[Qeltar]

It seems like a bit of a stretch to suggest that there's "penalizing" going on here. And it would be hard to prove without a lot of data.

At best I think that if this is happening, it's unintentional.

But I have a hard time understanding how it could happen anyway. It would basically mean they had different engines for when you were playing and when you were simming, which would be a lot of extra work to set up and maintain, and for no apparent benefit. Software companies are not big on such.

My second year Marlins have been bananas since I stopped actively managing, but I don't think it's because of the code. They were a very respectable 21-14 when I stopped. Since then, they have gone 30-9, which is utterly insane.

If anything, I attribute this more to staying healthy, a very strong clubhouse environment (the bar is all the way full now), getting rid of some underperforming starters, some luck with young starters who are playing over their heads, and some commissioner-mode hacking I did to get a couple of players out of season-long morale death spirals.

That last part I really do think does matter and it would be nice to add some mechanism (besides hacking) to deal with players who get into the "play poorly --> get down on performance --> keep playing poorly" vicious circle.

The psychological aspects of professional sports are getting increased attention IRL and hopefully it will make it into OOTP as well. Either that or at least toning down some of the crazy extremes in the morale department.

I had a guy I got in a trade who was languishing somewhere because I recognized his potential. I converted him to a RF because I have an MVP-caliber 1B already, he tore the cover off the ball in AAA, and I promoted him.

He was "unhappy." What?

So I looked at his stats and his "Role on Team" morale was under -3000. That's ridiculous. He made The Show at 24. Any real player in that situation would be thrilled no matter what they were asked to do, much less being put right into a starting position on a contending team.

I think the huge negative number there was a residual from his previous time before the trade. Maybe morale needs to reset or move more strongly when moves are made or something. The only thing I did that could be perceived as a negative was putting him in RF but first basemen aren't usually mentally set on their defensive position nearly as much as some others.