[Aestis]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshC1977

I agree with your points of what many true sim gamers want, but I read Aestis’s point differently. I think he was making the point that a lot of self-professed “sim” gamers really aren’t and if that was what he was driving at, I agree.

Quote: Originally Posted by ggsimmonds

I was alluding to the same thing I think Aestis was in his post, and that is that many people consider themselves sim gamers, but other people could take issue with that designation.

You two got it. I'm not really taking a stance on who is or isn't "sim," or what "sim" should mean, because in my experience many take that discussion merely as an opportunity to exhibit how many Xs and how many Os they know.

My point is that "the sim community," as it were, in my experience (my experience primarily being: playing in & running 32-man leagues focused on realism for several years now, each filled with folks from this very forum, and collaborating with other commishes of similarly focused leagues... so I get to watch firsthand how "sim" players actually play and not just what they post on a forum), is an umbrella term that isn't as a whole laser-focused on realistic gameplay. Surely this subset of guys who crave true realism exists, but it's only that: a subset of a subset.

And to be clear, virtually nobody in the sim-community-at-large self identifies as NOT wanting realism. I would bet 95% or better say they want absolute realism. In my experience, the reality is many do/would not actually enjoy realistic gameplay to the degree they think they do/would. I've played with guys who were football coaches as their profession who didn't understand that their passes downfield were twice as aggressive/deep as an NFL QB attempts/completes, and were frustrated that this aggression was leading to too many INTs. They blamed, in so many words, 'psychic defenders--but INTs that other guys threw were, of course, their own fault for not reading defenses. We humans have a problem with cognitive dissonance and you don't have to look further than the 'sim community' to see that.

And all this at least in part informs the Madden development team's decisions when it comes to prioritization: when even the crowd who supposedly is all crying for more realism also gets frustrated by more realism, that's a conundrum I'm glad I don't have to resolve.

In short, I think Rex wants as realistic experience as 1) technology/coders can enable; 2) resources dedicated to realistic gameplay will allow; and 3) the sim community as a whole will tolerate/enjoy.