Not So Sweet: The End of Lindsay Sugar

[Foxcutter]

In my AAA campaign I got a rather surprising bit of news: Lindsay Sugar, being of perfect health and advancing skills and popularity, has announced her retirement at 26 years of age. I'm wondering...did I kill her career? Being at war with the other two North American feds for women (BSC and CWWF), I hired Lindsay away from BSC, had her work nine months for me, and then she just up and called her career quits. Sure she was 1-and-8 with me but her win percentage was no better in BSC and, just like BSC, I put her in angles where she could advance in popularity and continue to make a name for herself (read:T-and-A). Furthermore, she never had any issues with my player character (or anyone else on my roster for that matter) so there were no personality conflicts and, even stranger, she's an apparently pretty driven person (if somewhat pessimistic) and I take that as meaning that she wants to succeed in the wrestling business. Her [B]Potential[/B] stat was set as 'Random' but, as I said, I don't think her career was taking a nosedive or anything. Did I, by being at war with two other promotions, have something to do with her decision by limiting her advancement in some way? Has anybody else experienced something like this? It's not a big loss or anything (she can be replaced) but having had a slew of female characters retire lately (those due to age and declining skills) it is a little disconcerting that every able-bodied female seems to be walking away from the business. I'd like to prevent it from happening again if, as I said, I had anything to do with this one. Anybody have any ideas on this or is this just a random incident? Foxcutter.

[Adam Ryland]

It has nothing to do with your booking. Women retire far earlier than men (as in reality - Lita and Trish were both retired before they were 30, and they are two of the biggest names of the past decade, and I think Molly Holly was also burned out and semi-retired at the same age) and this is the same in the game. I believe 26 is the youngest possible age though, so that would be an extreme example.

[Foxcutter]

Thanks, Adam. It did make a body wonder. I think the reason it was so disconcerting (and thus prompted the post) was because, after only five years of simulated gameplay, I thought the well was going to run dry -- all the major female players that I remembered from the 2007 version of the game having suddenly decided that enough was enough and hanging up their collective boots in such an alarmingly short period of time. Then when the thing with Lindsay came along... That said, it did spur a kind of paranoid creativity on my part and I created a few replacement female characters (complete with accompanying profile images) that I thought about posting on your site when they make their eventual appearance in the game but didn't know how you felt about that -- whether you thought that might violate web-based copyright issues or something. Whatever the case, thanks for your quick reply and reassurance that it wasn't anything that I had been doing that had been driving the workers into early retirement. :) Foxcutter.

[Remianen]

As you might expect, I have serious issues with this feature and always have. Problem is, the game can't properly simulate the semi-retirement status most often seen in Japan. Like, Jaguar Yokota "retired" years ago but she still works a semi-active schedule. For every Trish/Lita/Nora Greenwald/Krissy Vaine, there's at least five Jaguar Yokota/Lady Apache/Tiffany/Takako Inoue/Amanda Storm/Moolahs, I'd wager. Amy Lee is pushing 40 (if she's not there already) and still active. Penny Banner has worked matches this decade! On a side note, you can still use Lindsay in matches. Just change her push the day of a show and book her. If your new worker generation is on high, wait a month. You'll probably get a random gen worker who is better (skill wise) than Lindsay. I've come to like the feature over time since it forces me to turn over my roster (I don't like doing that too much) though it always chooses to retire people I'm actively pushing at the top of the card (hi Sensational Ogiwara :( ).

[Foxcutter]

[QUOTE=Remianen;504888]On a side note, you can still use Lindsay in matches. Just change her push the day of a show and book her. If your new worker generation is on high, wait a month. You'll probably get a random gen worker who is better (skill wise) than Lindsay. I've come to like the feature over time since it forces me to turn over my roster (I don't like doing that too much) though it always chooses to retire people I'm actively pushing at the top of the card (hi Sensational Ogiwara :( ).[/QUOTE] Yes, I did the same thing with Suzue when she retired -- pushed her as an occasional wrestler (even though she wanted to be used as a Personality). But, honestly, I'm not heartbroken by the retirement of Ms. Sugar or anything, merely shocked -- that's why I wondered if it may have had something to do with her personality traits. But, anyhow, as I made mention, finding a replacement for her is not making me loose any sleep at night -- in fact, I cut her from the roster today and don't have any immediate plans for a replacement (if I did, I'd want somebody with the same looks but a little bit better Star Quality rating). Finally, I agree with you: turning over the roster is kind of fun. Actually, I take a sick kind of pleasure in seeing BSC and CWWF finally begin to fend for themselves and land their own talent rather than continually poach mine. Wrestlers who would otherwise never be given a shot are suddenly finding employment. It's neat to see Candy Floss, Faith McGee, and Sprite finally be given a shot with a "real" wrestling promotion like CWWF and make something a little better of themselves. Foxcutter.

[Mr T Jobs To Me]

And what about the Fabulous Moolah? She wrestled when she was like 60!

[edisraw]

Mae Young