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rudyjuly2 · 10-23-2008, 01:41 PM

While many people hate losing and their ultimate goal is to win the National Championship (I'd like that to), my only real goal is to have fun. I don't have fun if I'm not losing. I want to play a lot of close games. I want to be on the edge of my seat trying to upset someone or fighting off an underdog. Blowing out teams isn’t fun. It’s boring and leads to gaming apathy. This is true for any sports video game.

The best part when playing a NCAA football dynasty occurs when you start with a program that isn't that great. You fight to win games and almost every game can be won or lost. It is exhilarating when you upset one of the big boys and frustrating when you blow a game to a lesser team. Close and challenging games bring out the desire to play more.

But then your skills improve. And then your recruiting classes come in making you one of the best teams in the country. Suddenly, all of those fun and close games are gone. You are sleepwalking through your play calling, wondering when to get your backups in, even rooting for the computer to provide a challenge. Is going undefeated and winning a National Championship really that important? Not to me it isn’t.

I’ve been debating as to what difficulty level is best and what sliders give me the best representation of the sport and suit my skills. But I can’t lose sight of what matters the most and that’s the joy of losing. So when winning gets too easy and you are sitting on your couch falling asleep at the controls, try something different. Take on that diamond in the rough program and welcome the losing. Increase the difficulty level and enjoy the beatings. You can’t truly enjoy winning when there was never a real threat of losing.

areobee401 · 10-23-2008, 01:43 PM

Agree 100%

If I stop losing games in any sports game I lose interest and stop playing.

Eski33 · 10-23-2008, 01:52 PM

I also agree that competitive sports games, as long as the CPU isn't use cheat tactics, makes the games more enjoyable.

I used Notre Dame in my dynasty. Fortunately, they didn't have the toughest of schedules however I was able to knock off USC. I played Oklahoma in the Championship game and lost after having a 14-point lead. One of the things that cost me was deciding to try to throw the ball with less than 10 seconds left in the 1st half. It got picked and Oklahoma was able to put up a last second FG which sparked a rally.

As much as I hated losing it made the experience more immersive.

I am also finding this in MLB The Show 08. I am 35-16. A good record but not great considering video game standards, which is fine by me.....

fistofrage · 10-23-2008, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by areobee401


	Agree 100% If I stop losing games in any sports game I lose interest and stop playing.

Thats good, you must be real interested in our on-line dynasty.

I enjoy losing too. A win has no credence if there was never a chance to lose. This is why in my off-line dynasty, I really crank up the AI sliders and dumb mine down. I also use "Ask Corso" so I can many different plays throughout the game and no two games are alike.

The best thing I do is when I do an off-line dynasty, I usually have between 4 & 6 teams of different abilities, but never any elite teams right away. I usually take middle to low tier BCS teams and Central Michigan. This way if team A goes on a winning streak and team B is still losing, I don't begin to question the sliders. I also like to compare stats between the teams.

But most imprtantly, if I pick a team like Ole Miss, Michigan State, Colorado, I much more enjoy going 8-4 and having realistic scores than going 13-0 with a National Title.

Solidice · 10-23-2008, 01:56 PM

yea same here, normally in my Dynasty's, if i have 2-3 undefeated seasons, I'll move to a new job/school and rebuild them.

in '08, i started with MTSU, took 9 seasons to get a NC win with them(got to the SEC), then move to the worst team over that span, SMU.

N51_rob · 10-23-2008, 02:08 PM

This is why I love online dynasty! Recruiting isn't a cake walk for the most part. I still get good/great players but there is competion for the top guys. You play more user games and thusly have a greater chance for a loss. In the one that I'm in we have about 6 users in the ACC it makes for great compelling action. We also have 2 in the Pac-10 and 2 in the Big 11. It has really saved football for me this year. I didn't buy Maddden and haven't had much fun playing offline. OD makes NCAA 09 a fantastic game for me this year.

rudyjuly2 · 10-23-2008, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by N51_rob


	This is why I love online dynasty! Recruiting isn't a cake walk for the most part. I still get good/great players but there is competion for the top guys. You play more user games and thusly have a greater chance for a loss. In the one that I'm in we have about 6 users in the ACC it makes for great compelling action. We also have 2 in the Pac-10 and 2 in the Big 11. It has really saved football for me this year. I didn't buy Maddden and haven't had much fun playing offline. OD makes NCAA 09 a fantastic game for me this year.

Six teams in the same conference? Wow. That must be a blast to be one of those teams and face a true battle almost every week. It seems like in every conference you have at least two guys so there is no cakewalk to the title.

I've tried going down to AA recently from Heisman (I sit somewhere in the middle) but I started to get that apathy feeling again. Heisman has its flaws but it provides the best challenge for me. I'm nowhere near as good as some of these guys here but even bad teams would give me a fight on Heisman and I enjoyed it. I'm going to give AA one more game with some tweaks. But deep down I know I'm going to have to go back to Heisman and enjoy the challenge (and frustrations that come with it).

Keyser Soze · 10-23-2008, 02:15 PM

This is why I will likely finish up this year and next year (if Todd Parker stay with me for his 4th year) and then go to a brand new offensive strategy because while I NEVER want to lose, I need several games up for grabs in the 4th quarter to hold my interest. Since I am yet to go undefeated and I trailed in my last 3 games of the year last year, I am still content with continuing to improve my team. however, if I go 13-0 twice, it will be time for an over haul of my offensive strat (likely wont have proper personnel at first which will lead to problems) to keep things interesting. But before I do that, I plan on setting the single season and career passing records into a stratosphere that can't be touched!!! After that I go after the rushing record that Aldridge set for my buddy with ND.

