Better defense and more counter options to stop the offense (specifically with the protect the sticks adjustment) will be a big help in making players realize that instantly going for every 4th down in the game is a losing strategy....so in that regard, I think a better playing game helps with some elements of Fair Play.
There is also the removal of the D-adjustment delay AND a limit to the way hot routes and adjustments are called by the QB...now, add accelerated clock and 15 minute quarters to that and I don't think people would need too much more incentive to start focusing more on play calling instead of hot route adjusting as a base offense.
There are significant strides to balancing the game that are obvious from the stream...I hope they hold up well in the wild, but they look great in concept. That leaves the opponent's behavior as the last thing to really address that ruins the online experience for many people.
I am of two minds on this...mainly because I play online only and very rarely H2H.
In H2H play, the other player usually doesn't just quit and if they do they're off the sticks for a while because they have to either watch someone else play (usually play in groups and winner stays is the rule) or they need to go out and chill until they get another chance to play...
There are always going to be legitimate disconnects and de-sync's that cause players to get kicked, but the game should be capable of seeing whether or not the connection is lost or the quit button pushed. Online play is plagued with players who simply quit the game under any number of scenarios and they need to be deterred from doing it or online play will remain frustrating whenever you are playing a random opponent (I KNOW THAT PLAYING THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE IS ILL ADVISED, BUT SOMETIMES YOU'RE JUST LOOKING FOR A GAME AND NO ONE ELSE YOU KNOW IS AROUND!)
lIn NBA2K14, if someone keeps quitting games, they essentially get timed out of online play for a period of time. Start with 1 minute the first time, then 5 minutes on a second one that session, then 10 and so on...if a player starts having a penalty for choosing to quit or turn off their game when losing, then they would be less likely to act like a fool. That is a decent approximation of someone getting tossed from the couch and having to wait it out for another turn....I'd like to see that implemented into online play to discourage people from quitting.
If the defensive options and choices make going for it all the time a losing proposition AND player behavior is regulated by penalizing quitters with time off the server (like a penalty box maybe? maybe it could work better if it was handled like NHL penalties...disconnect = 30 second minor, getting booted for going offsides/grieving = 10 minute double minor, quitting or powering off in a match = 20 minute game misconduct!!)....at any rate, while nothing would be foolproof, just giving something to think about would slow the rate of quitting online and improve the experience a lot...
These devs definitely have their eyes on improving the gameplay and the gameplay experience, so I have hope that as the gameplay continues to improve, the overall experience will get better with it.