The Psychology Behind Ultimate Team's Success

[cepwin]

Excellent article. I have played FUT and MUT but rarely, if ever, spend $$ on packs. With FUT it's a non-issue as I preorder it so I get a number of packs already (as with MUT.) Besides, I too prefer franchise mode. That being said, I recall after playing FUT the first year I told someone it' was fun, like baseball cards on steroids.

[bennybledsoe]

I hate all these modes since all they do is take focus off of core gameplay. I doubt any of the money these things make goes back into development.

[ballymenasteve]

Never played Ultimate team in FIFA, Madden, NBA. Will never spend a single penny on them either. Hated them since they 1st appeared. They should spend more time improving the game rather than treating their customers as money pits that they try to squeeze every last dime from. Personally I think that UT is pretty sad

[Beelzebot44]

This is a great article. I don't see anything remotely appealing about these modes. I'm a GM type player in most sports games; I love rebuilding teams and simming seasons. So I usually end up with a "fantasy team" anyway, without the frustration of having to unlock card packs.

[sroz39]

As well-written and in depth this article is, it's very one sided. It almost makes you feel guilty and like scum if you enjoy these modes. Do I? I did, with the early versions of HUT that had a salary cap. The latest versions in all of EA games has devolved into the worst kind of pay-to-win model and it's unfortunate because the appeal of the mode is undeniable.

It's a lot of fun to try and build YOUR team and take it online. Especially taking players with high potential and using your best training cards on them. The article compares an offline Franchise Mode as an UT counterpart but I feel they are so different it's not even fair to compare. One mode occurs entirely in a vacuum and the other is almost what makes online play so enticing to begin with: human competition. Except now it goes beyond who's just the better player...it's also about who can build the better team. Again, this was a lot more fun back in the early days of UT.

I feel maybe instead of denouncing the enjoyment of these modes and attributing almost disease-like traits to people that do, the article should have presented a side of UT that would make it enjoyable for the sim crowd. Instead, it takes a get-off-my-lawn attitude, with the writer probably fully aware these modes aren't going anywhere. All it served to do was stir up the usual sentiments shared on these boards when it had the opportunity to start a great discussion about what these modes need for the sim gamer to enjoy them.

[jmaj315]

Amazing article. This is why I dont play ultimate team modes. Also because its stupid when you pay nothing and you play against people who've "invested" 100, 200, 300+ dollars into their team. That's no fun

[jyoung]

Quote: Originally Posted by sroz39

the article should have presented a side of UT that would make it enjoyable for the sim crowd.

The tier system that was created by All-Pro Football 2K8 (2 gold players, 3 silver players, 6 bronze players) requires a lot more team building strategy than simply fielding a 99-overall super team, plus it puts every club on a level playing field, regardless of how much time or money users have invested in the mode. That is a system that could easily be implemented into all current versions of Ultimate Team, since they already split players up into "gold" "silver" and "bronze" categories.

EA's NHL series tried something similar by using salary cap restrictions for certain tournaments, but that method doesn't work well, because users will just exploit the system by filling their fourth line and backup goalie position with the lowest-rated cards in the game, which then allows them to put All-Star players on their three other lines.

All-Pro Football 2K8 provided the blueprint for how to do fantasy team modes right, but no other game has followed its lead, largely because the game makers realized that it was more profitable to just let people keep grinding away towards their 99-overall super teams instead of saying, "Here's all the players, here's your team budget, now go figure out the best way to assemble them in a realistic lineup."

[Kaynogamez]

Great article, everybody must read it!