Monday Tip-Off: Support Your Fellow Basketball Gamers
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 some thoughts on how important it is to support your fellow basketball gamers.
In many ways, gamers don’t have a lot of power or leverage as consumers. We can choose not to buy games – and I’d certainly advise that if you’re not sold on a new release – but generally speaking, widespread boycotts are ineffective. The same goes for abstaining from pumping extra money into games via their recurrent revenue mechanics. Whales will still spend, apologists will bleat “it’s optional”, and the gaming experience will remain weaker for anyone who doesn’t want to pay. Even constructive criticism gets shouted down as “complaining“.
Obviously this frequently happens on most any platform where basketball games (or titles from other genres) are discussed. However, it’s particularly disheartening when content creators with significant influence jump on that bandwagon. I’ve seen some creators with large audiences share some truly terrible takes that throw their fellow basketball gamers under the bus, yet somehow they don’t seem to lose any credibility when they do so. Along with so much zero-sum thinking in the wider community, it underscores a lack of willingness for basketball gamers to support each other. That only plays into the hands of the suits, making it high time that we change this attitude.
When it comes to content creators standing by big corporations rather than their fellow gamers, I do get it. Unfortunately, times have changed since I started running the NLSC. Back then, developers and publishers were keener to work with fansites, as long as the people running them were respectable and knew their stuff. The official websites of games and companies were often sterile, focusing more on marketing than building a community. Social media has allowed companies to be more interactive, in a way that’s comparable to working with fansites back in the day. Toss in the concept of content creation as a career, and creators need companies more than they need us.
That’s not to say that there isn’t still an advantage of working with content creators. It remains an effective method of market research and promotion, which is why video game companies have developed more structured partnership programs. This has been mutually beneficial, though the philosophy has also changed. If a company like Take-Two is to work with a content creator, they want them to have a significant following. That’s logical, but it also means they’ll choose popularity over expertise. This is quite evident from community event attendees whose content isn’t focused on playing NBA 2K getting invited ahead of some smaller creators who are far more knowledgeable.
While that is a problem, the bigger issue is the need for content creators to toe the line. No negativity, no feedback other than what the developers are asking for, and yes, a little bit of shilling. Dee has pointed out on our podcast that there have been multiple times during past preview seasons where a bunch of creators involved with 2K’s community programs will suddenly post very similarly-worded (or straight up identical) statements promoting or defending the upcoming game. These creators will often mock anyone who dares to express scepticism as the release date of a new game approaches, as if we’ve been given no reason to doubt previous promotional materials.
Funnily enough, once a game has been out for a while and the honeymoon phase is over, the same content creators will join the community in a more honest appraisal of it. Frustratingly, they don’t seem to be called out on this! Granted, first impressions don’t always last and many of us are affected by the honeymoon phase to some extent. However, it’s obnoxious when creators dismiss the healthy scepticism of their fellow basketball gamers as “hating” on a new title before it’s even released, only for them to turn around and point out the exact same issues after launch! It’s incredibly two-faced when they’ve spent considerable time and energy shilling and shutting down criticism.
It irks me because there was a time when that kind of approach would undermine your credibility. I can certainly attest to this. My first community event back in 2006 was for NBA Live 07, and while I still recall the overall experience fondly, we attendees ended up being held responsible for the way the game turned out. As it happened, we only had about 45 minutes of hands-on time with the game, which definitely had to be by design. We wanted to be honest with the developers and the community alike, but we didn’t have the whole picture. As such, we ended up putting our reputations on the line for a controlled and sanitised glimpse of a game that was shaping up to be a bust.
Perhaps not everyone understood or appreciated the tough position we were in there. Frankly, it’d be naïve to believe that NBA Live 07 only turned out the way that it did because we refused to be critical! At the same time, a brief and curated preview of a flawed game, and trusting assurances that it was still an early and work-in-progress build, meant that our reports weren’t as negative as they surely would’ve been had we known better. We tried to be careful about hyping up NBA Live 07 too much, but we were held to our word when the game didn’t meet expectations, including our own. It wasn’t entirely fair, but that was the risk that we took by participating in the event.
These days, it feels as though content creators have far more forgiving audiences. They can get away with hyping up or flat-out shilling for a game that flops, not to mention tearing into anyone who dares to have doubts. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for second chances, and I’m grateful that people have extended me that courtesy over the years. Nevertheless, it’s only fair to hold creators accountable, especially when they try to paint anyone who’s sceptical of the hype as a hater. To that end, it’s dismaying when creators get away with being a shill or an apologist, and generally refusing to support their fellow basketball gamers. I certainly don’t support creators who do that!
Mind you, I do understand the pressure that content creators are under. You want to be honest with your audience – or you should – but you also don’t want to burn bridges with the developers. You don’t want to lose access, especially if you have been able to make content creation your career. You also probably want the games to be good, so you can end up being overly optimistic, which bleeds into your content. You’re very likely receiving some prompts from your contacts at the company. As I’ve recalled, as a petty war of words escalated during the preview seasons for NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10, an EA rep was trying to coach some of us on how we could go to bat for them.
With that in mind, I do understand why content creators sometimes refuse to support their fellow basketball gamers, even if I find it to be highly distasteful and believe that it should torpedo their credibility and goodwill. The game has changed, and you need to play nice if you want to keep the perks and access that allow your content to remain relevant (and profitable). I believe there are better ways to walk the line, but yes, I do get it. I can’t say the same for people who aren’t making money off of NBA 2K and content creation in general. A paid shill is at least doing a job – shameful as it may be – but there’s no understandable incentive for consumers to turn on each other like that.
