Wishlist Item: Player Demeanor, Mood & Expressions

[@legendm0de]

I've eluded to this in some post as a thing I could expect to see MLB The Show go in the direction of and in light of FIFA 15's introduction of this concept for their new game I want to explain what I want to see in the MLB version.

I take Big Papi as an example, there are times where you see different sides of him, very jovial, jokingly side, anger, intense focus (during 9th innings late game ABs), rage (see last years dugout telephone for reference). These are amazing if they could be represented in a video game. I would say this is relatively easily applicable, so I'll explain a mechanism for this, starting with Spring Training.

Most likely these are light hearted, almost vacation-like events for some players. You see more smiling, a positive demeanor almost league wide. It's a unique time of year for the players there. In game this could translate into, smile expressions at the plate for some players, more chattiness captured on the bases and hopefully if they introduce new dugout activity, then you'd hear and/or see a calmer Spring Training dugout than normal I would guess. Then again there are stressful moments as well, so for players taking this time a little more serious, you see normal expression or stressful demeanors for players struggling badly like pitchers giving up consecutive runs for example.

As a product of this by the time you're getting into a pennant race game in August or September near the postseason where the passion is just bleeding through the uniforms at this time, you'll feel apart of it. Or when your team goes into a losing teams city who's having a disappointing season in the middle of a 7 game losing streak, you get the feeling of that brought to you in game. For example, a number of times I have seen the Houston Astros over the last 2 years, having the most relieved, joyous celebrations just for simply winning a game.

For this to work correctly, a mood tendency should be created for all players if that is possible to prevent players from all carrying the same expressions and demeanor at the same times. Players who tend to be ultra serious, would then have to need a larger number of variables for them to crack into a joyous or smiling, light hearted demeanor. You could have tendencies, from jokester/prankster, to happy, very serious, nonchalant, so forth and so on. Those base tendencies should be the starting point for whatever variables are used in play to create the expression you see in a given game or season situation.

All of the factors involving what creates a players mood at any given time, I don't want to try theorizing but a balance of individual factors and team factors should be makeup for this.

I hope that implementation of this could be done easily, but it would be a nice thing to focus on and introduce to us soon. Anyone else have a feature of this idea, they'd be looking forward to seeing or any objection or concern about what the idea would do for the game?

[@legendm0de]

I just thought of this, so to expand how these could be implemented, for each type of mood, you could have a series of captures made. You could have a team of people capturing joyous behaviour in all forms, at the plate, on the bases, in the fielding positions, before a game, during the dugouts, after a game and anywhere in between. In the event a player comes around in the mood for a "joyous" demeanor at the plate, that capture is implemented on him for that time.

A combination of the behaviour captured and some technology changing and appropriating facial expressions would probably be what's on display for us.

[bigwill33]

Sounds great, hopefully one day. But with the time and resources this would take to pull off I doubt you see it anytime within this decade.

[@legendm0de]

Well between an idea like this and remodeling every player I'd like to see one or the other by next season. There needs to be something that distinguishes players from last gen and this one so they can feel more different. A physics engine that allows for them to collide with each other and walls, etc would also be very welcome. Just ideas for next season and the future in general to take players to the official next level we're looking for.

I don't absolutely agree that this is such a feat either that couldn't be taken on until we nearly enter a new gen system all over again. This would take some calculations of variables to trigger which type of animations you basically get but aside from that it's just reworking the basic animations you see through the game at every position and replacing it with one captured to represent whichever specific emotion is on offer.

For example, a plain facial expression by a Right Fielder could simply change expression to something serious if their team is in the 9th inning trying to close out a game with RISP. In this case, all that would be needed is a simple facial expression change to represent a 'serious' mood. Or a 'stressed' expression for example if a fielder has made 2 errors in the same inning or something crazy like that. I don't know but it seems something fairly attainable especially for a game that moves this slow. I could see a challenge in representing this depth of player senses in a more continuous sport game like FIFA, Madden, NBA, NHL.

[JLindholm9]

These are all great ideas. The moment to moment emotions are what baseball is all about.


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[Jr.]

It's funny, I've been contemplating posting a similar idea to this. My idea expanded more on tendencies and player traits (guys that jog on ground balls/pop ups or run everything out, run or don't run on dropped third strikes, etc.)

I think player traits and personality would be a major step toward injecting some life into the game as the game does tend to get stale. I have a strong feeling that's why it's so tough to get through a full season in baseball video games.. you need something to keep the season fresh for 162 games. Players are so similar in this game when it comes to mannerisms/personality/downtime actions.

I would love to see Miguel Cabrera act differently on the field than Mike Trout, not just perform differently. I really hope this is something the development team is considering integrating.