer until I saw others respond.

What was number one?

Counting my response, I had 17/21 returned private messages. And of those 17 responses, we had 12 circle one specific, yet tragic event that happens in every sim league. No matter how you want to word it or phrase it, it came down to illogical or unexplained talent losses. Some responses were ultra-specific, stating prospects that were mashing in the minors losing talent. Some specifically stated non-injury talent loss. Others stated someone entering their prime and having a successful major league career, only to suddenly die with no rhyme or reason. I can't tell you how much I agree with this response. When I saw my 30+ homerun hitting, gold glove winning 27 year old 1B suddenly die in a league recently, I gave up on wanting to actually keep my team together. There's nothing I've seen in a sim league more frustrating than these talent losses (except for blowing playoff leads). There was a time when there was nothing to be done when this happened to a player. Now, as time as evolved, so to have rules and stipulations. Currently, both sim leagues have a couple of small ways to try save players from injuries or players losing talent randomly. But one wonders, based on the response, if there could ever be more done?

[cjkalt]

This is going to be an amazing segment