Madden NFL 16 News Post

Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

01:32 PM - June 1, 2015 by RaychelSnr

Last week, we learned a ton about what Madden NFL 16 is bringing to the table when it comes to connected franchise mode. Several intriguing new features are coming, which will include a visual depth chart and a new weekly goal system. However, it is in that latter feature where the staff finds its biggest hang-up with the announcement of the mode. Is Madden sacrificing realism to create a more RPG like experience in Connected Franchise? We discuss after the jump!

Read More - Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

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# 41 khaliib @ 06/01/15 09:04 PM

Well, to have a discussion about "Realism", that would mean having an in-depth analysis of Maddens gameplay mechanics.
Which is never done during this marketing phase.
Sure gamers hold such discussions, but none have "back stage" access to force the topic of "Realism" to be the forefront of discussion when devs make themselves available to market their designed focus points of the game.

Realism has "NEVER" been the focus of marketing buildup!!!
The slogan "If it's in the game, it's in the game" was just that, a slogan.
To be sacrificing "Realism" would require it to be the foundation from which all aspects of the game (concepts/programming/presentation/marketing) intent was to mimic as much of what a gamer would see on TV or in person.

In other words, "Realism" was the goal of the final product due to be sold.

So a "NO", from this gamers perspective.

# 42 jmurphy31 @ 06/01/15 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	Imo, it's because enough of the community is already buying the game so EA doesn't care about them, it's all about trying to get new buyers. We all get it twisted whenever EA refers to "casuals", depending on the context, what EA means is people that are NOT buying the game or not playing a mode enough. The likely exception to this is MUT where retention matters because those buyers continually spend money. As far as us NFL gamers go, they figure marketing and the NFL brand get enough of those buyers so it's about adding elements outside of the NFL or real football in the actual game to entice those gamers which the NFL or football don't directly interest. So yes, CFM is diminishing realism but it isn't a sacrifice because it isn't costing EA anything of consequence.

I will say this, albeit a small sample size. I teach hs sports marketing with the majority of my students are athletes. 10 years ago all they talked about was video games and how they were doing in their franchise. Some round even take the day off when fifa or NBA 2k came out. Now a lot don't even have a xbox one or ps 4. And those who do are playing games like COD. The ones who play sports games either play head to head or MUT. Not much franchise these days. Even when I talk to them about franchise mode they could really care less about it.

# 43 aholbert32 @ 06/01/15 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmurphy31


	I will say this, albeit a small sample size. I teach hs sports marketing with the majority of my students are athletes. 10 years ago all they talked about was video games and how they were doing in their franchise. Some round even take the day off when fifa or NBA 2k came out. Now a lot don't even have a xbox one or ps 4. And those who do are playing games like COD. The ones who play sports games either play head to head or MUT. Not much franchise these days. Even when I talk to them about franchise mode they could really care less about it.

While this is somewhat true, its sort of short sighted.

1) Gamers are much older now. I remember when I was in teens, I never thought I would still be playing video games in my 30's. Now I'm 37 and I own 3 consoles and a portable console. So guys like me who arent online players and love franchise are still around. I'll be playing video game until I'm old so ignoring features I want is silly. Because I'm older, I have significantly more money to spend on luxury items like video games than I did when I was 22 so by ignoring me you are missing out on potential sales.

2) As people get older, they typically have less time to play online. I would love to play in a league but with a wife and a 1yr old I dont have the flexibility to schedule games against guys who have more schedule flexibility than me. Thats why online doesnt appeal.

If EA or other game companies continue to ignore offline gamers and the features we demand, I just wont buy their games and I think there are a ton of people like me. They could potentially lose out on a good amount of revenue.

# 44 ianlast @ 06/01/15 09:43 PM

Can Madden provide an option to play a Franchise mode similar to what was in Madden 2012 and prior? Or if not that, then a single season mode like what they have in NHL and FIFA?

