EA is getting the player aging wrong

[Chris_23]

Ive always tried to figure why does EA degrade its players so rapidly as they begin to age. They become as somewhat useful, but still different from how it flows in real life.

It has been most apparent in previous NBA Lives when you look back at them. Aka how older players from that time degraded in your dynasty, and comparing them how they degraded in real life up to now. Players like Robinson and Mutombo degraded real fast, but in real life Robinson retired as champion, and Mutombo is still an impressive player in many levels nowadays.

Then theres this MJ factor, which really made me realize where EA is aiming wrong. Almost 39 years old, the man scored 51 points. Also many other 40 point games being 38-40 years old. But his average was around 20. Michael didnt score past 50 during his last Bulls season even, but if you look and compare the game-to-game statistics then everybody notices the instability. Some game the man posted great numbers, in others he didnt. Yes stamina is a factor, but also this stability, which is missing from current Live games. Players who are young and good can go on night after night scoring good numbers, but players who are older have less and less of these shining perfomances. Aka not constantly average perfomances, but some good perfomances mixed with average and low perfomances.

It was also discussed someplace that theres this biorythm thing or something, aka getting the player hot in some games or situations or thanks to crowd, or getting them cold. This too should be in the game.

Stability is an important rating thats missing from Live, and up until its included we sadly wont be seeing older players doing real hilight things. Its not just about Jordan, we saw Stoudemire shining recently and there are others, but nevertheless it remains. Another thing Id also like very much is the rapid change of player development. I dont care how disappointed a player can be if he sees his star degrading into average player and young age with few seasons. It happens in real life. Also Id like to see injuries affecting player development (more serious ones).

Though these may get too much into this simulation level EA may not be after, but stability as such should still be there. Wishlist is sent and Im not sure if such a thing was mentioned in it, but I just figured such a factor is worth discussing.

[ludacris06]

EA should just have a consistency rating. The older a player gets, the less consistent they are.

[MaD_hAND1e]

Also, younger players who are 18-22 should have low consistency ratings in most cases.

[Andrew]

There are some ratings that shouldn't decline, or at least decline so rapidly. The physical/athletic attributes such as stamina, jumping, speed and quickness should naturally decline as a player heads into his 30s and certainly as he approaches his 40s. However, their Awareness ratings shouldn't decline, they might even continue to improve throughout a player's career, reflecting his experience. Similarly, shooting ratings shouldn't go down too much. Reggie Miller might not be the #1 option in Indiana these days but he still knows how to shoot.

[Metsis]

Yeah, the aging process is something that EA isn't implementing too well... The game would need some new stuff to implement it correctly...

The ratings decline/should not decline thing is one aspect of it, but when a player starts to decline there should be some encouraging factors that would possibly want you to keep the player instead of just trading him away like cattle. The older players should act as coaches and leaders for a team and if they can't perform that well on the court any more they would bring their effort into the dressing room to get guys excited about games and just generally lifting moods of team mates... And older guys should have some impact on the progress of younger players... Who knows if Tim Duncan would be the player he is today if it wasn't for David Robinson's guidance... What I mean is that if you have a good veteran guard your guards should get some pointers off of him and show some improvement due to it... There should be two stats for this... Leadership and Coaching... Leadership would effect the day-to-day condition of players and Coaching would effect how good is the player at passing along his skills to the young and inexperienced people...

So you could get a teacher for that 7'3" rookie center you just picked up in the draft by getting an old veteran center to pass along his skills with a high Coaching skill.

These two skills should increase with experience regularly, but not for everyone as not everyone can become good teachers and good leaders... So those guys could be coveted too. Like getting Duncan at the age of 38 with the overall of 52 could be a valuable asset to a team filled with young big guys to teach... You would actually want to take him off the free agent pool!?!?! Which isn't even an option now.

It would be so nice for the veteran players to have value even after their ratings go down... Consistency is one of the things I've been going on about on these boards from time to time...

But guys... There is some modifier in the game for 'day-to-day' performance... So some guys are hotter in some games and colder in some... I have witnessed this in Live 2005 as I had one guy, who usually scores about 15 points, explode for 37 in one game. He just couldn't miss and it was great... Then in other games some guys just can't seem to hit that open jumper even when they should... It's in there... Consistency value would be a great addition as it would tell you if the players game fluctuates over time alot or a little... There is some of this already in there, but bringing it more up would be nice...

[allamerican08]

I think your wrong about that, doing what u suggestion will only complicate matters.
All EA is doing is simulationg their performace. True Reggie is better shooter then T-mac, but if they would continuesly impove REggie's shot then the USER would use him constantly as his primary option. In real Life Reggie scores 12ppg, then his rating will allow him somewhere in that area, as he gets older then he will score less. In the case of MJ, well then, he is one in a generation or more.

There are several factors which should encourage you to keep ur vets.
1. Unlike in the past Live's you can't just sight a FA if u dont have $$$
2. Ur vets are alot more well rounded then some rookie who is undrafted
3. U cant trade them off as easily!!

[Metsis]

I think your wrong about that, doing what u suggestion will only complicate matters.
All EA is doing is simulationg their performace. True Reggie is better shooter then T-mac, but if they would continuesly impove REggie's shot then the USER would use him constantly as his primary option. In real Life Reggie scores 12ppg, then his rating will allow him somewhere in that area, as he gets older then he will score less. In the case of MJ, well then, he is one in a generation or more.

First off... Reggie Miller should not improve his shot as he gets closer to 40... That's a fact and you pointing that out is just bad for you... You are really exposing holes in your thinking. Who said that the shot should improve when you age from 35-40 years??? We are just saying that the dead eye touch from downtown really doesn't go away... So the stat really shouldn't go down that much. Second no rating in the world can effect what you do as a player... You can play Indiana and score all your points with Jeff Foster, you'd lose, but there's nothing that can stop you from doing that. Nothing in the game can accomplish that. During the time when JO, Stephen and Ron-Ron were suspended Reggie lighted up the score board. So he's still got the skill. Only thing that could prevent you from doing majority of your scoring with a 45 year old auntie is STAMINA... The guy needs to sit for longer periods and can play shorter shifts and this should be the main effect of the aging. Also lowering the physical attributes like speed, quikness and jumping to start with. But don't think that Reggie can't score. He's at a point in his career that he doesn't have to score 25 points per game as he has good help in the scoring department, so he only does 12 with the minutes he's given. Have you calculated what he would score if he played 40 minutes? I don't think so, I haven't either, but 20-25 would probably be pretty close.

There are several factors which should encourage you to keep ur vets.
1. Unlike in the past Live's you can't just sight a FA if u dont have $$$
2. Ur vets are alot more well rounded then some rookie who is undrafted
3. U cant trade them off as easily!!

Factors that should encourage you to keep your vets... If you have a vet that does not earn playing time and you can't trade him, he's making room for someone younger on my roster... There's no point in dragging him along to fill your roster. I'd just release him and I believe most of us would, but if Reggie would give some bonuses on the Guard development I'd keep him...

There's like nothing good and right about your post 'allamerican08'... Get real...