Ponder of the day: If the internet didn't exist, would people still be complaining?

[timhere1970]

It is hard to imagine what the game today could be without the internet. I have bought madden for many years and i remember three years in a row where i would get to season five and the franchise would not advance to the next week. That was in the day of patches but i did not have my 360 online. I also remember renting several football games and deciding which one to buy if any each year. Then i had to decide if i wanted the college game.

I believe it would be much better for human vs cpu players and the game would be better tested before release. I would love to see datA on how much prerelease qa goes on today versus the pre patch day. I also know that a lot of people enjoy head to head play across the internet. I wouldn't want to take away what other people enjoy just to get what i want. Unfortunately, the internet opens up a continous revenue stream for ea and to not chase that would be irresponsible to their share holders. When you add into that that no other company is allowed to fill the void it gets depressing as i know i will never see the game i want.

[kjcheezhead]

It's been beaten to death, but it boils down to the exclusive license more than the internet. Forums and the internet in general are filled with negativity. The difference is if I don't like Battlefield, there's COD. If I don't like NBA 2k, there's Live.

This is the only forum I visit regularly and it's for a game I haven't played regularly in years. Fact is, I didn't bother with a forum when 2k, quarterback club and NFL fever were options. I played the one I liked most the same as I do with now with shooters and rpgs without looking for tips on how to enjoy them.

It's extremely difficult for people who grew up making a football title the first game purchased when a new console comes out to come to terms with the fact that only one football game exists and it's not a game they enjoy.

[reyes the roof]

I don't need the internet to realize that ever since the move from ps2/xbox to ps3/xbox360, there has been a huge step backwards for the franchise mode that other sports games don't seem to be suffering from. I also don't need it to see the QB AI problems. Sure there are little things I see pointed out that I wouldn't have noticed, but the positives like Armor and Sword's sliders far outweigh the negatives from coming online to talk/read about the game

[jfsolo]

Quote: Originally Posted by T4VERTS

Not to get too philosophical, but if there is no internet do you even know they pulled resources any where? I think this goes back to the adage "ignorance is bliss".

Yes, one wouldn't know about resource pulling, however my opinion in this hypothetical scenario is that single player Franchise mode would still be the Golden Child, with gameplay designing and tuning being primarily focused on that experience as opposed to H2H "couch" play. Those of us who prefer that experience would definitely be much happier than we are now, IMO.


Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports

[Nimits]

Inaccurate stats on n general, and AI QBs inability to avoid sacks were obvious when playing the game, even before reading about it on the internet.

[Toupal]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rebel10

Yes, and if the internet didn't exist there wouldn't be the imbalance on competitive play and online-connected loot box card pack mini games like Ultimate Team, so maybe they would have focused on improving franchise mode, player vs. CPU games, and the features that they used to focus on. This question is a non-starter. The internet exists. Madden '18 is a bad game, a rehashed Madden '17.5 being sold for $60, packaging the NFL license into a microtransactions minigame that tries to exploit people with gambling addictions. If the internet didn't exist, Madden would be a very different game, the development focus would be very different, and so it's impossible to say what our reaction would be. Also, if you're remembering back being a youth and loving Madden '99 it could be because you weren't as critical or did not value money, time, and leisure as you do now. My leisure was worth much less to me when I was 14 or 15, playing NCAA Football 98 or Madden 99 because I worked a stupid job for 10 hours a week, and was at home all weekend playing videogames, so if I wanted to waste 8 hours playing a bad videogame on a Saturday afternoon, why the hell not, I was overflowing with time and had nothing better to do. But, today, as a disgruntled grown man, who works 40-50 hours a week and spends the rest of my time mowing the damn lawn, I have about 3-5 hours a week to play videogames at the most (typically less), and now I'm a more discerning consumer. My money means less to me because I have a lot more money than I did when I was paid $5/hr for 10 hours a week, but my time means a lot more to me. If I think something sucks and if publishers are trying to take advantage of me, selling me a half-baked, buggy, microtransaction-riddled videogame, I'm going to give them the negative feedback that their product deserves. I mostly stay away from glitch threads or threads that talk about exploits or break down bad defense. I just don't care enough. But, if a patch gets released for a game that starts causing my game to freeze inexplicably during gameplay, I'm pretty damn happy I can take to the internet and find other people complaining about the same bugs, and hoping to get through to the publisher/developers that their latest patch caused the software to stop functioning normally (of course, if there was no internet, the idea of a game-breaking patch would be ... difficult).

Agreed!

The internet, or other people's opinion has absolutely nothing to do with my opinion on my opinion on Madden.

I come to OS to share ideas, learn new features, and figure out settings and sliders.

I grew up with a Madden that did not depend so heavily on internet connection in order to play the game. I had no major gripe agaijst Madden, because Frqnchise mode was good and had depth (especially for its time).

Fast forward to 2017, when I read that Madden 18 only "tweaked" Franchise mode... I don't need to hear other people's thoughts about that to be pissed.

I do believe that the connectivity that the online gaming/ internet lead to CFM which in turn lead to the death of Franchise mode. So without the internet, who knows, I may be happy with the state Madden would be in.

[timhere1970]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nimits

Inaccurate stats on n general, and AI QBs inability to avoid sacks were obvious when playing the game, even before reading about it on the internet.

The inability to keep stats in anywhere approaching a professional manner would have been unacceptable in a video game 25 years ago. If everything else was up to 2010 standards in this game there would be 100 threads on this forum about stat problems.

[Sheba2011]

I was a gamer long before the internet existed and yes people still complained. The difference is the platforms in which they complained. In those days it was more of either a talk among friends or you would write a letter to your favorite gaming magazine. But there was no such thing as a patch or a title update, you had to play the broken mess for what it was and wait for the next game to launch and hope it was fixed. It was also a lot harder to figure out what new games to buy. You had to wait for the magazines to review them which could take over a month or try to rent it at the video rental store (which was always hit or miss).