I suppose I'll wait to hear more, but based on what I know now, I have even less incentive to play Connected Franchise. I don't like how Madden, rather than giving you freedom and customization within their franchise mode, basically forces you to do things a certain way. And not only that, but ties your experience to a progression/XP system that often makes no sense.

Looks like another year of 'Play Now' games and nothing else for my offline Madden experience. Sigh.

# 45 StefJoeHalt @ 06/01/15 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyboxer


	In a nut she'll for me but first a disclaimer : I enjoyes M15 a lot. Accepted what it was and made the best of it. . Now on to a quick response: Everything trickles down. Franchise in of itself is fine for the most part. The issue is up stream. There's not enough seperation from ok players to great players. Yes we can look at a player and know ok that's Dez.. etc.. but in most cases you can have a player rated 15 points lower shut him down For the most part or at the least still limit major damage. There really isn't any fear about who's on the field you have to defense or who you have to avoid on D. Until there's some REAL player differences and repercussions for fielding certain players and having to look at things other than speed... then everything else is simply just for show. I want to actually have roster management and player personnel matter much more than it does now. That's just 1 aspect of a part of franchise that holds it back. Goals and XP already being discussed. Hope I made sense..

Sky this is huge..what your saying comes back to ratings though..and madden over rating players...I know EA workers have to walk a fine line cause players lose their mind when ratings come out..but they must be reworked..as a whole..which if done correctly can make the mode better

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 46 ggsimmonds @ 06/01/15 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmurphy31


	Initially EA said by making CFM (combining franchise mode with superstar mode) it would allow them to improve both more each year because they were the same thing. In other words resources didn't have to get split between the 2 modes. I wish they would go back and look at madden 05. It was a pretty solid franchise mode.

One of the selling points was that the old franchise mode was working on old code that made it hard to do anything. So they claimed they rebuilt everything from the ground up and that in the future (this was 3 years ago mind you) they would be able to add a ton of features to CCM.

They have not touched the be a player aspect of the mode at all. I don't think they have made a single improvement in that area.
And I have yet to see anything that illustrates how great CFM is at allowing added features.

I really wish I could be a fly on the wall during the design meetings to see how they come up with this.

# 47 jmurphy31 @ 06/01/15 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	While this is somewhat true, its sort of short sighted. 1) Gamers are much older now. I remember when I was in teens, I never thought I would still be playing video games in my 30's. Now I'm 37 and I own 3 consoles and a portable console. So guys like me who arent online players and love franchise are still around. I'll be playing video game until I'm old so ignoring features I want is silly. Because I'm older, I have significantly more money to spend on luxury items like video games than I did when I was 22 so by ignoring me you are missing out on potential sales. 2) As people get older, they typically have less time to play online. I would love to play in a league but with a wife and a 1yr old I dont have the flexibility to schedule games against guys who have more schedule flexibility than me. Thats why online doesnt appeal. If EA or other game companies continue to ignore offline gamers and the features we demand, I just wont buy their games and I think there are a ton of people like me. They could potentially lose out on a good amount of revenue.

I hear ya. I tell my class the average video gamer is 33 years old and they are suprise to hear that. I'm 36 with two kids and it's tough to do the online for me as well. I can't tell you how much all these online modes push me further and further away from games.

I mean most story modes in games are short and have no depth to them. With more and more focus on online modes. Just look at moat games achievements list. Now sports games are heading in that direction.

My next biggest fear is Sports games start heading more to the DLC path. Take arkham knight. $60 doesn't get you the whole game. That will cost $100 and that still doesn't give you everything . To do that you would have to preorder at different stores. Or Dead Space where you add to pay for the real ending of the game. And don't get me going on the infinity stuff my kid is hooked on.

Once sports games go that route I may be done.

# 48 sg3751 @ 06/02/15 01:31 AM

I don't get what's wrong with potential based progression, such as in 2k. If you can combine that with playing time, I think it is the best determinant of progression, like in FIFA.

