Any insights into increasing immersion?

[Jim]

I am involved in three leagues now. And I go through pretty much the same routine every regular season sim.
- Check for DFA and Disabled list players whose time is up
- Check for newly injured players
- Go through the game replays for the week
- Check the standings to see where I am
- Make any adjustments to the pitching staff
- Make any adjustments to the lineups
- Read the manager email (I just recently started doing this after I missed some extenstion opportunities).

But sometimes when I go through that, it just seems mechanical. I usually rush through those rote motions, and then hmmm...I want to do something more with the league....but I don't know what...so I usually just give up and go onto doing something else.

So, I thought I'd ask. Is there anything you do to increase your immersion in the game? What do you do that I might be missing? What keeps you interested sim to sim?

[John]

A good question. I can tell you what my #1 suggestion would be: Limit yourself to no more than two online leagues (and preferably just one).

From observational experience both with our own owners and those posting on the OOTP forums, I've noticed that there's an inverse relationship between the number of leagues participated in and the level of overall immersion. If you think about it, it makes sense. You mention the team managment checklist you go through but, as you intone, that's not really "immersion"; those are rote responsibilities. I'm not saying team managament isn't fun (it is), but it's not what hooks you into a league, not what inspires you. Inspiration comes through participation; chatting with and getting to know your leaguemates, reading their creative articles and writing your own, going beyond just your team to see what else is happening in your immediate league as well as the overall league universe, etc.

But when you're participating in a bunch of leagues at the same time, there's no time for that. Each league has it's own demands on your time. You can't fully absorb what just happened in League #1 when Leagues #2 and #3 are about to have their own sims. There's less time available to write articles (and since you're not absorbing everything that's happening anyway, you're getting less inspiration for those articles). Ironically, although you have more total leaguemates, you have less time to actually converse with and get to know them.

Most of us come from fantasy baseball backgrounds. If you're anything like me, you simultaneously participated in a bunch of fantasy baseball leagues at one point in time (heck, maybe you still do). And you know, that actually works out okay. It works because fantasy baseball doesn't really inspire "immersion". It's all about rote tasks; you draft, you set your lineups, you add/drop, maybe once in a while you make or receive a trade offer. That's pretty much it. Participating in multiple fantasy baseball leagues is no problem, then; if you're doing the rote work for one, why not do it for several?

When we move over to sim leagues, we carry that "more is better" mentatlity with us. But the truth is we're doing ourselves a disservice when we get involved in a ton of leagues at once because sim leagues are totally different beasts. They are very much "you get out what you put in" environements, and when you're in a bunch of leagues at once you simply don't have as much time to put into any one of them.

I would suggest this to anyone: Pick one league (or at least no more than two) that your really like and make that your league. Then make it a point to own that team and league. Use your freed up time to delve into it in a way you couldn't before. Probably the best way to start is to really get to know the other owners in the league. Topics like this, this and this are good ways to spark conversation about in-game events, and that's directly going to lead to greater immersion. Off-topic discussion may not directly lead to immersion, but it's arguably even more valuable in that it gives you insight into your fellow owners that can lead to creative articles, improved trade negotiations, etc. Above all else, when you feel a connection to the people you're playing with, you're going to enjoy the experience so much more.

So that's my big tip! Anyone else have suggestions?

[Matt]

I stay with the one league. I can spend hours on my team and minor leagues. What really helps me is delving into the writing. even when I'm not putting out articles, I am running through my head future articles. Especially ones like the reviews of minor league system. I hope to get this winter's reviews done soon. But when your writing, your not only spreading information around the league and making everyone else's experience better, you can actually learn a thing or two. Which is why you will see me do reviews that bo player by player and actually analyze that player in depth.

Another thing that keeps me interested is the trade side of things. (SURPRISED?) I am constantly going through other teams minor league systems looking for those hidden gems or guys I can take a chance on if the right deal arises. Trust me, I probably know some teams minor league systems better than they do, that's how much time I spend there. And it puts me in a spot where I am fairly prepared when trade talks do occur.

Lastly, checking out the talent coming up in the high schools and colleges. Those guys will hit the draft boards. Having a clue on some of them well before the draft is very helpful.

[John]

I stay with the one league. I can spend hours on my team and minor leagues. What really helps me is delving into the writing. even when I'm not putting out articles, I am running through my head future articles. Especially ones like the reviews of minor league system. I hope to get this winter's reviews done soon. But when your writing, your not only spreading information around the league and making everyone else's experience better, you can actually learn a thing or two. Which is why you will see me do reviews that bo player by player and actually analyze that player in depth.

Another thing that keeps me interested is the trade side of things. (SURPRISED?) I am constantly going through other teams minor league systems looking for those hidden gems or guys I can take a chance on if the right deal arises. Trust me, I probably know some teams minor league systems better than they do, that's how much time I spend there. And it puts me in a spot where I am fairly prepared when trade talks do occur.

Lastly, checking out the talent coming up in the high schools and colleges. Those guys will hit the draft boards. Having a clue on some of them well before the draft is very helpful.

