Warrior General Games

This first post contains many of the posts that have expanded on the idea and is inteded to be a summary of the evolution of the concept:

Since the site itself claims to be a MMORPG, not just a sim, I propose the following idea to add the RPG aspect of managing a player. I give you Locker Room Attributes.

What the Attributes are and how they are obtained:

At player creation, a player will be given 3 Locker Room pts to assign between the three locker room attributes.

Those three attributes are:

1. Celebrity
2. Lockerroom Leader
3. Workout Warrior


In addition, one time in between games, each player will be faced with a multiple choice question. The answer will dictate an increase or decrease in one of the locker room attributes. Some examples of the questions that will be asked:


1. You are approached be a reporter asking for an interview to discuss the last game. Do you:
a) Do the interview and talk about your own performance (+1 Celebrity, -.5 Lockerrom Leader)^
b) Do the interview and talk about your teamates and their excellent performance (+1 Lockerroom Leader, -.5 workout warrior)
c) Decline the interview and hit the weight room (+1 Workout warrior, -.5 Celebrity)

^The player could be told of what his decision will do or it could be left blank.

2. After the game, your teamates want you to hit the hottest club in town with them. Do you:
a) Decline and get some rest (+1 Workout Warrior, -.5 Lockerroom Leader)
b) Hit the club for a while but keep it low key (+1 Lockerroom Leader, -.5 Celebrity)
c) Show the ladies in this town why they call you the man with the moves (+1 Celebrity, -.5 workout warrior)


3. One of the rookies on the team approaches you and asks you to spend some extra time working with him on the playbook
a) Give the kid some pointers (+1 Lockerroom Leader, -.5 workout warrior)
b) Tell him you can't afford to sacrifice your own film room time (+1 workout warrior, -.5 Lockerroom Leader)
c) Give the kid your agent's card and tell him he'd be better off spending some time finding a new agent than looking at film (+.5 Celebrity)*

4. The Help a Brotha' Out Foundation has asked you to spend some time building houses for the poor. Do you
A) Gladly accept and vow to bang twice as many nails as the next guy (+.5 Workout Warrior)
B) Decline but offer to appear in their next commercial as a spokesperson (+.5 Celebrity)
C) Accept and convince some of your teamates to also come along (+.5 Lockeroom Leader)



* The options don't always have to be +1/-.5. They could just be .5 sometimes. The key being that the net game is always the same. If a player has 0 pts in each of the other two attributes he would only ever gain .5 pts in the attribute he was focusing on. Thus a player who focuses exclusively on Celebrity will only receive .5 pt per decision in Celebrity no matter what.

The questions don't all need to straight laced. They could be completely off the wall:


1. Dancing with the Really famous people has approached you and asked you to be on their show.
a) Accept and take it very seriously. Training twice as hard as normal (+.5 workout warrior)
b) Accept it and constantly talk about your teamates whenever on camera (+1 Lockerroom Leader, -.5 Celebrity)
c) Accept it and ham it up on camera whenever possible (+.5 Celebrity)

In addition to the choose your own adventure style questions, players could also be offered items to purchase from a group that would boost one of the lockerroom attributes. You might have the option to:

Hire a Personal Trainer (Either a high set amount or an amount per season)
Hire a PR Expert
Hire a Motivational Speaker

You could only pick one from the group and it would be a permanent boost to the obvious corresponding lockerroom attribute. Maybe this option would be available before each season starts and you would have to choose again (and pay again) at the beginning of the next season.

This might not be popular, but special items like this might be purchased with flex points instead of game dollars as well if the devs feel they need more flex spending incentives.




What the attributes affect:

Celebrity:

I think there are a number of ways you can work Celebrity into the game.

