Morale

[Madden08PCgmr]

Needs a tweak.. or we need the option to turn it off.

NO 1st-3rd year players should have morale issues. They should be fortunate to have finally realized their lifetime dream of playing pro baseball. And the overwhelming majority play for the League minuimum. For DECADES this has been the case. Its how teams build. Teams HAD to build that way due to teh revenue structure. So there's no point at all in allowing them to be upset about their pay. Its just not realistic. They shouldn't pout until they hit their arbitration window. Thats the first time they are entitled to a solid payday. And how many Ken Griffey Jrs are there? Alex Rodriguez?.. if they want to factor in future mega stars with issues, thats fine and dandy! But there are hundreds more cup of coffee guys that may only see 2 or 3 years in the bigs. Those guys have no reason whatsoever to sulk.

2nd; NOTHING good, in ANY sport, results from pouting and taking that onto the field/court. Bad attitude and poor play = less pay. Time tested and proven. Any platoon player should want the other half of the playing time he's missing out on. He won't get that by sulking and playing poorly. And this also doesn't account for the fact that most of the platoon players have glaring deficiencies. Can't hit a lefty? Why should you expect to play against them? Can rake, but can't field your position? Why should you be an everyday player? Players should know their limitations. How bout a team concept? Ignored! Desire to win, regardless of your abilities? Not considered? This aspect needs more balance, and shouldn't be so player-sided. Or give managers some kind of chemistry rating that factors in. An A-level manager should be able to talk these guys off the ledge... or converse.. a bad manager with poor chemistry could cause a team to implode. That I could sign off on.

I get it if a declining superstar has a young up-and-comer cutting into his playing time. The game should account for that, and that player should be looking for a one way ticket out of town, however he can get it. Thats how many guys on a roster every season? 1 or 2 per team? What about the young teams that have none of those players? I've had half my starters ticked off at one point. Its completely nonsensical and unrealistic.

Close to home? Well, thats an easy fix! I just reassign players birthplaces to the state their team resides in.... at the expense of game commentary... (games shouldn't have workarounds [cheats] like this)

I do get slumps/performance playing a part. If you can't kick a slump, I can see how that would affect your play and attitude. I think that may be the only thing they got right in this equation.

Want off your crappy team? Well, guess what, there are only two ways that happens; free agency, or trade. Sulking all season won't do you any good. Poor play = less pay. Its in your best interest to OVER-perform to get traded, or increase your value in FA. The default in this scenario shouldn't be tanking.

Its just to overdone and doesn't seem like it was thought through. I do like that this in the game. It should be, it just needs a major overhaul.

My $0.02 anyway. I know this has been a topic before.

[TGov]

Re: Morale

I can't stand a player being mad over his salary that he agreed to! AND especially when he hasn't reached free agency yet. Smh, just silly.
I try to make my players happy so they will be more productive but sometimes the game just won't let you.

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[bigwill33]

Re: Morale

I’d like the option to turn morale off in franchise.

[KBLover]

Re: Morale

It definitely needs more nuance and more ways to represent you're managing a team/organization of actual personalities.

I like that manager idea. Make it something else to think about along with what his philosophy (what ratings he raises/lowers) and his grade. Maybe a C grade guy can help a team's intangibles, especially on a win-now type roster that doesn't need a ton of development but someone to keep egos in check. The other coaches can focus on development as well/instead.

Also a team captain/leadership type perk. He could help improve morale across the team since he fosters cohesion and helps keep guys focused. Then players could also look for leadership on a squad if they think that's important to them.

Things like that to bring more personality and nuance and keeping guys wanting to be on your organization (because if low enough, morale will really hinder contract talks) instead of moving ratings numbers around. Also could help raise "expected morale" (how well the team fills a FA's needs) to help drive interest along with the money and role preferences.

[underdog13]

Re: Morale

Im guessing you guys aren't a fan of Le'veon Bell then huh? [emoji28]

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[KBLover]

Re: Morale

Im guessing you guys aren't a fan of Le'veon Bell then huh? [emoji28]

He's a Steeler so no I'm not

But I think Le'veon's situation would fall under the contract situation since he's a hold out and refused to sign his tender because he's unhappy, imo. He's also more the exception. Franchise tenders are signed more often than not, or at least when they aren't it's not because of Bell's situation. It's more they want to test the market. That's separate from morale.

Also leans more towards, at least the perception, that Tomlin doesn't have full control over the locker room (manager idea) + perhaps there's not enough leadership on the roster.

AB would be closer to how The Show tries to represent morale...but he kicked butt this year, production-wise, until he just sat the last week and the situation has come off the rails since (hinting at perhaps some organizational mishandling which ties in to the manger idea).

I think a more fleshed out system with more dynamics and individual personalities would allow these situations to flourish more than just -4 OVR because he's Angry.

