Do You Feel 2K Is Pushing My Career Too Hard And Neglecting Other Needs?

[UWfan206]

Imagine you're at a Bar-B Q and someone keeps insisting you try the hot dogs when really you're only there for the ribs. All he/she talks about is how good the hot dogs are. Despite you telling that person you don't like hot dogs he/she keeps rubbing it in your face and forcing you to try it.

This is how I feel about 2K pushing/promoting their "My Career" mode. Maybe the Bar-B Q thing was a bad analogy or comparison but I feel that they are putting too much emphasis on My Career and it is obvious that they're trying to sway us in that direction when in reality it's not for everyone. I like to play 5 on 5 and have control of my teams. My career doesn't cut it for me.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying My Career doesn't need to be improved cause I feel it does but so does Association and those annoying lags and animation for Online play. Lot's of people play My Career but it's not for everyone, some people like me prefer the game of 5 on 5.

[d23x]

I couldn't agree more. I'm an association type of player, I have just never been into the fiction "mycareer" story stuff. I feel MyGM was a really nice and refreshing mode this year compared to what we didn't get in 2k14, but it needs more in depth stories ect.

[Taer]

2K is trying to convince the horde of people playing MyCareer that their movie scripting direction is the right direction.

There are a lot of 2K gamers that simply put do not like what has been going on with MyCareer for the last two years and these gamers are questioning whether 2K is the right game for them anymore.

MyCareer started out as one of the heaviest sim modes in the game. You had the d-league, draft combine and the ability to heavily impact your experience with your play. 2K really tried to emphasis the experience and a lot of people became addicted.

2k14 and 2k15 has strayed from what made the MyCareer mode "perfect" for a lot of these gamers. Decisions like the ones to force vc into every crevice of the mode and reaming a contrived fake rivalry down everyone's throat really made some of 2K's most loyal customers over the years question their loyalty.

I think this fact has hit 2K finally - look at what happened with the servers being turned off for 2K14; a backlash that caused an almost immediate reversal. I hope it scares 2K into rethinking their current trajectory and I hope it leads them to go back to their roots in sim for this mode.

2K is at a major crossroads. If they double down on this current path it will cost them a lot of gamers. If they end up going back to what made the mode strong in the first place they will avoid that loss.

[Junior Moe]

I don't think that we can make that determination just yet. All we have is this one sliver of info. For the record, I'm a staunch MyLeague player and I don't touch much outside of it. I tried MyCareer and I didn't make it past the 10 day contract part. Just not my thing. I never play those modes in any sports game. And that's cool. But NBA 2K added MyLeague for cats like me. That mode is a few tweaks from being perfect, IMO. And they just added it last year. NBA 2K caters to a large swath of gamers and they have to try to satisfy everyone while emphasizing the most played mode which was MyCareer, IIRC. Why upset the apple cart if it's the most played mode in a basketball game that's selling units at a pace unseen before?

I do agree on one thing, though. I would play it more if it was more sim with things like the draft combine and d league. The story was just too cheesy for me. Then again, it's a videogame. It's supposed to be fun and they do provide the options and modes for those of us more into the sim aspects of the league.

[zrohman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Taer

2K is trying to convince the horde of people playing MyCareer that their movie scripting direction is the right direction. There are a lot of 2K gamers that simply put do not like what has been going on with MyCareer for the last two years and these gamers are questioning whether 2K is the right game for them anymore. MyCareer started out as one of the heaviest sim modes in the game. You had the d-league, draft combine and the ability to heavily impact your experience with your play. 2K really tried to emphasis the experience and a lot of people became addicted. 2k14 and 2k15 has strayed from what made the MyCareer mode "perfect" for a lot of these gamers. Decisions like the ones to force vc into every crevice of the mode and reaming a contrived fake rivalry down everyone's throat really made some of 2K's most loyal customers over the years question their loyalty. I think this fact has hit 2K finally - look at what happened with the servers being turned off for 2K14; a backlash that caused an almost immediate reversal. I hope it scares 2K into rethinking their current trajectory and I hope it leads them to go back to their roots in sim for this mode. 2K is at a major crossroads. If they double down on this current path it will cost them a lot of gamers. If they end up going back to what made the mode strong in the first place they will avoid that loss.

I'm not a big fan of mycareer but I couldn't put my finger on it. You hit it on the head though now that I think about it.... It's unrealistic and cheesy. My choices are either to be a suck up or to tell my teammates they all suck.

The basketball is the main thing

But truth is they are about to bring Spike Lee in... So it will be even less sim

[Magnus1959]

I think they push My Team and packs more than anything.

[zrohman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Magnus1959

I think they push My Team and packs more than anything.

That's because they expect you to pay for $1,000 worth of VC to get one legend in a pack. It's nuts how much people pay. They know that rich people will pay thousands to get the team they want, and even poor people will. It's like people who have no money and still manage to have every new pair of Jordan's. With their being demand I still think they will continue to overpaid my team, until it pushes regular players away

[VDusen04]

I don't really know what's driving 2K's decisions without really being there and seeing what's pushing them.

That said, I've been a part of a business that seemed to have similar product-building strategies. I think everyone starts off with the initial goal of creating the best, highest quality product possible. However, the absolute best quality - or at least one's perception of quality - does not always align with the most profitable.

Moreover, the creative minds behind a product are frequently at odds with those in charge of the product existing to begin with.

Imagine being a writer, for instance, being told by a publication to turn their online article into a 10-page slideshow that will yield additional ad profits for each page opened but will, in turn, alienate readers and compromise quality. Some statistics will show that 70% of readers will quit before making it through all 10 slides. However, other statistics will show that even with 70% never reading the full piece, profits are up from all the additional clicks, even if the clicks are done so begrudgingly.

I've had that feeling with 2K over the past few years. If I had to guess, there's a battle going on behind closed doors there, perhaps not outwardly, but I bet it's there. I bet many of the game's creators recognize the awfulness of the MyCareer story mode and a lot of the game's other lame facets. But then I bet there's a department in charge who holds a graph that supposedly shows that the amount of money being made via microtransactions and awful storylines outweighs the number of 2K lifers and fans of authenticity and quality being alienated in the process.

Only when the scale really begins to tip - as was the case in the NBA 2K14 debacle, where the exodus threatened to be large enough to effect business - will people in charge really decide to listen (perhaps hence the slight push back in the authentic direction in 2K15).

In my own ventures, it's actually pretty surprising how (willfully) out of touch people in charge of making money can really be when it comes to creating a great product. Sometimes, it seems as though it can be too black & white. Did it make more money? Good. Was it quality? Who cares.