Monday Tip-Off: The Terry Hanson Multiverse
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 a look at how Terry Hanson is beginning to spawn a multiverse.
When you think about it, basketball video games create a multitude of realities; a multiverse, if you will. For example, from my gaming alone, the Chicago Bulls have won their seventh championship – and sometimes an eighth title as well – on several occasions and in different seasons. In my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, I’m working on an alternate timeline spanning from the 2014 season through to today. With millions of people playing basketball video games, all manner of scenarios are happening on the virtual hardwood, repeating as new games come out and wipe the slate clean.
Technically speaking, Terry Hanson doesn’t have any “official” appearances in video games. After all, as a generated and thus fictional player, he’s not official to begin with! With that being said, he is functionally a part of the reality that has been created by my aforementioned NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, so that’s “officially” where he’s from. However, that’s not the only place that he shows up these days. My enthusiasm for this generated player – truly a Virtual Hardwood Legend – has ensured that from here on out, I’ll be doing my part in creating a Terry Hanson Multiverse. And so, I’d like to share with you how Top Floor Terry has leapt beyond his original game!
Terry Hanson Prime
Before I get into that though, let’s look at where the Terry Hanson Multiverse began. Entering my third year of NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, I was dismayed to see that Jason Richardson – essentially one of my MyPLAYER’s mentors on the Philadelphia 76ers – was not retained. It was an unceremonious end to his career as he remained unsigned until his official retirement, and it also left a hole at shooting guard. Enter the 30th pick of the 2015 Draft, Terry Hanson. Despite an Overall Rating in the 70s – making him one of the best prospects in the fictional Class of 2015 – Hanson slipped to the bottom of the first round, where we weren’t about to pass up the chance to get him.
It was a shaky start for Hanson, as he mishandled passes and wasn’t as aggressive or effective as J-Rich had been. I soon warmed up to him though, and found ways to set him up to get a ton of buckets. Indeed, I helped him to average 30 ppg in his second season, and even reach the 50-point plateau in multiple games! Sadly, a combination of injuries and the odd decision to start Michael Carter-Williams ahead of him has begun to limit our court time together. I’m therefore anticipating the day that Carmelo Anthony moves on! Nevertheless, Terry Hanson is one of the main reasons that I’m enjoying that MyCAREER so much, to the point where he’s spawned a multiverse.
Created Player Template
Sometimes, an article or video feature requires setting up a scenario to demonstrate a particular aspect of a game. To that point, whenever you’re showing off the Create-a-Player function in any given title, you’re basically going to go through the process of making a player, from punching in a name to customising their appearance and other attributes. Otherwise, it’s pretty dull if you’re just showing off the default player. Like most content creators probably do, I usually just make myself; as much as I can with the face creation tools at my disposal, anyway. That does get boring – especially since it resembles what I do in MyCAREER – so I’ve changed it up every now and then.
For a while there, I was using Justice Young: the fictional teammate and co-star of the Orange Juice story in NBA 2K17’s MyCAREER, as portrayed by Michael B. Jordan. That was fun and all, because playing with Justice was definitely a blast in that game. However, Terry Hanson has provided me with another template to demonstrate the Create-a-Player function in games, the multiverse expanding with each new Top Floor Terry that’s added to a roster. I suppose to keep things fresh, I ought to cycle between using myself, Terry Hanson, Justice Young, and maybe some of the other memorable characters from MyCAREER, but I do enjoy paying tribute to Terry in my articles.
Terry Hanson, MyPLAYER
I’ve enjoyed playing alongside Terry Hanson, but what about playing as him? Like a lot of people who have played or still play MyCAREER, I’ve tended to use my own name and likeness for my MyPLAYERs. Even when I haven’t bothered to scan in my face – so, in any game after NBA 2K18 – I’ve still sculpted an appearance that’s based on me: a white guy with blue eyes, brown hair, and a beard. Of course, many other MyCAREER gamers – particularly those who partake in the connected online modes – don’t base their avatars on themselves. In NBA 2K24, I finally joined their ranks, as the Terry Hanson Multiverse now includes one incarnation of my MyPLAYER.
With that being said, I haven’t been actively playing MyCAREER in NBA 2K24. I’ve mostly just fired up the mode to get screenshots and a few clips, which also led to me (very reluctantly and regretfully) buying VC for the first time in years. Whenever I do venture into The City or any other aspect of NBA 2K24’s MyCAREER for content creation purposes though, you’ll see Terry Hanson instead of a fictional version of me. In fact, if I do ever get into a MyCAREER game other than the offline file that I have going in NBA 2K14, I’ll likely continue to be Terry Hanson. If nothing else, being a high-flying swingman is a change of pace from my usual assist-obsessed point guard!
