Is the direction of NBA2K's franchise predicated on biased stats?

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Its been a few years now where all that we're hearing is that the numbers justify taking this game in the direction of an RPG. MyGM/Career/Player has clearly been the focus. I have no problem using stats for the purpose of advertising and development...it doesn't get more basic than that.

However, I find the playing field uneven and biased. If you look at the two most fundamental aspects of the game you'll see online/offline franchise mode and MyRPG which I will refer to here on out as an alternative. My assumption (please anyone correct me if I'm wrong) is that the majority of the data that shows what modes are being played are farmed via a connection. Last I checked they aren't doing mailers or surveys.

So looking at all aspects of MyRPG. We find a mode that 2K has integrated well throughout social media, providing may avenues of data to farm. They've taken this mode and saturated it throughout their entire advertising scope as the primary mode to play.

In comparison there is offline franchise, where or how are they farming data for this mode? Additionally there is online franchise which is basically a shell of what it should be, a failure in comparison to other online connected leagues or associations. Basically a mode only a select group is willing to gut out since its essentially ignored by developers and riddled with issues.

How can you make a fair comparison when comparing the marketing machine behind MyRPG and the most neglected modes going on 3-4 years? When you funnel your game into a niche how can you objectively study the data?

I believe this years debacle is a result of poor data acquisition and the inability for those who study the data to reconcile those figures back to the reality of their buyers.

One big misconception even amongst us would be the hardcore gamer vs. casual user. I don't believe the guy who wants the right shoes in the game is a hardcore gamer, nor the guy who wants the correct court color or the guys who create and/or download rosters. These people are your core audience of buyers who make it possible to put a game out annually and have a market to do so. Most of us are casual users who put in 10-20 hours a week into gaming. The core age demographic in the gaming world lies right in the 25-35 range. That is and always will be the core group who has sought after an Association type mode. This forum isn't some select group of hardcore users. We are a direct reflection of how people buy and use our video games in today's market.

I'll leave with my opinion. I believe the simple solution would be to have options for users to administrate over the game. If you want to wrap Association mode with an RPG element then allow us to administrate over it.

For example. CPU to CPU trades...there are aspects of trades in real life that will never translate to the gaming world. Its impossible to create an AI where things look fair....they aren't even fair in real life. So each time a CPU/CPU trade happens give us a pop up window and let us accept or decline the trade. This will allow us to create the simulation we want to see.

Similarly with the draft. Allow us to select an option for a team that prevents them for drafting certain positions. IE for the Spurs I will select 1. Do not draft a PG. Because I know they have 3 PG's and are in need of a big. This will allow us to control the direction of the league.

Contracts - If Durant signs for 4 million a year, let us fix this.

The unifying aspect here is that we have the control to create the vision of a league that we want to see (shocker-everyone's vision is different) not some predetermined Q&A. All those things can be implemented and still coexist within an RPG world.