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 is a list of five events that will shake your confidence in a forthcoming basketball game.

Although we can sometimes seem like a cynical bunch, I believe that a majority of basketball gamers do want to see a great new game every year. Sure, there’s a certain catharsis in a smug “I told you so”, but when it comes down to it, I expect most of us want to at least be satisfied with, if not blown away by, the latest release. It’s wise to keep our expectations realistic, and not get our hearts set on something that hasn’t been promised. At the same time, we can still be optimistic without getting carried away, or ignoring troubling signs.

To that point though, there are warning signs that we must pay attention to. These are the events that shake our confidence in a game, and for good reason. While it’s easy to jump to conclusions, there are recognisable patterns and red flags when it comes to the development of basketball video games. The longer you play them, and the more preview seasons that you experience, the better you get at recognising those signs. Also, while social media giving us access to the devs has been great for feedback, it can also leave us concerned about the people responsible for our favourite games. One way or another, these events will shake our confidence, and dampen our enthusiasm.

1. Vague Previews

Whenever the previews of an upcoming basketball game are vague, it tends to shake one’s confidence in it. That’s not to say that detailed previews are always trustworthy, or that they don’t have red flags of their own. An in-depth developer blog could be trying to overwhelm us with information, or misdirect us, in order to hype up a game and gloss over its flaws. It’s not as though we haven’t seen previews promise too much, or indeed outright lie, in previous years. Still, while I’ve learned to take the annual previews with a grain of salt, I appreciate them going into detail. If nothing else, they’re more likely to pre-emptively answer pressing questions prior to release.

It’s when previews talk about the game in vague terms that I lose confidence in them. Again, they’re trying to sell a game, so hyping up improvements while downplaying or glossing over areas that still need work is to be expected. Still, if you’re concerned about an upcoming game, it pays to not only take note of what is being talked about in previews, but what isn’t being mentioned. Obviously some things are going to be kept a surprise, particularly specifics of seasonal live service content. If a mode is barely mentioned, or there are vague references to unspecified improvements, it’s probably wise to keep your expectations low. Incidentally, this also applies to patch notes!

2. No Demo (Or, A Deceptive One)

If there’s a lesson that all developers can learn from the NBA Elite 11 demo, it’s that an early look at a game can tank the full release, even in a long-running series with a dedicated fanbase. Of course, to that end, electing not to release a demo suggests a lack of confidence in your product, and gamers will suspect that something is amiss. There are exceptions to this rule. In the early 2010s, NBA 2K had banked enough goodwill through consistent quality that a stripped down demo didn’t seem necessary. Even as late as NBA 2K17, The Prelude was more of a treat than a necessity, and a means of getting a head start rather than deciding whether or not you wanted to buy.

Even if a demo fails to impress, gamers appreciate the transparency and opportunity of a free hands-on preview. Unfortunately, it’s not always a trustworthy first look. That’s bad news for the devs if the full game is better than the demo build, and bad news for us if the demo is deceptive. The Prelude has been an example of the latter. Abilities have been juiced in The Preludes, giving an inaccurate impression of what the starting ratings are capable of. Likewise, we couldn’t upgrade or change hairstyles in the NBA 2K18 Prelude, hiding the cost and the fact styling now had a price tag. As such, it’s tough to have confidence when there’s no demo, as well as to trust in demos.

3. A Developer’s Hot Take on Social Media

I’ll admit that it’s difficult to say this without sounding snobby or arrogant about my own opinions on basketball. However, I’m sure I’m not alone in having my confidence in an upcoming basketball game shaken when I see one of its developers posting an absolutely ludicrous NBA take on social media. Again, it’s impossible to say that and not sound pretentious, arrogant, and close-minded, because you’re essentially saying that because someone holds a different point of view, they clearly don’t know hoops like you do. At the same time, social media is full of ignorant takes on basketball, and it’s dismaying when you see one posted by a developer on NBA Live or NBA 2K.

It shakes your confidence because you can’t help thinking that this is the perspective on basketball that they’re bringing to the project. If a producer responsible for rosters shares bewildering opinions about players – past and present – it’s not going to inspire confidence in the accuracy of their ratings. If a developer throws out a take that’s a monumental misunderstanding of basketball basics, it’s going to raise concerns about their impact on its virtual representation. If they’re regurgitating the terrible takes of today’s pundits, it’s difficult to believe that they’re knowledgeable about the sport. That’s something you have to be if you’re a key part of developing basketball games.

4. Delays

There was a time when I tried to be optimistic about delays. In my defense, delays had led to some truly classic releases in other genres. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time had been pushed back – the result of originally being a 64DD title that became a regular cartridge release – and it’s still talked about as one of the best games in the Zelda series. Conker’s Bad Fur Day was delayed, its original approach was scrapped, and it turned out to be an amazing game (if something of a cult classic). Considering the short development cycle of annual basketball titles, in theory, having time to add extra polish is a good idea. Besides, I’d rather be optimistic about upcoming games.

Unfortunately, it’s never worked out that way for basketball games; certainly not the NBA Live series, at any rate. In the best case scenario, a short delay may allow devs to implement some fixes and enhancements, but deep-rooted issues in the engine/code aren’t going to be magically fixed in a few weeks. With the strength of the NBA 2K brand, delays have only caused further damage to NBA Live’s image, and tend to be the first step towards cancellation. It speaks volumes that NBA Live 15 is the only game in the series to be released after a delay. It was immediately tarnished however, and while better than NBA Live 14, it still didn’t live up to even the diminished hype.

5. Complete Silence

Like the calm before the storm, so too does silence precede a delay or cancellation. If the previews suddenly grind to a halt, especially for a troubled series such as NBA Live over the past couple of generations, it’s not a good sign. NBA Live 13 is a good example here. Leading up to the 2013 Draft, there were screenshots, snippets of the game at E3, and a rookie ratings reveal during the Draft itself. And then…silence. As it turned out, the game was shaping up poorly, and there was panic when the NBA Live Advisory Council gave a bleak assessment after a playtesting session. EA went quiet as they mulled their options, but eventually had to announce the cancellation.

Of course, complete silence doesn’t just shake your confidence in a game as far as it being delayed or cancelled. Even with a successful series such as NBA 2K, deafening silences speak volumes. In this case, it’s the silence that meets questions about modes and features that won’t be included, or anything else that’s going to make the new game look bad. It’s the extreme version of the aforementioned vague previews, where instead of spinning or glossing over details to make a game sound better, they just avoid delivering bad news. If questions about Crew mode or any other desired feature are met with complete silence, take it as read that you shouldn’t expect to see them.

What shakes your confidence in an upcoming basketball game? Can you recall any noteworthy times when my examples shook your confidence, or conversely produced surprisingly desirable results? Have your say in the comments, 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.

The post The Friday Five: 5 Events That Shake Your Confidence in a Game appeared first on NLSC.