The data doesn't lie...why abilities are unsim.

I am going to try to keep this entry brief since I tend to write novels when it comes to the subject of Madden. I just want to give a quick review of what I consider "sim" versus "unsim" play in Madden and then shed some light on how abilities are negatively impacting the game.

Sim to me is trying to emulate (as best you can in a video game) what happens on Sunday. I have played in a sim league since way back in the PS2 days of spawn and merge issues. The rules we have used have always been put in place to try to avoid exploits. No manually moving players to hover between the defensive lineman to exploit the AI for instant sacks. No rocket catching to abuse the defensive back AI. No calling play-action on 3rd and long. Punt the ball on 4th down unless a generally acceptable late game or short yardage situation across mid-field. Why do sim leagues put these rules in place? Because they like rules? No. They do so because they want the game play experience to be as realistic as possible.

Along with the game play, I have always felt that the stats should also resemble real NFL stats as much as possible. In my previous league, there was always a focus on trying to tweak the slider set to get good game play and as realistic stats as possible. We didn't want a season without injuries, but we also didn't want a MASH unit that would indicate our players were playing with brass knuckles and ball bats. We also wanted completion percentages, sacks, interceptions, etc to be fairly realistic. In short, we wanted the best realism we could have in a video game. To me that should always be the goal.

If you read my last blog post, you already know my thoughts on the use of abilities in Madden. I think trying to make star players stand out is a great idea, however I thought the implementation was poorly done and it turned into arcade like game play that benefited the MUT revenue stream only. A majority of my previous league members disagreed with turning abilities off, so after 10 years I struck out to find a new league. After playing a full season in the new league, I jotted down the stat leaders for a little comparison. The results were pretty eye opening, so I thought I would share them with you. Keep in mind the quarter length, sliders, players skill levels, and league rules-sets are very similar.


League 1 (abilities off) League 2 (abilities on)

Passing leader
1) 4,399 yards 38 TD 38 Int
2) 5,191 yards 42 TD 51 Int

Rushing leader
1) 1,874 yards 11 TD
2) 2,040 yards 15 TD

Receiving leader
1) 76 for 1,611 yds 12 TD
2) 97 for 1,828 yds 17 TD

Sack leader
1) 25 sacks
2) 57 sacks

Interception leader
1) 13 picks
2) 22 picks

Forced fumbles
1) two guys had 5 each
2) Two guys had 13

I think the abilities on the defensive side of the ball really skewed the game play and the numbers. When you have multiple players getting over 50 sacks because of abilities then something is wrong. Especially when you can't draft a stud offensive lineman with an ability to possibly counter the stud pass rushers. When you have multiple defensive backs and linebackers causing double digit fumbles is that realism? The same can be said about the 22 interceptions. I think most of the abilities on offense are also unsim in their application, but my hypothesis for why the stats are not as skewed between the two leagues is because both leagues had rules on stat padding.

I will close with saying that I do not think there is only one approach to playing Madden. The competitive guys absolutely should look for every exploit when trying to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. That doesn't appeal to me though and I don't watch a game where the guys only run a few different plays and have a punter at QB.I also don't hate on guys who want to play MUT and try to collect the latest and greatest Golden Ticket cards with jukebox,dashing deadeye, or whatever arcade feature they want. I just think that for a CFM that has the intention of being sim there really is no other option than turning the abilities off. Perhaps EA will either tone down or balance out abilities in Madden 21 and my opinion will change.....but I doubt it.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and happy gaming!