How about a REAL Connected Careers Mode

[DCEBB2001]

Bear with me on this one folks, it could be a bumpy ride.

With everything revealed to us in this year's version of Madden NFL, one of the most hearolded additions (or subtractions) was Connected Careers. Now, players have the ability to play as a coach or player with greater depth than ever before...or as EA's site states:

"Live the NFL dream—whenever you want, wherever you want in a fully interactive, social, and connected online experience. Create your personal legacy or relive an all-time legend’s as you build the ultimate franchise as a coach, an NFL superstar, or yourself. Manage your team from your console, the web, or mobile phone in a 24/7 world as NFL insiders and experts analyze, praise, and criticize every move along the way"

http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/f...nected-careers

What we all learned shortly upon release was that connected careers offered depth at the cost of reality. What I mean is that users were stuck with a mode riddled with bugs, glitches, and above all, inaccurate portrayals of NFL players, their likenesses, and abilities.

For a once proud product that seemingly never rested in attempting to put realism in the game, we are once again left wanting. What ever happend to the "If it's in the game, it's in the game" as the prominent and true-to-life representation of the Madden NFL title?

For all of the faults found in connected career mode, I still take great issue with the lack of realtistic representation of player ability in the NFL and college football. Many of you are aware of the work I have done with FBG Ratings in an effort to use real data for interpolation into Madden NFL ratings. Over the course of the 3+ years I have razed (yes, I spelt this word correctly), reinvented, and reignited, I have had several requests to expand the world of data-based Madden NFL ratings into the world of NCAA football.

The requests were obvious as users wished to be able to use, export, and import NCAA Football players into Madden NFL games where they will match the normally distributed population of NFL players rated using the FBG Ratings system. I initially found any such project to be too overwhelming and time-consuming, but realized that I have all of the data for the most prominent NCAA players. In total, I have data for some 20,000 NFL players, free agents, Arena/IFL/CFL, and minor league professionals. However, I also boast data for over 45,000 NCAA and high school players, all rated on the same scale as their professional counterparts.

Now one of the issues that requires a workaround is the differing rating systems for NCAA and Madden, respectively. Since the best players in NCAA approach OVR and attribute ratings of 99 as well as their counterparts in Madden, it is more difficult and tedious to keep two ways of rating players.

What I challenge either EA or any future (2k Sports???) video game production company to embark upon is a REAL connected career mode. What I posit is a mode that takes high school, college, and NFL players and rates them all on the same ratings scales, regardless of the video game. Now, due to the shear number of high schools it would be nearly impossible to get all of the high schools to sign on to a video game license, so we can simply start with an NCAA Football game.

This game would take in recruits, who are generated in-game, but are rated using a more realistic ratings scale. The population of these raw, but athletic, high school players would have below average physical abilities and nearly non-existant technical skills. These physical abilities can be increased via game modes that emphasize training and practice. Technical skills can be attributed to practice and game expereince.

Think about what that would do to NCAA Football in-game. It would mean more attention to development in addition to recruiting. It would allow the truly elite college talents to stick out with ratings in the 70s as being near the top-end, while the rest of your college team's roster is in the 40s, 50s, and 60s instead of being in the 90s, 80s, 70s, and 60s as presently in NCAA Football 13. Of the 12,000 D1 college players that I presently have ratings for, the ratings vary between a 71 OVR and 30 OVR with an average of 39. So as you can see, having a player that really sticks out is rare, just as in real life.

This system would also allow you to avoid guessing what your prospect would be rated in Madden and would keep the grading in NCAA and Madden universal. All attributes would be on the same scale regardless of position, so there would be no need to convert the ratings from one game to the next. Injuries would also carry over as well as tendancies.

Think for a moment about the logic behind this. Does the best player in college football really have "99" or what I would consider "near perfect" ability? Take a QB's THP for example. Just because a college football player has a 99 THP in NCAA Football, doesn't mean he has the strongest arm in the country or in history does it? That is where EA or whoever comes along can make a real improvement. When you throw a ball with a 99 THP in NCAA you can basically throw it 70 yards with great velocity, even though in real life that prospect may not have a stronger arm than an Elway/Favre/Bradshaw or anyone else currently in the NFL. Does it logically follow that this player should be rated a 99 just because he is the "best" in a given level of the sport? How about arena football? Should a player with 99 THP be able to go throw-for-throw with an NFL QB with a THP of 99 even though it may be obvious that he doesn't possess an NFL-quality arm?

