Madden Mania Thread
Click Me if you want to see where I originated from!!
I wrote something in the above thread that lead to the making of this thread.
Note: This topic was going to be posted in MaddenMania as well, but their server keeps acting up. My initial plan was to post this in every forum I post at that deals with Madden so people know where I'm coming from. In the end, it will be posted everywhere, not just here, because I want people to really think about this idea and try pushing it up the EA Sports chain of command. I want the most out of my games as I'm sure most of you do as well. So please take heed that this post is extremely lengthy, but a amazing well thought out (yep, I actually used my brain) idea on how EA Sports could drastically improve the quality of their game. This will only deal with an aspect of Owner's Mode.
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EA Sports is attempting to make a completely realistic simulation of the NFL, are they not? So why not just completely do away with the number system for the ratings? No, I do not mean completely toss out the system. I just mean to HIDE them from the user. It is in my opinion, and I am sure it is in most everyone's thoughts that numbers are attractive. For example, when looking at Michael Vick in free agency, we see his OVR is a 95. Currently, my QB is Quincy Carter who has an OVR of 84 (updated Struttdaddy Roster). That OVR 95 seems pretty attractive too me as well as to you, now don't it? Get my point? Instead, we should base all of our decisions on scouting reports.
This year's Madden 2004 brought us Owner's Mode which gives the user almost complete control over their franchise. However, they completely forgot, either intentionally or accidently, about the importance of having a scouting department. Why EA did not allow the user the ability to hire a scouting department is beyond me. To me, the scouting department is one of the most intrigal part of any sports franchise in today's era of sports.
I suggest EA Sports to now do away with allowing the user to see numbered attributes. That's right, you heard correctly. Instead, the user will have to make a wise decision on what scouting department and what style of coaches they want for their team. The Owner (the user) should have complete access to reports about each scouting department and all coaches rather than relying on numbered ratings. This simulates the struggle each owner faces in real life when choosing their scouting department and coaching staff. For example, Dallas desperatly needs a halfback. Our scouting department seems to lack in knowing what to look for in a halfback. So we decide to hire a scouting department that has brought in many starting halfbacks. We based our decision, as the owner to, to hire a scouting department all on what the report said rather than numbered ratings.
The second part to this system is to rely on actual numbers, not attribute numbers for each player when making player personnel decisions. It is way too easy as the gm/owner of a team to build a team based on ratings. If EA wants to simulate realistic competition amongst the user team, why not hide what the actual ratings are and force us to learn to how to build a team by allowing us to read scouting reports about not only scouting departments and coaches, but also the players. As I mentioned in one of my examples above, numbers are attractive, especially high numbers. When you see a QB rated an OVR 95 in the free agency pool and you have a QB rated an OVR 84, you'll immediatly want to sign that player. But what if we could not actually see his ratings, forcing us to read reports that differ based on how good your scouting department and coaches are? Would you not agree that basing your personnel decisions on the reports you receive from your coaches and scouting department would make you feel like you are in the driver's seat of an actual team? EA wants to simulate the real NFL, so I would have to agree that this would cause alot of us to really think about our decisions.
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An Example Scenario of How This System Would Work:
Coach Parcells is a clock control style of coach. The Dallas Cowboys are in dire need of a halfback to control the clock with. Since Troy Hambrick could not prove he was worth the keep, Dallas will be searching for a halfback either by way of Free Agency or the Draft.
You, playing Jerry Jones, are not happy with your scouting department as they have not shown the ability to scout runningbacks. So you search through the list of scouting departments and pull up a report about the "Scouts 4 Hire" scouting department. When you pull up their report, instead of seeing numbered attribute ratings depicting how good they are, you see an actual report about this "Scouts 4 Hire" department. Within this report, you see they have brought in about 30 starting halfbacks within the last 4 years. As years progress, those numbers could change if they continue to bring in more starting halfbacks. Well, based on this report, you can pretty much rely on their reports about halfbacks. These reports would be pretty accurate since they rely on actual statistical facts. So you make the decision to hire "Scouts 4 Hire" in hopes of bring in a starting-material halfback.
The scouting department would send back reports on rookies entering the draft, players on other teams, and players in the free agency pool. Let's pretend Dallas has the 5th draft pick in the 2004 draft, Corey Dillon is in free agency, and Warrick Dunn wants out of Atlanta. During the rookie scouting period, the scouting combine numbers (like 40 time, shuttle, and cone drills) would be actual facts. However, if looking at Eli Manning (if we were after a QB), we would not see Amazing for Arm Strength or Amazing for Pass Accuracy. Instead, in place of Strength, we would see an average distance he threw the ball. In place of Accuracy, we would see a percentage of passes complete. For the testing part, in place of "Amazing, Great, etc...", we would see an actual test score out of whatever the highest possible. Then below all of this, we would see actual scouting reports based on what your scouting department saw from this player. Of course, depending on how good they are at scouting a certain position, the results would vary.
Now back to Corey Dillon in free agency and Warrick Dunn wanting out of Atlanta. Instead of only seeing what the scouts views are on the player, we could also decide to view what your head coach, offensive coach, defensive coach, or special teams coach thinks about these players. Based on how well your head coach, offensive coach, defensive coach, and/or special teams coach is at knowing what to look for in a halfback, their views would vary. Of course, if you ask a Special Teams coach that has no idea about halfbacks, they would not give you fake information. However, to build realism into it, I guess everyonce in a while, a special teams coach would try to give you a report on the player(s).
Another decision you would have to make as the owner is hiring a coaching staff. Like the scouting department reports, you would see reports on the coaches you are considering hiring. As Jerry Jones, Maurice Carthon decides to leave to another team, so you are in need of an offensive coordinator. So you could either promote/demote a coach, or look in the the coaching directory and pull up reports on all of the coaches. Inside these reports we would see actual facts like "has brought offensive talentless teams into the Top 5 in total offense, rushing offense, and/or passing offense. We could also read that his ability to guide no-name halfbacks into perrenial star halfbacks. On top of all of that, we see his win-loss-tie record no matter what kind of coach they were (Head, OC, DC, SPT). So we hire the coach we want.
Now comes the rookie draft. Should we draft Stephen Jackson or attempt to trade for Dunn or sign Dillon? We would have to base this decision by what reports we have read and make a decision on what we should do.
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Currently, we see the attributes rise and fall after the season/pre-season. Since the ratings would actually be hidden, we would see the factual stats rise and fall. Looking at the scouting report on Travis Minor, we see that his 40 time has dropped from a 4.31 to a 4.45. That is still a pretty good number of how fast he is, but we see a realistic simulation of what a team has to base their decisions on instead of seeing a 95 for speed (no, Minor doesn't have a 95 speed in Madden...just using it as an example).
Another use for the coaches and scouting department would be to pull up pre-game scouting reports of your opponent (only the opponent you play next, not future opponents). This gives you, the coach/gm/owner, the ability to actually gameplan against a team rather than having an empty feeling that this game is just another pixellated game.
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You can post your thoughts and questions now. Thanks for your time.
02-11-2004, 01:28 AM
