I remember last year, there was a video over at www.gamespot.com showing a tour of the EA/Tiburon headquarters down in Florida. In this video, there was also interviews with the various producers of the Madden and NCAA series. I recall the NCAA producer responding to the question regarding online leagues saying “The problem with online leagues is people not showing up for their games.” I really can’t fault him there, that is a big problem. It can be hard to find 8 reliable team owners in any online league, let alone trying to get 32 good, reliable owners in a full-blown online NFL league.
What surprises me is that nobody has really come up with an innovative fix for handling this problem. However, I think that many people haven’t look towards an obvious solution for the problem either. It really didn’t hit me until I posted link to the article about Tecmo Super Bowl last week that I found over at GameCritics.com. The article made me think back to my college years, when me and my friends would wage season-long, stat-tracked wars on Tecmo Super Bowl for the old NES. I remember about 8 of us taking our own NFL team in the full 16 week season, and playing out the schedule. Sometimes we had to play each other, sometimes we had to play against the AI. It was all dependent upon which team was set to “MAN” controlled versus “COM” (computer) controlled on a given week. So my six buddies and I grabbed some distilled beverages and tore into the 1991 NFL schedule with our respective teams. It was a blast. If someone didn’t show up, we’d just set their game to “COM” controlled and the game would sim it out until the next “virtual week” when the person could get away from his girlfriend and actually show up for his game (or games.) The system was brilliant. It was yet another way that Tecmo had their game ahead of its time. But wait…. Why can we not apply the same idea online in future versions of any sports sim with online leagues?
For example, Let's look at what we at consolefootball.com are dealing with. We are trying to find 8 or more reliable (and straight-playing) owners for a slimmed-down online season of ESPN NFL 2K5 for XBOX. That’s a bit of a challenge, to say the least, but once we do find them, the game will set itself up where everyone plays each other twice to get a 16 game season. Okay- that’s fine, but what is prohibiting the game makers from allowing a real NFL schedule 16 week season with 8 human controlled teams and 24 AI controlled teams? My guess is- nothing.
Oh sure, there’s some programming to be worked out there, but is it that complex? The “AI versus Human” game results wouldn’t even have to be “online” if the system allowed an upload of results/stats of the game. For AI versus AI games, a system could be in place where the league GM could hit a “sim all Com vs. Com games for week” button.. (much like Tecmo Super Bowl allowed.) Those results could then be uploaded by the GM’s console system to the server to refresh the league info, stats, and standings. Sure, some may argue “Who wants to play against the AI in what is normally an online PVP league setup?” Well, I think many would. I know if I could get five or so friends into an online, full NFL season, MLB season, NBA season, and they could play out the real schedule, there would still be lots of competition and trash talk. Can you imagine the razzing you’d get if you controlled the Patriots in your online season game against the AI-controlled Cardinals- and you lost? Ouch. You’d also be competing in the stats arena, which is fun too. Plus, you’d also end up playing the human controlled teams online- as the schedule dictates. Think about it though- full, online seasons for as few as TWO players… yet a full schedule. I could see me and Bangpow doing that (His Lions, my Raiders…) and making fun of all of our losses or stat deficiencies as the season goes on (potentially meeting in the Super Bowl). Of course, it would be even more fun with even more human team owners, but if someone doesn’t show, switch their team control to “COMPUTER” – even if only for one game. No big deal. It would solve so many league management problems that people are having. Heck, trades with the AI could take place too, but it could be set that approval for the trades depends upon majority acceptance of the trade by human controlled team owners. The technology exists for all of this, its just a matter of implementing it when you design a sports game. That would make the online seasons far more accessible, far more user friendly, and way more innovative. Its not exactly a novel idea though. Tecmo Super Bowl did the same thing 15 years ago. They just didn’t do it online. See you on the virtual gridiron.
Quietcool72
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