I would much prefer to have players be portrayed accurately in both games and make the transition between both games realistic. I want to see my players progress or digress realistically from their days as a High School prospect to an NFL player without all of the changes in ratings in between. I want a universal scale that rates all players at all levels equally, JUST LIKE REAL SCOUTS DO. Scouts do NOT differentiate on level of play...they differentiate on TALENT LEVEL.

If EA brings back the ability to import/export rosters between NCAA and Madden this would be a sure-fire way to make the games more realistic, so long as they use the same system for both. A player that behaves like a 70 OVR in NCAA should behave like a 70 OVR in Madden and vice versus. I know that this would require EA to do something innovative and collaborative, but it can be done. Imagine the level of realism brought to both games with a TRUE connected career mode.

[SloeyEZ]

Was ^ that a commercial? Not sure what you are going for in this thread or how it is in any way a REAL CCM as your title suggests.

Additionally, and I'm nobody, who knows nothing, but there is no way you could get high schools involved in a video game license (nor do I see the need to) as it would create a huge conflict of interest and ethical dilemmas. Let's at least get a non-corrupt NCAA system before we start tampering further with 17 year old student/atheletes. Furthermore, I'd bet it would be illegal in most states to establish licensing high schools anyway.

A REAL CCM to me would be based on the principles established in Head Coach as a foundation. The abilities of the player is secondary until their abilities are treated correctly by the logic of the as-of-yet uninvented football sim engine. Can we get RockStar involved as a contractor for EA? juss sayin'

[DCEBB2001]

Quote: Originally Posted by SloeyEZ

Was ^ that a commercial? Not sure what you are going for in this thread or how it is in any way a REAL CCM as your title suggests. Additionally, and I'm nobody, who knows nothing, but there is no way you could get high schools involved in a video game license (nor do I see the need to) as it would create a huge conflict of interest and ethical dilemmas. Let's at least get a non-corrupt NCAA system before we start tampering further with 17 year old student/atheletes. Furthermore, I'd bet it would be illegal in most states to establish licensing high schools anyway. A REAL CCM to me would be based on the principles established in Head Coach as a foundation. The abilities of the player is secondary until their abilities are treated correctly by the logic of the as-of-yet uninvented football sim engine. Can we get RockStar involved as a contractor for EA? juss sayin'

Not a commercial, and I even mentioned above how adding High Schools would be impossible.

The point is that a true "Connected Career" to me is one that follows the career of a football player from recruiting in NCAA football up through Madden while utilizing similar principals for both games. Ratings is just one example of that. For those who enjoyed the Head Coach series, that could be a baseline for both games, but the emphasis on training a prospect's skills could be varied a bit between both games. In college it is more about becoming physically superior with athletic ability as the deviation from the best to the worst athletes is wider. In the NFL, EVERYONE is physically superior in the context of your competition in college, so the emphasis is on honing the technical skills to become great.

That is what I would like to see out of a true connected career mode. The same can hold for coaches who maybe start out as assistants/scouts/etc and move up the coaching ranks until you can be imported into Madden as an assistant in the NFL. XP can be attained by performances of your positional group and used to help those at your position. Recognition can be gained and then offers can be fielded for HC or coordinator positions where maybe you only control the play calling for your side of the ball. I think that would be pretty cool.

