Perhaps NBA 2K16's most ambitious project was its story mode. With audacious film director Spike Lee at the helm, there wasn't a soul who didn't expect something a little different from this year's MyPlayer. Of course, different is good -- even when the change itself is not.

Choices

There is a lot of valid criticism of Spike Lee's story. Without getting into spoilers, there is little to no role-playing elements involved in the mode, and a lot of the character customization seems to be without consequence. The game mode is more akin to being on a roller-coaster than anything else -- you're there for the ride but you don't have any control over where it goes.

So why is it, then, that even with a decent script and great gameplay that MyPlayer still fails to be engaging? Simple: player choice doesn't exist and it needs to.

It has gotten to the point where we don't have to limit our hopes for the futures of our favorite games. So I'm not sure it would be too ambitious to ask for a Telltale-type experience when it comes to NBA 2K's MyPlayer mode. Having a good, structural narrative is a good start -- even though it doesn't quite work as well as it should. What needs to happen next is for Visual Concepts to grow the idea of what "My Player" actually stands for in 2016 and beyond.

This would include, first and foremost, not having decisions made for you. Perhaps in the future we could have several areas within the game mode that branch off into slightly different storytelling. For instance, what if the team you were drafted by directly impacted your experience? Not just from the perspective of gameplay, but narratively? There are infinite possibilities and it would be nice to see Visual Concepts use a few of them.

The Threat of Failure

One of the most confusing aspects of "My Career" modes is that success is a given. Even on the most difficult settings, your player is treated as a budding star. The focus is and always will be on your player, for the entirety of your career. The threat of failure -- something that has existed in video games since Atari -- simply does not exist in MyPlayer.

There is little motivation to be found in an athlete that doesn't have to prove anything. As easy as it is to understand why automatic success in MyPlayer exists, it's frustrating to know that any successes found are hollow. How could they not be? A victory without the threat of loss isn't really a victory at all.

Of course, incorporating failure (being cut from your team, benched for poor play, being traded, etc.) is easier said than done. With failure would have to come a larger and more detailed script, not to mention the possibility that you lose the attention of the gamer in control. How could it be done successfully? For one, rewarding the player for bouncing back from defeat. Perhaps also including a "rewind" feature, allowing a player to re-do some aspects of the mode.

This will be something to monitor as MyPlayer becomes more and more in-depth. Whether or not Visual Concepts is willing to take a risk like incorporating failure remains to be seen.

What Is the End Goal?

Again, "beating the game" is a trope in video games for a reason. Players want to feel like they've done something, even if that reward is just a conclusion. Knowing that any kind of interactive story probably can't expand beyond a year or two anyway, what's the point in continuing on?

For one, NBA 2K needs to more efficiently incorporate player goals. If at the beginning of every character creation there were some goal-oriented options like "win the NBA Title," or "win the MVP award," or "make the NBA Hall of Fame" the player would be given a concrete arc. We have the beginning, now the mode just needs an end.

That being said, it could be argued these things exist already -- even if they just exist in an unspoken manner. So why isn't it more rewarding when a player does achieve their goal? For one, the game makes it too easy to get there. There needs to be more obstacles (not just failure, as was already mentioned) in the way of achieving your player's goals. For instance, what if toward the end of the season, the game were able to recognize that you were in a tight battle with LeBron James for the MVP award?

Not only could we see the game highlight the matchup, assuming you were to play against one another, but it would focus its attention on it. Just as Kevin Durant is given added pressure to succeed when he faces the likes of LeBron, you would also face the same challenges. There needs to be some kind of acknowledgement and some kind of obstacle in the way of achieving success. Alongside the ability to fail, there needs to be moments where your player is given the chance to succeed.

As it stands right now, NBA 2K's MyPlayer is on a straight-forward path to success. So the question is when will there be some obstacles blocking your path to greatness?