A Fresh Look at Realism

[FSU_Animal]

I agree with everything that was stated in the article. I haven't so much been worried about the statistics being unrealistic as I was about the sliders. However, the one benefit to using statistics to determine realism is that if you know much about standard deviation or z-scores, they can help determine whether or not your team is playing within the ranks of all the other teams which helps me determine if I am winning with too much ease or losing unrealistically.

the only games I play are Madden 08 and NBA Live 07 which I can save stat reports without having to manually track them. I can easily take those reports into Excel, calculate the Averages, Standard Deviations, and then calculate the Z-Score which ranges anywhere from -3 to 3 on a Bell Curve Scale. If my results are too far out of the norm from the rest of the league then I know it's far too easy and I adjust sliders to make the games tougher or easier for me to actually play rather than growing bored from games being too easy or growing frustrated to the point of quitting mid-game because they are too hard.

[huskerfan101]

Its great when you execute and feels good to but there`s a fine line between realistic execution and fiction execution. Realistic exacution- when you play hard and you`re team is on top of their game usually resulting in a 20+ point win or if you`re playing a tough team realistic execution would be stick- ing with em either winning or losing or you could beat em by 3 touchdowns.
fiction exacution- Blowing out every team like there nothing. Now which one is more fun? I only come across a close game every now and then and there a blast! I want to feel like I really earned a win. Now I`m not saying make it super hard but hard enough for me to come out and win by a touchdown every so often, make blowouts every so often and, huge blowouts every so often.

[huskerfan101]

I disagree with you opinion here, though I respect your choice. In my eyes, what's the challenge in using say, Utah State to beat USC if the game is going to scale it to make it easier?

There's no satisfaction to myself, if I didn't have to try my very best to win. I want to beat USC with Utah State, not because the AI helped me, but because I was skilled and smart enough to do it.

Not to mention, I like to use low-ranking teams in Dynasty and have the challenge of making that low-ranking team into a high-ranking team. I very much enjoy losing 4-5 games one year, a few less the next, and eventually making my team good enough to go undefeated and win the BCS bowl. And I did all of that with my own abilities, not the AI helping me.

Perfect.

[faster]

Re: A Fresh Look at Realism

I agree totally, but I want to take it even a step further. In most years I know I can win it all in a couple years. However, now I turn up the difficulty so much that if I need a very very good team to win it all. I want it to be like college, where, to be honest... sometimes it's luck and how your team plays that week more than anything. 12 games isn't enough time to really know which team is the best. You can have an indication, but like baseball or basketball, teams get hot, have good and bad games, etc.

What I'm saying now is that I want a real challenge where even if I play my game, there's a good chance at losing. Make sense? Now, if I take a lower team, even if I progress significantly, even in 4 or 5 years I don't win championships because I don't want to or I don't quite get the bounces or breaks. It's been TOO easy to build a dynasty in most NCAA football games. Now I put the honus on having that perfect season, having some luck, etc.