THE NBA 2K RANT
I’m going to go ahead and bend the rule on staying on topic with this post, as it’s an issue that is dear to me. While I will normally only talk about “real life” basketball, the NBA 2K video game series has gotten progressively more egregious every year with the way that they scam basketball fans out of money.
The first issue I want to address is the blatantly exploitative practices of 2K Sports. While there are plenty of instances of scummy monetization structures in gaming, I want to focus on 2K for the sake of staying within the realm of basketball. Not only that, but 2K’s greed is genuinely harmful to consumers, the gaming industry, and maybe even basketball itself.
Launch day. Once a year, 2K releases its new version of NBA 2K. Every year on launch, the game isn’t perfect. As someone who plays way too much video games, I understand a game will not always come out perfectly finished or balanced. However, the gameplay is not what I take issue with. The issue here is that they monetize the game in such a way that if you don’t buy their currency on launch, you don’t get to enjoy the game. Sure, you can play against your friend in a casual match. Sure, you can play against the computer, or make your created character and start the process of making them better in the single player mode. If that’s fun for you, great, the game is worth the 60 dollars. If you’re like me and your ego is tied to glorious victory in multiplayer games, you might feel a little ripped off. I am going to provide two examples of how the monetization system in 2K forces players to buy in-game currency, spend hundreds of hours gaining the paid equivalent, to be worse than everyone else in a multiplayer setting.
Alright so.. What the heck have I been ranting about for three paragraphs? What is this monetization system and why have I been treating it like it’s a crime against humanity? Well, when you first create your character, it starts off around a “60 overall” rating. The player’s overall rating is to indicate how good the player is overall, with individual categories of basketball skills having their own value that contributes to their overall rating. The ratings are based on a maximum overall rating of 99, with a 60 being one of the worst ratings. So, you start off as a 60 overall, can’t-hit-a-shot rookie with similar basketball skills to current day me. It’s a terrible feeling to play a game to be reminded of your own limitations when playing a video game, we play video games to escape those! Maybe next year they can give my character a beer gut and a receeding hairline so I can get that extra layer of immersion. Anyways, what are the options when you have that 60 overall character? Well, we’ve established that your character starts off with the basketball skill of a middle school junior varsity bench player. So how do you make him better? Hundreds and hundreds of hours of repetitive, boring, single player grinding. Not only is the grind a tedious nightmare, but your player is hot garbage and you miss all the time, increasing the time investment required. Most people don’t have time for that. So if you want to keep playing and actually have competitive matches, you HAVE to shell out 20-40 dollars to buy their in-game currency and upgrade your player. This is what most people do, which perpetuates the need for others to buy currency.
They also allow you to purchase packs of cards for your MyTeam mode. This would require another long explaination, so I will just say that you can buy access to the best players with real money. A 10 pack box of cards costs 20 REAL DOLLARS. You get one player per pack, and the odds are a joke. They post the odds of getting a certain tier of card on the packs, which likely covers them from illegal gambling charges, with the best cards having a less than 2% drop chance. I know what you may be thinking, who cares if this weird guy in my class spends his money poorly? You don’t need to worry about me, I’ve learned my lesson. What we need to be concerned about is children. This game isn’t age restricted, it’s for all audiences. Minors play more video games than adults, they’re the ones being targeted by microtransactions. Kids have a limited perspective on life and will beg their parents for money until they get it. Or worse, they’ll go behind their parents’ backs and charge their card anyways. This isn’t a flaw in their monetization system, it’s a FEATURE. They’re counting on children to overspend their parents’money and impulse purchases from others. I would argue that at best they’re setting children up for a life of justifying gambling, and at worst they’re actively causing children to gamble their parents’ money.
My Friends Are Mad That The Celtics Are Losing
My friend group is pretty down right now. Comprised of a bunch of 20 something dudes who have an irrational emotional attachment to their regional sports teams, we are in the dumps over here. I like to think that I am less effected, as I just like basketball in general and don’t care too much if the Celtics win the championship. While I would like that to see that happen, my friends are much more upset with seeing the Celtics go down 2-0 in this series against the Heat.
How did it get like this? Why are the Celtics losing? The other week, my blog post was talking about how well the Heat have been playing. Well, I don’t think my praise then was even enough credit. I specifically mentioned Jimmy Butler’s defense, but failed to talk about how well the Heat’s overall defensive strategy is executed. At times, they were running a perfect zone defense. The Celtics would be swinging the ball around the perimeter, a solid way to break down a zone and find an open three, only to be met with a perfect switch. Watching some of the possessions where the Celtics would get no offense out of them was like playing against a guy in NBA 2K that knew how exploit defenses. So many scoring opportunities negated because of a really well disciplined defense.
