by CatScooter on Sun Nov 19, 2017 2:22 pm
Yeah frankly with my time spent with 2k over the years I've spent more time in MyGM than I have in MyLeague without a doubt. MyLeague is the ultimate league manager but still doesn't incorporate the business dynamics (merch/ticket sales/player marketability etc etc) of running the franchise through out the season. That was the distinguishing factor. This year without custom rosters it felt weird. Maybe they didn't allow custom rosters because of how the narrative plays out and to be fair, I don't really mind them switching up the messages in the inbox to what they did this year which is utilize generated cutscenes where you make your choices in the frame work of a conversation/dialogue. I dig that. What I don't like is that they have it essentially on rails. I simmed through the first season and I understand narrative the writers wanted the user to experience with the back and fourth behind the scenes. The owner certainly has more of a personality and feels more relevant in the game mode. I like them bringing the owner to the forfront like that. What i would like to see them do if they are planning on keeping this around is to allow the cutscenes to auto generate based on a number of factors that way it's relavent to the users season and it's dynamic. Not the same story for each team. If they rebuilding, , contending etc all could lay the type of narrative you'll be dealing with through out the season. The difficulty you pick before starting a new MyGM that you can re-roll should dictate how often or what kind of candor the cut scenes would have. There are 6 different parameters that give each owner their personality. There is some potential without a doubt, but they need to be able to not lock the narrative down on rails. I would argue that the autongenerated content doesn't even need to be complex or mind bending. You don't need any spike lee bait. It functions as a more engaging mechanism to deal with the notices that you recieve through out the season that sometimes people don't even notice are there. Also, the narrative wasn't so out of wack with my all time custom rosters that I used with the tips posted above. I don't really see why they wouldn't allow users to use their own roster. Don't do that to myGM <3
(Spoiler alert)
Thanks to these righteous tips above I have this thing another shot and it was a far more rewarding experience based solely off the fact that I can use my custom roster. Outside of this GM wanting to move The bulls to Seattle (what?) the assistant GM backdoored me and traded BJ Armstrong for Jennings on the Bucks. Thankfully after the first season I was able to dictate whether or not that move to Seattle would happen (which I do appreciate) I almost feel like the mode opens up and plays better after the first season wraps up. The thing is if I restart MyGM with another dream, the novelty hits its ceiling almost too fast. Auto generate the important notices you get in your inbox. (Its already there. Just needs to feel a bit more situational, that will allow the user to have more organic experiences with content already created that you're essentially repurposing created assets/resources with out fatiguing the same material. You want to have writers work on something that's real? This would one hypothetical where they could focus their effort. Story telling has a structure. Don't put the writers in a position of weakness like that. They should be looking at post game reviews and sports writers style of recapping a game? You can create a few templates that can interchange variable buzzwords to insert different player names and stats etc. doesn't need to be a long thing. Just something that is essentially a simple summary of performance stats etc.)
If it wasn't for the tips above I would have been very guilty of shorting what they were trying to accomplish. I'm glad I didn't but I'm excited to see them integrate these touches without trying to... well... forcably push people through it. This isn't really a strong suit or something that should be a huge focus. I would always prefer the devs to focus their attention to the basketball happenings on the court. Don't spend too much time trying to create taboo hoop dream stories around these modes. keep em simple and to the point. People will ultimately appreciate it and it extends the shelf life of recycled dialogue (ironically enough) This would protect 2k from trying to mustering up and inject poor writing that ultimately wants to humanize the users experience with the world around him. But let the players struggle be the actual grind they engage in. Their commitment to the game and developing their skills. People are gonna do nothing butt skoff at filler dialogue that they all want to skip in the first place. Take a page from something like football manager or something. You can ask your staff at any point their opinion on the upcoming game plan. Line up adjustments. Etc etc. the best part about it is that they implement this in fluid way. They feel like a resource as opposed to just a staff spot you fill out.
Just lots of interesting potential there at the end of the day. Always easier said than done and I can totally awknowledge that and if they are looking to do something dynamic with MyGM over the course of the next few years, I would suggest to look at alternatives like that, as opposed to building something up or trying to focus resources on a gimmick that won't really hold up the test of time from on iteration to another. This in theory (big ol LOL at that. Nothing is easy to put in the game. It's massive. I get it.) but yeah, in theory the concept is simple enough that if they code it into the game would give the mode a lot of color and unique pivots in a season/story arc that would allow for some pretty wicked replay value.
I know this would be ridiculous taking the idea of game recaps further, imagine being able to auto generate a handful of highlights for a game after it's been played on the schedule around the league. That would be some serious heat. I would totally watch highlights of two or three games from a team before I play them in my schedule. That along with the shot chart and team/player comparisons would be another super sick wrinkle that would be legit. Adds another layer to scouting. I love the analytics tool. Something that is a useful little utility. Adds another dynamic to researching and scouting. Anyway, lots of potential to take practical steps to include little touches like that. Those little touches add up! Sorry about the rant. Have a long post I've been working on for the impressions thread!
Def sticky this somewhere associated with MyGM. I just hit the brakes on my 82 game season played with 12 min quarters and I also play every game. Half way through the season and now I'm all in on MyGM again. That's pretty huge.
/end rant
Last edited by
CatScooter on Sun Nov 19, 2017 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.