VSN Radio Interviews Madden Ratings Czar Donny Moore

[The Kid 24]

Does anyone know if we can manually put players on IR?

[MrBill]

Quote: Originally Posted by The Kid 24

Does anyone know if we can manually put players on IR?

You could do this in '13 so I doubt it has been changed in '25 after our podcast with Mike Young a couple of months back. I'll look at it specifically but can't give you the answer until Friday when the embargo lifts.

[Proff56]

Nice job guys.

[GiantBlue76]

This is exactly what I don't get about their code base. It must be a complete mess of spaghetti. The ratings are simply the data that drives the behavior of the players on the field. The gameplay mechanics should be tuned to work smoothly regardless. The ratings will shape how well the players do certain things.

[GiantBlue76]

I really need to avoid listening to these interviews because all they do is get me aggravated

The part where they asked him about bad snaps and things of that nature, he goes on to talk about how it's definitely authentic, but it's too risky because he's not sure that it would be "fun" for anyone. Instead, it would be "frustrating".

Just when you want to believe that things have changed over there at Tiburon, you are brought back down to the reality that their vision of making an authentic NFL football simulation does not align with the rest of the world's.

I've come to accept that realism is not ever going to be the focal point for the development team at Tiburon. They have a very skewed outlook on things and it just fosters this angst from the community. I saw the same thing on twitter when someone asked Looman about Practice Squads. He said it would be something to consider if they could make it compelling enough... Really? It's a HUGE part of the NFL and roster and team management, how is it not compelling? Same thing with injuries and a waiver wire. I swear, I've never seen a dev studio create more issues for themselves than this one. It's like they exist in this alternate universe.

What a shame this had to happen to football. Very disappointing to hear these things to say the least.

[Big FN Deal]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

I really need to avoid listening to these interviews because all they do is get me aggravated The part where they asked him about bad snaps and things of that nature, he goes on to talk about how it's definitely authentic, but it's too risky because he's not sure that it would be "fun" for anyone. Instead, it would be "frustrating". Just when you want to believe that things have changed over there at Tiburon, you are brought back down to the reality that their vision of making an authentic NFL football simulation does not align with the rest of the world's. I've come to accept that realism is not ever going to be the focal point for the development team at Tiburon. They have a very skewed outlook on things and it just fosters this angst from the community. I saw the same thing on twitter when someone asked Looman about Practice Squads. He said it would be something to consider if they could make it compelling enough... Really? It's a HUGE part of the NFL and roster and team management, how is it not compelling? Same thing with injuries and a waiver wire. I swear, I've never seen a dev studio create more issues for themselves than this one. It's like they exist in this alternate universe. What a shame this had to happen to football. Very disappointing to hear these things to say the least.

I didn't listen to the interview and reading this, while disappointing, is not unexpected. I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that I just need to walk away from this franchise and not bother with NFL gaming until some other studio makes NFL games. I despise what's done with ratings in Madden but I won't hate on Donny Moore because he has a sweet hustle going, imo. He has made himself as much a part of the pop culture of Madden as the ratings themselves and seems to have great job security, more power to him.

No need for me to go on and on about it but it's so ridiculous that Tiburon thinks they need to make something as successful and enjoyable as NFL/NCAA football's aspects "fun". It feels like having too many "smart" people trying to screw in a light bulb, why they refuse to just copy real life and what other top sports sim games do is beyond me.

I know some just don't understand why people would be so disappointed by "just a video game" but NFL gaming was been my favorite vice since its' inception. It's hard to give up something you have been doing that long, especially under these circumstances where other sports, that I'm not passionate about, are being represented so well by other studios. Oh well, that's life.

[TheBuddyHobbs]

Quote: Originally Posted by msdm27

I found it a bit weird when he mentioned that gameplay peeps told him to raise some attributes, like cvg for safeties and linebackers in order for them to be able to cover some routes..... is like they don't try to fix gameplay itself but instead jack up the ratings to make everyone a superplayer. In a perfect world, gameplay would have little to no input in ratings-making... the gameplay should be able to stand by itself and play out in different ways if you're a 65OVR player or if you're 82OVR player, instead of trying to raise certain rating baselines in order to make the game "playable".

If that is the attitude they have going into next gen well it's another long ride fellas.

[MrBill]

I can understand the frustration of many of the more hardcore Madden gamers in the community since I have been plenty frustrated myself at times. That said, I will say that I believe the current dev team "gets it" exponentially more so than the previous dev team. The previous team ventured way too far down the arcade gamer path and it has taken people like Josh Looman and Mike Young 3 years to turn the ship around.

My position remains that with Madden 25 the community is in good shape to make the jump to next gen. Since the code for the games largely has to be built from scratch, having this team in place bodes well for the community.

Being a little older and working in the corporate world, I can empathize with the dev team. They are working on impossible deadlines with less resources than they would like so that their VP's can look good to the SVP's and on up the chain. In the gaming world, it really takes 2 years to build a good game so all things considered, the EA Sports teams do a solid job with half that time.

EA should do like Activison does with Infinity Ward and Treyarch on the Call of Duty series and have essentially 2 dev teams working on a 2 year plan to market. I doubt that will ever happen.