I don’t even want to focus on the Celtics’ shooting numbers. I almost feel like the Heat’s defense has been so good, that I don’t blame them for shooting poorly. In game 2, Tatum, Brown, and Kemba all shot under 50% from the field. While pointing out poor shooting is fair criticism, something more is going on here. The Celtics are getting outcoached. Brad Stevens has to find holes in this defense, and his players need to hit big shots when they count. It was really hard to watch Jaylen Brown hit those two threes near the end only to miss the game-tying shot.
If you read this, what do you think? Who needs to improve the most in this series for the Celtics to make a comeback?
Hats Off To the Raptors
We did it, New England! The Boston Celtics have won their matchup against the Toronto Raptors in a series that went the full 7 games. At first, I thought the Celtics would win in 5 games. The Celtics won the first two games of the series and there is really no home court advantage with all playoff games taking place in “The Bubble” in Orlando. All signs were pointing to a 4-1 Celtics victory, perhaps 4-2.
However, the Raptors persevered and made it a competitive series. Having lost Kahwi Leonard last summer in free agency after winning the NBA championship last year, it seemed like the Raptors would have attempted to rebuild. They have several guys on their roster who were at one point great players, some even all stars, but are all operating outside of their prime. Two exceptions would be Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, who are both 26. I would’ve thought that they’d try to trade Gasol’s expiring contract for young players or picks, instead he got minutes in this series.
One of the main factors in this series going down to the wire was the coaching. Nick Nurse is a great basketball mind and implements an impressive defensive strategy. It was nice to see the battle of great coaching minds between Brad Stevens and Nick Nurse. I hope to see the Raptors begin a rebuild this offseason. While my heart lies with the Celtics, I think the Raptors have a solid infrastructure to build a great team.
How should the Raptors go about this offseason? Was their playoff run this year good enough for them to try and contend next season? With the contracts of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka ending, is it time to find a new big man to play next to Siakam?
The Bucks Are Getting Swept
I can’t believe that I’m even typing this, to be honest with you. We all hate to see it and love to see it at the same time. The Milwauki Bucks, a team considered a championship contender, is going to be swept.
It’s hard to believe that they’d get dropped off like this. Giannis Antetokounmpo is one year removed from his MVP season and his team earned the 1st seed for their conference with a 57-16 record, yet they are potentially about to be swept by a team who I did not consider to be good enough to make it out of the second round. Well it looks like I was wrong about that because not only is Miami going to get out of the second round, they’re eliminating their main competition in the process. This made me think, though. Is Miami this good, or is Milwauki just playing this bad?
Well, it’s both. Jimmy Butler has really transformed himself. Not only is he one of the league’s best defenders and a reliable bucket-getter, he’s really improved his ability to playmake. Butler came to Miami and became a leader. This man is constantly looking for his shooters. He’s put his trust in these young, inexperienced dudes and it seems to be paying off.
The Bucks, however, just don’t seem to be the same. I believe this is from the way Miami is defending Giannis. Their strategy seems to be to dare Giannis to shoot and try to stop his driving. While you can’t ALWAYS stop Giannis, making it more difficult for him to finish in the paint is a huge key to victory. What do you think? Is Miami playing insanely well, or are the Bucks just out of their element?
We Missed You, Basketball! No Wait, Don’t Go!
The pandemic took a toll on this entire country. The economy was slowed, goods were being hoarded, and many of us were stuck mostly housebound. What made things less bearable was that we lost our entertainment, things to distract us from reality. On July 30, basketball fans got their entertainment back. It was so exciting to watch basketball again, even with an altered format. Even better, I’m in a class where the teacher wants us to blog about something we’re passionate about. The timing was perfect, I had something I could write about where I wouldn’t have to fake enthusiasm!
You can only imagine the panic I felt on August 26, when the Milwaukee Bucks announced they would not be participating in their playoff game against the Orlando Magic, citing the unjust shooting of Jacob Blake. This panic would not last, as the NBA announced that playoffs will resume the next day. However, there is always talk of whether or not it is acceptable for athletes to perform these protests whenever a situation like this occurs.
I think it is entirely appropriate for an athlete to use their position/platform to attempt to enact positive social change. Larger issues are at play here, even if losing basketball again would have sucked. Fortunately for all of you, the NBA will resume. Otherwise, you’d be spending the entire semester replying to my secondary blog topic choice “Famous People Named Gary.”
Until next time,
Mike