Monday Tip-Off: An Appreciation For MyCAREER Stories
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 reflections on developing more of an appreciation for MyCAREER stories over the years.
I’ll admit that as a creature of habit, I can be resistant to change. I’d like to think that I’ve grown in that regard. For example, I’m no longer the really picky eater I was as a kid! When it comes to basketball video games, I’ve come to enjoy a number of titles that left a poor first impression, and modes that I never thought I’d be interested in. What still bothers me though is change for change’s sake, or any changes where the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. I think we can all relate to the frustration of having something we really like being drastically changed in a way we didn’t want or ask for.
That brings me to MyCAREER, and the stories that the mode has featured since 2013. Originally, I had no interest in the mode. I was a franchise gamer, after all! However, just as I overcame picky eating habits by deciding to try new cuisine, I came to enjoy MyCAREER after giving it a proper shot in NBA 2K13. A year and a new generation of consoles later, the mode introduced a narrative-driven approach, and I felt that it took away from an experience that I was now enthusiastic about. As such, I’ve been critical of MyCAREER stories, yet also fascinated by them. Now that I’ve finished all of the stories up to NBA 2K20, I now appreciate what they’ve meant for the mode.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t have my criticisms. Some of the MyCAREER stories have impacted the gameplay in a way that’s interesting and creative, but not necessarily desirable. Predetermined scenarios can feel phoney and contrived, and a couple of the stories have drastically shortened our rookie season. The writing and story concepts have been hit and miss. Characters that I was meant to feel sorry for have come across as unsympathetic, and some of the plots have felt amateurish; more like bad fan-fiction than a well-crafted cinematic tale. There have been times when I’ve wished there weren’t any stories, as in the original My Player/MyCAREER.
With that being said, I can’t say that stories have prevented me from having a blast with MyCAREER in several games now. It helps that the stories are basically over after your rookie season, or conclude with our arrival in the league, but I’ve also come to enjoy the flavour that they add to the mode. Yes, some of the writing and acting is corny, but sometimes that can be oddly charming! I think back to the endings for Mortal Kombat 4, with their cheesy dialogue and awkward delivery. Are they a good example of the potential that video games had as a storytelling medium? Not at all, but they’re entertaining and memorable in their own way, which is what matters.
To that end, I can point out plot holes and ironic moments in MyCAREER stories, but it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them, especially the better ones. I can note how most of the NBA players who were mentors in NBA 2K15 turned in terrible performances, but it was worth it for the (presumably) unintentional humour. I’ll eagerly make jokes about B-Fresh, or the heavy-handed and undermined message of NBA 2K20’s “When The Lights Are Brightest“, or how the NBA 2K15 MyPLAYER is kind of a jerk, but I’m far from steaming mad about any of it. Alright, there are moments that induce an eye-roll or two, but I don’t regret playing through all of those MyCAREER stories!
Furthermore, while I’ll stand by some of my criticisms, I do have to retract some of the reductive snark I’ve thrown out there over the years. When it was revealed that NBA 2K14 MyCAREER would have a cinematic story, I scoffed at the line in the introductory scene wherein our avatar claims “ain’t gonna let nobody write it, but me” in regards to his story. Considering the predetermined and unavoidable story beats as we step into his shoes, that always struck me as ironic! It still does, but when I finally gave the mode a chance, the railroading wasn’t as bad as I’d believed. The gameplay has been captivating, and indeed, that quote has become the title of my story topic.
Although there were drawbacks to abbreviating our rookie season in the NBA 2K15 and NBA 2K16 MyCAREER stories, I respect the willingness to try something new. After several years of the Rookie Showcase, NBA Draft, and proving our worth as a first round pick, going undrafted, latching on with a 10-day contract, and becoming an unlikely success story, was a creative change. Fully leaning into a cinematic story and collaborating with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee in NBA 2K16 explored what was possible in combining immersive storytelling with a career mode in a basketball game. I can appreciate the effort, even if I don’t like of all the results.
