Pumping The Crowd Up - mcdowell31's Blog

mcdowell31's Blog

Pumping The Crowd Up

Posted on October 26, 2024 at 08:33 PM.

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Just had a rare occurrence in MyNBA: A bench player hit an 18-foot jumper on a potential All-NBA Defender to end the first quarter; how did he react? He was composed and professional, after all, it was the end of the first quarter and there was a lot of game left to play. I have not checked the player to see if he has a "Neutral" personality or whatever the subdued one is below that. Could be a matter of adjusting all personalities to "zero" to get professionalism, while "Neutral" and "Expressive" would be for increasingly demonstrative players. 2K14 drove me crazy with players celebrating layups in the first quarter. Recent play is better than that by just a little. Could be the IF/THEN statements in the code, or just heavy-handed roster-making. It would be realistic if young players say under 26, were more inclined to celebrate. As players age they would evolve and become relatively subdued because incredible accomplishment is not unfamiliar to a veteran pro. The announcing team could highlight this through banter: "He's been here before."

Anyway, an idea: Smart Crowd. For years the game crowd has sat on their hands, spending the majority of time sitting silently. I have seen/felt more energy in some churches. As 2K has implemented more RPG features, manipulating the crowd through gameplay is an Xbox 360 feature that needs to return. College Hoops 2K8 had a Sixth Man feature that ebbed and flowed with the home team's performance. There was a bar on screen: Once it filled your players got a tiny boost that felt like homecourt mystique; better schools could fill the bar easier/faster. Timeouts were strategic and a must to survive. Of course, the visitors could tamp down these runs with their spectacular play.

Perhaps this is already built into the players "catching fire" in recent 2Ks. Besides the present icon onscreen, it would be good if the broadcasters commented on this from an immersion standpoint, but also for the novice player, it would serve as a tip or hint on gameplay. Smart Crowd should get louder with each great play. Again, this would serve as a hint at the state of play. Homecourt in The Playoffs would have more significance.

It could be interesting if demonstrative players could pump the crowd. This would need a win/lose mechanic: Perhaps too much would draw a technical foul for taunting, and success would increase crowd noise and perhaps teammate stamina by a bit. I have not mapped this out, but every mechanic needs to be win/lose. The player might only be able to use this once per game to make it strategic. Coaches are rated for Charisma: This could apply for halftime locker room adjustments and timeouts. College Hoops 2K8 had ten player-coach pep talks available per season. I would usually spend two on my best players to get going in the first season game, and the rest would get pumped by their success which fed into team success.

Back to playing.