10-23-2008, 01:41 PM	#1
rudyjuly2 Cade Cunningham OVR: 75 Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Kingsville, ON Posts: 14,741 Blog Entries: 110	The Joy of Losing While many people hate losing and their ultimate goal is to win the National Championship (I'd like that to), my only real goal is to have fun. I don't have fun if I'm not losing. I want to play a lot of close games. I want to be on the edge of my seat trying to upset someone or fighting off an underdog. Blowing out teams isn’t fun. It’s boring and leads to gaming apathy. This is true for any sports video game. The best part when playing a NCAA football dynasty occurs when you start with a program that isn't that great. You fight to win games and almost every game can be won or lost. It is exhilarating when you upset one of the big boys and frustrating when you blow a game to a lesser team. Close and challenging games bring out the desire to play more. But then your skills improve. And then your recruiting classes come in making you one of the best teams in the country. Suddenly, all of those fun and close games are gone. You are sleepwalking through your play calling, wondering when to get your backups in, even rooting for the computer to provide a challenge. Is going undefeated and winning a National Championship really that important? Not to me it isn’t. I’ve been debating as to what difficulty level is best and what sliders give me the best representation of the sport and suit my skills. But I can’t lose sight of what matters the most and that’s the joy of losing. So when winning gets too easy and you are sitting on your couch falling asleep at the controls, try something different. Take on that diamond in the rough program and welcome the losing. Increase the difficulty level and enjoy the beatings. You can’t truly enjoy winning when there was never a real threat of losing. __________________ NBA 2K24 All Star Sliders

10-23-2008, 01:43 PM	#2
areobee401 Hall Of Fame OVR: 24 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 16,772	Re: The Joy of Losing Agree 100% If I stop losing games in any sports game I lose interest and stop playing. __________________ http://twitter.com/smittyroberts

10-23-2008, 01:52 PM	#3
Eski33 MVP OVR: 28 Join Date: Jun 2004 Blog Entries: 13	Re: The Joy of Losing I also agree that competitive sports games, as long as the CPU isn't use cheat tactics, makes the games more enjoyable. I used Notre Dame in my dynasty. Fortunately, they didn't have the toughest of schedules however I was able to knock off USC. I played Oklahoma in the Championship game and lost after having a 14-point lead. One of the things that cost me was deciding to try to throw the ball with less than 10 seconds left in the 1st half. It got picked and Oklahoma was able to put up a last second FG which sparked a rally. As much as I hated losing it made the experience more immersive. I am also finding this in MLB The Show 08. I am 35-16. A good record but not great considering video game standards, which is fine by me.....

10-23-2008, 01:56 PM	#5
Solidice Guns Up! OVR: 63 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 9,478 Blog Entries: 41	Re: The Joy of Losing yea same here, normally in my Dynasty's, if i have 2-3 undefeated seasons, I'll move to a new job/school and rebuild them. in '08, i started with MTSU, took 9 seasons to get a NC win with them(got to the SEC), then move to the worst team over that span, SMU. __________________ Xbox Live ID: Solidice Steam ID: solidice0 Origin ID: Solidice0 Current Main Rotation: Destiny 2 (XB,PC), Division 2(XB) Baldur Gate 3(XB 4p Co-op run) HellDivers 2 (PC) Games on the list to play: Too many to fit here

10-23-2008, 02:08 PM	#6
N51_rob Faceuary! OVR: 54 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Howard County, MD (the HoCo) Posts: 14,831 Blog Entries: 51	Re: The Joy of Losing This is why I love online dynasty! Recruiting isn't a cake walk for the most part. I still get good/great players but there is competion for the top guys. You play more user games and thusly have a greater chance for a loss. In the one that I'm in we have about 6 users in the ACC it makes for great compelling action. We also have 2 in the Pac-10 and 2 in the Big 11. It has really saved football for me this year. I didn't buy Maddden and haven't had much fun playing offline. OD makes NCAA 09 a fantastic game for me this year. __________________ Moderator PSN:gr8juan Twitch Finally Access to Coaches Tape! Coaches Film Analysis 2 Minute Warning PS4 Madden 18 Franchise Washington Redskins (0-0) Last Game: N/A Year 1:

	MLB The Show 24 Review: Another Solid Hit for the Series
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	Where Are Our College Basketball Video Game Rumors?

10-23-2008, 02:15 PM	#8
Keyser Soze MVP OVR: 17 Join Date: Aug 2002 Blog Entries: 1	Re: The Joy of Losing This is why I will likely finish up this year and next year (if Todd Parker stay with me for his 4th year) and then go to a brand new offensive strategy because while I NEVER want to lose, I need several games up for grabs in the 4th quarter to hold my interest. Since I am yet to go undefeated and I trailed in my last 3 games of the year last year, I am still content with continuing to improve my team. however, if I go 13-0 twice, it will be time for an over haul of my offensive strat (likely wont have proper personnel at first which will lead to problems) to keep things interesting. But before I do that, I plan on setting the single season and career passing records into a stratosphere that can't be touched!!! After that I go after the rushing record that Aldridge set for my buddy with ND.

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The Joy of Losing