1. Pro Bowl votes - If you every institute a pro bowl or all star game, Celebrity would increase the regular number of votes a player would receive based on his performance. Perhaps the number of Celebrity pts would increase the number of points by that percentage (ie 10 Celebrity pts would increase pro bowl votes by 10%)


2. Endorsements - After the season is over a player would have a chance to accept Endorsement offers. There would be a fixed number of Endorsement levels – let’s say 1 – 10. If a player has between 11 and 20 Celebrity points he could accept one, level 1 Endorsement offer. If he has between 21 and 30 Celebrity points, he could either accept 2, level 1 endorsement offers or a single level 2 endorsement offer.

The endorsement offer would be for a piece of equipment, so there would be headwear, footwear, gloves and t-shirt offers. The player would get both a sum of money as well as a piece of endorsed equipment that carried a higher bonus than what a player might normally receive at that level.

The schedule of endorsement levels would look something like this:

Level 1: $10,000 up front bonus / Piece of Equipment with a 2X bonus beyond what his current equipment max bonus is / $100 per game if the equipment is worn

Level 2: $20,000 up front bonus / Piece of Equipment with a 3X bonus beyond what his current equipment max bonus is/ $200 per game if the equipment if worn.

And so on and so forth. The endorsements do not roll over from year to year. Each year you would have to choose a new set of endorsements.

Remember that even if a player focuses exlusively on gaining Celebrity, he will look like this:

After year 1 he will have 11 Celebrity. After year 2, he will have 19 Celebrity. After year 3 he will have 27 Celebrity. This could be slightly higher if the player makes the playoffs because increased games would mean increased ability to increase locker room attributes.

Because I do not have the knowledge of the game to project where a 5 year player might be in terms of levels, I will make an educated guess and say that a 5 year player, using full usage of flex point boosting would be at approximately Level 30 (15 levels of boosting plus 15 levels of regular experience accrual).

That 5 year, Level 30 player, if he focused exclusively on Celebrity, would have 43 pts in Celebrity. At the end of the fifth year, he could choose to take a level 4 Shoe Endorsement giving him a sizable cash bonus as well as 5X the +4 equipment he would normally have, giving him a piece of equipment worth +20 pts

He could also choose to accept two level 2 deals giving him two pieces of equipment with x3 bonuses, or +8 pts each.

What would be debatable is whether the player is able to choose what piece of endorseable equipment he is offered and if he can choose the attribute bonus or if it is dictated by the piece of endorseable equipment. My initial thought is that the piece of equipment and the bonus it imparts would both be random (but geared towards the player’s position) and that there would be multiple offers every year that would give the player some choice. I’m not completely convinced that is the proper way to go, however,

Keep in mind that while it seems like a +20 boost is enormous, during that same period, the Workout Warrior has been getting 5 seasons of increased training results and on field performance boosts and the Lockerroom leader is having a dramatic effect on the Confidence and on field performance of his teammates.



3. Increased owner revenue. The amount of Celebrity, in total, among an owner's team would be tallied and would increase the $ amount an owner could ask for tickets as well as giving a bonus to ticket and revenue sales.

This would work as follows: Tally the number of Celebrity pts a team has in total and compare it to a baseline. For argument’s sake let’s set that baseline at 50 pts for “A” league and increasing at each higher level.

If the team’s collective Celebrity is less than 50 pts, this would negatively effect ticket sales by an amount equal to the level it falls below the baseline. If a team’s collective Celebrity is 25, ticket sale demand would be reduced by 25% (25 pts below 50). Conversely, if the collective Celebrity is 75, it would increase demand by 25%. This could also be applied to concessions either across the board or for items like Jersey sales specifically.



Workout Warrior

1. The more pts in workout warrior, the more pts a player might receive for training. (Again, this could be as simple as 10 pts = 10% bonus to his training).

2. The Workout Warrior also gains back more energy at each training level. Instead of 3, 9 and 15, he might get back 4, 12 and 18 respectively.

3. Workout Warrior pts could also provide a random boost to on the field play. Perhaps 10 pts would mean a 10% chance of playing an intensity level higher than what was set without the added hit to energy. For example, if intensity was set to normal and the player had 10 WW pts, he would have a 10% chance of playing at Intensity level Hard for that game while only losing the energy as if he'd played Normal. If he already had his intensity to Hard, he would get an even further boost - maybe call it "Inspired".


