I play default settings. I love a good slider set, but I was more focused on chasing the perfect set, I did not really PLAY the game. I just gave up on sliders now and enjoy the game. Also, this way I don't have to adjust mentally when playing MP games.

Default sliders and whatever difficulty takes into ratings the most. I don't want boosts on either side. And I want the CPU to play as smart as it can, but within the confines of its player ratings. Sadly, we're not there yet.

The big issue is that Gamers play sports games from a view that gives them an advantage, but is needed because as much as we drop the "Realistic" term, most really do not want to play a game from a "1st Person" view.

Team sports seem to require the game being played from the "Fan" view aka TV Style presentation.
Because of this, we gain an advantage because we have a glimps of the entire sport at any given moment.

I don't think it's so much an AI issue (though some games programming needs more than others), but that there's really no way to take this advantage away because the view allows gamers to be immersed in the sport from this POV.

What has been done thus far, is tinkering with the AI Ratings programming in an effort to match this Human advantage, but this has only caused the AI players to behave in manners that stick out as a sore thumb (shifting/warping, psych players, dumbing down AI players on Hum team etc...) as to give the perception that the CPU has increased in difficulty.

Because programming is so connected, when you tweak one Slider, you affect another area of the AI.
You then adjust another slider to compensate, only to affect another area of the AI.
Before we know it, after all the tweaking, the game is not behaving according to the sport we want it to mimmick.

Ratings tweaking have little affect because most are nothing more than Animation drivers, while some are just cosmetic and have little/no affect on the AI.

The closest thing that I've seen that would be a remedy to the POV Advantage is what 2k did in NFL 2k5 with the CPU tracking Human player Tendancies and utilizing that data to counter AI play against them.

I believe all Team Sports games will have to incorporate this type of system at some point as a way of challenging gamers.
The current method used has only produced a greater need of Patches/Tuners that usually make things worst.

This is the only thing I can think of right now that would create the challenge that gamers/programmers are currently trying to accomplish.

Human Tendancies being recorded for any given situation, and the AI utilizing that data to decide the logic of play.

Just my $.02!!!

Particularly with reference to Madden, the AI should actively be keeping track of how I am attacking it and adapt its playcalling and execution based on my decisions, similar to how a real coach does.

For example, say I'm playing as the Chicago Bears and I'm just running the Cover 2 base defense every time on first and ten. The AI should be keeping track of this. Depending on difficulty threshold, eventually the AI should make a call to abandon whatever its current gameplan is and call a play specifically designed to beat Cover 2; a Smash (hook+flag route combination) or Peel (post+wheel route combination) concept, for example. Then, depending on what the AI QB sees in my defense at the line of scrimmage, he should check if I'm actually running a Cover 2 once more this time around on first and ten and, if so, run this play; else, audible back to something in the original gameplan.

Coach ratings could even play a role in this. I don't think they are part of this year's Madden game, but previously coaches had ratings like Intelligence (which I'm not sure if they ever did anything, but they were there). These ratings could govern how quickly a coach adapts his team's gameplan; for example, a good offensive mind such as Jay Gruden might be quick to adapt his schemes to the gameplay situations drive-over-drive, whereas more stubborn coaches might wait until the second half to make any adjustments. The intelligence could also govern how quickly coaches "abandon the running game" based on lack of success; Jason Garrett of the Cowboys has a reputation for doing this, in particular.

I'm not really in favor of ratings boosts for the AI in simulation sports games; the AI should just be smarter. The capability exists to do all this, but I don't get the impression that anything to this end is being done right now.

I'm still waiting for the AI that starts recognizing your plays and adjusts to them. Wasn't that a feature in Madden and NCAA before?

For me sliders are the way to go. Games & what we expect from them are far to advanced & complex to just give the options of Easy, Normal & Hard.

Sliders are hugely important. I think difficulty has to be a mix between AI and attributes. On lower levels your guys should win the one on one matchups. On the highest level the cpu should probably win even matchups the majority of the time. For EA football, the matchups are usually even on the 2nd highest difficulty but the stupidity of the cpu makes that level a bit easy.

If anything I would love to see the cpu smart on all levels. The attribute boosts on the lower levels would still be the biggest factor. The next step many games need to make is adaptive AI. If the user continuously does the same thing, learn to stop it. Furthermore, if the user continuously stops the cpu at some thing, they should switch to something else. EA has failed miserably hear imo.

The one big thing 2K5 did was have a truly global scale and no real difficulty. The max slider setting was hard and the minimum was easy. I like this concept but your sliders better be powerful and work well to pull this off.