There’s no honour in making an entertainment product so much of your personality that you can’t stand people expressing dislike or constructive criticism of it. There’s no wisdom in being a contrarian just for the sake of it. There’s no maturity in dismissing criticism just because you’re not personally affected by an issue. There’s no sense in defending profits over quality if you’re a consumer who presumably wants value for money. There’s no good reason to oppose ideas that will allow everyone to have the experience they want without encroaching on anyone else’s choice, save for selfish satisfaction in getting what you want at the expense of someone else’s preference.
In short, there’s no justification for refusing to support your fellow basketball gamers and throwing them under the bus! And yet, it happens all the time. It’s the zero-sum thinking that leads to people opposing mutually beneficial solutions, because then their preference – the supposed “correct” choice – isn’t the “winner”. It’s dismissing predatory microtransactions as “optional”, ignoring that it leads to two undesirable choices that impact both fun and competitive balance. It’s the bizarre need to justify and defend every questionable design choice or problem with the game, as if asking for quality and value is somehow rude and demanding way too much from a product.
Indeed, that’s what makes the “it’s business” defense so infuriating. Since when does something being a business or a product shield it from criticism? As consumers and supposed subject matter experts when it comes to our hobby, we should be critical when necessary! It reminds me of when I wrote about the rising cost of MyCAREER, an article that gained some traction on social media. Most people enjoyed it, but there were also those who scornfully replied “inflation, bro”, as if that was a good argument as to why an in-game economy was deliberately designed to be less fair, forcing us towards paying for faster upgrades if we didn’t want to endure unenjoyable gameplay.
It’s bewildering what some people will attempt to defend, just so that they can yell “Wrong!” when others have valid criticism. I swear that NBA 2K could implement a splash screen every time that we load into MyCAREER that costs 500 VC to bypass, complete with Ronnie 2K grinning and flipping us the bird along with a message that reads “Pay up, losers!”, and some of them would find a way to justify it! “Well, you know, you can easily grind for VC in Play Now, and it’s really on you to budget…” The old saying goes that a fool and his money are soon parted, and without a doubt, those are some of the most foolish people in the basketball gaming community today.
And of course, there’s selfishness born of egotistical elitism. How about implementing proper matchmaking? No, “get good”, even though we won’t let you get a game and it requires facing competition at your level, anyway! What about different matchmaking options for team Pro-Am, so that you can choose whether or not your squad faces any opponents with AI players in 5-on-5 gameplay? No, because even though we’d both get our way, we don’t get to gloat about our preference being catered to! Perhaps we could disable the alley-oop meter mechanic for offline play if we don’t like it? No way, you must play “properly” – the way we say – because it’s all about being “elite”!
When you refuse to compromise on anything even if you wouldn’t be impacted at all, or disdainfully dismiss valid criticism because you’re not personally affected, you’re choosing selfishness and big corporations over your fellow gamers. I can’t respect that stance at all. While I obviously have my own opinions and preferences, I do believe that we need to support each other as basketball gamers and consumers. If there’s a solution that can cater to everyone, then that’s what we should champion. If greedy practices are affecting games, we shouldn’t justify them with the financial success that they bring. That isn’t our concern; for us, it should be about getting bang for our buck.
Now, this doesn’t mean supporting our fellow basketball gamers unconditionally or uncritically. I’m siding with other virtual hoop heads over corporations nine times out of ten, but that tenth time is when we do get it wrong. From questionable or unfeasible ideas, to advocating for a solution that would invite even more greed, to expecting full online support for a pirated game, to believing that hacking and cheating should be allowed in online play, to wild and unfounded conspiracy theories, I’m not going to agree or back up my fellow gamers in absolutely every situation! I am going to take their side more often than not though, especially over any greedy corporate interests.
I’m certainly not going to be a contrarian for the sake of it. I know some people like to play devil’s advocate – either because they just enjoy debate or they feel it’s necessary to subject ideas to scrutiny – but it gets silly when we stifle valid criticism, or oppose ideas that won’t harm us in any way. There are times when it’s OK for everyone to win. It isn’t wimpy, or handing out participation trophies, or any of that other asinine rhetoric, to seek out solutions that can please everyone with minimal or no drawbacks; especially when we’re talking about video game design! It’s one thing to object to a change you don’t want, but if your preference is still catered to, what’s the problem?
To that point, it’s ironic that microtransactions will be justified as being “optional”, yet there’s vehement opposition to giving gamers options when it comes to certain gameplay mechanics or matchmaking preferences! To suggest that gamers should just endure an inferior experience if they choose not to pay above and beyond retail price, while also claiming that allowing gamers to customise offline gameplay or providing alternative online experiences would ruin the games, is to champion elitist rhetoric and corporate interests over solutions that can cater to everyone. It’s funny how some believe that opening or not opening our wallets is the only option we should have!
No, the customer isn’t always right. Yes, we should push back on misguided criticism and any outright bashing. However, I’m over the self-flagellating notion that “gamers always complain”, dismissal of valid criticisms as a “skill issue”, and selfish zero-sum thinking. We should want games to improve and for as many people as possible to enjoy them. We should support viable and sensible suggestions that can achieve those goals. Profits aren’t our concern; getting value for our money is. Big content creators shouldn’t shill or sell out their audience, and if they do, they shouldn’t be given a pass. Given the choice, more often than not, we must support our fellow basketball gamers.
The post Monday Tip-Off: Support Your Fellow Basketball Gamers appeared first on NLSC.