Once again, I stand by my prior criticisms regarding limiting the amount of gameplay in our rookie year, railroading the narrative, making characters far less sympathetic than they should be, and in the case of “Livin’ Da Dream“, giving the player character too specific of a background for an RPG-based mode. They weren’t necessarily the best choices, and the fact that future MyCAREER stories avoided those pitfalls by finding a better way to implement those concepts speaks volumes. Nevertheless, I now have more of an appreciation for the creative risks they took, while still keeping the underlying career mode experience intact…even if it didn’t kick in until Year 2!
I also appreciate the challenge that the producers of MyCAREER are facing when it comes to stories. After all, they’re naturally restricted by the fact that every tale that’s about a player’s journey to the NBA needs to end with them achieving their dream, while any story that involves overcoming some challenge after making it to the league also needs to have a happy ending. As the variety of MyCAREER stories we’ve seen to date demonstrates, there are definitely different tales that can be told, but when all roads lead to the same destination, you’ve got to find ways to make the journey unique and engaging. With the different topics they’ve tackled, they’ve managed to do that.
I’d also suggest that the best MyCAREER stories have achieved an excellent balance between gameplay and narrative. It’s not perfect, of course. There will be times when the story doesn’t quite match up to what’s been happening on the court, while the on-court experience will also seemingly ignore the developments of the cutscenes. That’s not always a bad thing though, and in the best case scenario, it’s allowed the stories to be an entertaining backdrop as you play through the season. Granted, you could argue it proves that cinematic stories aren’t entirely compatible with MyCAREER, but even in games like Grand Theft Auto and Fallout, there’s gameplay and story segregation.
Returning to my earlier comparison to being a picky eater and a creature of habit that can be averse to change, I can’t deny that I wrote off MyCAREER stories too readily and without playing through them first. Sure, some of my critiques were on the mark, but I underestimated how enjoyable the concept could be; at least when it’s done well. I needed to let go of some preconceived notions and give them a proper chance. If nothing else, having played through them, I’m can speak on MyCAREER stories with authority, whether it’s positive or negative. Like food that I once balked at, I’ve found things that I do like, and confirmed that there are things I definitely still don’t care for.
As I’ve gotten older and played more games, read more books, and watched more TV shows and movies – and certainly as I’ve tried my hand at creative endeavours – I’ve re-evaluated how I approach criticism. I’m reminded of the late Roger Ebert’s ability to judge films by how well they succeeded at their goals. In other words, evaluating something according to what it is, as opposed to what we think it should be. We often see this with endings of TV shows that are considered bad or disappointing. If it’s not the ending that we wanted, and especially if it debunks our predictions and theories, we declare it to be bad. It may well be, but sometimes it’s just not what we imagined.
Obviously personal taste is a factor in judging anything, but I also believe that stories need to be told as the people telling them intended, and then evaluated on how well they execute that vision. It’s trickier with video games because of their interactive nature, but we can still draw a line between “bad/poorly designed” and “just not for me”. While there are drawbacks to having stories in MyCAREER, we’re beyond the point of whether or not they should be in the game. That’s still a valid question, but since they’re now a staple of MyCAREER, it’s about how good those stories are, and how they impact the experience. They’re here to stay, so they need to be enjoyable!
It was concerning when MyCAREER stories were first revealed, but ultimately, they haven’t been anywhere near as destructive to the mode as other features that we could name. Pushy recurrent revenue mechanics, the introduction of MMORPG elements, and an always-online requirement that killed offline MyCAREER, are much bigger problems than stories that can be kind of cheesy. They once felt like a change that few people were asking for, but at this point, they’ve been the norm longer than NBA 2K’s original approach to a career mode. Again, we can argue whether or not it should’ve become normalised, but at this point, it’s far from my biggest issue with MyCAREER.
Indeed, I have an appreciation and even affection for MyCAREER stories. As much as I enjoyed the minimalist approach to a story in NBA Live 18’s The One, I did kind of miss the depth of NBA 2K’s tales! I believe that it’s vital to be able to skip stories in MyCAREER, and certainly wise to not make them too intrusive, but I don’t know that I’d advocate for their removal as I once might have. Some tales have been much better than others, and they haven’t always meshed well with gameplay, but they’ve held my attention, and been fascinating to dissect and discuss. I’ll always criticise it as I see fit, but I won’t deny that the story-driven approach has made career play more interesting.
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