# 49 Lakers24win @ 06/02/15 01:40 AM

@stayplation82..... But would they make it a focal point in your my GM mode?... I don't mind something like this in a my player time mode.. Not my franchise mode.

# 50 charter04 @ 06/02/15 01:52 AM

One last thing. If your a player who likes the current XP progression system fine. I've had fun in my online CFM. It gets really competitive trying to build our players.

It's not sim or realistic though. It's arcade and that's fine if that's what you like. I just think the standard should be realism. They are pretty far from that with this system.

I mean one guy in our league drafted a 6'6 WR with 88 speed. He has won a lot and now that WR has 99 spd. That should not be possible. That's the problem I have with it.

# 51 Lakers24win @ 06/02/15 01:57 AM

@CM Hooe .... I don't mean to mention other games so much.. I apologize, but man other games have great Ideas and I feel like EA is so out of touch with what people really want out of this type of mode. It's crazy frustrating.. I just want a few improvements. Why won't they just give us formation subs.. It will def cause more imbalances but heck we have that regardless.. People find a way to cheese.. No matter how much u test the game.. What about the equipment, no excuse for such an easy upgrade... I don't want to hear it's not easy to do in the cycle, you know what ea needs to know its not easy to spend 60 hard earned dollars knowing I'm not gonna fully enjoy the game when I pick it up.. Soon it will stop for a lot of people.

# 52 Trent Booty @ 06/02/15 02:22 AM

I don't like the weekly confidence level thing. Madden is becoming too RPG-like.

More options like depth chart stuff, and things based off stats are what I want. I love looking at leaderboards after a year or two and see if anyone is in the top ten of any leaderboards

# 53 lgxjames @ 06/02/15 04:10 AM

It's almost comical how much the sim crowd *appears* to be getting ignored. It almost feels like they sit in the production meetings and laugh about how we're going to react once they announce another arcade like casual focused feature. Almost to a point where I feel a bit disrespected, like they're saying to themselves 'he's going to buy it anyway, money in the bag'.

No disrespect to the devs or anyone who's excited about these new features but yeah they're clearly sacrificing realism. I'm interested in just how much this is going to sacrifice sales.

# 54 JMD @ 06/02/15 06:53 AM

Kinda sounds like Battlefield to me, get 20 kills with a weapon and unlock an attachment for said weapon. Rush for 3 TD's in one game get a ratings boost. I'm not a fan. I hope they give us the option to disable this, if not it could keep me from buying the game, I'll need to know more though.

I don't want my players ratings going up and down every game. Maybe every quarter of the season, every 4 games, but do it based on their stats/ performance and not predetermined set goals. I don't play madden thinking I need to get Jamaal Charles 130 yards rushing this game. If it happens great, but I don't want that in my head as something I need to get done. Yeah if it's week 17 and I need 130 yards to reach 2000 for the season, sure, but week 5. I'm just playing the game of football.

# 55 m1ke_nyc @ 06/02/15 08:43 AM

Like most here im not happy with the current state of CFM. The solution for me is simple, give me franchise mode from the PS2 OG Xbox days. I still remember to this day I benched Chad Pennington, and over the weeks his morale dropped so low he refused to play or even negotiate a new contract. He wanted out. All I could do was trade him. That was pretty cool. That franchise mode was pretty deep.

# 56 cthurt @ 06/02/15 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ratedmoney


	Like most here im not happy with the current state of CFM. The solution for me is simple, give me franchise mode from the PS2 OG Xbox days. I still remember to this day I benched Chad Pennington, and over the weeks his morale dropped so low he refused to play or even negotiate a new contract. He wanted out. All I could do was trade him. That was pretty cool. That franchise mode was pretty deep.

Hard to forget the good old days of having players hold out or even messing up team morale by trading a certain player away, too bad I was too young at the time to really appreciate the things like that, I actually rememberd getting frustrated back then when things like that would happen, guess that was my casusal gamer days.

# 57 brandon27 @ 06/02/15 10:38 AM

I'm a bit confused here.