[SloeyEZ]

Quote: Originally Posted by DCEBB2001

Not a commercial, and I even mentioned above how adding High Schools would be impossible. The point is that a true "Connected Career" to me is one that follows the career of a football player from recruiting in NCAA football up through Madden while utilizing similar principals for both games. Ratings is just one example of that. For those who enjoyed the Head Coach series, that could be a baseline for both games, but the emphasis on training a prospect's skills could be varied a bit between both games. In college it is more about becoming physically superior with athletic ability as the deviation from the best to the worst athletes is wider. In the NFL, EVERYONE is physically superior in the context of your competition in college, so the emphasis is on honing the technical skills to become great. That is what I would like to see out of a true connected career mode. The same can hold for coaches who maybe start out as assistants/scouts/etc and move up the coaching ranks until you can be imported into Madden as an assistant in the NFL. XP can be attained by performances of your positional group and used to help those at your position. Recognition can be gained and then offers can be fielded for HC or coordinator positions where maybe you only control the play calling for your side of the ball. I think that would be pretty cool.

So you mean more of a personal, one-on-one grooming mode, where you take a "prospect" and "train" him throughout his career, first emphasizing physicality, then later, intangibles? hmmm, sort of a superstar mode where you are more the manager of someone than actually playing the player?

And yeah, starting off in the lower ranks and then working your way up to professional coaching is always an interest to most gamers. NHL did it last year with starting in the jr leagues and getting drafted. (I still haven't got out of the jr league though lol)

[DCEBB2001]

Quote: Originally Posted by SloeyEZ

So you mean more of a personal, one-on-one grooming mode, where you take a "prospect" and "train" him throughout his career, first emphasizing physicality, then later, intangibles? hmmm, sort of a superstar mode where you are more the manager of someone than actually playing the player? And yeah, starting off in the lower ranks and then working your way up to professional coaching is always an interest to most gamers. NHL did it last year with starting in the jr leagues and getting drafted. (I still haven't got out of the jr league though lol)

Well I wouldn't call it "Manager Mode" if that is what you are getting at because your XP would still be attributed to how well your player/players perform in training camp/practice/games. I really just want to emphasize more closely connecting the 2 games more realistically.

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by SloeyEZ

So you mean more of a personal, one-on-one grooming mode, where you take a "prospect" and "train" him throughout his career, first emphasizing physicality, then later, intangibles? hmmm, sort of a superstar mode where you are more the manager of someone than actually playing the player?

Sounds like to me he's basically talking about a Road to the Show type mode, but starting from the player's beginnings in the sport as an amateur player before reaching the college and then pro level (or in the case of baseball, you'd be a high school player, then a college player, then drafted into the minors, then majors).

I don't see why high schools would be impossible if it's a purely fictional player. I can see why real kids couldn't be used, but if I'm creating a player, why can't I start him at the high school level as a 13-y/o and then have to work to even get into a college program? For example, why couldn't a HS kid create himself in the game as a high school player?

I think this would be pretty awesome. Fleshed out enough, it could be worth it's own whole game as it's a totally different focus and as a standalone (or DLC) game, it can be fleshed out much more than stuck as a mode in a larger game competing for disk space and development manhours.

What sucks is that you'd basically have to buy two games every year if it's done within the existing games if you want the full experience (high school -> college part would be in NCAA).

[ProbieByKO]

The op is asking a lot from a company that can't even get wind direction right.

[Big FN Deal]

I couldn't agree more with the OP and what he is suggesting makes perfect sense BUT it seems like EA Tiburon goes out of their way the console generation to defy what makes sense. This is not the first time someone, likely even DECEBB, has postulated the idea of a truly universal ratings scale across the board for both NCAA Football and Madden, in fact, it's likely due to EA's innovative idea of draft imports from long ago that sparked this. Madden has been allowing import draft classes for years but yet it still hasn't evolved into something like the OP is suggesting, which would seem to be a natural progression of the feature.

What I find sad is whenever a simple yet spot on suggestion like this is offered up, it's met with resistance from not only from EA Tiburon but some in the Madden community because it's change. It seems to me that if I play a college football video game and I see the highest rated players in that game numerically topping out in the 70s, it's easy enough for me to understand why. However, there will be devs and some in the community that will express some kind of difficulty understanding or take issue with players in a collegiate football game not capable of being in the 90s.

Making NCAA Football and it's players/coaches a "to be continued..." cliff hanger, for Madden to pickup where they left off would be a true connected careers, like the OP states, imo.