Is it time to do away with sliders?

[radiohead]

I remember this topic being bandied around in these parts some years ago. I think it's worth revisiting, especially since the dev cycle for a new NCAA on a new gen of systems is just around the corner.

Should sliders remain in the game so that gamers can (allegedly) customize their gameplay experiences?

Or, should EA come up with a better offering than the annual German Enigma machine also known as sliders?


I've been a longtime proponent of 3 gameplay modes: arcade, casual and sim. So, my answer obviously is that it's time for sliders to go.

[The JareBear]

I think the game should play better out the box but I don't see a reason why sliders shouldn't be included for gamers to take advantage of. I want as much power to customize as I can get.

No matter how sim or how difficult EA makes the default setting, people like me will always want more challenge

[tarheel_12]

I say heck no. I know EA will never make a perfect game, but if they would fix the way their sliders work (some dont work at all) and add more slider options I could make the game play well. Even with the sliders in the game now I feel like I am stuck with what EA gives us because the sliders don't work right. I can't imagine not having sliders at all even if other options are offered. Guess I just don't trust the ncaa team too much.

[Sundown2600]

You should have added a third option:

'Do away with the sliders since they never work consistently and the devs ignore this issue every cycle'

That's not bashing that's just the truth, but I do want to believe the devs have at least looked into it. I just think they can't fix it at this point because the code is probably too tangled and complex at this stage. I honestly think if they could fix them they would have by now and their constant silence on this issue every year is really all I need to know.

[tdogg097]

When you have millions of people playing a game at vastly different skill levels taking away sliders would be a terrible idea. Now if there was a way for a EA to develop a game that adapted to your skill level and produced sim results that would be awesome. However, Madden tried an adaptive skill level system and it was a disaster.

[The JareBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by tdogg097

When you have millions of people playing a game at vastly different skill levels taking away sliders would be a terrible idea. Now if there was a way for a EA to develop a game that adapted to your skill level and produced sim results that would be awesome. However, Madden tried an adaptive skill level system and it was a disaster.

I remember that. I think that was a decent idea but they needed to fine tune it a little

[john1842msu]

I vote no. Keep the sliders, but make sure they do what they're supposed to do. It shouldn't be that difficult to create penalty sliders that simply increase the random occurences of pass interference, jumping offsides, false starts, etc (without affecting the gameplay).

Also, I would like to see the EA team add another difficulty level in between All-American and Heisman. All-American always seems just a little too easy, whereas Heisman is too hard for me. It would be great if there was a difficulty level where I could play without tweaking sliders at all.

[radiohead]

Do the guys who want to keep sliders realize that they weren't always in NCAA?

Has yet to provide a detailed explanation of what each slider affects. And, the general consensus since at least NCAA 09 has been that some, if not all, sliders do not work as intended or do not work at all.

Thus, what purpose do they serve?

Arcade, casual, simulation or another model. Anything but sliders.