Back in the day... player progression in Franchise was just... whatever the computer felt like really, based on performance, and a potential grade.

People complained. "Player A rushed for 2000 yards and 18 TD's, and only got a 5 point overall increase!"

People complained they wanted to control progression on their own. They gave us that system. You get to choose how to use the points you've earned, to build your player they way you want. Now here we are complaining again about the system.

Personally, I like the system. I like my players earning points, that I can then assign to their rating how I see fit as the coach/GM. I don't particularly like the XP being awarded based on goals. I'm not sure how else you do it. I have found myself though in a game going... damn! I need to get Player B, 7 catches, 85 yards, and 3 TD's to get him his points. That's the part I don't like. Just have a standard system for how It gives out points, not specific goals to attain so people are always shooting for them. It does take the realism away. "I've got to get DaVante Parker 8 catches and 3TD's this week for max progression points." What??? Just give him points based on what he's done, and I think that makes it better.

I'm just not sure what else you can do. I like this system better than the computer randomly progressing/regressing my players.

I guess you could go the NFL Head Coach route, which is what I assume most people here want CFM to go, myself included. Add some of those features in and it goes a long way.

# 58 charter04 @ 06/02/15 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandon27


	I'm a bit confused here. Back in the day... player progression in Franchise was just... whatever the computer felt like really, based on performance, and a potential grade. People complained. "Player A rushed for 2000 yards and 18 TD's, and only got a 5 point overall increase!" People complained they wanted to control progression on their own. They gave us that system. You get to choose how to use the points you've earned, to build your player they way you want. Now here we are complaining again about the system. Personally, I like the system. I like my players earning points, that I can then assign to their rating how I see fit as the coach/GM. I don't particularly like the XP being awarded based on goals. I'm not sure how else you do it. I have found myself though in a game going... damn! I need to get Player B, 7 catches, 85 yards, and 3 TD's to get him his points. That's the part I don't like. Just have a standard system for how It gives out points, not specific goals to attain so people are always shooting for them. It does take the realism away. "I've got to get DaVante Parker 8 catches and 3TD's this week for max progression points." What??? Just give him points based on what he's done, and I think that makes it better. I'm just not sure what else you can do. I like this system better than the computer randomly progressing/regressing my players. I guess you could go the NFL Head Coach route, which is what I assume most people here want CFM to go, myself included. Add some of those features in and it goes a long way.

I don't think people are complaining about having control I think is the unrealistic way we can control players.

A real coach can control coaching the players and training them but, they can't automatically make every player on the team better just by winning or completing goals.

Example. In the online CFM I'm in you really don't have to worry about having a QB. There usually 2-5 superstar development QB's in every draft and it only takes about one season to get them to 90 overall or higher. So we have about 5-10 99 overall QB's in our league. Russell Wilson now has 99 THP.

The point is not having control it's giving us realistic control. Make the things we can improve the players on lifelike.

I can only imagine how easy it would be to have a team of superstars if I was only playing the CPU in offline CFM. Should I have to give myself house rules, just for a mode that is supposed to be realistic, to be realistic?

And yes I agree that the Head Coach way would be close to Ideal for me as well. I thought with Josh Looman at the helm from M13 to M15 we would be getting more like HC09 but, it's been this XP stuff.

I can make the xp model work for me and I have fun in my league but, if things where done in a more real manner it would be that much more fun.

Right now it's just too easy to build a unrealistic super team by winning a few SB's.

# 59 Bull_Dozer @ 06/02/15 11:36 AM

Not a fan of the random goal thing. More is not better. I don't like player progression based on arbitrary stat goals.

# 60 cthurt @ 06/02/15 12:08 PM

I feel like the current system they have with the goals would be more welcomed if it was related to the players contract, like how in real life players can get a bonus for making 6 sacks in a season, or making the pro bowl etc. I feel like it would also help the offseason where you can look back and see if this player is worth resigning just based off stats and goals met.

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