Monday Tip-Off: Two Hoop Heads Are Better Than One

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 the joys of co-op play, which demonstrate that two hoop heads (or even more) can indeed be better than one.

So, I’ve previously spoken out in defense of single player experiences, and I do stand by that. As someone who essentially grew up as an only child – my half-brother is sixteen years older than me – I’ve often treated video games as a solo activity. Many of my all-time favourite games are single player, or can be enjoyed just as much alone as when playing with other people. Thanks to season, franchise, and career modes, to say nothing of fun ideas for exhibition games, I’ve made many fond memories balling out alone against the CPU, rather than with or against anyone else.

My immediate circle of friends not being passionate hoop heads like me was also a factor here. Of course, basketball became very popular back in the 90s, so there were times that I hit the virtual hardwood with friends growing up, particularly in arcade titles. As such, I wasn’t always playing NBA Live or NBA Jam solo. On top of that, my cousin Clinton and I were (and still are) very close and share a love of basketball, and would play a variety of hoops games religiously when he came to visit every school holidays. We always played co-op, and so when Dee and I started teaming up in our Parsec sessions, it was a familiar experience that I’m glad to partake in again.

This may sound strange to anyone whose preferred basketball gaming experience is the competitive online scene. Obviously there’s a co-operative aspect to those modes – or at least, there’s supposed to be – but you’re facing a variety of human opponents. Playing co-op against the CPU is far more similar to playing solo than online or local multiplayer, or even just two-player head-to-head. To the end, to the competitive player, the appeal may seem unclear because you’re ultimately still facing the AI, rather than trying to match stick skills with another gamer. Indeed, given that two hoop heads are better than one against the CPU, it may seem very uncompetitive!

Of course, that’s assuming that the only point, the only way to enjoy a basketball video game – or any video game – is competitive play. This is an attitude that we’ve seen all too often with the rise of online multiplayer. And yes, online gamers are also stereotyped and maligned, but it’s often retaliatory, and more about their attitudes than the idea that they’re not playing the games properly. As I said when I defended single player experiences, there’s a lot of fun to be had playing against the CPU, especially if you find enjoyment in the fantasy aspects of franchise, career, and card collecting modes. Competitive online play is just one way to have fun on the virtual hardwood.

What about co-op play, then? Considering that one person can master the controls and defeat the CPU on tougher difficulties, surely having two hoop heads on the sticks eliminates any semblance of challenge. Not necessarily! First of all, you need to have chemistry and work well as a team. If you don’t, the CPU will divide and conquer. Secondly, having two users doubles the chances of human error on the same team: a bad decision, an incorrect input, and so on. In aiming to be unselfish, you might not be as assertive as you normally would be, and the CPU will take advantage of that on higher difficulty settings. Co-op play against the AI presents its own set of challenges.

With that being said, yes, when you have two skilled hoop heads with great chemistry together on the sticks, it can be easier to blow out the CPU. That can be an absolute blast, though! Once again, competitive play isn’t the only point of basketball gaming. For many of us, there’s great satisfaction in honing our skills so that we can blow out the CPU, even when it’s not playing fair! In those instances, the challenge becomes about trying to beat the AI as soundly as possible, hitting statistical goals, and pulling off fancy highlights. Getting the W naturally remains the ultimate goal, and in games with particularly ruthless AI, that can still be a challenging task when playing co-op.

As Dee has said on the NLSC Podcast, it’s the ability to share these experiences that makes the difference, creating fond memories that we can reminisce about with a friend or family member. For me personally, I wouldn’t say that playing solo can’t be just as much fun, because I’ve had so many great times with single player experiences. That was out of necessity of course, given that I didn’t always have someone else to play with. Even when I did, my closest friends weren’t hardcore hoop heads, and I was only hanging out with my cousin every ten weeks or so. To that point though, those co-op sessions with my cousin are some of my most treasured memories.

