Really make it "MY" Player

[ChuckyFE]

I grew tiresome of my player mode quite easily and I would say its biggest flaw is that it's an elaborate create-a-player mode that at the end of the day is still JUST a create-a-player mode. There are no real hardships, no REAL skill, as long as you put enough time into the game YOU WILL become a great rated player without even being better at the game than when you started playing it.

My problem with that is it's simply not realistic and the 2k series are supposed to be simulation basketball games. I can't recall a single player in NBA history that was great in every single skill attribute that 2k has in its game. Every single player has had flaws... whether great or small, there has never been an ENTIRELY perfect player and there never will be as long as being HUMAN is still a requirement to play in the NBA.

Let the game define the type of player we are by the way that WE play it. Some people are good at getting shot timing right, some people are good at playing the passing lanes, some people are good at grabbing boards, some people have a lot more court awareness than others etc. Let those skills grow onto the skills of our own players rather than just saying "I want my guy to be a 3pt specialist", simply get the skill points and magically turn your player into a great shooter.

Our skills should increase/decrease by how good/bad we are in certain attributes of the game. For example...

Jumpshooting should increase by how good we are with shot timing.
Rebounding should increase by timing your jumps, boxing out etc.
Passing should increase by finding the open man, executing plays perfectly etc.

A clutch rating should simply be a reference. The clutch rating should obviously be defined by how well you perform late in games. Wouldn't it be cool to see how clutch the game actually thinks YOU are? How good a decision-maker or shot-taker you are when in pressure situations? And wouldn't it be a great reference for people when playing in team-up/pick-up games so your teammates know who should have the ball in their hands late in the game to make the best decisions for your squad? Same with awareness stats, that should just be an indication of how good that person is at seeing the floor. How well they react to things on both ends of the floor.

Think about it, there's no way a person can be a 99 rated player this way. You can't be a beast on the boards and also be a great 3pt shooter because you can't constantly be waiting outside the arc for enough attempts to fire up shots as it would neglect your positioning in order to grab rebounds thus lowering your ratings. You simply can't have an ULTIMATE player. You can have a GREAT player who is great at many things, you can be the BEST rated player out of everyone... but there would be no way to become 100% perfect as you can't be everywhere on the court at all times.

Not only would this eliminate unrealistic, perfect players but it would also compliment fundamental values (sim). If you want to be one of those people who constantly swipe passing lanes for steals, that's fine. It may increase your steal rating but since you're constantly neglecting your man on defense you will eventually become unskilled in man-to-man body defense which eventually would allow them to dominate you one-on-one if it came to that.

Not only is it great for the above reasons, but I also like that it actually would show you what you are good at doing in the game and what you need to improve on.

I do have a lot more to add to this but I am actually rather sick of typing, heh. I will probably add to it later on anyways... if you have any comments or suggestions on improving it further, be my guest.

[chutto14]

yeah, it really is just about how much time you put into your player..

[acer267]

yeah u are right. Its not just running up and down the court and shoot like crazy.

MY first year 82 games with bobcats. Rookie of the year
Spent mostly on pick and rolls and screening. The bobcats players IQ were awful.

C/PF/SF 6'8 248 pounds avg. 26 points 6.8 rb. 1.3 ast. 0.6 stl 0.3 blk 55% fg

2nd year 30 games so far with Denver with rating A+
20 win and 10 loss

avg 31.2 12.5 rb 6.0 ast 1.3 stl 2.3 blk 60% fg This year Denver is always passing me or Anthony the ball to score.
This year im working on that 2.0 stl and 2.0 blk (min) 60 games to get that 10000 skill points and still happend to score 31.2 points a game. It is hard work and U gotta work as a team. I think it is one of the best realistic games to play. Just need to know how to play it realistic.

[AlphaTrojan]

Wow, excellent post. These ideas would be a great start to a more realistic experience. I especially hate that as a 50 overall rookie you can take over games.

[ChuckyFE]

^ Yep, I stopped playing before I even got to 60 overall and yet I was putting up triple-doubles every second game with a 6'9" defensive power forward.

[jfsolo]

Excellent original post.

Development teams and or upper management are so afraid to create aspects of the game that might cause too much frustration for a lot of gamers. They talk ad-nauseum about "accessibility".

They still want to appeal to many different types of gamers, including, kids and casual players. That means making it relative easy to develop a superhero type player in terms of ratings, and having gameplay mechanics that allow the User to dominate with very little effort.

They may make it slightly more difficult in the future, but I'm skeptical about them ever really removing the inevitability of the User player becoming a demi-god.

[NINJAK2]

Quote: Originally Posted by jfsolo

Excellent original post. Development teams and or upper management are so afraid to create aspects of the game that might cause too much frustration for a lot of gamers. They talk ad-nauseum about "accessibility". They still want to appeal to many different types of gamers, including, kids and casual players. That means making it relative easy to develop a superhero type player in terms of ratings, and having gameplay mechanics that allow the User to dominate with very little effort. They may make it slightly more difficult in the future, but I'm skeptical about them ever really removing the inevitability of the User player becoming a demi-god.

Very true. I don't know if they have the gall to truly make the mode that realistic. That may possibly turn off current players (I would be ok with it). Would people really be ok playing no meaningful minutes or only getting time in a blowout as a scrub first starting out on a team? While I believe no 44 rated player would get the kind of minutes I get in my player mode in real life, I don't think the majority of my player mode guys would be ok watching the game from the sideline the majority of the game. I think they need to greatly improve the amount of points it costs to buy attributes or greatly reduce the amount of points you can earn in practice modes. Whatever the decision it needs to become much harder to level up..

[Jonesy]

Quote: Originally Posted by NINJAK2

Very true. I don't know if they have the gall to truly make the mode that realistic. That may possibly turn off current players (I would be ok with it). Would people really be ok playing no meaningful minutes or only getting time in a blowout as a scrub first starting out on a team? While I believe no 44 rated player would get the kind of minutes I get in my player mode in real life, I don't think the majority of my player mode guys would be ok watching the game from the sideline the majority of the game. I think they need to greatly improve the amount of points it costs to buy attributes or greatly reduce the amount of points you can earn in practice modes. Whatever the decision it needs to become much harder to level up..

Well the problem is that no player rated 44 would ever even make it into the nba to begin with.

To make it more realistic you would have to start out with some decent ratings but then make it very difficult to improve dramatically and have luck play a role. By luck i mean sometimes it's only luck of another player getting injured or traded for a player to get their opportunity (ie George Hill in SA, Collison from NO etc).