Quote:
Originally Posted by smiller
Fyrestorm3,
I plan to buy the game after the 3rd patch, and was going to play as GM/Manager, but your reply is making me rethink to playing as GM only. Although David's is also making me wonder about going the Manager route alone. Perhaps, i need to play two leagues. Would be interested in hearing more of your experiences.
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Long story incoming! My experience with OOTP has been as follows:
When I started playing (with OOTP11), I pretty much played GM-only. I made all the transactions, ran my organization, and simmed every single game - barring playoff games, which I managed. While this was fun, and while I successfully built quite a few championship teams, I started to feel like I was becoming disconnected with my teams. I had garnered a reputation (in my fictional universe) of essentially ignoring the fans; I would trade away star players like they were nothing, all in the name of improving the club. I wheeled and dealed every offseason, flipping the club on its head almost every year. And it worked. But it felt lacking.
It was either in OOTP13 or 14 where I decided I needed to take a more hands-on approach to my team. I was GM of the Rays in 2016 in my main game at the time, when Joe Maddon, out of nowhere, retired. So I took the opportunity and I created the in-universe story of becoming the MLB's only GM/Manager. I still made the transactions, but I delegated much of the smaller duties, like minor league promotions/demotions, to the AI. And my in-game persona changed almost overnight.
By playing out every game of every season (I didn't sim a single inning - I was in the dugout for every game, after all), I grew so attached to my players. Scrubs who would have been trade fodder in the past grew on me to the point where I didn't want to get rid of them. "No, no, play him one more year," I'd tell myself. "This'll be the year he shows what he can do. Remember that series against New York? He was phenomenal! He's totally capable of great things!" I experienced the highs and lows alongside my players, and they became real to me. They were so much more than names. And so when it came time to make the big moves... more often than not, I stood pat. Of course, there were still big deals that I pulled off, but they required a lot more thought on my part, and they were no longer as easy as just pushing a button.
I vividly remember one of the hardest trades I ever made: I needed a fifth starter, so I was negotiating with Houston for one of their young relievers, who looked like he had the potential to start. I was willing to give up an infield prospect, but Houston wasn't budging. They wanted a reliever as well, to replace the guy I was taking. Specifically, they were asking for J.P. Howell, a 37-year-old at the time. Now, Howell was a guy who'd done pretty good for me out of the pen. He was the grizzled vet of our staff, someone who'd been with us for almost all of his career, barring a two-year stint in Seattle. But he wasn't GREAT. His WHIP hovered around 1.30 most years, his ERA around 3 or 4. A very serviceable reliever, but that's all he was. Plus, he was 37 years old with a single year left on his deal. He should not have been hard to give up.
And yet, I literally had to sleep on it. I had to close my laptop and go to bed. Howell had been with me for so long, we'd been through so much together - could I really just send him off like that? It was a whole new layer of immersion in the game that I had never experienced when I did not watch all of my games play out. For the record, I pulled the trigger on the deal, and I'm glad I did. Howell played out his final year with Houston and retired, while the pitcher I got back has been fairly solid.
Now, you might ask, why would I ever go back to GM-only, if playing GM/Manager had such an effect on me? Basically, it just took too long. This was an MLB league, so it was a full 162-game schedule. I would get through a season in about 2 months. There's nothing wrong with that, really, but one of the coolest parts of OOTP for me is building a history. Seeing guys you've drafted rise up through the ranks and into the annals of history. I'm already imagining the day when I retire my star first baseman's number. Except, that day would be real-life years away if I continued to play out every game.
So that's why I made the switch back. I wanted things to progress at least a little faster. But I'm not simply simming away like I used to - I watch at least a few innings of most games. Generally I'll start a game and sim to the 4th, check the Game Log, then sim to the 7th. If it's a close game, I'll watch it play out. If not, I'll sim through to the end. I feel like it's a good balance, even though I do miss the immersion that playing every single game brings. The good news is that the new features like Owner Goals give GM-only a lot more depth.
I have contemplated starting a new league, a fictional one with a shorter schedule, so that I could play out every game again. But I really don't want to leave this one behind. Thanks to my 6 seasons of being a manager, I'm more attached to these players than I ever have been to any group in the past. And we've STILL yet to win a damn World Series!
tl;dr: Play out your games if you can. It's far more immersive.