What Would You Like to See in a Career Mode?

[BigSexy]

I was recently reminded of the old Maddens, the "good" Maddens from the Playstation 2 spanning from 2004 to 2009/2010. Starting in '06, the famous Superstar Mode was introduced; it was a game mode I most frequented because I thought it was simply THE BEST. The mode continued through the current gen but was deemed lackluster because so many features had been stripped. I think that's the current case today with Connected Franchise Mode.

Some players love to play out those "what if" scenarios and one of them is probably "What if I could be a superstar in the NFL?". I know mine was and still is. Madden 18 offers that, but it's a bland, vanilla experience that doesn't really dive into the lifestyle of an NFL player. I've drummed up a few ideas for the ideal sports career mode, football in particular. Please feel free to expand on this list with what you'd like to see in a sports career mode.

1. IQ Tests, Pre-Draft Interviews, Workouts/Combines

2. Ability to sign endorsements, appear in brief commercials, make appearances at store openings, etc.

3. Personalized autograph (I'm sure there's a possible way of making this happen if 2K can take a face scan from a phone$), accepting/refusing to sign autographs to improve/lower your reputation with fans and the media.

4. Schedule conflicts. A teammate throws a party on a Friday night, but there's a film session early Saturday morning before a game. Going means an improved relationship with teammates/lower awareness for that game and less reps, and vice versa.

5. Something like the MyCrib from ESPN NFL 2K.

6. The ability to pursue romantic relationships. You can choose between a celebrity which will ultimately lead to a highly publicized relationship or settle for someone not famous.

7. Bring back movie offers!


8. Bring back agents. Also, be more active in contract negotiations and let direct on-field play influence how much $ you get. Maybe have a checklist of incentives/goals (example: 15 receiving touchdowns could bring your worth up to $30 million)

9. Post-game interviews with questions depending on the final score of the game. If it's a close loss, have the player be able to say something like "Ah, you can't win 'em all, but this team did their best and fought 'til the end" or, on the opposite end, "Y'all a bunch'a f*%#*#g losers" and throw your team under the bus. Or, you could take a passive aggressive (see: Jay Cutler) approach and piss off the media/fans.

10. Controversial actions. Kneeling during the anthem that affects contract negotiations. False accusations of cheating with a teammate's wife (or true should you decide). Suspensions for performance enhancing drugs. Anything to garner negative publicity.



This would be my ideal sports career mode; let me know what you guys think and if you would add/take anything away!

[BigSexy]

Here's the image that was supposed to go along with the OP. Also meant to post this under a different board, my apologies!

[Toastandtoaster]

I haven't played anything newer than 2k12, but have seen a crap ton of videos of all the newer ones, but you pretty much described the 2k basketball series's career modes.

Sent from my SM-J327T using Operation Sports mobile app

[Ohgr]

Without reading everything you've mentioned.

I'm speaking of GM/Owner/Coach Mode! (I suck in playing, but I'm a good team builder/playcaller)

1. Map and time management. If I want to go scout a college game, I want to go and scout a college game. And my location tells me where I can see some. Maybe with an assistant, that tells me some things, because I'm actually just watching a game and don't pay too much attention^^
At best implement the whole college level in there...and while you're at it, if I fail at pro level, give me a chance on college^^

1b) Scouting in general...it must be a bit more than just spending numbers/time to reveal some stats.

2. More stuff around the leagues. You know...the stuff happening to Elliot this year or Brady last year, sometimes players get killed, former players get killed, scandals, you know. Give the league some life.

3. Practice that matters. Like...really...you need to have a plan for your players. And of course a simplier version for those who need it a bit easier or don't like spending too much time on that.

4. A lot to do in the front office. Be it tough trades, stadium upgrades, merchandising, interviews...all that kind of stuff. And when I do something stupid, I want ESPN to steamroll me in SC.

That's kinda what I want roughly...never gonna happen xD but let a man have a dream.

[lordenforcer]

I would love to see the ability to:

-Have multiple humans/computers in the same career league
-playing h2h games online
-at a minimum a 2d field to represent the plays

Basically a career mode of XOR football challenge or fbpro recreated LOL

[mestevo]

Just reposting my reply to a Madden wishlist thread:

Bring more meaning to connected franchise.
Let me play out my NFL career and then transition to become a coach in the league. From there I need to earn where I go starting as an assistant (token duties on game day, but running practices w/ position groups during the season - tough sell and probably wouldn't make the cut IMO) to a coordinator biding my time waiting for the right opportunity to make the leap to head coach. Even at that point, there could be really meaningful changes depending on the situation you are hired into. A hands-on owner/GM may want control of the rest of their staff or roster decisions, or a hands-off owner may give you the power to do everything - those could even be factors when negotiating for a job. Down the line you could have a coaching tree and all that jazz as other players and generated coaches come and go from your staff/teams over time.

GM Mode
Becoming a GM could allow for a true 'coach mode' as your manage a franchise (again, dealing w/ owner satisfaction/potential power struggles) but not actually playing the games. I could see a GM probably making it hard to recruit coaches who want full control, as you'd end up being a token position with little to do but running the draft and watching a lot of games - but that could be all some want to do, too.

A path to ownership would be the rare next step, but baby steps, that's for later iterations.

Meaningful ownership
Owners should have personality. Some are hands on, some are hands off, some swoop in and make decisions you have to react to (desire to draft a certain player), others are completely invisible but need to be appeased/appealed to for certain things (end offseason with specific improvements to position groups). Fail to meet their objectives and it could lead to your firing or deciding not to renew your contract. Owners should have chemisty and tendencies amongst each other, this should factor into league meetings where rules could change the game, anything from expansion and relocation to field goal and overtime rules.