Monday Tip-Off: Messing Around On The Virtual Hardwood
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 reflections on how fun it can be just messing around with basketball video games.
I don’t want to harp on the horrors of grinding in basketball gaming nowadays. It’s a well-known issue, and it would be rather ironic and hypocritical of me to repeatedly grumble about something being repetitive! However, it is worth noting that one of the biggest problems in modern basketball games is the focus on the grind, whether it’s levelling up a MyPLAYER or building a MyTEAM squad. We’ve gone from a fun journey that keeps us hooked for hours on end, to needing to put in hours of work just to have fun. I’m grateful to have changed my habits in that regard!
However, while it’s been refreshing to return to NBA 2K14 PS4 for five full seasons and counting in MyCAREER, and also free up time for a potential return to franchise play, frankly I’m enjoying having less structure to my basketball gaming. Don’t get me wrong; I love the depth that keeps us hooked on franchise and career modes, with the tangible goals of playing through seasons and winning championships. At the same time, when you’re not dedicating yourself to grinding or you feel like a break from a more structured mode, simply messing around in a game can be just as engaging. It’s actually one of the things that I enjoyed the most about my basketball gaming in 2023.
Yes, my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER is ongoing, and I still have visions of catching up to the current year at some point. That’ll be a lot of fun, and it should make for a great feature, possibly even a video retrospective. I’m also open to dusting off my Chicago Bulls Dynasty in NBA Live 06, or starting a new season with a retro roster mod. As I said, I still enjoy the depth and structure of those modes. However, I’ve been having a blast playing once-off exhibition games in Play Now in a variety of titles, as well as the Fantasy Teams mode in NBA Live 10, and even Street mode in NBA 2K6. As I’ve previously observed, it’s very easy to overlook how much fun exhibition play can be.
After so many years of grinding and mostly sticking to my mode of choice, it’s really refreshing to just play virtual basketball without working towards a larger goal, using teams that are fun to throw out on the court. Whether it’s the default classic teams, makeshift classic teams created through minimalist modding or Fantasy Teams mode, Legends squads, or contemporary teams in old favourites, I’ve enjoyed setting up historical showdowns and other fun matchups. I suppose in that regard, there’s still been a method to my messing around on the virtual hardwood, but I’ve nevertheless dedicated far more time than usual to playing games that ultimately don’t count.
When I was committed to an annual grind, doing that would’ve felt like I was wasting time. That’s the tunnel vision that comes with grinding. When you’re having fun with a hobby, you’re never wasting time! Furthermore, exhibition games have allowed me to play with content that I’d normally overlook if I was focusing all my attention on a franchise, career, or card collecting mode. It’s been the change of pace I needed, and I’ve been able to indulge my nostalgia for a variety of teams, players, and eras. The simplicity and low stakes of the experience, combined with the creativity of coming up with different scenarios, is something that I’ll continue to enjoy moving forward.
That pure enjoyment of basketball gaming, that lack of rigid structure and formula or the need to be making progress and working towards something, has broken through burnout and cynicism. That isn’t to say that I’m not still critical of the direction that basketball games have taken, the predatory nature of recurrent revenue mechanics, certain design choices, and other issues that plague modern titles. It certainly doesn’t mean that I’ll stop advocating for improvements to gameplay and modes, or fairness to gamers. It does mean that I’ve found a way to get more enjoyment and satisfaction out of the virtual hardwood though, and not get bogged down by constant negativity.
I’ve also made a point of messing around with activities that might seem like a waste of time on the surface, but ultimately are another way of indulging my passion for the virtual hardwood. Firing up an old game and taking various players into practice to see who has signature animations and what they look like may not sound productive, but it’s interesting to look back at the details that developers managed to pack into those titles. It’s also a way of messing around on the sticks without committing to playing a full game at that moment. Indeed, it’s one of the reasons why I miss having a personal court that I can access at any time in NBA 2K14 PS4’s MyCAREER!
And yes, messing around in a practice mode like that is a way of getting reacquainted with the controls in preparation of playing a proper game, and sometimes part of an idea for content creation. It doesn’t have to be though, and that’s the point. Sometimes, it’s just fun to go into practice and see how many three-pointers you can make with a player like Shaquille O’Neal, or how many heaves you can sink from the backcourt! Again, it can be a way to sharpen your stick skills and discover something about the mechanics you may not have known, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the goal. It’s the basketball gaming equivalent of stopping to smell the roses, so to speak.
