In this week's Friday Five, Andrew lists five things that should never cost VC to equip or use in NBA 2K's modes.
The post The Friday Five: 5 Things That Should Never Cost VC appeared first on NLSC.
Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five things that should never cost VC to equip or use.
When we talk about what basketball video games should and shouldn’t do, it does pay to think about the business side of things. Granted, that shouldn’t be our concern as consumers, but as far as feasibility or the likelihood of certain ideas, it’s something we have to keep in mind. After all, “get rid of all microtransactions” would be a fantastic suggestion in my book, but it’s just not going to happen! Sadly, including freemium mechanics in Triple-A games has proven to be too profitable for companies to not do so if they can get away with it, so it’s not a realistic request or expectation.
With that being said, I’m ultimately always going to advocate for value for money, fairness to consumers, and a quality experience when it comes to basketball video games. Again, I’m going to tailor any suggestions based on what we know is highly unlikely or unrealistic, but I’m on the side of gamers, not the suits and billion dollar corporations. Unfortunately, there are too many people who excuse or even outright shill for recurrent revenue mechanics, which has emboldened NBA 2K to place more and more content behind VC paywalls. It’s done nothing to enhance the experience for us, so to that end, here are five things that we should never have to spend VC on.
In the earliest iterations of MyCAREER, accessories were simply part of creating your player. You’d customise your avatar’s appearance – as much as you could with the still rather primitive face creation options at your disposal – and equip any bands, pads, braces, or sleeves that you desired. These days, you need to travel to the NBA Store and purchase them out of your own pocket; you know, just like a real NBA player has to do! Except, no, they don’t do that. Their teams will furnish them with any of these accessories that provide athletic support, catch sweat, or let’s face it, make a fashion statement on the hardwood. Realistically, that’s what should happen.
The problem – and this is obviously a recurring theme with all of these things that should never cost VC – is that keeping accessories as part of basic player creation rather than premium customisation is leaving money on the table. As always, you don’t have to buy VC, and you don’t have to give your players accessories, either. It’s pretty boring not to give your players a headband or knee sleeve or whatever though, and the need to budget between vital upgrades and desirable cosmetics is intended to encourage VC purchases. It’d be one thing to make clothing and accessories for Park and the open world premium items, but accessories for NBA gameplay should be free.
What I said about accessories for NBA gameplay also applies to shoes. Once again, it’s often forgotten that kicks were once a basic player creation/customisation option, rather than something we had to buy with VC. And, like accessories, this actually added a realistic touch to career modes, since NBA teams provide their players with any shoes they require. I remember the late Bill Walton telling a story about Kevin Garnett during the 1997 All-Star Game, recalling how KG was surprised when he found out that he wouldn’t have to buy his own shoes. Indeed, a Timberwolves rep flat out told him that “Kevin, you can have as many pairs of shoes as you would like!”
That’s not even getting into the sponsorship deals and signature shoe lines that give NBA players a ton of free stuff to wear. With that in mind, our MyPLAYERs should actually get plenty of clothing at no cost, but let’s stick to shoes. Since no player has to head down to Foot Locker or any other store to pick up shoes for NBA games, it would be a tremendous show of goodwill for them to be complementary in that side of MyCAREER. It’s fairer (though still greedy) to put a price tag on shoes worn in the online modes where heavy customisation is encouraged and even a status symbol – admittedly to the detriment of the scene – but that would be a reasonable compromise.
NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4/Xbox One is a tremendous game. It’s become one of my all-time favourites all these years later, having moved past the sourness that left me feeling cold towards it when it launched. It’s one of the best Next Gen jumps, though it wasn’t without its issues. The lack of Create-a-Player and a few other staple modes and features were weaknesses that Visual Concepts thankfully avoided when the ninth generation tipped off in 2020. As much as I love it, its MyCAREER has some quirky bugs. Perhaps the biggest misstep however was the new MyGM mode. Not only did it force RPG mechanics into franchise play, but basic functionality had to be purchased.
Now, the overall concept was one that could work, and it did in future iterations of MyGM. The problem in NBA 2K14 was that even simple functions such as changing your rotation needed to be unlocked with VC. And sure, it usually only took a game or two to earn the VC to unlock the ability – as the developers and apologists alike were eager to tell everyone – but the point is, it shouldn’t be that way. A vital, basic function shouldn’t be an unlockable upgrade! Fortunately NBA 2K15 corrected course and also brought back a more traditional franchise experience with MyLEAGUE, but it was a sign that VC paywalls were now likely to show up where they didn’t belong.
And speaking of VC paywalls being shoehorned in where they don’t belong, that brings us to NBA 2K18’s MyCAREER charging us for haircuts. Yes, this was a one-time thing that happened seven years ago, and it’s been brought up numerous times, but there’s a good reason for that. It was a clear, undeniable sign that 2K was willing to press their luck with the game’s recurrent revenue mechanics, and test the limits of what we’d tolerate. Well, it should’ve been undeniable for everyone, but some people just love the taste of boot, so the suits quite rightly predicted that while there would be a backlash, a number of gamers would defend having to shell out VC unnecessarily.
Usually, that took the form of what they felt was an airtight gotcha: “Don’t you always say you want realism? Do you get haircuts for free?” No, but if an NBA player was to get their hair buzzed short and bleached blonde like Dennis Rodman in the 90s, the fee would not amount to their entire salary for three or four games! Also, it’s funny how people who used that argument didn’t seem to be in favour of free shoes and accessories according to the same logic. Weird! Anyway, although prices would be reduced via a patch and then set to 0 VC in future games, 2K really tipped their hand with the initial cost, as well as the limited number of styles during player creation.
MyCOURT was removed from MyCAREER in the Next Gen version of NBA 2K21. If we wanted to test out jumpshots, play games with friends, or just shoot around, we now needed to traverse The City to the Gatorade Gym and pay VC to rent a court. It was admittedly a small fee, but one that we shouldn’t have had to pay for a very basic staple feature. The Gatorade Gym courts have been free to use since NBA 2K22, but make no mistake: the threat of unnecessary VC purchases still looms large. If you’ve been paying any attention to how NBA 2K’s recurrent revenue mechanics have been handled over the years, the court rental fees are a great example of a clear pattern.
Those mechanics have grown increasingly pushier about getting us to spend, ramping up the pressure and sense of FOMO, removing or nerfing methods of earning VC, and adding more paywalls. When it goes too far and there’s significant backlash, they’ll back off with a token gesture of goodwill, before pivoting to their next plan to gouge us. It sounds cynical, but again, it’s an established pattern. It means we’ve won some battles, such as not having to pay for haircuts, but lost others, such as paying for basic customisation. In a way, you could say we’ve lost the war, or at least, that it still rages on. Bottom line, if fun is the goal – and it should be – some things shouldn’t cost VC.
Note: This was written before the announcement that MyCOURT is back in NBA 2K25. Nevertheless, my point about the games pressing their luck with new things that cost VC and the shoddiness of adding rental courts in NBA 2K21 still stands.
What are some other things that we should never have to spend VC on in NBA 2K? What’s your take on the examples I’ve covered here? Have your say in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.
The post The Friday Five: 5 Things That Should Never Cost VC appeared first on NLSC.
