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10 for 10: Online Play

10 for 10 is a series of articles written by Andrew and originally posted during the lead-up to NBA Live 10, discussing the ten most needed and/or desired changes in different areas of the game.

Thanks for checking out the third instalment in the 10 for 10 series of articles. For those of you who missed the first two instalments on Gameplay and Dynasty Mode, in this feature I discuss the top ten fixes, improvements or additions I’d like to see in various areas of NBA Live 10. Today’s edition covers elements of online play.

I must admit, I’m not a huge online gamer. Dynasty Mode is my mode of choice, so I would identify myself as mostly an offline gamer. However, there’s no denying the fun in getting into a little Online Team Play or competing head-to-head with another NBA Live player from time to time, be it in a league or a more casual showdown. Therefore, I do have a few ideas on what I’d like to see as far as online content in NBA Live 10. For those who may be wondering, the ten items are not in any particular order. With that said, let’s get to it.

Punish sore losers by registering a win and a loss for each player respectively when the game is disconnected in the fourth quarter

This one is admittedly a tricky situation. After all, how do you distinguish the sore losers from people with genuine connection problems? If there’s any way to make it conditional, for example a disconnection during a game in the fourth quarter where the margin is more than 15, that might be a fair way of handling sore losers. In those circumstances, it wouldn’t be too unfair to people who had legitimate connection issues (since they were losing anyway) or people who had to leave abruptly for some other reason (and hence forfeit by manually quitting the game).

That might open up the door for players to cause a disconnection when they’re ahead to preserve a win, however I think it’s far more likely for people to quit when they’re getting beaten than when they’re ahead. Perhaps the fairest solution to the problem would be to give everyone the benefit of the doubt in the event of a network error but at least make manually quitting an online game a recognised forfeit that registers as a loss for you and a win for your opponent, no matter who’s leading at the time.

After all, as I’m sure online players will attest, there’s nothing quite as frustrating as getting towards the end of a game that you’re winning fair and square, only to be robbed of a victory when your opponent quits. No one likes to lose, but some semblance of sportsmanship is only courteous in online gaming.

Allow stats from online games to be saved and uploaded

Much like Dynasty Mode, it would be very handy to save stats from online matchups either in text format or as a screenshot that could be uploaded and retrieved somewhere online, most likely EA Sports World. Obviously club and league stats are tracked to a certain extent already, but I’m sure a lot of users would like the ability to save boxscores and the like from memorable online games so that they could be published somewhere online or simply kept for posterity.

Adjust fatigue ratings for online games

This one might not appeal to everyone, but with online games featuring shorter quarter lengths it would probably be a good idea to raise the fatigue effect for online play so as to force more substitutions. This would invite more strategy and even the playing field in online leagues, since players controlling superior teams would not be able to keep their stars on the floor for the full game without worrying about a drop in performance through overuse.

Bring Dynasty Mode online

I touched upon this in my 10 for 10 Dynasty Mode article. It’s easier said than done of course but with the online leagues feature it seems to be the natural progression of online gaming, in addition to the concept of Online Team Play. It might not be able to match the depth of offline Dynasty Mode; indeed, the logistics of bringing the entire Dynasty Mode experience to the realm of online play seem somewhat unfathomable. But as an extension of online leagues, I know it’s something I’d be giving a try if only once.

Allow players to be kicked from a game during Online Team Play matchups

Basically this is another one that comes under the heading of dealing with people who just want to ruin the experience for everyone else. It might be a bit controversial though and it wouldn’t really be appropriate for club games, but in casual Online Team Play matchups it might be appropriate to allow users to vote on kicking out a player who’s causing trouble. It would be a preferable alternative to having to start the game all over again.

Expanded EA Locker sharing services

The recent roster updates for the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 09 has reminded me of something I’d like to see with the EA Locker. While it is proving to be a very handy feature for sharing saved data, it would be even better if that data could be shared with the public at large without the need to first add someone as a friend. Making shared content readily accessible – much like custom tracks for Guitar Hero: World Tour – speeds up the process since you wouldn’t have to wait for a friend request to be accepted before downloading content that’s intended to be shared with the general public.

Allow users to switch players if they are left alone in Online Team Play

By that I mean if a user is locked to a certain player in Online Team Play and for whatever reason they’re left alone as the only human player on their team, they should be able to cancel the player lock and switch players freely. Otherwise the game becomes far more challenging than it needs to be, especially if you’re left facing more than one human opponent while you’re left to rely on CPU teammates.

On a similar note…

Allow Online Team Play teammates to swap positions

There’d have to be a limit on switching the positions each player is locked to – once per game, at halftime should suffice – but it would be a very handy feature if users are having difficulty with their roles and would like to swap positions with one another to try and put their individual skills to better use.

Add the FIBA tournament as an option for online play

With gamers from all around the world taking part in online play it seems to me this would be an excellent use of the FIBA license. I’m sure simply having an alternative tournament mode to compete in would appeal to online gamers no matter where they’re from, too. And since we’re adding the FIBA tournament…

Add the NBA Playoffs as a standalone mode for online play

Just as in offline play, adding a standalone Playoffs Mode would certainly appeal to anyone who wanted to dive straight into the Playoff atmosphere and play through to a virtual championship without having to play through a season first. Users would be able to choose between using the 2009 Playoff matchups or customise the brackets themselves, with up to sixteen different users taking control of a team.