We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with my thoughts on how basketball video game modes can sometimes limit your ability to choose your own adventure.
When I discussed playing through a second season in NBA 2K14’s MyCAREER and my enthusiasm for embarking on a third campaign, I mentioned that I would have some decisions to eventually make. Right now, I’m enjoying being a member of the virtual Philadelphia 76ers in the 2016 season, coming off back-to-back titles and a triumphant rise to superstardom. However, I can never rule out the possibility of playing for another team, with the Chicago Bulls being a prime candidate. If nothing else, I’d appreciate seeing some new uniforms from game to game!
However, moving on in NBA 2K14’s MyCAREER isn’t as easy as it is in later games. Glancing at my rookie contract, it may be a while before I’m able to pursue any other career opportunities outside of the City of Brotherly Love. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it’s based on reality. At the same time, it gets in the way of that “choose your own adventure” aspect of role-playing in basketball video games. It’s not the only mode that’s placed restrictions on how it can be played, and how much freedom you have to seek out desirable scenarios. This can be frustrating, yet also an interesting and challenging part of the single player career and franchise experiences alike.
To be specific about the scenario presented in NBA 2K14’s MyCAREER, as in real life, my rookie contract as a first round pick included two guaranteed years, followed by two years at the team’s option. This means that if I’m to fulfil my rookie contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, I’ll have played at least four seasons before I can explore free agency. From the looks of things, the qualifying offer and restricted free agency may also be in effect, which might keep me in Philly even longer. The only way out would be to demand a trade, with the only means of doing so being to wait for the GM to call me in for a meeting. If I want to go to Chicago, it may take some time.
Once again, this is realistic. In previous collective bargaining agreements, the NBA players’ union – the NBPA – has agreed to these initial restrictions over a player’s autonomy in exchange for higher wages and other benefits. We can debate just how fair or unfair these agreements are on both sides, but that is the structure of NBA rookie contracts, and it was in place as of NBA 2K14. Dealing with it is therefore part of simulating the experience of being an NBA player in MyCAREER, and an example of how the mode really used to focus on that aspect. It’s interesting that I’ll have to play (or simulate) a couple more years of my virtual career before I can move on.
It did come as a shock however, after playing through multiple seasons in more recent NBA 2K titles. In those games, you’re a free agent after your first NBA season, which allows you to move on much sooner if you don’t like where you ended up. Not only that, but from NBA 2K18 onwards, we’ve had much more control over the team we start with. This ranges from our designated favourite team influencing the outcome of the Draft, to simply being able to pick our team. There are merits to both approaches, and while I’m inclined to advocate for choice and control, I don’t entirely dislike the idea of that being taken out of my hands. It’s not only realistic, but can also be fun.
Getting drafted by a team that you wouldn’t normally choose is not only a true-to-life scenario, but one that presents stimulating decisions. Do you stick it out, or do you try to force your way out? Is it actually more fun than playing for your favourite team, where you might end up displacing one of your favourite stars? Representing a rookie contract with its length and restrictions adds another wrinkle to that. Are you willing to play out your contract with the team that drafted you? Will you develop a sense of loyalty, or will you jump at the first chance to leave? This level of authenticity really puts you in the shoes of an NBA player, which was the original aim of MyCAREER.
Of course, NBA 2K is still a video game, which means some breaks from reality are certainly acceptable. The ability to choose your own adventure, so to speak, invites some sensible exceptions to be made. As much as I find the scenario in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER an intriguing part of the journey that adds to the RPG elements, I’ve also appreciated the approach that later games have taken. It’s been fun to go straight to the Chicago Bulls and lead them back to glory, or to specifically choose the Kings when I changed things up with a big man build. Even though I re-signed with the Bulls when I had the opportunity, I liked having the option of moving on.
