I'm not nearly as invested as some of you...with teams in multiple worlds....but I've been playing long enough that I should know the rules! Just learned another one the hard way...like many of the others, unfortunately!
Most of you may know this, but I'm posting it for anyone who may not realize it......
Simply being on the field for the first play of the game does not mean the player gets starter credit....depth chart + formation + playbook, does not equal starter. I will admit, I've noticed that more players get starter credit than there should be by that logic... but, of course, I never questioned it because it had never worked against me! lol
Playing time (percentage) seems to play a role as well. With my limited research using my own players, it looked like a percentage of 33% was necessary to get credit for a start... However, after searching through the message boards, someone else specifically mentioned having players with 33% getting credit and some with 33% not getting credit... so I guess it's not THAT simple either.
Someone else actually responded to that post with a breakdown of how "starters" were determined, and it basically uses a combination of all the things I've mentioned...including player percentage. I could be super helpful and copy the info or a link... but I'm too lazy for all of that ;) ...could be why I'm not quite as successful at this thing too :P
Anyway, I haven't noticed anyone complaining about it, so there's a good chance I'm just the fool who overlooked or forgot about this "rule" ...but it's also the first time I've ever been affected by it, so I figured I'd share in an effort to spread awareness.