24/7 Player
Of course, if I do play through a single player mode as Terry Hanson, it won’t be the first time that I’ve done that in the Multiverse! Combining the above two uses of Top Floor Terry, I’ve actually used Hanson as my avatar while checking out 24/7 mode. While I played through the entire Road to the EBC campaign in NBA 2K6 for Xbox 360 as myself, when I checked out the modes in ESPN NBA Basketball, ESPN NBA 2K5, and NBA 2K7, I stepped into the shoes of Terry Hanson. Once again, it felt like a fun change after so many years of just basing all of my avatars on myself. That does foster a connection with a player character, but as I said, it gets boring after a while.
The fact that Terry Hanson hasn’t been getting nearly as much court time as he should be after being relegated to the bench – and not even as the Sixth Man – is undoubtedly a factor in this decision as well. If I can’t throw lobs to Top Floor Terry as A-Train in NBA 2K14 as often as I’d like, then I’ll take control of him in other games and create some highlights that way! As I’ve admitted before, I’m absolutely a creature of habit when it comes to video games. While that doesn’t usually ruin my fun – I know what I like, and it tends to work out fine for me – finding a reason to take a fresh approach with a different avatar and player build has been a way to avoid falling into a rut.
Top Floor Terry in Other Hands
One of my favourite parts of our community throughout the years has been our ability to share in each other’s experiences. It goes back to a handful of Dynasty threads in our stories forum, where community members became Draftees in each other’s games. There have also been community roster mods featuring Forum members, giving us an opportunity to put each other’s avatars on the virtual hardwood and blacktop. To that end, Terry Hanson has been featured in KingJMASE‘s streams as part of the NLSC squad. MASE reached out to me about including Hanson on the team, and I was glad to furnish him with some appropriate screenshots and bio data for Top Floor Terry.
To that point, the fact that I’m calling him Top Floor Terry is a nod to MASE in the first place! The original nickname that I’d coined for him was Terry-fying, referencing him becoming an explosive menace on offense in his second season. That works as a secondary nickname, but Top Floor Terry is far catchier. For anyone who hasn’t seen any of KingJMASE’s streams – and I highly recommend that you do check them out – “Top Floor” is one of his trademark calls when a player elevates for a vicious dunk. Terry Hanson Prime has certainly thrown down many of those in NBA 2K14, so it was only appropriate to make it his official nickname throughout the multiverse.
(Huge thanks to KingJMASE for sending along some screenshots!)
Further Expansion of the Terry Hanson Multiverse
I expect that Terry Hanson will continue to be one of the “models” whenever I’m showing Create-a-Player in a game. He’s also a ready-made character for a career or campaign mode avatar, whenever I don’t feel like giving them my name and likeness. And of course, I’ll always get a kick out of him showing up in other people’s games. Beyond that, as I consider ideas for roster mods, Terry Hanson is a name that I’ll keep in mind. He’s obviously perfect for any fictional league mods, which is an idea that I’ve dabbled with before. A roster containing all of the squads I’ve used or been on in franchise and career modes would also have to include the 76ers with Terry Hanson.
Speaking of franchise modes, adding Hanson to an existing squad – with or without an A-Train to play alongside, Orange Juice-style – is also an idea I’m keeping in mind. He’s an ideal candidate to add to any generated Draft Class full of equally fictional players, though at this point, he’s established his own lore! In short, Top Floor Terry has become a character than I can use in multiple ways, throughout a basketball video game multiverse of sorts. Whether it’s a nod in a screenshot for an article, a different avatar to take control of, or some other appearance, Virtual Hardwood Legend Terry Hanson has become more than a fictional teammate in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER!
It may sound strange to take such an interest in a generated player. It helps that he was a highly-rated prospect that somehow fell in the Draft, which is an unusual occurrence in franchise and career modes. Because of how enjoyable it’s been to have him as my teammate in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, it’s also fun to put him in other games. At the end of the day, the whole point of gaming is to have fun, and while I am a sim head, imagination, recurring characters, and running gags make basketball games enjoyable; they don’t always have to be serious business! Besides, as far as worlds are concerned, the Terry Hanson Multiverse is far more exciting than The City or The Neighborhood.
The post Monday Tip-Off: The Terry Hanson Multiverse appeared first on NLSC.