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 ways that MyCAREER has impacted other modes of play in the NBA 2K series.

MyCAREER remains one of NBA 2K’s most popular modes along with MyTEAM. To that point, both modes inspire weird tribalism between factions of NBA 2K gamers, with ardent fans of MyCAREER insisting that no one plays MyTEAM, while MyTEAM diehards claim that no one is playing MyCAREER or its connected modes. I know, I know; it’s not meant to be taken literally. It’s just a passive-aggressive way of declaring support for your chosen mode, and mocking people who play something else for choosing “incorrectly”. Honestly though, that’s no better!

Besides, even if you don’t play MyCAREER – and as someone who grew weary of the grind, that’s completely understandable – it’s still relevant to what you play in NBA 2K. From integrated content to gameplay design, what happens in MyCAREER has an effect on other modes. While that sounds bad – and in some cases it certainly may be undesirable – MyCAREER and its connected modes can positively impact the rest of the game. Other times, it’s a fairly inconsequential detail, or a fun Easter egg. And yes, the integration between MyCAREER and other modes can even be mutually beneficial! Here are five examples of MyCAREER having a far-reaching impact.

1. Coach Brubaker is Everywhere in NBA 2K17

If you haven’t played MyCAREER in NBA 2K17, then you may not know Coach Brubaker by name. However, you’ll definitely recognise him, as he’s the fictional assistant coach that talks to players during timeouts. While it makes sense that he goes wherever Pres does in MyCAREER seeing as how he’s a major supporting character in the story, he shouldn’t be showing up in “regular” gameplay, i.e. MyLEAGUE and Play Now games. And yet, there he is, a fictional element inserted into modes that are meant to realistically reflect the current NBA and its rosters. For that matter, Coach Brubaker will even appear on the sidelines when playing with the classic teams!

Now, for the most part, it’s a minor distraction. Most of us skip through timeouts or are too busy making changes in the coaching options, so we don’t have to pay too much attention to him. Nevertheless, the cutscene of him calling for attention as he prepares to talk to the team is unskippable, so it does waste some time that adds up over the course of many games. It was a questionable design choice to have him show up outside of MyCAREER, as being a fictional character detracts from any immersion they were aiming for. With that being said, I’m still trying to trigger his “You’re my Jordan, and you’re my Pippen” line while using one of the retro Chicago Bulls teams.

2. Our MyPLAYERs Became MyTEAM Cards

Many years ago, I actually mentioned that having a card for our MyPLAYERs in MyTEAM would be a fun idea. I’m not trying to take credit for the concept – I’m sure that plenty of people suggested it, and I guarantee that I wasn’t the first – but I got a kick out of seeing it become a reality. With MyCAREER and MyTEAM being the most popular modes in NBA 2K, it certainly made sense to implement some crossover content. Similarly, it’s logical that both modes share the same progression system for seasonal content nowadays, though sadly it’s also introduced Season Passes to modes that were already hampered by greedy microtransactions and pay-to-enjoy mechanics.

Anyway, the ability to use a MyPLAYER outside of MyCAREER is a novelty that I’m all for. We used to be able to play with our MyPLAYER in Blacktop, though it was a generic version of them. The MyPLAYER card in MyTEAM is admittedly much the same, being capped at 80 Overall with generic ratings and Badges for your chosen position and build. It makes sense given how OP our MyPLAYERs become, but considering the OP cards in MyTEAM that we have a slim chance of obtaining for a premium price…well, I don’t believe that game balance is the only motivation here! All cynicism aside however, I do still like the idea of MyPLAYERs in MyTEAM.

3. Improved Face Creation

Once NBA 2K introduced the ability to scan our faces to use in MyCAREER and its connected modes, many gamers took advantage of that, me included. Well, when I could actually get it to work, anyway; I’ve had far more success with NBA Live’s companion apps over the years. Not everyone wanted to go the trouble of scanning in their face of course, or perhaps they simply preferred to create a fictional avatar. If that was the case, then you could simply sculpt a custom face using the same tools that were available in the regular Create-a-Player function. Mind you, that brings us to a drawback that has plagued basketball and other sports video games for decades.

In short, created players have often stuck out like a sore thumb because their faces aren’t nearly as detailed or realistic as original players. Even with some respectably deep options as far as hairstyles, facial hair, and model sculpting, it was difficult to create a player that blended in (and in many cases, didn’t look like a Neanderthal). I won’t say that NBA 2K now has the best face creation options in gaming, but the new base faces and creation options they added in NBA 2K19 were a huge improvement. Those enhanced face creation tools for MyPLAYERs are also available when creating regular players in custom rosters, so they thankfully don’t just benefit MyCAREER.

4. Rewards in The Jordan Challenge 2.0

Back in 2019, I was sceptical about the possibility of a historical mode like The Jordan Challenge ever returning. It’s becoming less fashionable to celebrate NBA history, and such a mode isn’t likely to generate recurrent revenue like MyCAREER and MyTEAM do, making it less appealing to the suits. If nothing else, what possible incentive and reward do you provide gamers with for completing the mode? Well, how about MyCAREER and MyTEAM content that you can only get by beating the new version of The Jordan Challenge and succeeding at all of the objectives? That’s what they did, and from what I saw, those rewards did get people playing the mode.

I suppose in that respect, The Jordan Challenge 2.0 in NBA 2K23 also impacted MyCAREER (and MyTEAM) by providing a means of unlocking content. However, I’d suggest that the integration of the modes via those unlockables encouraged long-time MyCAREER gamers who normally avoid “traditional” gameplay or using the historical content to change their habits, if only for as long as it took to obtain those rewards. The same goes for Mamba Moments in NBA 2K24, which also offered some exclusive rewards for completing the mode and succeeding at all of the objectives. I expect that this approach will work for any future historical challenge modes as well.

5. MyCAREER & Its Connected Modes Now Drive Gameplay Design

So, most of the ways that MyCAREER has impacted other modes in NBA 2K has been beneficial, or in the case of Coach Brubaker, largely benign. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the way that MyCAREER impacts gameplay design, especially its connected modes. For several years now, it feels as though most of the changes and attempted innovations with gameplay are focused on meta-gaming with player builds, and mechanics that appeal to competitive online gamers. The popularity of those modes certainly does demand that they receive adequate attention, but focusing on the online scene has led to design choices that negatively impact offline gameplay.

Mechanics such as Takeover appeal to online gamers who are obsessed with meta-gaming and the boosts that will aid in conquering the competition, but they’re at odds with realistic sim gameplay. Shot aiming and other mechanics based on the notion of a “skill gap” may be desirable in competitive online play, but make offline and local multiplayer less fun and accessible, while giving the CPU – which can react faster than a human and tilt the balance to be more challenging when it needs to – an unfair advantage. Then again, it’s also rendered the online scene a toxic mess, ridden with elitism and gatekeeping. There’s a reason that I’ve gravitated towards older games.

What’s your take on these ripple effects that MyCAREER has had on NBA 2K at large? How else has MyCAREER impacted other modes, for better or worse? 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 Ways MyCAREER Impacted Other Modes appeared first on NLSC.