Text-Sims are Un-American? - Operation Sports

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Text-Sims are Un-American?

Submitted on: 02/28/2008 by Chris Sanner

Should I move Kevin Millwood to the fifth spot in favor of that Eric Hurley guy that's now a budding superstar? What about trading Vicente Padilla for a few minor leaguers because he is eating at my profit margin? Such is the life of an addicted Out of the Park Baseball 8 fanatic I suppose. But then why does it feel so lonely sometimes?

There are three games I play every year and they are NCAA Football, Madden and Out of the Park Baseball. I have also dabbled in other text-sims such as the old Championship Manager, Front Office Football and Bowl Bound College Football but none of those games can match the kind of enjoyment I can get out of Out of the Park Baseball.

If there was a sport made for a text-sim, baseball I think would be the favorite due to its intimate ways of measuring individual performance through raw numbers. In fact, if you ever want to learn more about the business side of baseball then just pick up a copy of OotPB. Frankly it's the next best way to learn baseball business outside of being hired to be a real-life GM.

Of course, just putting Out of the Park Baseball in the same category as a business sim is a highly offensive thing to say. So let me make it clear that Out of the Park is a game about baseball.

As baseball season draws nearer and nearer you also see my hours playing Out of the Park go up exponentially. Which is odd to write because honestly, there was a time I would never look at buying a sports text-sim. Nowadays, they are my favorite sub-genre of sports games to play.

I would also love to say that my close-mindedness was an isolated incident, but I'm afraid there are a large number of gamers that don't want to play these types of games. Why is that? Will these types of games ever catch on?

One could say NFL Head Coach was the first major attempt to bridge the gap between the classic sports game genre and the text-sim one. Unfortunately, the first attempt was so terrible that I still consider it one of the worst 5 games I have ever played.

With the announcement of NFL Head Coach 09, it seems that EA Sports is going to give this thing another shot, but is the genre a viable mainstream attraction?

SI Games Football Manager 2005 was one of the top 5 fastest selling PC games of all time, mostly due to strong overseas sales. SI has developed Football Manager 2008 for the Xbox 360 which will be released late next month. So why aren't text-sims a big hit in America?

Maybe it is a lack of a big publisher putting their marketing prowess behind the games? Perhaps people just don't want to think that hard while playing a game? Maybe it's just a lack of attention span?

Speaking of which, I just got a trade offer from Atlanta, time to go discuss it. While I'm gone why don't you guys discuss why most Americans don't appreciate a good text-sim?

Member Comments

# 1 Stu @ 02/28/08 04:22 PM

The ironic thing to me is that one of gamers biggest complaints (lack of online career/franchise modes) is the biggest strength of most text sims out there today. Nothing beats facing off against other human opponents in a text sim league. Whether it's making managerial moves, signing free agents, negotiating trades, etc. The text sims I'm currently involved with (OOTP 2007/8, FOF 2007 and Bowl Bound CF) are easily the most addicting sports gaming experiences I've ever had.

# 2 Dylema @ 02/28/08 04:37 PM

FM is the only text-sim game I've really played and it's addicting. It makes you feel the pain a lot more when one of your players gose down because your skill can't compesate for it.

# 3 [Icy] @ 02/28/08 04:41 PM

I LOVE text sims and i play them 99% of my gaming time. I started to play the old Championship Manager in the early 80's and have been deeply involved in the text sims community since then, playing the games, betatesting for different companies and releasing tons of graphical mods for those text sims.

I only play sport games in the PS3 when i want some fast graphical action, but when i try to play a full franchise in game like Madden, NCAA, etc, i always get discouraged so fast because their lack of realism, inaccurate stats, broken players progression, etc as i tend to always compare them with the deep text sims i'm used to play, like OOTP (i'm also in their beta team), BBCF (betatested for them too), Football Manager, FOF2k7, DDSCB, DDSPB, EHM, etc.

Nothing beats a deep text sim if you like to feel like a real sport team GM. I must admit i'm European so maybe it shows that your article is right about European vs USA sport games players

# 4 plasticbeast @ 02/28/08 04:41 PM

Same as DK the only sports games I play that aren't text is CHoops2k8, and nfl2k5. I was very disappointed with next-gen sports games and stumbled on the guys over at Sim Gaming Network that introduced me to FOF, OOTP, and BBCF. Great games!

# 5 Sweed @ 02/28/08 07:48 PM

99% of the games I play are sports. Text sim games ( I play Out of the Park Baseball, Football Manager, and Front Office Football) give me, easily, the most realistic experience. Don't get me wrong I love to throw The Show or NBA2k8 into the ps3 but these, and any other graphical sports game, have nowhere near the depth of a good text sim. From player development, to roster rules, to stat tracking (yes, these games can keep stats for games that last a 100 seasons plus if you want) there is simply no comparison.

