What Should Happen in Madden's Passing Game

[Mike Lowe]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

Foremost, let me be clear and say I'm firmly in the "sim" bucket of players and would be cool with seeing all these changes. That said, let me present a counterpoint: You are a professional Madden player (yes, they exist; I was surprised to learn this too). You are playing in the finals of the Madden Challenge with your Ultimate Team against some other highly-ranked Madden player. You have 4th and goal on your opponent's goal line with four seconds left, needing a touchdown to win the game. You call a draw play out of a shotgun spread formation (for whatever reason, the play call isn't the important part here). When you go to snap the ball, the center sails the ball over your QB's head. Your QB recovers the ball, but is promptly tackled. Your opponent wins the Madden Challenge and the $25,000 prize, the game ultimately decided on essentially a dice roll. This is the sort of play tournament players absolutely to not want in the game. Could it happen in real football? Absolutely. In a competitive video gaming environment where user skill is the preferred arbiter of success? This sort of randomness is absolutely detrimental to that experience. Heck, the tourney guys don't even really like wide-open incomplete passes; their feeling is that, as long as they make the right read, if the guy is open, they should complete the pass. From their perspective where user skill should trump all, is their opinion wrong? I don't think so. I also don't think it's proper to just tell these players to "deal with it", given that they are just as large and vital a part of Madden's audience as the sim players are. We're not more important than them, and they aren't more important than us.

There aren't words for how little I sympathize for people who play Madden for money.

[Mike Lowe]

Quote: Originally Posted by redsox4evur

I'm playing you in a tourney, with a 50K prize to the winner and 5K to the 2nd place guy. You are down by 1 with :02 on the clock with the ball at the 10. Easy FG range, you get a botched snap and I tackle the holder, game over. You just lost 45K because of a dice roll, how do you feel?

I'd feel Like Tony Romo against Seattle.

I would say folks should try and learn to deal with it. There are bigger problems in life, and perhaps "kids these days" need more lessons like that.

I mean, as a Lions fan, this past season alone taught me enough about football to not take it too seriously, or else I'd have jumped off a bridge by now ha

[Gridiron]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I don't think you would be saying that if it was you that lost the 25 grand on a dice roll on the last play of the game. Tourney players want nothing of that. And this is absolutely the reason why there are no bad snaps in Madden.

Theyre not capable of making certain things not trigger online and certain things trigger offline?

Playing 2K5 in first person mode with WR switching on, it made me realize that it can work to have the player have to do something at different points of the play to make sure the outcome is good. In FPF, it would switch to the WR and you had to do something to ensure the catch, if you failed you dropped the pass. For bad snaps, they could have it where you have to remember to press a button or short combo of buttons before each snap or something. If you dont the snap is bad and may not be caught. Might be tense for field goals too where if you screw up, the snap and or the hold could be bad and affect the kick.

Blitz The League had something similar for kicks and it did add a layer of challenge. Thought it was dope.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gridiron

Theyre not capable of making certain things not trigger online and certain things trigger offline? Playing 2K5 in first person mode with WR switching on, it made me realize that it can work to have the player have to do something at different points of the play to make sure the outcome is good. In FPF, it would switch to the WR and you had to do something to ensure the catch, if you failed you dropped the pass. For bad snaps, they could have it where you have to remember to press a button or short combo of buttons before each snap or something. If you dont the snap is bad and may not be caught. Might be tense for field goals too where if you screw up, the snap and or the hold could be bad and affect the kick. Blitz The League had something similar for kicks and it did add a layer of challenge. Thought it was dope.

I'm sure they could, but you have another developer from EA(WWE) that CM Hooe linked stated that it's very costly and time consuming to flip switches online and offline.

Don't forget, they are using old code from the old Maddens of yesteryear.

[Gridiron]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I'm sure they could, but you have another developer from EA(WWE) that CM Hooe linked stated that it's very costly and time consuming to flip switches online and offline. Don't forget, they are using old code from the old Maddens of yesteryear.

True. Good points there.

[JayWoods]

One of the best articles I've read on here. Good ideas through and through.

[kjcheezhead]

That randomness is bad for tourney players is a terrible reason not to have it. Nothing makes a game boring faster than when it becomes predictable and repetitive.

That madden developers don't want to add more "anything can happen" moments because a guy might lose money on a tourney is sad. Still I know it's true too.

[Kornnickel55]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

Foremost, let me be clear and say I'm firmly in the "sim" bucket of players and would be cool with seeing all these changes. That said, let me present a counterpoint: You are a professional Madden player (yes, they exist; I was surprised to learn this too). You are playing in the finals of the Madden Challenge with your Ultimate Team against some other highly-ranked Madden player. You have 4th and goal on your opponent's goal line with four seconds left, needing a touchdown to win the game. You call a draw play out of a shotgun spread formation (for whatever reason, the play call isn't the important part here). When you go to snap the ball, the center sails the ball over your QB's head. Your QB recovers the ball, but is promptly tackled. Your opponent wins the Madden Challenge and the $25,000 prize, the game ultimately decided on essentially a dice roll. This is the sort of play tournament players absolutely to not want in the game. Could it happen in real football? Absolutely. In a competitive video gaming environment where user skill is the preferred arbiter of success? This sort of randomness is absolutely detrimental to that experience. Heck, the tourney guys don't even really like wide-open incomplete passes; their feeling is that, as long as they make the right read, if the guy is open, they should complete the pass. From their perspective where user skill should trump all, is their opinion wrong? I don't think so. I also don't think it's proper to just tell these players to "deal with it", given that they are just as large and vital a part of Madden's audience as the sim players are. We're not more important than them, and they aren't more important than us.

Have a Tournament Mode for those players!