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 times that basketball games genuinely made us feel.

Great works of art and entertainment make us feel something, no matter the medium. Admittedly, when it comes to basketball video games, what we feel is mostly the joy of victory, the agony of defeat, and the excitement of a spectacular play. Such is the nature of the genre, after all. However, there are times when the virtual hardwood evokes other emotional responses. Story-driven modes, immersive world-building features, and real world tributes, have all managed to hit basketball gamers right in the feels at one time or another.

Personally, I appreciate those moments even if they aren’t necessarily what basketball video games are all about. I enjoy good storytelling in video games, and while those narratives may be more suited to RPGs, open world games, and other genres, there’s a place for compelling tales in hoops titles as well. As for tributes and memorials, they help us to celebrate, mourn, and feel connected. They may not be essential ingredients – at the end of the day, games that provide an outstanding basketball experience are the ones we’re most fond of – but I’d still like to acknowledge the moments that made us feel, either through artistic expression, or a heart-warming display of humanity.

1. Social Media Nonsense in MyCAREER (Several Games)

Immersion is vital to our enjoyment of franchise and career modes. Quite often it’s the little touches that make us feel immersed and emotionally invested in the experience. Strange as it may sound, the social media feed in MyCAREER – basically a stand-in for Twitter/X – has definitely served that purpose for me. Whoever is behind the posts, both positive and negative, has nailed the tone of social media. From overenthusiastic virtual posts by what we’d now call “Stan Accounts”, to ridiculous takes from haters, to trash talk and challenges from opponents, it’s entertainingly accurate. And, despite it somehow being even phonier than real social media, I’ll admit to taking it seriously!

For example, when I was first getting into MyCAREER in NBA 2K13, I discovered that getting at least ten points, three assists, and three rebounds would avoid being scolded or jeered at for a subpar performance in those statistical categories. As such, I have an ingrained habit of making sure that I always best those figures! It’s silly to feel pressure to avoid scorn from fake profiles on a fictional in-game social media feed, but nevertheless, that’s the minimal target in the back of my mind every game. It’s also ridiculous that every player is held to the same statistical standard regardless of position or role, but I do enjoy how that represents the terrible takes we often see.

2. Losing Your Biggest Fan in The Long Shadow (NBA 2K21)

I’ve come to enjoy MyCAREER stories despite still having my criticisms of them, as the best ones have all hit the right emotional notes. Whether it’s a desire for revenge on an antagonist who slighted my player, annoyance and frustration in the face of injustice, envy of another character getting all the adulation, or revelling in triumph, some of the stories have absolutely made me feel something. To that end, there’s a moment in NBA 2K21’s “The Long Shadow” involving Archie Baldwin – a teammate and friend of Junior’s late father who becomes his agent and advisor  – that got me. The twist of the knife comes if you decide to ditch him in favour of a big name agent.

Throughout the story, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop with Archie. Given that previous MyPLAYERs have been betrayed in their stories, I was expecting that he’d turn out to have ulterior motives, or somehow screw Junior over. Nope! Archie was just a well-meaning family friend who overstepped a few times, but was genuinely trying to do right by Junior. And so, when you do fire him – after being given a chance to change your mind, no less – the camera lingers on his face as the “fans gained/lost” pop-up appears, announcing “-1 fan”. It’s kind of unfair of Archie, but nevertheless, throwing that detail in there really made me feel like a heel for making that choice!

3. A Friendship is Tested in The One (NBA Live 18)

There was a time when I thought that I was completely done with MyCAREER and career modes. As it turns out, it was the painful grind and toxic online scene that I was fed up with. My ongoing NBA 2K14 MyCAREER continues to be a blast, it was fun to play through NBA 2K15’s mode at long last, and I greatly enjoyed diving into 24/7 all these years later. And of course, I ended up getting hooked on the Pro-Am Tour in The One during my extended NBA Live 18 kick. The change of pace of playing pick-up games in famous pro-am leagues and venues was a major factor, but I was also drawn into the story involving our player – the “Comeback Kid” – and Nick Howard.

During “The Rise”, these former college teammates – dubbed the “Hype Brothers” – set out to conquer The Streets. The Comeback Kid makes it to The League, and the story in the Pro-Am Tour picks up with Nick asking his friend to help him get a shot at the big time as well. A series of mishaps and miscommunication leads to a rift that is ultimately resolved. Before the happy ending though, there are some utterly brutal conversations over text. Those messages from Nick, full of passive-aggressive replies and lashing out in anger, perfectly captured a falling out between friends. It made a fictional quarrel feel very real, and the eventual reconciliation all the more cathartic.

4. Kobe Bryant Tribute Pop-Up (NBA 2K20)

It’s an extremely cliché and unoriginal statement I know, but Kobe Bryant’s tragic accident still doesn’t feel real at times. I’m sure I’m not the only person who saw the tributes appear on social media, and immediately rushed to find out what happened. The news was naturally followed by an outpouring of grief and tributes, with teams intentionally picking up eight-seconds-in-the-half and 24-second shot clock violations in reference to his jersey numbers. Similar tributes were made in NBA 2K online, though the scene being what it is, some unsporting people took advantage of it. An in memoriam pop-up honouring Kobe also began appearing upon firing up NBA 2K20.

Look, some might find it corny or pandering, especially those who sneer at the idea of caring when a famous person you don’t know personally passes away. However, I’ve always found that to be a pseudo-intellectual mindset from people who confuse a lack of empathy and humanity with superior intelligence. There’s wisdom in not placing celebrities and athletes on a pedestal of course, but their work does mean something to us, so it’s only natural to feel sadness and a sense of loss; especially when there are tragic circumstances. That pop-up in NBA 2K20 may have been a small and fairly standard gesture, but a welcome one as the basketball world mourned the Mamba.

5. Hank Warner Summer Circuit Tribute (NBA Live 16)

Much like episodes of TV shows, movies, albums, and other entertainment media, video games have included dedications and tributes to people who worked on them. Obviously tragedies like Kobe’s accident grab headlines and inspire tributes such as the aforementioned in memoriam pop-up in NBA 2K20, but it’s also nice when the unsung heroes behind the scenes are remembered when they pass away. To that point, when the Margaret Hie Din Ling venue was added to LIVE Pro-Am in NBA Live 16, one of the squads featured a player named Hank Warner. A 98 Overall “all-around technician”, he was based on Henry “Hank” Warner Jr., a member of the QA team.

As then-executive producer Sean O’Brien recalled, since joining EA Sports in 2010, Hank had become a beloved member of the team known for his infectious laugh and a true passion for both basketball and video games. Sadly, he passed away in September 2015 at the age of 35, as the result of an irregular heartbeat. The developers decided to pay tribute to Hank by putting him in a game that he’d worked on, making him the boss character of the Level 3 game in the Margaret Hie Din Ling tournament. As one of his colleagues at EA Tiburon put it, “his soul was already in there…we just added the likeness”. While it’s still a sad situation, that was a beautiful sentiment and tribute.

What was your reaction to these moments, if you’re familiar with them? What are some of the moments in basketball video games that tugged at your heartstrings or otherwise made you feel something? 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 Times Basketball Games Made Us Feel appeared first on NLSC.