The Rec is utterly woeful this year

[Andrew]

What else is new, right? Still, it's on a whole other level this year, at least on Current Gen. It's always been hit and miss being paired up with randoms, but the amount of clueless, selfish, and toxic players I've encountered in the two months that NBA 2K21 Current Gen has been out seems way higher than in years past.

I just finished what has to be one of the worst, if not the worst, games I've ever played in The Rec:



They were just racing up court and firing threes with the defense draped all over them, ignoring the open man, and standing around on defense. I'd make a joke about it being a great representation of the modern NBA, but that would admittedly be a cynical exaggeration. Whatever gripes I may have with the style of play in recent years, it isn't anywhere near being [i]that[i] bad!

Perhaps the more competent Rec players have recently migrated to Next Gen, but even closer to launch, it felt much worse than in NBA 2K20. Again, The Rec is always going to be hit and miss, but I've never been part of a game quite like that. I could've - and in hindsight, perhaps should've - dashboarded out, but I'll admit to a bile fascination in seeing just how bad it would get; whether they'd realise what they were doing wasn't working, whether they'd start passing and playing defense, and so on. Nope.

It's difficult to suggest a solution here. It's on the userbase in large part, because it's up to us to be good teammates and sporting opponents, but I also believe the games have cultivated the current atmosphere. Toxic players don't get booted for selfish play, so they stick around and ruin games. I'd also suggest that problems with build imbalance, grinding, and so forth, to say nothing of the lack of matchmaking and the restrictive conditions in team Pro-Am, have been a turnoff for the kind of gamers that would make the scene so much better, and I know I'd prefer to play with and against. The numbers have dwindled, and it's mostly the dregs of the online scene that remain.

Unfortunately, there's no easy fix for that. It's unfortunate because I like the idea of jumping on every now and again for a game, but the odds aren't in my favour as far as it being enjoyable. It may be that I have to be one of those people that dashboards early when it becomes apparent most of the squad isn't interested in playing good team basketball, and try getting matched up with another group. Or maybe just sticking to single player MyTEAM. Either way, the scene is a dumpster fire this year, more so than the past couple of years. Truly, utterly woeful.

[jmmontoro]

From the top of my head, I'll say that the problem lies with how VC affects player progress and how badges affect gameplay, and that a vote to kick from game is needed to encourage more basketball.

[cavs4872]

I will never do 5v5 games for this reason... 3v3 is perfect. I've only really had success with my paint beast and can lead the game in scoring without even being passed the ball just from cleanup duty...

And honestly, MyTEAM is so cheese that for my online experience I would literally just revert to Play Now Online until you run into LeBron at point.

[Andrew]

From the top of my head, I'll say that the problem lies with how VC affects player progress and how badges affect gameplay, and that a vote to kick from game is needed to encourage more basketball.

The build system, VC integration, and so forth is definitely a factor. It encourages selfish play because you need to put up stats to grind for VC and Badges. Obviously, the intention is for people to use MyCAREER games for that because who cares if the CPU is upset about its lack of touches, but not everyone wants to play offline, the same way not everyone wants to play online to grind for MyREP to unlock things that shouldn't be locked to begin with (MyCOURT customisation, for example).

I've thought about a vote-to-kick option, as well as the ability to report players. The problem is that those are systems that I could see being abused quite readily, either through trolling or selfishness. I imagine trolls would vote to kick players or report them just for the fun of it, but I could also see groups of friends ganging up on a random who has joined in and giving them the boot for no reason, just because they'd rather have an AI player to ignore. That in turn would make it difficult to get games in The Rec solo, which would defeat the purpose of the mode as it's meant to be there for people who don't have a full squad, or indeed anyone else to play with. With the level of toxicity in the community and the online scene in particular, we sadly can't be trusted with kick and/or report options.

I will never do 5v5 games for this reason... 3v3 is perfect. I've only really had success with my paint beast and can lead the game in scoring without even being passed the ball just from cleanup duty...

And honestly, MyTEAM is so cheese that for my online experience I would literally just revert to Play Now Online until you run into LeBron at point.

I really enjoyed 3v3 Pro-Am in NBA 2K20, playing with Kenny and either zzcoolj21 or Q. I like the 5v5 concept, but the scene isn't what it used to be, and 3v3 was fun for some quick games. Unfortunately Kenny and I haven't had a third on PS4 this year, so we haven't been able to take part in it. Perhaps we'll be able to get something going on PS5.

The only time I bother with MyTEAM online is when I want some extra XP for playing Triple Threat Online. Otherwise, I prefer to stick to the offline/single player side of the mode.

[cavs4872]

Add me on PlayStation and feel free to message me whenever... even though I'm in the States I can be awake at some weird times (it's 4:30 AM for instance); I might be able to join you guys for a game sometime. My PSN is birdman711iffy.

[Andrew]

Sounds good!

[ThePointForward]

I can't help but chuckle that the "update required" message is still there even after years of complaints.

[Andrew]

Oh yeah, that popped up about a minute into the game. After all these years, we can't snooze or dismiss it, or have it not come up until after a game is finished.

[ThaLiveKing]

LOL wow

[Andrew]

Right?

I did actually have a pretty good game yesterday afternoon, though it was still closer than it should've been. It was still quite enjoyable by this year's standards; so much so, I almost want to quit the mode and end on a high note. I would like to create some more content on it and explore the phenomenon of it being so lousy this year, however, so unfortunately I'll probably have to venture in there for more footage if nothing else.

[Andrew]

Further thoughts on the matter, and some suggestions for solutions.

Monday Tip-Off: The Rec Is Garbage, But Who's To Blame?

I have to blunt: The Rec is absolutely woeful this year. Walk-On play has always been a hit-and-miss alternative to team Pro-Am, owing to the all the issues that arise when you play with randoms. It's been particularly toxic and unenjoyable in NBA 2K21, though. Admittedly, I can only speak to my experiences playing on the Australasian server, and I've yet to create a MyPLAYER on Next Gen and jump online. The scene may be a lot better on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, at least in North America. It'd be a low bar to clear, as the mode seems to have hit rock bottom.

While the issues are familiar, the continued decline of The Rec - and it's felt like it's grown even worse since NBA 2K21 Current Gen's launch - raises a few questions. The two most pertinent are "who's to blame", and "how can it be fixed". As you might imagine, the first issue has a significant impact on the second. The answer is quite complicated, and that naturally means the solution isn't easy either. Still, I've been thinking about this a lot in recent weeks. While I am taking a moment to grumble here, I want to turn that into something constructive. If we as a community can identify these issues and suggest solutions, perhaps we can help improve the scene.