Baseball is a heck of a lot more than grinding for virtual trinkets!
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The problem SDS suffers from is domination by marketing people who know little to nothing about baseball. The appeal of playing baseball is that the game can be won even though most individual AB's are failures. Pitching and defense are where the game skews the other way, where even a rare mistake can result in losing the game.
The pressure of having to perform almost perfectly on the mound and in the field, combined with the accepted failure at the plate, is why the game has a unique appeal in real life. In this, the game reflects everyday life more than other sports can do.
SDS lost their way when they traded an intense focus on creating the best simulation of baseball with creating a video arcade game atmosphere, trying to turn the sport into a pinball machine game.
Along with this came a refusal to support something else about baseball -- that the game is intensely personal. Whether fan allegiance to one team, or the affinity for team identity in uniforms that have changed over the years, and a history that reaches back well over 100 years, the sport of baseball reflects a personal identity that transcends generations.
SDS had that part of the game nailed with Uniform Creator, Logo Editor, and Stadium Creator, but along with shortchanging RTTS and Franchise for DD arcade modes, plus an overemphasis of online competition games, the corporation traded what makes baseball special for making just another role playing shooter game with emphasis on post sale revenue streams.
Now, SDS is offending their DD players to a level I have never before seen.
Suddenly, the wholesale destruction of a once very vibrant community of stadium creators is not so trivial after all. When offending what is seen as a niche segment of your customer base suddenly morphs into offending most of your entire customer base, then the ailment suddenly becomes glaring.
You were warned by a great many good and principled people, SDS, and you chose to ignore them all. Your list of friends has grown quite thin!
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Well said!!!