Quoting this entire post for truth. These are all spot-on suggestions for increasing immersion. Matt's right about the side benefits as well. As he says, prepping articles, considering trade options and scouting feeders can give you a sizable advantage over the competition (in fact, it's the reason I'm giving up control of the Borealis... as commissioner, I do so much of this that I feel I gain too great an advantage). So you're simultaneously helping your team and boosting your immersion.

[Steel Dragons]

I agree with Matt on how writing about your team helps. When we first took over our teams I remember looking at my roster like a deer in headlights. All I saw was 75 indistinguishable Japanese names with no personality. So I just started writing some scouting reports and articles(a lot of which were only seen by me). Along the way I found myself comparing the fictitious players to real MLB players with similar skill sets. Now when I think of Sozui Kawishima I think of a poor man's Tony Gwynn, or Taro Kudo as a slightly better version of Carlos Beltran. This really helped gain an extra connection to the team.

Another neat part of the game to keep yourself amused/challenged is to micro manage the strategy sliders for both teams and players. From what I understand, a players stats are based on his ratings and ratings on his previous stats. I don't know if OOTP works like this or not but if I want a prospect to become a better base stealer, I move his slider to steal more. If I feel he needs to hit for better contact and strikeout less, I'll turn hit and run all the way up. Figuring out how to handle 75 different players and adjusting their sliders will definitely keep you busy.

[John]

You're right about that, Alan. I think a lot of people don't know that ratings in OOTP are affected by performance. They believe that ratings drive performance when in actuality it goes both ways. So indeed you have some limited ability to influence the ratings of your players, which in turn can boost performance (sort of a positive feedback loop). If you're successful at it, the strategy also has the added advantage of making your players more attractive in trade (since lots of owners are geared towards ratings-first evaluations).

[Akira]

A good question. I can tell you what my #1 suggestion would be: Limit yourself to no more than two online leagues (and preferably just one).

From experience, I can say that John is 100% right. He's not saying this just to get you to quit any other leagues you're in (well, maybe a little bit ). But that's only because it's true: the more leagues you're in, the less time you have to spend and get immersed in any one of those leagues. I'm only now branching out in this league to "absorb" what else is going on, and as I do it becomes more interesting. Not to mention the article possibilities that present themselves. I have , in fact, quit another league I was in for this very reason.

[Ghosts]

minor leagues! minor leagues! minor leauges!

minor league peba is to the peba majors what peba majors is to normal fantasty baseball.

like the calzones, my enjoyment of this game increased 10-fold when i started getting really, really into the minors. our minors were an absolute mess a few seasons ago, and it's literally taken 2 years to fix it. but not only is in resulting in a better pipeline of prospects and giving me a better appreciation for the game -- it is like a "peba multiplier".

when you're done with the majors (which takes me 5 minutes), there's still a good 30 minutes to savor your minor league teams. and when the years progress, and those draft picks from this year go to A, then AA, then AAA (and, not yet for us, but soon) the majors, it's 1000 times more enjoyable.

plus, the more you look at minor leaguers, the more "real world" appreciation you have for the real world minor leaguers. it wasn't until these last few years that i've fully understood that if prospects they aren't in an "age appropriate" level and they don't have good peripheral numbers (like BB/K, BaBIP, etc.), it doesn't matter what their batting average or ERAs or number of homers are.

[Jim]

That's a good one. I set my minor league management to my managers. But I guess it would be more immersive to handle them myself.

[John]

That's a good one. I set my minor league management to my managers. But I guess it would be more immersive to handle them myself.

Oh, absolutely. Jon couldn't be more right. There probably won't be any one aspect of being an owner that I'm going to miss more than minor league management. I would sometimes spend hours between sims looking over not only my own minor league system but other teams as well, and I can't tell you just how much that got me immersed in the game. You don't need to do all that, of course, but even just managing your own minors will be a huge boon to immersion.

And just as important; you'll improve your franchise by doing so. You're going to do a way better job of managing your system than the AI will. I've always felt that managing your own minors is one of the best ways to give yourself an edge over other owners.

[Ghosts]

That's a good one. I set my minor league management to my managers. But I guess it would be more immersive to handle them myself.

trust me: then you haven't even begun to enjoy peba. seriously, when you follow a draft pick who performs as he marches up through the minor leagues ... it's a thing of absolute beauty.

[John]

Here's one more tip for increasing immersion. Go to your Manager --> Options page. Find the section at the very bottom labeled News Subscription Settings. Right now the pull-down menu is probably set to "News from your team only". Change it to read "News from the entire world". Now watch the email roll in from sim to sim! This is especially handy if you're drawing a blank on article topics. There's a whole world of baseball going on out there. Who says your articles have to be about our human-run leagues?

[Jim]

Change it to read "News from the entire world".

Thanks. Another good angle to try.

[Steel Dragons]

There's a whole world of baseball going on out there.

Speaking of which, congrats to SP Juan Silva of the San Cristóbal Cajeros de Fortuna. 3 days ago he pitched a no hitter in the most offense oriented pro league in our universe. The celebration continues into tomorrow as Juan and I share an in game birthday

[John]

Note to self: Wish Alan a happy birthday on November 20.