When recruiting, you can make promises to a player about playing time (minutes) or starting. Players keep track of whether you follow through. If you don’t, they will let you know, their work ethic can suffer, and they may eventually decide to transfer.
If a player's promise is not fulfilled they will send a complaint email. Complaints don’t happen right away. The first check on a promise happens at a random point during the middle portion of the season (roughly games 7 through 18). You won’t know exactly when it will happen, and you won’t necessarily get a message the moment a player falls short of a promise. A player can have their promise "broken" for a while before the check actually occurs.
NOTE: Seniors and players who are injured with low health (<80%), will not evaluate games during this missed time.
Promised Minutes
First complaint. When the check happens, the game compares the player’s average minutes per game to the minutes you promised. A player is only upset if they are meaningfully below their promise. A small shortfall won’t trigger a complaint. If the player is upset, their work ethic drops, and the bigger the gap between promised and actual minutes, the bigger the drop.
Follow-up. After the first complaint, the player is evaluated again over the next several games (within 6 games).
- Positive outcome: If the player’s minutes are back to a reasonable level and they recover most of the work ethic they lost, they will send a positive message.
- Negative outcome: If the problem continues, the player takes another work ethic hit and is flagged as a possible transfer.
Transfer risk. Once flagged, the chance that the player transfers is based on a complex calculation. In general, the larger the gap between promised and actual minutes, the higher the chance.
Promised Starts
First complaint. The check happens at the same random point as promised minutes. A player may complain if either of the following is true:
- They haven’t started enough of the team’s games.
- They are technically starting but barely playing (for example, starting but getting very few minutes).
Follow-up. The player is evaluated again over a short stretch of games after the complaint (within 4 games).
- Positive outcome: The player is starting in most of those games, they will recover most of the work ethic they lost, they will send a positive message.
- Negative outcome: The player is still not starting in enough of those games, the player takes another work ethic hit and is flagged as a possible transfer.
Transfer risk. The chance of transferring is based on the share of games the player has missed starting. The higher the percentage of missed starts, the higher the likelihood of a transfer.
NOTE: In both situations, a failure to fulfill a promise does not guarantee that a player will transfer but the odds are significantly increased.