The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

[DJ]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

For me, sliders nearly ruined my love of sports gaming.

I've been playing sports games since the vibrating fields of electric football and the cards and spinners of All-Star Baseball. Whether it was the LED lights of Mattel's handhelds or even slot car racing, we tracked everything, filling countless wired bound notebooks with box scores and stats. And yeah, we were always wanting realistic results, even when it was just a fantasy.

Sports gaming on the early consoles was just fun. There was nothing remotely realistic about it. I mean, we thought Intellivision Baseball was the most realistic thing that could ever be created. But man, we played everything. Even our C64 was a sports gaming machine, with Summer Games, The World's Greatest Baseball Game, Hardball and Larry Bird vs Dr. J being our heavy favorites.

When siders first began appearing, it was welcome method to achieve realistic results in CPU vs CPU games. The idea was that once the CPU was generating realistic results, then it was fun to see how we stacked up. But at some point that changed, with sliders being created to give users a boost or to limit their results. That seemed great, at first.

The problem was that sports games then became a paint-by-numbers project. I wasn't playing for the fun and enjoyment of competition anymore, but to re-create reality as I perceived it to be. Now, instead of a long season where I competed, I was trying to force the games I played to re-create the results I thought validated the "sim."

Soon, that's pretty much all sports games became. And it wasn't pleasant. It was hours and hours on Usenet and forums, trading ideas and bitching about the "lazy developers." All we wanted was reality. could it be so hard?

Well, yeah. Before sliders it was never close to realistic. But it was fun and competitive. Now, with games becoming so much more realistic, we often spend weeks or months before we will even start a season, if at all. And even if we start to get realistic results, then we began picking apart how it looked getting those stats.

I'm not saying that doing all of that can't be fun. It is very much like working on puzzles. But I also saw how I and others began interacting wit the games and the developers. Our entitlement shot through the roof. We had sliders, just like we wanted, but now we hated that they weren't better.

I came to dread new releases for the work and lack of fun. And you see it in these forums. People have some of the greatest sports games ever created, but no one seems to be really happy. Well, some are, and they are mocked.

So I changed my outlook. I'll admit that Ultimate Team modes helped clarify what I liked about playing sports games. I wanted to compete, to have those moments in games where you had a hard decision strategically, to have moments when execution was critical, to enjoy the success of a well executed strategy. I stopped worrying about the stats, and just concentrated on playing the games.

First, the stats are never too far off. Games are great today. Second, by playing on default settings, it's like every other competitive gaming genre. I'm comparing myself to others using the same settings, the same playing field.

I mean, if you have tweaked the settings to get a result, how exciting is it really to see your stats? Not scoring enough goals? Tweak. No you got more goals. Yay?

I'm glad we have sliders. I'll still tweak a setting or two in a season mode. But I am enjoying sports gaming like a I did almost 40 years ago. That period where I didn't, I used to think it was the developers ruining games. I now look back at it as how I ruined my experience.

A great post here, and I echo many of its sentiments. I made the move back to default sliders for all sports games a couple of years ago and it was refreshing. The games are more enjoyable now that I'm not stressing over if sliders are working, not working, reversed, etc.

[karlos]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

i say use FIDDY's slider Set found here - http://www.operationsports.com/forum...7-sliders.html

give them a try.. they are tough but fair

thanks

Thanks I'll give them a try.

Cheers

[charter04]

The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

Great read!

I know more about the Madden side of things in regard to sliders but, I think it's all pretty similar.

I often wonder why so many won't even give an out of the box game much of a chance.

Some might play one half or one game and make whole sale changes but, then tell others that it takes 5-10 games to get a feel for their sliders. lol

I think for some it comes down to control. They want to get a certain level of recognition for the game they love. So they "work" on sliders year round.

Admittedly I was one of those people to an extent. I realized how much of a waist of time it was personally and just enjoy sports games for what they are and make changes if I need to but, stay closer to default.

I do think some of the reason we mess with sliders at all is because any company is releasing a game to the masses. So they have to make settings have the broadest appeal.

Because of that you have certain aspects of sports games that they feel can't be quite as real as real life because it may be too difficult or confusing to the masses.

This is where sliders can come in. We can adjust certain parts of a game to our liking.

Does it make the game better? Not necessarily.

