Five Things All Dynasty/Franchise Modes Need: Part III - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

Five Things All Dynasty/Franchise Modes Need: Part III Stuck

Posted on October 21, 2009 at 02:01 PM.

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Dynasty and franchise modes are simply my favorite part of sports gaming. While others play online, I simply try to guide my own team to glory against AI opponents almost exclusively. With that said, there are a few things I feel should be standard in these modes. On day one, we discussed how games needed to be more personal and yesterday we discussed the offseason.

Today I want to talk about something done in several different ways, but never to the point it should be: player personalities.

There are games which are more guilty than others of not modeling player personalities into their game. Some games claim to have personalities, but there is no way to directly see what they are. Given the limitations of video games, the only real way to judge player personality would be through some form of statistical measurement.

Several text-sims such as Out of the Park Baseball and Football manager do this and it determines the type of contracts you get, among other things. But not all games are even close to the same stratosphere. So today, I would like to recommend that each player has some sort of a personality in our sports games which would affect contract status, perhaps random events and more.

What do you think? Where could developers make player personalities stand out more when it comes to dynasty/franchise modes? Should the ratings affect on field performance as well as off the field? Chime in!

Comments

# 1 vaughn99 @ Oct 21

I think the problem lies in making this a universal shift and an integrated part of a GM/franchise mode . . . contract issues are one thing, but off-field attitudes impacting on-field performance is a "whole 'nother"®.

I think the only way to push it further than it already is would be to make it an OPTION (akin to the injuries "on/off" toggle you find in most franchise/career games). It's frustrating to both the SIM and non-SIM users when their all-pro (or all-american or all-star, etc -- depending on sport) goes down with a season (or career)-ending injury, but whereas some gamers thrive on the challenge of working around issues, rebuilding and refocusing their virtual club's attentions, other users immediately lose interest and bail (I've known my share in old school "swap the memory card" franchises/leagues), so I can only imagine the uproar that it would incite when it's not even an on-field issue.

I think our virtual world subsists fine without all the "3 gun" Delonte Wests, steroid usage and pleasure boat ride suspensions happening out in the "real world."*

*Not to mention how stoked would EA cover boys Michael Crabtree and Brett Farve be with a stigma attached to the rest of their MADDEN career, no matter how much their actions in real life may have merited them? (Ray Lewis's courtroom issues and Ronaldinho's hooker fiasco also come to mind -- I'm sure there have been others) . . .