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 outlines the five principles that maximise my enjoyment of basketball gaming.

My family first got online in August 1997, which is when I discovered the NLSC. I originally ran my own site – the NBA Live Domain – from 1998 to the end of 2001, when I closed it and merged much of its content into the NLSC, which I’d taken over in August that year. In short, I’ve been involved with the online basketball gaming community in some capacity for more than 25 years now. I wouldn’t still be around, creating as much content as I do, if I wasn’t passionate about the genre. I’m not doing this for clout, fame, or money. It’s a passion project, inspired by a beloved hobby.

I’ve obviously been enjoying that hobby even longer than I’ve been a part of this community. Many games have been released during that time, with several of them becoming my all-time favourites. Those outstanding games – as well as the titles that I haven’t cared as much for – have shaped my preferences and expectations for future releases, as well as how I critique them. At this point, I know what I want basketball games to be like, what will make for a consistently enjoyable gaming experience, and what will spoil my fun on the virtual hardwood. I can sum up the way that I approach the hobby these days with what I’ll call my five principles of basketball gaming.

1. If It Feels Like Work, It Isn’t Play

Gaming – basketball or otherwise – is meant to be fun. Now, there are different ideas as to what makes video games fun, depending on what you want out of them. Some people want to feel powerful and indulge in fantasies. Some want to be tested in the competitive arena, and prove their mettle against their fellow gamers. And some enjoy figuring out the meta, then building or grinding to achieve status and success. These are all viable ways to play, depending on what you enjoy. Personally though, when a game starts to feel like work rather than play, I stop having fun. I’m not interested in an experience that turns basketball gaming into an unpaid job, just to make it viable.

And no, this doesn’t mean that I don’t want to put in the effort to improve on the sticks, or level up a player, or build a team in the card collecting modes. That’s all part of mastering a game, and the experiences on offer. However, if a game requires me to mindlessly grind just to reach a point where it begins to become enjoyable – or dump more money into it to avoid the tedium – then I’m not interested. It’s not about being 99 Overall or having a stacked team right away. It’s about having a fun and rewarding journey to higher levels. If levelling up requires all sorts of planning on how I can most efficiently grind rather than simply enjoying some virtual basketball, I’m out!

2. If I Can’t Revisit It, I Won’t Get Hooked

When I talk about grinding, I speak from experience. I did it for many years! It was fun at times – at least in games where it wasn’t too bad – but after starting over from scratch in multiple titles, the appeal has gone. Part of that is the repetitiveness of an increasingly tedious grind, but what’s really soured me on those modes is the inability to revisit them once the servers are shut down. I can appreciate a long journey, but if I can’t dust off a game and continue where I left off, or even start over with a new file, I struggle to get invested. I’ve had too many MyCAREER games and MyTEAM squads come and go since NBA 2K17 to get enthusiastic about those modes in new games.

This goes hand in hand with my keen interest in retro basketball gaming, which was renewed by connecting with Dee over Parsec. I’ve been reminded of how fun it is to revisit old favourites, and continue playing saved games that I’ll never be locked out of or lose, as long as I’m careful with those files. That’s not to say that I won’t give MyCAREER and MyTEAM a look, but I can’t go all-in on them anymore; not when I know in the back of my mind that after 27 months, everything I’ve done will be gone forever. Even if there’s no guarantee that I’ll pick up a game again, I at least want to have the option to. I’m no longer motivated to invest my time into a disposable mode.

3. A Great Game Requires Great Solo & Multiplayer Action

There are very good basketball games that are fun to play solo but don’t have a great competitive scene, or alternatively have enjoyable multiplayer but a lacklustre single player experience. They’re at least entertaining to one contingent of the basketball gaming demographic, even if they don’t get everything quite right for the rest of the userbase. However, great basketball games – the best releases we’ve seen – ably cater to everyone. Whether you enjoy franchise play, the single player career modes, head-to-head, co-op, online, offline, real rosters, retro and fantasy rosters, or whatever other preference, everyone can have a blast with well-rounded and well-designed titles.

While I’ll naturally enjoy a game as long as it caters to my tastes, I’m still critical of any shortcomings in areas that I’m not interested in. After all, basketball gaming isn’t just about what I or any of us individually like, but the entire audience that those titles are intended for. Even if I have no interest in The Rec or The Playground, I still want those experiences to be as good as they can be for gamers who do play them. Should the online modes get better, I might even be interested in giving them another chance! Basketball games have proven themselves capable of being fun and engaging whether you prefer solo or multiplayer, so the best titles are ones that are strong in both areas.

4. Go No Money Spent, Or Limit Spending

It’s disheartening that microtransactions have become normalised, to the point where gamers are being called “broke” if they refuse to spend above the cost of an annual Triple-A release. It’s also kind of impressive that shills can yell so loudly with their mouths full of boot, but they are (sadly) a dedicated bunch. Anyway, as challenging as it’s becoming, I’m still in favour of a No Money Spent approach to my basketball gaming, whether I’m playing MyCAREER or MyTEAM. Simply put, if a mode isn’t fun unless I keep dumping money into it, I won’t play it. No game worth playing will charge you to skip to the end of the journey. Again, if it feels like work, it isn’t play.

With that being said, I’ll admit to having spent above the cost of purchasing a game. When NBA Live 18 released Legends Packs in Ultimate Team with guaranteed pulls, I did buy a few of them. I don’t advocate for doing that, but I was enjoying the mode, I didn’t spend much, and I got what I paid for, rather than a slim chance of pulling a valuable card. Likewise, I did buy some VC for a few quick upgrades early on in NBA 2K17 MyCAREER – mostly for online play – and didn’t regret it. I prefer to limit such spending as much as possible though, and outside of a reluctant purchase in NBA 2K24, that limit has been zero. If that isn’t viable, then I’ll readily move on.

5. Play What You Want, How You Want

The amount of elitism and gatekeeping in basketball gaming these days is completely ridiculous. Mode of choice, difficulty level, desire for authenticity and realism, retro gaming, and even choice of camera angle, are mocked by people who believe their way is the only way to play, and want others to feel bad or inferior. As I said, video games are supposed to be fun. There are many ways to enjoy them, and again, “fun” means different things to different people. If you’re having a good time on the virtual hardwood and feel like you’re getting your money’s worth, then that’s what matters. Don’t listen to anyone talking down to you just because you don’t play how they do!

Of course, there are times when the games themselves need to make a compromise, particularly in the online arena. There are differing opinions when it comes to issues such as AI players in the online modes, matchmaking, how to implement a skill gap, and so forth. It isn’t always easy to cater to everyone’s preferences on those issues. Unfortunately, even when a compromise is possible, gatekeeping and elitism has led to zero-sum thinking; a belief that getting your way must come at the expense of other gamers, even if there’s a solution that could accommodate everyone. We should play what we want, how we want, and not want to prevent others from doing the same.

What are your principles when it comes to basketball gaming? Have mine resonated with you? Have your say in the comments below, 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.

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