Lockerroom Leader

1. The more pts in Lockerroom Leader the bigger on the field boost to the entire team's confidence. To lessen the effect at higher levels, as the others on the team gain higher confidence, the effect would be less.

For example, a player has the Locker-room Leader Attribute at 100 (unlikely to ever happen but easier for the example). Players on the team would get an inverse boost to Confidence starting at 10 based on their own stat. A player with Confidence of 10 would get the full 100% boost to his Confidence, a player at 11 would get 99% boost, 12 would get 98% and so on all the way until a player with 100 Confidence will only get a 10% boost.

Also, the effect of Lockerroom Lockerroom Leader is not cumulative, unlike Celebrity. The highest Lockerroom Leader attribute on the team would be at full value, the 2nd highest would add 50% of his stat, the 3rd 50% of the 2nd and so on.

For example, you have a player with 40 LL, one with 36, one with 28, one with 20, one with 10 and one with 4. The cumulative benefit would be 40+18+7+2.5+.625+.125 = 68.25. Also keep in mind that if any of these players is not listed as a starter, his contribution is lessened by a further amount (say 50%).

2. Lockerroom Leader would also have a very small chance (10 pts = 1%) of inspiring an entire team to play at a higher Intensity level for the regular cost as with the benefit described in Workout Warrior 3. As above, the cumulative effect of multiple Lockerroom Leaders declines as you move down the line.





Conclusion


I believe this would add some added depth both the those users only managing players as well as to those users managing teams. As someone building a team, you would want to have some Celebrity guys to boost your revenue as well as some Lockerroom Leader guys to boost the entire team's play and some workout warriors that are going to be among the most skilled players on the field.

You could also add special facilities to team owners. They could spend money on an improved weight room, adding to the allure of attracting workout warriors, or add a cable television contract to appeal to Celebrity hounds.

As a player you have to choose a path for your player. With 16 games in a season, that's only a 16 pt possible gain in any one area at the expense of any other direction. A 5 year player who focused exclusively on Celebrity would have 43 pts in Celebrity and 0 in workout warrior and Lockerroom Leader. That player is going to have a lot of money and some cool equipment but won't help out his team at all and his cool equipment will not equal the bonuses gained by the Workout Warrior. It would be essential to explain that each is a balanced benefit but provides different but equal boosts to their player and team.

In reality, people will probably be more balanced in their approach, leading to a player who after 5 seasons, will have something like 20 pts in Lockerroom Leader, 18 pts in workout warrior and 5 pts in Celebrity.

Again, I think this adds to the roleplay element of the game. Are you a player who seeks out Celbrity for cash and the best equipment around? Are you the no-nonsense Workout Warrior who will be among the most skilled to ever play the game by the time he retires and plays the game with crazed intensity? Are you the Lockerroom Leader who takes his team to that next level and probably will have more Championships to show for it? Maybe you’re a blend of 2 of them or even all 3? You could be like Terrell Owens who covets both Celebrity and is a workout warrior. Maybe you’re like Tom Brady with Lockerroom Leader and a drive to be the most skilled.

Here's my "formal" proposal:

Since the site itself claims to be a MMORPG, not just a sim, I propose the following idea to add the RPG aspect of managing a player. I give you Locker Room Attributes.

What the Attributes are and how they are obtained:

At player creation, a player will be given 3 Locker Room pts to assign between the three locker room attributes.

Those three attributes are:

1. Fame or Celebrity
2. Leadership or Lockeroom Presence
3. Workout Warrior


In addition, one time in between games, each player will be faced with a multiple choice question. The answer will dictate an increase or decrease in one of the locker room attributes. Some examples of the questions that will be asked:


1. You are approached be a reporter asking for an interview to discuss the last game. Do you:
a) Do the interview and talk about your own performance (+1 fame, -.5 leadership)^
b) Do the interview and talk about your teamates and their excellent performance (+1 leadership, -.5 workout warrior)
c) Decline the interview and hit the weight room (+1 Workout warrior, -.5 fame)

^The player could be told of what his decision will do or it could be left blank.