I am for more settings to adjust personally. So I'm glad games like NHL are going that way.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KingTocco]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

There are some great responses in here for sure and I'd like to shoutout Jay D for his perspective because it echoes some of my sentiments towards sliders in Sports games.

This is my first NHL I've bought in at least 3-4 years, I played NHL 16 for about a week or two right before 17 came out using my EA Access trial. I took a hiatus from the series and actually from following/liking hockey in general. I don't know what happened but one day I just flipped a switch and stopped liking the sport I spent 15 years of my childhood playing and loving.

Anyway, I'm back now and having acclimated myself again with the sport and video game series I've now moved up to All-Star difficulty and can consistently play well. I was previously playing on the 3/4 setting as it said it was the default for the online competitive side I thought it made sense to keep it uniform throughout all the modes.

On All-Star 3/4 setting there were way too many goals being scored and I felt my goalie was terrible even with pretty solid defense from me. So I messed with sliders for one game and then it got too easy for me again, I was in that back and forth spot where I was trying to make it not too hard but not too easy and was over analyzing ever part of the game.

So I decided to try out All-Star Full-Sim and initially liked it, it felt more fair. I was getting more realistic scores although my passing was terrible. I messed with the pass assistance rating and made it higher for me because the computer was still averaging 90%+ passing every game. It then became too easy IMO and I was scoring 5-6+ per game still.

I thought it was time to bump my settings back down to All-Star Full-Sim completely default and I am now playing on that setting and greatly enjoying it. I've had some really fair games while also trying to accept that some games I'll score a lot and others I won't, it's a game after all.

So I love sliders and I think they are great to add customization for gameplay and modes, I know some people really love them and do a great job of making sets for the community (shoutout to the guys here). I also love playing a default setting and know I can still get a fairly great and sim-ish game out of the box too.

[onlybygrace]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

Great responses...I feel somewhat obligated to say something, being one of the slider guys around here...then I changed my mind because it really doesn't matter what I think. lol

[jake19ny]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

Funny, I was one of the many screaming for more sliders and 1-100 sliders and now we have it I became overwhelmed and didn't want to go insane tweaking. I basically use default sliders and tweaked only
Game speed
Pass accuracy
Shot accuracy
Penalties
I think that's partly credited to the fact that this years game plays pretty darn good out of the box and I just made adjustments to the little areas I felt suited my game style and preference.

[SandGropeR]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

Is there a way to save them when in BAP so they load up as default, I always have to fiddle with them once in the BAP menu as they revert back to original and it becomes a chore.

a big thanks for this thread by the way

[superballs]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

I started NHL17 on Full Sim/Pro.

I'm not that good, but man I almost never feel cheated or a victim of "ice tilt".

NHL 16 was probably the worst NHL game I've ever played. The AI just tac tac tac tac tape to tape like they were a hive-mind and put it in.

I stepped up my defensive play and got better but just felt like if I was an inch out of place it was a sure snipe from the slot.

In 17, it feels like things happen. I mean weird bounces that create insane tense moments, real scrambles for the puck, real fights and scrums against the board with three players stabbing at the puck like mad trying to poke it loose. The stick tie-ups create weird "somebody just get that already" moments, the passing around the offensive zone feels substantial and setting up in front of the net for a deflection with vision control feels so satisfying when you pull it off.

I've also noticed that a LOT of pucks go wide of the net. When watching hockey, I find that this is usually the cause of the relatively low number of shots on net. A lot of shots are taken, but only a few are actually shots on goal, most go over and wide.

Hitting the post is still a little too frequent, but not maddeninly so. In fact, I'd even venture so far as to say when a shot goes off the post, it's enough to make your heart stop in relief or in angst depending on what end of it you were on.

It's not perfect, but I really feel with the substantial stick checking and that "clogged slot" feeling I've never really gotten out of a hockey game, the sloppy, loose puck feeling that made me love NHL2k10 so much, and generally good AI (with exception) assisting you, this is my favorite NHL game since NHL10 and NHL2K10.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

I love sliders.

Everyone who knows me around here knows I am an old school Atari 2600/Intellivision kid. And I have played just about all of the console sports games throughout the last 36 years.


When sliders first became available for me to use I was really happy. And it was really simple for me. I play the game on default out of the box settings on my appropriate skill level and get a great feel for how the game plays both on my side and the CPU side. Once I have that feel and a nice sample size I simply ask myself what is the game not giving me that I want. I then turn some knobs and after a few weeks I pretty much am able to hone in the right tuning for my personal taste and what I want out of the game.