[Caulfield]

Re: Morale

Here's a big problem w/morale: offer Bryce Harper, as a free agent, the very first (default) money and years that comes up, IIRC its like 2 years at12 mill a year. He gladly accepts but come spring training, he's mad, expect something like 25 mill a year.

[tessl]

Re: Morale

One minor problem with the game since they implemented morale is the players did not get the automatic MLB minimum salary when they were promoted. They continued to get the milb salary which made them unhappy about their salary.

I submitted a bug report. We'll see whether they fix it. Not a huge issue but something which should be fixed.

[moTIGS]

Re: Morale

I agree it needs a tweak, but even if people shouldn't be upset, people are still people and do get upset about things they shouldn't.

And there is balance. I have some players right now unhappy about their salary but with a positive overall morale because they're playing well, I have good coaches, and the team is winning.

Annoying when a guy wants more money after agreeing to a contract? Definitely. Especially when the game gives you no way to change that until their contract is up. But it's also annoying (I imagine) to have a bad agent, sign a bad contract, and be stuck with it after you become a star.

I've also started to change how I view negative morale. It used to bug the hell out of me that a guy was angry at his salary. Recently I've started thinking about it more like they're jealous at other guys, regret signing, or any number of other negative emotions that aren't anger at the team. Emotions are real. They're also not rational. Wanting to get paid more than you are and being pissed at your boss are not necessarily the same thing.

[countryboy]

Re: Morale

I agree it needs a tweak, but even if people shouldn't be upset, people are still people and do get upset about things they shouldn't.

And there is balance. I have some players right now unhappy about their salary but with a positive overall morale because they're playing well, I have good coaches, and the team is winning.

Annoying when a guy wants more money after agreeing to a contract? Definitely. Especially when the game gives you no way to change that until their contract is up. But it's also annoying (I imagine) to have a bad agent, sign a bad contract, and be stuck with it after you become a star.

I've also started to change how I view negative morale. It used to bug the hell out of me that a guy was angry at his salary. Recently I've started thinking about it more like they're jealous at other guys, regret signing, or any number of other negative emotions that aren't anger at the team. Emotions are real. They're also not rational. Wanting to get paid more than you are and being pissed at your boss are not necessarily the same thing.

The good news is that with contract extensions added this year, we should be able to help offset some of those upset players by re-signing them to a different contract, should we feel they deserve it.

[KBLover]

Re: Morale

Annoying when a guy wants more money after agreeing to a contract? Definitely. Especially when the game gives you no way to change that until their contract is up. But it's also annoying (I imagine) to have a bad agent, sign a bad contract, and be stuck with it after you become a star.

The thing is...if the player really feels he's worth $30 M...why would he take $12 M and then be pissed about it?

If he's that adamant about it - hold out and try to get it. Pull a Harper/Machado. But players in this game sign like free agency is 20 days instead of a whole offseason.

If he's under team control - well everyone knows what the first six years are like. Be mad at the MLBPA.

The Show doesn't have a separation between the aspects of team morale and being mad at my agent (and thus not a part of the "how I feel about my team") but not my team/organization.

It should. It could impact his behavior come next FA. The "money need" goes up because he doesn't want to repeat what happened last contract.

That's what I want from morale/personality. I want the things you mention to actually organically play out and not just be headcannon or creating all the storylines ourselves.

[moTIGS]

Re: Morale

If he's under team control - well everyone knows what the first six years are like. Be mad at the MLBPA.

How do you know he's not?

All the morale screen tells us is whether a player is unhappy. It doesn't say who he's pissed at, nor does it say whether he's angry or depressed or whatever.

Does anyone assume a player who has low morale because he wants to be close to home is pissed that the team won't relocate?

People can be unhappy without having that unhappiness directed at a specific target.

[underdog13]

Re: Morale

How do you know he's not?



All the morale screen tells us is whether a player is unhappy. It doesn't say who he's pissed at, nor does it say whether he's angry or depressed or whatever.



Does anyone assume a player who has low morale because he wants to be close to home is pissed that the team won't relocate?



People can be unhappy without having that unhappiness directed at a specific target.

Yeah. On top of that people can be irrational and be angry over things other might deem something not worth getting upset over.

Ootp captures this well. I'd like mlb the show to model their morale systen after them. I agree the morale system current is kinda crap.

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[BigOscar]

Re: Morale

If I could turn it off, I probably would, which is a shame as franchise is shallow enough as it is, but I just don't think it's implemented well enough at present to be a positive. It had potential, but they never went back and added to it or fixing it, so instead it's just an awkward hoop jumping exercise to avoid players overall going down.

I don't actually even know how it affects players, beyond saying their overall has gone down or up? Does it lower/raise in game ratings? If so how much? It's not particularly clear

[saucerset]

Re: Morale

I really couldn't care less how my players feel. I especially don't like the idea that if they are unhappy then their stats suffer. In my opinion, morale is just a waste of code and memory.