2. After the game, your teamates want you to hit the hottest club in town with them. Do you:
a) Decline and get some rest (+1 Workout Warrior, -.5 leadership)
b) Hit the club for a while but keep it low key (+1 leadership, -.5 fame)
c) Show the ladies in this town why they call you the man with the moves (+1 fame, -.5 workout warrior)


3. One of the rookies on the team approaches you and asks you to spend some extra time working with him on the playbook
a) Give the kid some pointers (+1 leadership, -.5 workout warrior)
b) Tell him you can't afford to sacrifice your own film room time (+1 workout warrior, -.5 leadership)
c) Give the kid your agent's card and tell him he'd be better off spending some time finding a new agent than looking at film (+.5 fame)*


* The options don't always have to be +1/-.5. They could just be .5 sometimes. The key being that the net game is always the same. If a player has 0 pts in each of the other two attributes he would only ever gain .5 pts in the attribute he was focusing on. Thus a player who focuses exclusively on fame will only receive .5 pt per decision in fame no matter what.

The questions don't all need to straight laced. They could be completely off the wall:


1. Dancing with the Really famous people has approached you and asked you to be on their show.
a) Accept and take it very seriously. Training twice as hard as normal (+.5 workout warrior)
b) Accept it and constantly talk about your teamates whenever on camera (+1 leadership, -.5 fame)
c) Accept it and ham it up on camera whenever possible (+.5 fame)



What the attributes affect:

Fame:

I think there are a number of ways you can work fame into the game.

1. Pro Bowl votes - If you every institute a pro bowl or all star game, fame would increase the regular number of votes a player would receive based on his performance. Perhaps the number of fame pts would increase the number of points by that percentage (ie 10 fame pts would increase pro bowl votes by 10%)


2. Endorsement - Fame would influence the chance of getting an endorsement offer as well as the value of such an offer. Endorsements, in turn, would give the player more money as well as give them the option to equip special equipment with slightly higher than normal bonuses. (unlike equipment the bonuses would be set and couldn't be modified by the user). For example, having a fame of 10, would give a player a random, small, chance of being an offered an endorsement deal. A fame of 50 would be 5X as likely to receive such an offer and the endorsement equipment offered would be 5X more potent.


3. Increased owner revenue. The amount of fame, in total, among an owner's team would be tallied and would increase the $ amount an owner could ask for tickets as well as giving a bonus to ticket and revenue sales.


Workout Warrior

1. The more pts in workout warrior, the more pts a player might receive for training. (Again, this could be as simple as 10 pts = 10% bonus).

2. Workout Warrior pts could also provide a random boost to on the field play. Perhaps 10 pts would mean a 10% chance of playing an intensity level higher than what was set without the added hit to energy. For example, if intensity was set to normal and the player had 10 WW pts, he would have a 10% chance of playing at Intensity level High for that game while only losing the energy as if he'd played normal. If he already had his intesity to high, he would get an even further boost - maybe call it "Inspired".


Leadership

1. The more pts in Leadership the bigger on the field boost to the entire team's confidence. 10 pts would mean that the entire team would play with a 10% boost to Confidence.

2. Leadership would also have a very small chance (10 pts = 1%) of inspring an entire team to play as described in workout warrior 2.


Conclusion


I believe this would add some added depth both the those users only managing players as well as to those users managing teams. As someone building a team, you would want to have some fame guys to boost your revenue as well as some leadership guys to boost the entire team's play and some workout warriors that are going to be among the most skilled players on the field.

You could also add special facilities to team owners. They could spend money on an improved weight room, adding to the allure of attracting workout warriors, or add a cable television contract to appeal to fame hounds.

As a player you have to choose a path for your player. With 16 games in a season, that's only a 16 pt possible gain in any one area at the expense of any other direction. A 5 year player who focused exclusively on Fame would have 43 pts in fame and 0 in workout warrior and leadership. That player is going to have a lot of money and some cool equipment but won't help out his team at all and his cool equipment will not equal the bonuses gained by the Workout Warrior.