That’s what I did in my NBA 2K17 MyCAREER, moving on to Chicago after Justice Young and I led the Nuggets to a championship in our rookie season. With a new game coming out every year, if you’re playing all 82 games on 12 minute quarters, there’s value in compressing the career experience into something of a speedrun. If I wasn’t so enamoured with NBA 2K14 as a retro basketball gaming experience, with an interest in playing through a lengthy multi-year career, I might not feel as positive about the realistic aspect of the rookie contract. It wouldn’t seem like an interesting change of pace in a new game, after establishing a far more flexible approach.
Because both approaches have their merits and work in the games that they’re found in, it’s difficult to definitively declare one to be superior, or the “correct” choice. It’s also challenging to devise a happy medium as a compromise. Perhaps the best way to indulge that “choose your own adventure” concept would be to allow us to override our situation, or opt to play with the cards that we’ve been dealt. For example, at the end of the first year, we’d have a choice between being locked into our rookie deal, or becoming an unrestricted free agent. That would be a suitable reward to unlock after playing through an entire NBA season, and would facilitate both of those scenarios.
This manner of overriding control could also apply to the Draft. In The One in NBA Live, we were presented with the option of sticking with the Draft results, or having our favourite team engineer a trade to acquire us. That allowed us more control over our destiny, even if it was kind of like keeping your thumb on the previous page in a Choose Your Own Adventure book! Considering the grindy aspects of MyCAREER in recent years, giving gamers more control over the story and the NBA portion of the mode would only be fair. If we need to use MyCAREER to grind up a player for the online scene, then the experience could at least be customisable, as to be palatable.
As much as I appreciate and admire realistic touches, there are times when they get in the way of the fun, especially in other modes. The franchise experiences in particular suffer when they lack customisation, or a sandbox element. The original MyGM was a bold experiment, but forced RPG elements on gamers who wanted more control in a traditional franchise mode. Enforcing realism and role-playing locked gamers into controlling one team, while also taking power out of their hands. This was resolved by adding MyLEAGUE, and eventually developing the highly customisable MyNBA. There are also tricks such as voting against rule changes acting as a veto power.
NBA Live has also erred in its franchise modes, though unfortunately the series never corrected course as NBA 2K did. When Franchise was revamped into Dynasty, we lost the ability to control more than one team. We could understand the concept – you chose one team to build a dynasty with – but we still lost that sandbox aspect; the “choose your own adventure” approach that can make those modes fun for everyone. With that in mind, one could argue that having that choice is not only desirable, but vital. After all, presented with the choice of overriding the scenario we find ourselves in, we can always choose not to intervene, and simply deal with the consequences.
Then again, it could also be argued that given the choice, most people will just choose the most appealing option, in which case that option may as well be how it is. There’s logic in that, though I do maintain that it’s better to have a choice than not. Of course, there’s also the matter of technical feasibility – the developers can’t add anything and everything without breaking existing features – as well as possible exploits. If a choice one way or the other must be made for the career modes, then I would have to support earlier free agency and selecting our starting team, i.e. a choose your own adventure approach. Franchise modes, meanwhile, should always have those sandbox elements.
I’ll admit that being confronted with the inflexibility of the rookie contract in NBA 2K14’s MyCAREER has made me re-evaluate my opinions on player loyalty. Older NBA fans like me fondly recall a time when far more all-time greats spent their entire career (or at least most of it) with their original team, or one that they joined very early on. The fact of the matter is that “loyalty” was thrust upon many of them due to clauses and conditions that favoured teams. There was even a time when NBA teams continued to own a player’s rights after he retired! Notably, Bob Cousy’s and Dave Cowens’ comebacks with the Royals and Bucks required trades to be arranged.
I do still value loyalty, and there’s something special about a player spending his entire career with one club. However, getting a taste of those restrictions on the virtual hardwood has given me food for thought. It’s illuminated how incredibly frustrating it must be for young players to have to wait a long time to truly be free agents. That actually makes it a worthwhile aspect of NBA 2K14’s MyCAREER, though it was the right call to remove it in later games (and hey, maybe it should be axed in real life too, though it’ll probably take another lockout to do that). As for my virtual decision, when I’m finally able to make it? Well, we’ll see how I feel after a few more years in Philly!
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