Therefore, while I have no trouble playing basketball games solo, I’m equally keen to team up with someone else. In fact, the shared experience has one distinct advantage over single player: a rough game or session can still be enjoyable, because you can commiserate and even laugh when things go wrong. For example, I’m not inclined to play NBA Live 07 by myself very often, outside of getting screenshots or footage for features. I’m far more willing to play it with Dee over Parsec though, since we’ll be joking about all the wonky moments in our chat, and it’ll give us something amusing to discuss on the podcast. The same goes for any other subpar games that we revisit.

Mind you, great games have their frustrating moments too, especially when the AI is merciless. When I’m playing alone, if I suffer a couple of frustrating losses, I’ll be far more likely to put the game down and come back to it another time. When Dee and I were first connecting to play NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, I took that mindset into our sessions, and let my frustration get the better of me a couple of times. Thanks to his influence, these days I’m far more eager to keep going at a challenge until we get the victory. I still have to take a break if a solo session has become too irritating, but when there are two hoop heads, we can encourage each other and share in the glory.

Incidentally, this is why I also had so much fun playing online team play modes with NLSC THRILLHO for a few years. Some sessions were tough, either due to a lack of proper matchmaking, issues with mechanics, or we just weren’t on our game. There was always great camaraderie being on the mics, though. Whenever the mechanics let us down, we could gripe and snark with each other, taking some of the sting out of whatever it was that was frustrating us. There was also pride and satisfaction in our ability to work as a team, and have successful nights where we won a majority of the games we played. Three, four, or five hoop heads could certainly be better than one!

Sadly, the online scene has grown more toxic, levelling up a MyPLAYER has become an unenjoyable grind, and a few other factors have also contributed to us being unable to enjoy 2K Pro-Am as we once did. This highlights an issue with online team play that I don’t encounter playing co-op with Dee. While teaming up with the guys to play NBA 2K online every Friday was always appealing because of the camaraderie and shared moments with friends, the quality of the on-court experience varied greatly session-to-session, and even game-to-game. We knew we’d have fun virtually hanging out, but it was a roll of the dice whether the gameplay would be enjoyable that week.

Conversely, playing co-op against the CPU tends to be a more consistent experience. Sure, revisiting a terrible game such as NBA Live 07 or Kidz Sports Basketball isn’t going to be as fun as connecting to play NBA Live 10 or NBA 2K14, but we also know very well what we’re getting into. If Dee and I decide to subject ourselves to NBA Live 07, we’re prepared to mess around with broken mechanics for a laugh. If we’re playing NBA Live 10, we know the gameplay has some issues, but that it’s also enjoyable. Playing against the CPU – solo or co-op – means consistency. Games even contain disclaimers that the experience “may change online”. I mean, enough said!

For all the fun and satisfaction that I’ve found with single player experiences, there’s something special about having someone else with you to witness a cool or crazy moment, no matter the genre. Obviously it’s easier than ever to provide proof of these moments with our ability to record and share gameplay footage, so unlike many of my solo basketball gaming memories, it needn’t come across as a fisherman’s tall tale. Still, when two (or more) hoop heads connect to play basketball games, they can share in all of the excitement, amazement, incredulity, frustration, heartbreak, and every other emotion inspired by those memorable moments on the virtual hardwood.

I’ve known this for a long time; this isn’t a recent revelation. Once again, I spent so many school holidays playing basketball games with my cousin Clinton, always co-op against the CPU. This includes an NBA Live 2000 Franchise, and our memorable re-play of the 1995 season in NBA Live 95 PC. However, once we left high school and had fewer opportunities to hang out due to work and other commitments, basketball gaming was almost exclusively a solo activity for me, outside of the online team play modes. Once I stopped playing online, it wasn’t until Dee and I began connecting to play on Parsec that I was able to indulge in some co-op basketball gaming once more.

I intend to keep doing that. We’ve also played competitively, but I ultimately prefer co-op play. Not just because my internet connection can be spotty (and it can), and not just because Dee’s better on the sticks head-to-head (and he is), but because I have so much fun teaming up with a friend. I’ll always enjoy and defend the single player experiences, and online team play is there if I ever feel inclined to give it another try (though right now, that’s highly unlikely). Whenever Dee and I can coordinate time for a Parsec session though, I’ll always be keen. Sure, I can make my own fun, but when you have two or more hoop heads, it puts a fresh spin on virtual basketball.