Taking out ratings is not at all what I'm proposing. What I am in fact proposing is to remove the
overall rating leaving the user to only see the individual attributes - everything from speed, to awareness, to throw power to hit power etc. That way you have to assess a players ratings for yourself rather than being told how good he is.
Under the current ratings you look at Dwight Freeney - it says 97 Overall - the game tells you how good he is.
Now remove that 97. Dwight Freeney is a free agent in the off season, I look at his stats - is he still quick enough? is he the type of player I'm looking for - yes he can pass rush but is he good enough against the run for my system? If I just want a quick defensive end then should I take guy x instead who is 24 and just as quick but lacking in other areas.
At the minute all you do is go through the free agents - "I need a defensive end" - order them by overall -
BAM - Dwight Freeney 97 skill, that's the best guy I can sign. I don't have to think about my signings, I don't have to consider my signings. The game does it all for me.
I understand there needs to be some sort of overall value to a player because there are 1000s of players on madden and you need something to use to sort the elite players from the average ones. Something like the
value system that has been proposed or something more simple like a
reputation system which would be similar to the overall system currently in the game, but would instead be based on what a player has achieved in the league rather than how good his attributes say that he is.
So Randy Moss would be a 99 reputation - in 2 years he might be pretty poor on the game (maybe 85 skill on the current system) but his reputation will still be high - 99/98 maybe - therefore I can easily find the big name free agents but then I have to assess his attributes to decide whether I think he's still worth paying a big contract to.
On the other hand I could sign a rookie receiver. Drafted in the 3rd. He could have pretty incredible stats (again, let's say he would be an 85 on the current game) but his reputation is low
until he starts being effective in the league.
On the current game if I draft an 85 skill rookie then I can trade him for an established 82 skill guy instantly. In reality, to the CPU teams who haven't seen him play and train like I have he's just an average third round receiver in their eyes - but on the current madden games they'd treat him as an established 85 skill guy.
He should only develop his value to other teams once he has proven himself in the league. If he plays 3 years and does nothing then why would the cpu teams treat him like an 85 skill player?
It's a very simple, and fairly flawless idea.