Text-Sims are Un-American?

[RaychelSnr]

Text-Sims are Un-American, didn't you hear? Despite the overwhelming success Football Manager has had overseas, these games don't get the same mainstream attention here in America. Check out Operation Sports' latest feature article 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?"

[Stu]

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.

[dkgojackets]

The only sports game I play right now that isn't a text sim is fifa 08. I have football manager up on my computer all day.

[Dylema]

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.

[[Icy]]

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

[plasticbeast]

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!

[fsquid]

me love the Football Manager. Up the Owls

[Sweed]

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.