A Fresh Look at Realism

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by stewaat

Tdiddy, you hit it on the head. When you have to utilize what you are given to win there is a great feeling associated with that victory. Brian, I feel you. It's tough when games have to "cheat" to beat us. Hopefully games progress to the point where the AI just plays much better as opposed to making every shot and the like.

It's a divisive issue either way. I like your argument (I proofed the article after all ha) but some people just aren't going to bite on it.

[PioneerRaptor]

I disagree with you opinion here, though I respect your choice. In my eyes, what's the challenge in using say, Utah State to beat USC if the game is going to scale it to make it easier?

There's no satisfaction to myself, if I didn't have to try my very best to win. I want to beat USC with Utah State, not because the AI helped me, but because I was skilled and smart enough to do it.

Not to mention, I like to use low-ranking teams in Dynasty and have the challenge of making that low-ranking team into a high-ranking team. I very much enjoy losing 4-5 games one year, a few less the next, and eventually making my team good enough to go undefeated and win the BCS bowl. And I did all of that with my own abilities, not the AI helping me.

[Billym1973]

I totally agree with the article. When I play MLB 2k8 I just look for the rosters that are up to date on Opening Day, and work with those throughout my franchise, and make trades as need be. I see alot of people wanting to start their franchise with rosters that are up to date to the middle of the real baseball season, and make the same trades that the real MLB teams do, nothing wrong with that, I just dont understand why. If someone wants there franchise to have the same stats as their real life counterparts, or make the same trades as the real teams, why play the game?

[BlackJack]

I agree with this article whole-heartedly because, I believe that if they are going to make it that real, why don't they duplicate the wins and the losses as well? That way it can all be like real life, and you can have the"perfect" game, and in most cases your favorite team won't win the championship of the respective sport.

Quote: Originally Posted by BlackJack

I agree with this article whole-heartedly because, I believe that if they are going to make it that real, why don't they duplicate the wins and the losses as well? That way it can all be like real life, and you can have the"perfect" game, and in most cases your favorite team won't win the championship of the respective sport.

Couldn't have said it any better.

[PaperLantern]

I expected a BCS bowl...

[slickdtc]

A couple of years ago I was more gung ho about having the right statistics, but then it eventually made the games not fun anymore. Then, more recently, I just started playing the games for what they are. No, I don't want to have outlandish statistics and if I consistently can put up a crazy amount of points or goals or runs, then I'll tinker with those sliders a bit. But I'd rather have a game that's fun and challenging without it feeling like I was cheated out of a win (by some crazy CPU catchup logic where I can call their plays before they happen) or where I completely, consistently oblierate the opposition.

For me, it's a mix of trying to keep statistics relatively realistic while also having a good gaming experience. I enjoy a 5-11 season just as much as a 12-4 season. It adds some parity to the game, and that's what all professional league strive for; from worst to first in a short amount of time.

[FSU_Animal]

I agree with everything that was stated in the article. I haven't so much been worried about the statistics being unrealistic as I was about the sliders. However, the one benefit to using statistics to determine realism is that if you know much about standard deviation or z-scores, they can help determine whether or not your team is playing within the ranks of all the other teams which helps me determine if I am winning with too much ease or losing unrealistically.

the only games I play are Madden 08 and NBA Live 07 which I can save stat reports without having to manually track them. I can easily take those reports into Excel, calculate the Averages, Standard Deviations, and then calculate the Z-Score which ranges anywhere from -3 to 3 on a Bell Curve Scale. If my results are too far out of the norm from the rest of the league then I know it's far too easy and I adjust sliders to make the games tougher or easier for me to actually play rather than growing bored from games being too easy or growing frustrated to the point of quitting mid-game because they are too hard.