Fool the other USER, not the AI, part 1

The Fifth H2H Commandment is simple but important: Demand players fool the other user, NOT the AI.

There's a school of thought in H2H Gaming, that likens the AI to a referee who oversees the game. That it is only the platform and its job is to remain neutral. I've always thought that in sports games, players could use the AI in some form--but never abuse or try to manipulate it. You're matching up with the other player after all. Tactics that force another players linemen to false-start, violate the neutral zone outside their control or make their center bite on every pump fake violate the rules of H2H competition.

The best sports games have counters that allow a match to be a mini-chess game of sorts. They certainly reward timing, but also things like: Sending Shaq to the line for FTs rather than allowing him dunks, or never helping off Klay Thompson. They're also balanced enough that in order to use misdirection like a screen in football or a pump fake in basketball, you have to actually fool the other user.

Not focusing on this user interaction was a critical error Madden made that changed their H2H forever. Misdirection plays require a buy-in of sorts. The other user has to think one thing is coming when its not, an Okey-Doke, if you will. In Madden's case it was play-action. For years PA was unusable, the defense never fell for it and it almost always resulted in automatic sacks. Then they "fixed" it, but instead of creating a system where the defensive user could decide what parts of the offense they wanted to commit to, creating a lane for play-action...instead poor design made it one-size-fits-all and defenders bit on play-action regardless of down/distance, ruining the interaction forever. Back to NBA2K tho, watch the plays below, they're important:

That's the drop-off pass--its a misdirection play that requires fooling the defense as well. Those two plays you see? Almost NEVER happen. Cheesers pass out of shots in situations where it doesn't apply because it fools AI defenders. They contest, leaving the player they're defending wide open for cuts and backdoor plays among other things. See for yourself:

 

 

 

Its a blatant attempt to exploit the AI and has no place in H2H. I didn't realize how bad it was until I recently played a cheeser who did it excessively. The defense shouldn't allow passes like these, but because of the loophole in the AI its possible. Leaving your feet to pass is turnover-prone in the NBA, and it should be in 2K, instead we get this:

 These two are probably the most egregious. First he travels and then jump passes to McGee right next to him, while Embiid (who's in perfect position) jumps to contest and leaves McGee wide open for a layup. Then he passes to avoid this animation where your shot gets blocked.

 

 

Defenders should easily steal or deflect these "passes" not to mention they should lack both velocity and accuracy. And there couldn't be a better way to tier bad passes for turnovers than by having them be the most frequent outcome when users do this. I did it here but actually fooled the user into leaving Amir Johnson wide open. This should be the standard, not jump-passing 20ft from the basket on a jump-shot or to a covered player a few feet away--that should never work. Gameplay should require that these plays trick the other user or do not work at all.