Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How to Change That

[Lexicon]

I don't think that the reason people tap so quickly in Franchise Modes is that they can't get through enough seasons quickly enough, but rather that there's just no reason to keep going.

These modes are dull, boring, and lifeless for the most part. There's no thread to follow, most of them do a poor job with recognizing the history that you create in your league, and in the case of Madden, there are not many opportunities to make the mode your own with customization.

NBA 2K does the best, but even then, I'd say the immersion could be way better than it is now.

[Jershy88]

Re: Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How

Take the best of NCAA Football 14 and 2k’s franchise modes and voila, perfection

[Cardot]

Re: Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How

Let us change the number of games per season. It’s that simple. In Madden and NCAA, (which I still play) I have no problem rolling season after season. 12/16 game seasons are easy to get through. What’s the harm in NHL or MLB letting us play a 30/29 game (I’m thinking NBA Jam-style, play everyone once) season? Why does it HAVE TO be 82/162? I absolutely refuse to sim games.

YES!!! This has also been a thorn in my side for a long time...and has been a reason that i haven't purchased certain titles over the years. Short seasons were around in the Genesis days, so can't be that hard for today's developers.

[horrormaster]

Re: Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How

In Madden and NCAA, (which I still play) I have no problem rolling season after season. 12/16 game seasons are easy to get through. What’s the harm in NHL or MLB letting us play a 30/29 game (I’m thinking NBA Jam-style, play everyone once) season? Why does it HAVE TO be 82/162?

MLB 2K games allowed this. The problem is, which I assume would be the case for The Show as well, all it does is remove games from the schedule, not shorten the schedule. As the user, you no longer need more than 2-3 SP & RP, but the AI still carries a full staff and rotates through all 5.

[Cardot]

Re: Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How

MLB 2K games allowed this. The problem is, which I assume would be the case for The Show as well, all it does is remove games from the schedule, not shorten the schedule. As the user, you no longer need more than 2-3 SP & RP, but the AI still carries a full staff and rotates through all 5.

Agreed. I was on the "honor system" with MLB 2K, and rotated through all my pitchers. But it would be nice if the developers took the extra step to make sure things like fatigue are adjusted appropriately.

[GlennN]

Re: Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How

I play multiple seasons in every sports game I play, but I love several of your ideas. The problem, as I see it, is that the developer has to care. Why would EA, or any other company, care whether people play multiple years or not? The goal these days, judging from the annual "improvements," are the card collecting modes, the HUTs, MUTs, and whatever else, that involve microtransactions. I do not see any desire by developers to improve franchise much, so I suspect your ideas will fall on deaf ears (consider the annual improvements to franchise mode in NHL or The Show - have there been any of significance in five years?)

[mercalnd]

Re: Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How

It’s even more maddening that The Show lets you change the season length for season mode, but not franchise. I like having GM control of my team and playing the offseasons. I’m just not going to ever get through more than one 82 or 162 game schedule in one year. It’ll never happen.

In case you don't know, The Show's season mode allows multiple seasons. It's basically "Franchise lite". So you can do offseason and move on to the next year. You do lose the minors though. You just have a 40 man roster to manage.

MLB 2K games allowed this. The problem is, which I assume would be the case for The Show as well, all it does is remove games from the schedule, not shorten the schedule. As the user, you no longer need more than 2-3 SP & RP, but the AI still carries a full staff and rotates through all 5.

The show actually shortens the season so you play almost everyday just as teams do in real life.

[tinpanalley]

Re: Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How

On a similar note something that has annoyed me since... well... forever because no game has ever offered this, is that no baseball game has EVER allowed you to go to a 4 man rotation in the playoffs and allowed you to restart that rotation in the next round. No game. Ever. It's simply something that's never been done and I don't get how anyone making a baseball game could miss one of the most relevant things that happens in the playoffs which is the sorting of the regular season rotation and the importance of playoff round first game starters. The tricks I've had to do for over 10 years to get the other teams to restart their rotations in each new round have been inventive but annoying.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: Many People Don't Play Multiple Seasons in Games Like The Show or NHL, Here's How

Nice job with this, Chris.

To me the way we improve franchise mode is quite simple: It needs to be built around community.

• Allow for community modding (just look at what the Steam Workshop has provided)
• Allow commissioners and other members to publish podcasts and other material
• A mobile app to access the league basics and a league website (auto-generated and can be further customised)
• Allow for carryover so that leagues can easily and accurately (very important) transition from year-to-year
• Obviously a fully-featured online franchise mode for the particular game
• A direct link to a YouTube and/or Steam channel which would auto-broadcast games from that league, or other content folks may want to share (offseason plans, etc.)
• The game studio should spotlight certain leagues each week ala NBA2K TV. Heck, OS could be a pioneer in that venture.
• Game studios should add in an eSports element where the best (most active and creative?) leagues are covered and eventually play in a yearly tournament against other leagues

These are just a few off the top of my head to go along w the ideas Chris (OP) has shared. It's time, and folks are ready. This and many of the other ideas shared in this thread could be a framework for Franchise Mode 2.0.

EA, 2K, SDS: If you build it...they will come.

[spoofrice11]

Franchise Modes is mostly what I play so I get thru several seasons before getting a new game (which isn't every year).

But some of these would be really nice additions. Being able to edit draft prospects (like NBA 2K), is something I like to do. And shortcuts for things like the offseason would be nice.
The thing I really like that they mentioned was a quicker way to create/edit a player. I know this was in an older (college) sports game. Where you could pick a play style and it would adjust his ratings to that and then you could tweak the ratings. That would save a lot of time when creating prospects. You could select a pass first PG with a A rating (J Kidd) and it would adjust to that, or a defensive minded Center with a C rating (T Chandler) that wouldn't be more average overall.

[binga30]

Amen, it's like the writer has met me personally and is telling my story.
Less time now in my early 30s due to work and family make the effort of starting a franchise seem not worth it. Started a Browns career last week on Madden on my day off, got through 2 seasons in about 5 hours, that was simming all games. I do not feel like it was an awesome experience and am not feeling the itch to spend any more time playing this career. Give me NCAA Football however and its a different story. The career mode is simple and to the point.
In summary, yes, I feel that games expanding modes, and my shortage of spare time, deters me from purchasing games, and also starting a mega franchise mode within them.