My main problem with the current difficulty setting is that the cpu makes zero defensive mistakes on Heisman and All-Madden difficulties. This takes away from the realism and makes it feel like I'm playing against a computer program and not a football game.

You should have the ability to hit a deep pass play if you set it up properly and busted coverages happen to even the best defenses on occasion. They should just happen much less frequently on the higher difficulty settings and happen more often to younger teams compared to veteran teams.

Great Blog!! To me, difficulty sliders are arbitrary. no two people are at the exact same play ability. The sliders are for customizing the game specifically to the individual.
That being said, the Difficulty levels should correlate not only to gamespeed and abilties, but more so to the AI aspect of the game. In Madden, for example, a higher difficulty should not only improve the game's physical attributes, but also affect the volume of the playbooks, the GM decision making, and the coaching decisions. The game should be "Smarter" the higher the difficulty.
And this should not only apply to Madden, but ALL sports gaming in general.
I would also add that "play Now" and Franchise modes should be thought of as separate entities by the developers. If you want a game of wild scoring, dunks, home runs, touchdowns etc, you Play Now. But if you want a game of realism, then you would play Franchise.

This is taken from the Madden 98 instruction manual:

"Just as a liquid, such as water, flows when it hits a surface to fill open space and gaps, Liquid AI enables the video football players in 'Madden NFL 98' to dynamically flow and move to the correct positions on the field in order to make a play."

But it was all just marketing hype. The AI was still pretty terrible in that game.

To quote a Sony employee from back then:

"Liquid AI is the crap that ran down EA's leg when they saw NFL GameDay."

The first thing I do it put it on the highest difficulty level and start playing. NHL seems to adjust pretty well to my habits in BEaGM. I think it's be doing a good job of learning my tendencies for example I always start driving in deep then passing to the blue line, they usually catch on to this.

Also I've realized that no matter what, in Madden of NCAA if you run 4 verts someone is always open, you just have to hit him.

I almost always play on default level and tweak the sliders (I love the concept of sliders, so we all get the gaming experience we want). No matter what, I want the players' ratings to matter. I never want Ray Lewis to run down Desean Jackson from behind. For me, that's the critical element of a videogame - the players' ratings have got to matter.

I think it's just about adapting and the type of experience you want. I usually start with the second to highest difficulty on football games and the third on Basketball games. Pending on the results I get I might go up or stay. I have played some fun games and some tight games on All-Pro, All-American, and All-Star modes and I have played in some blowouts on both sides. But once I start running away with games I usually go up in difficulty.

I like what Madden tries to do with the Madden IQ thing (that's if it's still active in 13) where the CPU adapts to you. I think more games should go this route that way players could just jump in and play a balance game. But when all else fails I jump online and play an actual human.

I would like to see just a pure ratings setting. Ala Tecmo Super Bowl. That game had no difficulty just ratings that drives the game. The good teams were tough to beat and the bad would be easier. Since they had conditions/hot & cold streaks even the bad teams could be tough when they had players hot.
Each difficulty now in sports game gives an advantage/boost to either the human or the cpu thus changing the ratings but it is hidden. With just ratings being used there is no advantage except having good player on your team.
Once you use just the ratings now the AI just needs to call better plays and be smarter than it is now. I think game makers spend too much time with difficulty and not enough on the actually AI.
Tecmo Super Bowl is still loved today and I know it was more of a arcade type game but at least when you played as a top team you felt like you were and when you were playing as a bad team you felt like you were.
With all the ratings in games now you think that they could just give us an option to play with just the ratings as a difficulty. No boost to either side fine tune the AI to call better plays and play to their ratings and I think we would have a fun and more real game.

Of all(surprisingly) games, MLB2k did it right around 2005, 2006...the games themselves were buggy as could be, but at the highest difficulty level it was both the most diificult and yet the most realistic.Lower scoring games and te CPU would hit less homers off of good pitchers than at lower levels(the player would hit less homers too so it was a more low scoring affair at the highest level).....instead of artificially boosting the computer at higher levels as pretty much all sports games do, the action should simply reflect ultimate realism at harder levels, with sliders being there to boost some CPU attributes if someone wants more of a challenge....In NBA 2k for instance, shooting a wide open 3 with Larry Bird or any other great sniper should be a direct relation to the character's skill and also the skill of the controlling player...it should not be that Bird is going to miss more 3's at the hardest level and also conversely have a mediocre CPU 3 point shooter make more than he should....the game should just be as realistic as possible at the highest level and more arcadey each level down.....for football, a great back with a great line should still make some good yardage against a mediocre defense...the CPU should just be calling smarter plays and also making more adjustment shifts