Why Many Sports Gamers Ruin Online Gaming - Goblowsoup's Blog

Goblowsoup's Blog

Why Many Sports Gamers Ruin Online Gaming

Posted on July 24, 2011 at 10:27 PM.

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So, I play a lot of games online but I really find myself staying away from sports games. That is, everything except for racing. For some reason, racing games seem to have a built in fairness. You run a line, you press the gas, break, turn etc...it's all fairly even for everyone. There's a few glitches here and there, but there aren't a lot of exploits. But then, that raises the question as to why the other games seem to have a big built in cheat button on them. Take for instance NCAA Basketball 10. I think it's a fairly sound game, but it's got a ridiculous insistence on using certain exploits (shooting from certain spots, inability to break double teams, and so on). The game runs these same exploits in single player and online, but for someone who wants to actually simulate basketball they are left with a bad taste in their mouths. I like to run motions, set screens, work the ball inside out, then dribble and drive. But when a game absolutely locks you down in a double team you cannot dribble drive ever. It's something to fault with EA basketball games as NBA Live 10 suffered the same issue. I think it's due to the fact that they overcompensated for previous years where you could just drive and dunk 95% of the time.

Now, this isn't a blog to bash EA or sports games in general, but it's more a bash on the gamer. I've been playing sports games since I was about 5 years old. I usually played all of my friends at their houses, or here, or at birthday parties. That's just what we did, and I was fairly good at it. But then they got into the first person shooters and such, and I found myself on the outside looking in. I couldn't figure out how to aim properly or even strategically shoot my rockets or place mines. The same comes with online FPS'. If you're not familiar with them, you hop on and you typically finish in last place, or near the bottom. Lucky most of them have a built in team function so that you can at least somewhat benefit the team.

Here's my grip about sports games though. It's that same grip many people who are new to FPS' have. The "why do these people run me into the ground, and not give me a chance" grip. This same thing is pretty common for sports games now too. Which sucks. Sports games are competitive and fun, yet they are a hangout for people to just kind of enjoy the sport. It's not for people to be jackwagons and run the score up so bad to not let the other guy breathe. I'll use my most recent experiences with a couple games.

Madden 11 is up first. I was in a game, fairly close, when halftime hit. I felt pretty good. Well, that's when the other guy decided to sub in Tim Tebow. Now, I know Tebow can run, and is fairly fast. But this is when it got silly. He broke one open and scored. No big deal right? Well then he onsides it only to get it back due to my fumble. Why? Because I'm certain EA builds in a "you're out of luck meter". Just look at when you do something well in Madden, everything goes your way. Make a mistake though and you'll likely end up being beat into the ground. After this turn of events though, my competitor goes on to score again with Tebow, now up by 3 scores, I figure he'll kick the field goal. Nope...he goes for 2. Gets it, then onsides it again. This sequence repeats til the end of the game by which he's ahead more than 40 and still going for 2. At which point for gamers is enough enough? I've been known to be up by 21 or more and sub in my backups because I want the other guy to make it interesting. I'm not out there to make someone feel like hell.

Next take NCAA Basketball 10. This game is a momentum pain in the butt. You hit 2 threes and next thing you know you can't miss. But miss 2 threes and you'll struggle to make a layup. On top of that there's a certainty that you can't miss threes. And people only shoot three's. Probably because the game has a built in post defense that makes it impossible to ever get past the perimeter. The same thing happens online though as in Madden. Get down by 20 and you'll never see the light. Why? Because these gamers feel the need to solely shoot 3's. The most recent game I played my opponent shot only 4 shots that weren't three pointers. He shot 30+ three's. Which is just insane. Especially if you get a 20 point plus lead. That's where you gamers need to step back and let it be, keep it interesting, and let the other guy feel like he has a chance. If you can get up by 20 that easy, you will win so long as you don't fall asleep.

This isn't only EA games that have this fault, there are jackwagons in all games. This includes racing. Hop on iRacing, rFactor, or other sims and you'll always get that one guy who doesn't know when to brake or doesn't understand to get out of the way of the leaders or fails to use their mirrors. Or take NBA 2k11. Try team/squad game and realize there is always that one guy who refuses to pass or shoots 20+ three pointers a game. Same goes for MLB the Show. There are guys on there that steal and bunt like it's their job. It's a little bit more fair and most of these games have a fantastic way for balance whereas EA actually benefits the player for exploiting it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the next time you find yourself with a comfortable lead, remember what it feels like to be on the other side. Remember that sports gaming, unless for money, is something done for fun and is a leisurely hobby. It's not your job, you're not being paid by sponsors (unless you're top tier in iRacing) and you're not going to get a full-ride scholarship by running up the score in NCAA games. So, knock it off, be kind to one another and remember what it feels like to be new to the game or not in the know about exploits. Don't ruin it for others, just like those of you who have never played an FPS and hop online to be beat into the ground...but rather be friendly competitors. Make the game worth all of our time and not just for your "ego".

Comments

# 1 Eski33 @ Jul 25

I agree with you to a point. Cheesers suck, end of story. You know, those that abuse exploits to score at will. There are those that support the notion that if these exploits are in the game that players should be able to use them. For most hardcore gamers, exploits ruin the experience. The Madden scenario you presented unfortunately is replayed far too often. For this reason I dont play people I dont know online.

However, I dont agree that the person you are playing should slow up. Again, I am not referring to onside kicks when winning by a large margin. Thst is garbage. My reference is if I am playing someone who has more skill and is playing without exploits. If I cannot stop them then I need to work on my game.

I was in an OD in NCAA 11. The commish implemented a rule where if the winning team had the ball in the 4th qtr they were not allowed to run down the play clock. The ball had to be snapped with 20 seconds on the pkay clock. The reason? To provide more opportunities for the losing team to come back. I told the commish that I am not going to spend 45 minutes of my time, build a lead then give the other team the ball. Inevitably I quit that OD.

Point is I dont think it is the responsibility of a person who is winning to give opportunities to the other player to keep it interesting to that player that is getting beat.

# 2 Goblowsoup @ Jul 26

Right, I agree with you to that point. I don't think you should stop playing your game, I just don't think you need to keep the stars in and shoot threes or throw bombs when you've got a comfortable lead. I hate having a big lead personally since I tend to get bored playing. I like it close, so in my defense it's my style of play to let the opponent back in to make it more interesting for me.