In reality, people will probably be more balanced in their approach, leading to a player who after 5 seasons, will have something like 20 pts in leadership, 18 pts in workout warrior and 5 pts in fame.

This adds depth to this game that I have yet to see in many years of playing sims and I think would greatly add to the experience for player and team managers alike.

Not a bad idea at all. I prefer it to personality types.

It's like a locker room personality but more of a me me me thing...Good proposal, but I'd like it if this and locker room personalities could be meshed together somehow.

A lot of players are already focusing on their stats and how to make their guy the best.

This is a much simpler and easier to implement and balance idea than player personalities, however. I think that it should be kept separate. Now, player personalities could be meshed with this later. Certain personality traits might give additional bonuses to these lockeroom attributes.

It's also not all me me me - only workout warrior fits that description.

Fame will help the team sell tickets and the owner make money as well as giving better equipment.

Leadership - will help the team as a whole. Even though it's only a small chance, imagine a high leadership guy with 20 or 30 pts. In the Superbowl, in addition to boosting everyone's confidence, if he hits that slim, 2 or 3% liklihood of inspiring his team, they would all go from playing Intensely to playing "Inspired". It could make a HUGE difference in that game but is still slim enough as to not be imbalancing.

I think this is genius...

With the questions at startup, you need to make sure to have a large # of questions and randomize which ones someone is asked to prevent people from playing the system and getting what they want... It needs to be based upon your answers, but not completely based upon your answers to the point where it might as well be sliders...

The biggest problem with these ideas is that most people will go for Leader or Fame right away, and workout warrior will get ignored.

I know I've posted this, but it would be nice to implement it here as well - too many leaders/fame players and the team goes down hill since there won't be that much chemistry between players. I used to play on a basketball team for intramural where two guys kept on telling others to pass them the ball so they could score, and they got really angry when they didn't get the ball all the time. The team fell apart after 2 games in a 10 game season.

I think you should have a pretty good idea of what the answer will do. There might be one or two curveballs but I think it should allow you to mold your player as you see fit. Goes with the idea of this being as much RPG as Sim.

Originally posted by Verloren
The biggest problem with these ideas is that most people will go for Leader or Fame right away, and workout warrior will get ignored.

I know I've posted this, but it would be nice to implement it here as well - too many leaders/fame players and the team goes down hill since there won't be that much chemistry between players. I used to play on a basketball team for intramural where two guys kept on telling others to pass them the ball so they could score, and they got really angry when they didn't get the ball all the time. The team fell apart after 2 games in a 10 game season.

Why do you think workout warrior would get ignored? If you make the bonus to training significant enough (maybe along with increased energy recuperating) it could be a very powerful skill. You would have a good chance of playing games at high intensity for less of an energy sap.

Sounds cool.

There's a baseball game called inside the park baseball. It has a personality system that works kind of like this.

Very cool.... It is another layer of stuff that we can do on the off days...

Thumbs up Drifter!

Tons of different categories you could have.

Just off my head

Merc - Guy who looks out for #1. Goes for personal glory. Goes for $$$.

Pro's Pro - Professional. Shows up to work every day. Old school. Leads by example.

Mad Man - Psycho.

Vocal Leader - Inspires (and occasionally offends) teammates.

Local Boy Made Good - Played hs/college around pro team's city


could think of more. each could have various effects on play.

Originally posted by drifter

Why do you think workout warrior would get ignored? If you make the bonus to training significant enough (maybe along with increased energy recuperating) it could be a very powerful skill. You would have a good chance of playing games at high intensity for less of an energy sap.


If there isn't a clear explanation of what each personality does and everyone can find it at the first look, it will end up being ignored. And there is the stigma of being the most well known player on a team/the leader that makes everybody play better. And if most people don't see any benefit to being a workout warrior...The bigger boost will help it get more attention.

Btw, what do you think of the clashing personalities idea?