I then share it with the community and always....always tell everyone to use it as a base and tweak to your taste.

I also take it to a place of where I share my personal camera settings, the approach I take in playing the game and why and offer community members a way to play the game maybe a little differently than they have before to see if that ups the "simulation" factor for them. I develop my sliders playing the game in the "style" I play it. So I tend to think I am more a niche player slider guy.

I never over think it. I use more of a "feel and see" process then a science process to my sports video game settings and it works for me....and hopefully many members of our community.

But most of all the game has to be fun. Because that is the number one reason I play sports games. Pure fun, and enjoyment.

[Fiddy]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

Last year I settled on hardcore all star and superstar. No adjustments because of the slider glitches etc.

This year I haven't run into the glitches with the skating like last year and I have been having fun. Sticking to my forumula in my slider thread keeps the game semi default, but with some realistic elements.

I have found a happy medium this year.

I use my sliders on all star for home games and my sliders on superstar for road games.

Doing so gives me games where I can completely dominate and others where I get my butt handed to me. Good times.

[robinson]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

More options, more people happy.


Its good to have sliders because they can create so many different game play. As a lot of them are intertwined which each other.


I like the 0-100 better because even though its a lot more difficult to get sliders adjusted and finetuned. It allows more ways of creating the style you like personally.


We are still adjusting to get it better as we go along. What nice is to sample what the other good slider creators are using/sampling themselves to make your better or to find thing you wernt necessarily looking for at the time.


Still working on that wicked two way hockey slider set that's realistic and feels good like your on ice.

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

More options, more people happy.


Its good to have sliders because they can create so many different game play. As a lot of them are intertwined which each other.


I like the 0-100 better because even though its a lot more difficult to get sliders adjusted and finetuned. It allows more ways of creating the style you like personally.


We are still adjusting to get it better as we go along. What nice is to sample what the other good slider creators are using/sampling themselves to make your better or to find thing you wernt necessarily looking for at the time.


Still working on that wicked two way hockey slider set that's realistic and feels good like your on ice.

Just to reemphasize my point made in a probably TL;DR post, the bolded is why sliders nearly ruined my enjoyment of sports gaming. Once I quit searching for the elusive perfect representation, but stated playing and enjoying the competition of the games as they are, my enjoyment skyrocketed back to pre-slider days.

I'm not saying we should ditch sliders. But when I read threads about the game, it's pretty clear that the everlasting quest for perfect representation of a sport increases the negativity in the forums. And it does it by a lot. I used to consider messing with sliders like a puzzle game in itself.

The tools encourage many of us, and I'm including myself, to game with unrealistic expectations of what sports gaming is. We tweak and tweak, and our inability to find that last puzzle piece leads us to lash out at the developers who we begin to feel can not only not get the game right, but can't even create reasonable sliders.

The reason this is a shame is that if we step back and look at the history of sports games, this is an absolutely mind blowing great era of sports games. And instead of enjoying them, so much of our time is spent on improving them, and worse, slagging the developers that make these games.

[Mongo14]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

They just automatically reset to default for me

[Mike Lowe]

Re: The Psychology of Sliders: How the Community is Changing NHL 17

Just to reemphasize my point made in a probably TL;DR post, the bolded is why sliders nearly ruined my enjoyment of sports gaming. Once I quit searching for the elusive perfect representation, but stated playing and enjoying the competition of the games as they are, my enjoyment skyrocketed back to pre-slider days.

I'm not saying we should ditch sliders. But when I read threads about the game, it's pretty clear that the everlasting quest for perfect representation of a sport increases the negativity in the forums. And it does it by a lot. I used to consider messing with sliders like a puzzle game in itself.

The tools encourage many of us, and I'm including myself, to game with unrealistic expectations of what sports gaming is. We tweak and tweak, and our inability to find that last puzzle piece leads us to lash out at the developers who we begin to feel can not only not get the game right, but can't even create reasonable sliders.

The reason this is a shame is that if we step back and look at the history of sports games, this is an absolutely mind blowing great era of sports games. And instead of enjoying them, so much of our time is spent on improving them, and worse, slagging the developers that make these games.

Well said, sir.