Monday Tip-Off: A Tale of Two Camera Angles
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 some thoughts on the two camera angles that I prefer to use in basketball video games.
As is the case with just about any fandom, the basketball gaming community has had some silly arguments and engaged in ridiculous gatekeeping. Post a fun highlight clip, and someone is bound to sneer that you must be playing on a lower difficulty level. That may or may not be true, but it’s needlessly judgemental when the point of a clip was to show off a cool animation, not to brag about stick skills. However, nothing compares to the ridiculous gatekeeping and elitism surrounding the choice in camera angles. It truly is the most absurd thing to judge other basketball gamers on!
I find the idea of there only being one “correct” choice in camera angles particularly silly as there are actually two that I primarily use, and a couple of others that I also like. Don’t get me wrong; even if there was only one camera angle for me, I wouldn’t consider others to be incorrect, or a sign of ineptitude and source of shame. For that matter, I don’t think that my preference for multiple camera angles makes me better than anyone, either! Indeed, given that there’s a reason basketball gamers prefer a particular view over other camera angles, my approach is arguably the weird one. However, there’s a reason that my basketball gaming is a tale of two camera angles.
Whenever I’m in control of the entire team in a franchise or exhibition game, I prefer to use a broadcast view. Different games have given these views different labels, and there have been additional options from customising the zoom and height to choosing between generic angles and authentic positioning based on TV presentation, such as the ESPN camera in eighth generation NBA Live. When I play career modes, I opt for a baseline view. I prefer MyCAREER Default as it pans up and down the court rather than rotating on a change of possession, and always remains behind my player. If it isn’t available, I’ll choose a similar angle that can provide the same basic experience.
There are reasons why I use two different camera angles depending on the mode I’m playing. When I’m not player-locked in a career mode, I want the presentation during gameplay to resemble a real NBA broadcast. I enjoy the authenticity, but I also feel as though it gives me the best view of all the players. Conversely, the baseline-oriented camera angles that focus on my player feel more comfortable in career modes. I can’t lose track of where I am or who I’m guarding because I’m always on the screen, and it feels more immersive to be controlling my player from what it basically a traditional third-person view. In short, my choice in camera angles suits my needs and purposes.
Switching back and forth between them isn’t an issue. I prefer Absolute to Camera Relative controls, so when it comes to selecting shots or making dribbling moves with the stick, the directions don’t change. Because each angle caters to my preferences for the on-court experience and atmosphere for two specific styles of gameplay, it doesn’t ever get confusing, and I find that I adjust immediately. For me, it’s simply a case of using the right tools for the job; “right” being relative to my preferences and comfort in this case. It probably won’t be a surprise to hear that also I switch back and forth between first and third-person view in Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4!
Incidentally, I have tried using the camera angles the other way around: broadcast for career and online team play modes, and a baseline angle for “traditional” gameplay. I can make it work because I’m accustomed to both camera angles, but it’s definitely not as comfortable or satisfying for me. Obviously it’s not really an issue since I’m able to choose the camera I want in each mode of play, so I’ll only change things up out of curiosity. To that point though, I do sometimes wish I were more comfortable using a broadcast view in MyCAREER, as I’d enjoy the authenticity in the presentation when capturing highlights. As such, I will try switching to that angle every now and again.
Ultimately, I’m inclined to stick with the camera that feels the most advantageous and enjoyable. I just happen to have a different choice depending on whichever mode I’m playing! To that end, when someone says that a particular view provides them with an optimal basketball gaming experience – whatever that may mean for them specifically – I completely understand, even if it’s different to my preference. You’d think that’d be the universal reaction to someone’s preferred camera settings in a basketball game, but it’s a topic that elicits some strong responses. It’d be one thing if it were just surprise at using an unusual or unpopular view, but again, there’s a lot of scornful gatekeeping.
In particular, there’s a bewildering backlash to broadcast camera angles. Considering that the angle has been in basketball games for decades and is attempting to replicate TV presentation – a logical goal in a sim title especially – the notion that it’s the wrong way to play is truly bizarre. It isn’t always clear why a vocal contingent of basketball gamers sneer at TV-style camera angles, but much of it can probably be chalked up to childish “my way is right, your way is wrong” rationale. Occasionally someone might offer more insight, suggesting that baseline angles are better for competitive play (and thus what “real gamers” use), and broadcast views are for novices and/or “old heads”.
Where do you even begin? There’s no reasoning with anyone who believes that their preference is the only correct one, so forget about engaging there. The notion that the broadcast camera is inappropriate or outdated in a sim basketball game is ludicrous, especially since it’s the default setting outside of the career modes. It’s also laughably contradictory to suggest that baseline angles are for real competitors while broadcast cameras are for unskilled gamers, but then claim the former is far more advantageous for competitive play, as that would logically make the latter more challenging! There are some people who mock baseline camera angles too, but it’s not nearly as common.