Like the author I would say OOTP is my favorite of the bunch. I think because I grew up watching baseball. If I'd been born in a soccer playing country then FM would be number 1. But the fact is you can't go wrong with either game.

A couple of things the author left out about OOTP that baseball fans should know. One is you can import and play any season from 1900 to the present day at no additional cost. Another, and this is my favorite thing about OOTP, is you can import your current game into each new version and continue. You never have to start over just because a new version of the game has been released. My current game was started in OOTP4 and has continued through 6 new versions of the game.

Why these games aren't as popular in the US as FM in Europe, and if fact around the world? I don't know because OOTP is really a stat guy's dream game and I think with baseball many of us love to look at the numbers. I suppose it's just not the cool new thing. But if the guys that complain about the lack of realism in the console or pc graphics games would just give these games a fair shake I think their eyes would be opened to a whole new gaming world.

# 6 devilsjaw @ 02/28/08 08:17 PM

Football Manager is the greatest game ever invented.

# 7 raskal67 @ 02/28/08 09:30 PM

I have been playing OOTP since version 5 and it is a blast. This is one of those games that never comes off of the hard drive. I also have a dynasty going with BBCF, but in my opinion, OOTP rocks!

# 8 mgoblue @ 02/28/08 11:18 PM

I've tried to like Football Manager, but I just get bored...I'm just not a text sim gamer. Same with the deep franchises like in CH 2k8. Those bore me to death with the tedious stuff. I end up simming a whole bunch but then I feel like I'm not doing anything, but if I try to do more I realize it's work and not as fun.

It's great you guys enjoy them though, just wanted to give the other point of view!

# 9 RaychelSnr @ 02/29/08 12:24 AM

Sweed,

Good points! I could go on forever about everything that is possible with OOTP. I once followed someone's alternate history of baseball thorugh it. Just some amazing stuff possible.

# 10 RaychelSnr @ 02/29/08 12:28 AM

MGoBlue,

Wouldn't you say that the lack of any type of patience and such is something that can be attributed to most Americans? I think that's a good reason why text-sims haven't caught on with the mainstream here, because it's just a different culture.

# 11 mgoblue @ 02/29/08 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	MGoBlue, Wouldn't you say that the lack of any type of patience and such is something that can be attributed to most Americans? I think that's a good reason why text-sims haven't caught on with the mainstream here, because it's just a different culture.

That's definitely possible. I think also that as I get older (I'm 27), my gaming time is getting more limited (and therefore more valuable). I personally don't get as much out of the text sim as I do some other type of game.

Back when I was in high school I'd play 10 seasons in my NCAA Football dynasties, so at some point I did enjoy that aspect. Over time I just don't have quite the time or desire to spend most of my time looking at 40 times and high school grades, etc.

My gaming attention span has really shrunk over time, due to age or whatever, so that factors in.

Oh, I'm also not a total baseball fan, so OOTP does nothing for me. I like watching some baseball, but I don't wish I was a GM at all.

# 12 djcorrosive @ 02/29/08 07:46 AM

I just recently got turned on to text based games a few months ago. I gave them a try when I was a bit younger in the mid '90s but the did nothing for me. After being a bit dissapointed with Next Gen football I decided to give BBCF a try after reading the review here at OS. I was hooked from the get go. It was everything I was looking for in a football game. I love the depth of these games, I was always big into the managerial aspect of sports games, making financial decisions, trades, recruiting, and watching players progress through their carreers. Plus the amount of customization available is amazing. Since BBCF, I've tried OOTP8 and Total Extreme Wrestling. They're no substitute for console games, rather a completely different sub-genre of sports gaming. I've finally seen the light.

# 13 bateman11 @ 02/29/08 07:50 AM

Anyone play fbb or dds? I think OS should make an NBA Sim League

# 14 zukes @ 02/29/08 08:10 AM

Maybe they're right, I'm Canadian and play OOTP to death.

# 15 HerbD @ 02/29/08 09:07 AM

I've played OOTP since V2 and I've bought most of the text based sports games that came after it. I'm one of those that get easily bored with text games when trying to play solo but can't get enough of online play. The human interaction and competition are the things that keep me coming back to text base sims. Matching my ability to manage these sports franchises against other real people...there is nothing like that. Console games are usually about which player can push the most buttons in the least amount of time. They have a evolved a little bit over the years and I always buy them for my kids but it is a different part of the brain that gets stimulated when I face off against other people in text based online leagues. Madden actually had online leagues built into one of their PC versions a few years ago but I think that only lasted one version.

To anyone that isn't sure if they will like text based games I suggest just trying one and getting in an online league and see what you think then.

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