Sports Video Games Need to Split Into 'Competitive' and 'Consumer' Versions

[Steve_OS]

There's a big NBA 2K20 MyTeam tournament happening on January 25. There have been four qualifiers...

Written By: Chase Becotte

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[CujoMatty]

People have been cheesing AI in games since the beginning of gaming. My best friend knew a trick in coleco baseball that made his runner disappear once he hit the ball, then appear at home for an unstoppable run. He never told me how he did it and I never played him ever again.*

Obviously that’s an extreme example but my point is that technology isn’t to the point, and I’m not sure it will ever be to the point, where humans won’t be able to manipulate the AI. *They call it competitive gaming but everything I’ve watched *for esports *makes it seem like it’s really “who’s a better cheater” gaming.*

Everyone in those competitive communities know the exploits. Would rules and human referees help?*

I dunno. Whatever makes you happy I guess but it’s not for me.

[ToughJuice]

Esports for the recognition and branding. MyTeam, MUT etc. for money. Sim & franchise guys have been and, will continue to be left out in the cold. Theyll never be sperate releases.**

[SonicBoom2040]

Agree with the above posters. I have played 2k and live and many others since they existed. Never was I one for exploits nor was any of my friends. I do not like to play online as it's about as much fun to play a 10 year old on a video game as it is the actual sport...I'm over 40...so I stick to franchise and such modes.*

I do see how these companies are moving away from sim it seems, if it ever really existed, because of the extra revenue involved and that makes sense...to them.

You will always have people that play games for different reasons and usually majority wins out pretty much everytime so, I will never be in that category.*

Evej basic changes in gameplay form something as simple as shooting can make or break a game ....dribbling included obviously. Shooting in this particular 2k is the worst it's ever been for me. I don't even play it anymore. So I play 14,on 360, and 16 and up on the Xbone....

My pojnt being.no mater how much I or another sim head complain about anything in the game that is flawed, it will fall on deaf ears. But when people start mentioning gltiches for park and rec and OP things , u will usually see those things addressed. And rather soon I might add. It comes down to revenue.*

So I for one won't play any new 2k anymore until shooting makes sense. As to me there are no release points above the shoulders to let me know when to release to shot. Only in 2k20 have I seen this happen.*

Will they listen to me and fix it next year ? Doubt it. Because other people have work arounds and in my eyes it's not necessary. Just keep it the way it was....don't fix what wasn't broken.* But again, deaf ears. Unless it makes financial sense. 60$ won't hurt them. Even if 100 people like me did the same, it won't hurt them in any way.* Hate that it's come to this but I'm in the same boat with Madden. We all are.*

Sad but true.*

[ChaseB]

The point of the article is more or less no audience is being served correctly with this model now. You guys are on some level pretending that "the non-franchise crowd" is somehow coming out more ahead in this than you guys, but the point is the model as it's going is hurting you guys and also them. The games are too big now in a way, and so developers aren't necessarily serving any audience properly because it would be impossible to cater to everyone with this structure.

I understand some of you guys try to turn everything into "franchise mode and sim style gets screwed, why don't they pay attention to us?" and I get it, and I mostly agree. But this is also an opportunity to point out that your gripes transcend your own issues to other portions of the fan base as well.

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by CujoMatty

People have been cheesing AI in games since the beginning of gaming. My best friend knew a trick in coleco baseball that made his runner disappear once he hit the ball, then appear at home for an unstoppable run. He never told me how he did it and I never played him ever again.* Obviously that’s an extreme example but my point is that technology isn’t to the point, and I’m not sure it will ever be to the point, where humans won’t be able to manipulate the AI. *They call it competitive gaming but everything I’ve watched *for esports *makes it seem like it’s really “who’s a better cheater” gaming.* Everyone in those competitive communities know the exploits. Would rules and human referees help?* I dunno. Whatever makes you happy I guess but it’s not for me.

The issue here isn't just the AI. This specific thing was used in 5-on-5 games etc. It was a balancing issue on the level of X character being too strong in a class-based FPS or whatever.

But yes, I agree peeps will always hunt out exploits on the whole, it's just general gamer DNA. But a lot of the time they could be much faster at tweaking and finding these exploits if they wanted to, especially because now people are actually officially playing these games in competitions that warrant balancing.

[MrWrestling3]

Good article.

I have long said that one the difficulties 2K faces now is that there are essentially 2 different audiences with somewhat opposing tastes.

Online Players often tend towards wanting things to be exciting and fast paced,even if it means sacrificing realism.They generally don't worry as much about small details, as long as the game is easy to get into, fun to play, and the servers work, they are usually happy.

Offline players often tend towards wanting to feel immersed in an authentic NBA experience with total control.These players WILL worry about little things like uniform colors and player appearances as well as gameplay elements that could negatively effect reproducing reasonably realistic stat lines.As long as the game looks and feels authentic, they are usually happy.

These two styles don't mesh very well...Most online players would find only getting an occasional block or steal and shooting 40% from outside to be boring and unrewarding,even if it is realistic.On the flip side, most offline players would find players constantly doing highlight plays and teams putting up insane stats every single game due to meta elements that trump any sort of game planning to be so unrealistic as to be frustrating and unrewarding,even if the gameplay feels fun.

This has put 2K in a position where they can either appease one audience and risk the wrath of the other one, or try to appease everyone a little, which will probably end up upsetting alot of folks on both sides of the aisle.

It really might be time for 2K to just go full on "2K League" as an online only comp platform in a similar vein to Overwatch,League of Legends,etc.Let the single player type modes go to a different dev (or dev team) that is willing to devote itself fully to the singe player/simulation experience.

I will freely admit it might not be the best solution; however I feel like at least people would definitively know where they stand when it comes to the product.

[EccentricMeat]

They literally just need to add a “Game Style” setting, giving the options of Sim, Competitive, and Arcade. MyTeam/MyPlayer modes would be set to Competitive, and offline you could choose as you like while also being able to tweak sliders and difficulty settings separately.

Then, they would need to make it so they can push updates and gameplay tuners specifically to one or all of these options (depending on the change being made). This way they can push game-wide fixes to all three while also pushing MyPlayer/MyTeam online tweaks just to the Competitive game style without affecting the Sim settings for offline players.

Sim could have increased foul sensitivity so that charges, blocks, and shooting fouls are reflected realistically without the online competitive players being bogged down by realistic gameplay.

Arcade would just be a free for all where exploits are left in and players are free to have an NBA Jam style of gameplay for quick games with friends at home or in unranked online matches.