In fact, you can do that before you even set foot on any virtual hardwood. I’ll often take the time to browse through the rosters after firing up an old game. Sure, it’s also a great way to find material for Wayback Wednesday and Friday Five features, but I enjoy the trip down memory lane just to indulge my own curiosity and nostalgia. To some people, that kind of messing around might seem like a waste of time, especially when I could just as easily find that information on Basketball Reference. I certainly could, but seeing the old menus and remembering fun times with a game – as well as being able to jump into gameplay if I like – makes for a more immersive experience.
There are also wacky ideas such as creating a player with maxed-out ratings, and then testing out how dominant the game will let him be. Similarly, you could create a 5’3″ player and give him a high dunk attribute and fancy dunk package, just to see what that looks like! Fantasy and custom team modes facilitate countless wild scenarios, as well as historical What Ifs should you prefer something fictional yet realistic. And speaking of scenarios, if a game does include a dedicated Scenario or Situation mode, you can replay memorable clutch moments, or devise your own. For all the content we have in modern games, imagination and experimentation are sadly discouraged.
A great example of this is creating an oddball player in a career mode. In the earliest iterations of My Player and MyCAREER in NBA 2K, messing around with an idea like creating the worst player imaginable was not only viable, but potentially a lot of silly fun. With the in-depth stories, MMORPG elements, and a build system that’s designed around meta gaming in the connected modes – to say nothing of the grind and pressure to spend in order to upgrade faster – that’s not really doable in modern games. I’ve sometimes considered trying out the basketball equivalent of Many A True Nerd‘s inventive playthroughs of Fallout games, but sadly it’s just not feasible.
Unfortunately, experimental gaming and just messing around with fun and silly ideas doesn’t gel with the focus on being an elite competitor gamer, or FOMO-based live service content. This isn’t me saying that modern basketball games can’t be fun, and many of the ideas that I’ve mentioned can still be done in them. The franchise modes still offer a sandbox experience, and practice courts still facilitate casual shootarounds and self-imposed challenges. Exhibition play is a staple feature, and between mods and the historical content that’s available by default, there’s plenty you can still do without diving into a mode. Of course, this is assuming that you enjoy the gameplay!
That’s been an issue for me beginning with NBA 2K21, which is why I’ve leaned so heavily into retro basketball gaming these past few years. It’s unfortunate, as I’d prefer not to be disappointed by new games, or find myself losing interest in them far too soon. On the bright side, it’s allowed me to freshen up my gaming, break some habits that were unhealthy, and yes, free up time for messing around. I don’t regret the time and effort it took to reach 99 Overall in NBA 2K20, or make the Hall of Fame in NBA 2K19 MyCAREER, or the 500 games of 2K Pro-Am in NBA 2K17. They were all fun experiences that had me hooked, even if there was some grinding involved.
These days however, I’m content to dig into my collection to try out different titles, and set up exhibition games featuring interesting matchups. I’d rather unearth an old mod and stage a 1-on-1 showdown between teenage LeBron James and young Kobe Bryant in NBA Live 2001 than unlock all the Seasonal rewards in MyCAREER and MyTEAM in NBA 2K24. I’ll gladly stick with an old favourite over forcing myself to play the latest game if I just can’t get into it. And honestly, I’d rather mess around with some silly ideas and take trips down memory lane than go through the same journey year after year, as I did for far too long when I was taking a MyPLAYER online.
I realise how absurdly ironic it is for someone who’s been running a basketball video game fansite for over twenty years to say that we sometimes take basketball gaming too seriously, but it’s the truth. When we’re too wrapped up in the grind, when we’re falling victim to FOMO, when we’re dodging online games because we don’t want to lose rankings and rep, when we’re so stuck in a rut that we’re playing out of habit than out of enjoyment…well, it’s time to change things up! I’m grateful that we have so many deep modes, but it’s been refreshing to make my own fun outside them. I’m not done with seasons and meaningful games, but sometimes, I just want to mess around.
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