It’s all about gatekeeping to feel correct and superior, though it’s strange to do so with camera settings of all things! Not that bullying anyone over their sliders or difficulty settings is any better, but at least it makes sense to rate someone’s stick skills on those criteria. I suppose if you have a strong preference for a particular angle, you may not find gameplay highlights from other views to be as aesthetically pleasing. Still, the utter disdain some gamers have for other camera angles – particularly broadcast views – is such a pompous overreaction to differing tastes! As I said, it’s weird that playing a sim title in a way that resembles how we watch real hoops has become a punch line.
Not that such nonsense dissuades me from using my two camera angles of choice, but it is eye-roll-inducing when those comments pop up in response to gameplay videos. Of course, there is something that will encourage me to use a different camera setting: the presence of an isometric angle similar to NBA Live 95. Often labelled something like “Classic Cam” – and for good reason – it’s always a nostalgic temptation. In fact, even though NBA Live 96 PC introduced a selection of cameras including a rather accurate TV-style angle, Classic Cam was the one that I used the most. To paraphrase Grampa Simpson, it was the style at the time, given how fun NBA Live 95 had been!
Unfortunately it’s become rarer to find that isometric view over the years. Admittedly it lost popularity to broadcast and baseline-oriented cameras, and I too am more likely to choose those settings unless I’m playing NBA Live 96 PC, or I’m feeling nostalgic for the isometric view in another game that offers it. NBA Live 16 has a camera that is close to that angle, but it rotates rather than panning up and down. It’s still a nice throwback inspired by the isometric angle, but with the ESPN presentation, I prefer a broadcast-style camera. It speaks to how my gaming preferences have changed since the mid 90s. I either want authentic presentation, or an angle that feels immersive.
There’s nothing wrong with only preferring one camera angle in basketball games. Just as some people have “their” TV show or only like a particular band and not the genre as a whole, gamers have specific and consistent preferences on the virtual hardwood. As I said, the fact that I switch between two different camera angles depending on the mode doesn’t make me more skilled or enlightened than anyone else. It’s only when we insist that our way is the one correct way, and mock perfectly valid choices, that our opinions have become ignorantly arrogant. As with any topic, this toxicity predates online discourse, but social media has made it so much worse.
We’ve become too tribalistic about…well, everything! Too many people are hooked on the high of having their opinions validated by Likes and re-posts, as well as the smug sense of satisfaction when they succeed in dunking on someone else. It’s why we have content creators boldly gatekeeping with elitist and apologist rhetoric. It’s why we have sports media personalities and even athletes picking fights on social media, sending their large following after regular Joes in the hopes of bullying them into silence (or worse). It’s why gamers refuse to support solutions that could cater to everyone’s preference simultaneously, because it means their choice hasn’t “won”.
In that sense, it’s not just about camera preferences in basketball video games. That’s merely one example, a symptom of a larger problem. It speaks to how we can be so needlessly judgemental of each other for valid preferences and low stakes differences of opinion. It demonstrates a desire to turn everything into a contest to be won or lost. It’s dismaying that so many people feel that they must get what they want at someone else’s expense, rather than everyone being happy through choices and compromise. It reveals an unhealthy desire to feel superior to other people and correct in our way of thinking. Once again, social media didn’t start this fire, but it’s sure fanned the flames!
I know, I know. It’s probably “not that deep”, to use a popular phrase these days. Also, many of those comments are coming from much younger gamers who still have some growing up to do, so it should be something I – an older and supposedly more mature person – simply ignore. Of course, that’s easier said than done when you’re a content creator releasing videos! Those comments and that discourse are going to reach you eventually. I’d also argue that when zero-sum thinking prevents us from supporting each other and instead championing billion dollar corporations, the issue is in fact “that deep”. If nothing else, I hate that the loudest voices are often the most childish.
Sadly, it makes you feel like you’re yelling into the wind. And so, basketball gamers wage war over things like camera settings, rather than standing together and having some honest discussions about major gameplay issues; or for that matter, taking a stand against microtransactions and the like. If you care more about which camera someone else is playing on than modes being designed in such a way that they’re less fun unless you spend or mindlessly grind, your priorities are out of order. If you think your preference is the only correct one, frankly, you’re immature. If you believe that broadcast views have no place in a sim game, you may not truly understand the genre!
Again, the toxic discourse isn’t going to discourage me from playing the way I want, and using both of those camera angles as I see fit. I expect that most people feel the same way, rolling their eyes at those comments while sticking with their preference. Nevertheless, let it be said that there’s no objectively correct choice in camera angles, or any other settings. If someone snarkily argues otherwise, it says more about them than it does you. Whether you stick with one camera setting or you switch up angles depending on the mode – or indeed your mood – as long as it works and you’re having fun, that’s what matters. Anyone who can’t see that would do well to adjust their view.
The post Monday Tip-Off: A Tale of Two Camera Angles appeared first on NLSC.