djwill13
06-25-2004, 03:12 PM
i got this from another site, so i didn't post the link
The following questions only deal with ONLINE portion of the game. There will be another interview that deals with the offline, gameplay and dynasty from Kushmir at a later time. So stay tuned.
1) Any chance we'll see Online dynasties with stat tracking?
Keep in mind that NCAA supports over 100 teams. An online dynasty that supported that many teams would be very, very difficult to coordinate, run, manage, police or maintain. We have different ideas for how we can get the same group play as online dynasty, but those will have to wait until next year.
2) Homefield Advantage is one of the great new features this year, but as a checks and balance, how have you guys chosen to deal with the fact that some players will simply block all challenges with the intention of never playing a road game? How will this be remedied? Perhaps a system where Home field is random but you still get 50% of your games at home?
When you choose the "Play Now" ("Quick Match" on Xbox Live) feature, home versus away is random. When you challenge another player you will always be the home team and the person you challenge will always be the away team. However, if you are the away team and play in a difficult venue, you will be given a bonus multiplier in the ranking formula if you win. So if you want to steal more of your opponent's ranking points, beat him in his own backyard.
3) What incentive is being used to dissuade people who quit or pull the plug excessively?
There are several features we have implemented to discourage quitting. First, we have included the DNF stat (Did Not Finish) which tracks not just quits and disconnects, but punishes you for tournament games you were supposed to play, but did not show up for. We can set up rooms and tournaments were users with a high DNF% cannot even enter. Second, in the Scouting Report screen you can see how often a user quits or disconnects. Third, in the Recent Games screen you can see a guy's last several games. When he quits we show a "Q" and what percentage of the game he quit at. So if you see a Q(98%), you know you've got a quitter who lost in the last few seconds of a game. Fourth, we have implemented a trophy system based on stats, and stats are only recorded if you complete a game -- quitting earns you nothing. Fifth, we have implemented an EA REP system (short for Reputation) which will take into account several details such as DNF%, feedback from other users, reliability, a registered email address and other factors. We hate quitters as much as anyone and have tried to implement many features to discourage quitting and are always looking for more suggestions from the fans.
4) Excessive no-huddle, motion & audibling were abused in NCAA 2004 Online, how are these being rectified?
Madden and NCAA now have the same Fair Play logic which punishes players for certain kinds of play. We also display important stats in the players' Scouting Report, such as no-huddle, hot route, audible percentages and more.
5) Although College Football does tend to be a more "open" game, unconventional gameplay involving things like WRs or RBs at TE and numerous other players out of position (that take advantage of gameplay loopholes) are totally out of bounds, how are these being remedied?
This is something that we're constantly debating as a game team. On one hand, a player should be able to do whatever they like, even if they want to shoot themselves in the foot, on the other hand we're trying to encourage a "natural" game with Fair Play settings and the like. In the end, we feel it is best to affect a player's ratings if he is out of position rather than prevent it outright.
6) Although people abused the Position Subs feature by placing players at unconventional positions, it is invaluable and necessary. Will we see its return? (Without the ability to use unconventional position changes of course)
Again, we don't want to completely tie gamers' hands. We do allow you to rearrange the Depth Chart however you'd like, but if you a put a player wildly out of position, his ratings take a hit and his overall play will be weaker.
7) Sports Games without Roster Updates are essentially dinosaurs as they are essentially outdated after a few weeks (as there is too much flux in sports games) Players like Maurice Clarett ended up not even playing College Football in reality (and Mike Williams status in up-in-the-air this year) and Jason White and Larry Fitzgerald were among the many players who should have benefited from major stats increases (and declines), along with entire teams that should have increased like LSU and USC (not to mention an updated top 25) will we finally see statistical, injury, eligibility and missing player updates this year?
Unfortunately, we cannot offer roster updates due to stipulations from the NCAA.
8) What about limiting unorthodox gameplay that uses calling audibles as a loophole (i.e. audibling a WR to a TE position) how is this being dealt with?
As you mentioned previously, college football is more of a wide open game. There is nothing in the code to prevent unorthodox play such as audibling a WR to the TE position, so we try to discourage the issue by affecting a player's ratings.
9) Will the default Online setting be Heisman or All-American?
All ranked games are played at the All-American difficulty setting, with 5 minute quarters, and Fatigue, Injuries, Fair Play and Home Field Advantage set to ON.
10) What's the status of Major Online glitches like the Audible/Forced disconnect glitch?
Naturally, those glitches, including the audible desync, have been fixed.
11) Will we see the option to see and save Online replays in 2005?
Unfortunately, replays are not possible for us in online because we need the replay buffer memory for other functions, and because of the usability issues of replays. Going into replay could possibly be a griefing tool, so we would have to limit the number of replays, and it gets more complicated from there. We're investigating it for the future, but it will not be possible this year.
12) Repeatedly pulling out and replacing the ethernet/connection cord is a popular tactic to ruin field goal attempts and otherwise generally slow-down gameplay, how is this being dealt with?
Sadly, there is nothing we can do at the game level to combat this. To the game and to the server, it is very difficult to distinguish normal latency from user-generated lag. What we can do is search for a pattern of behavior of some users who show a spike in latency at crucial points. If we discover a pattern of this behavior we can suspend users or ban them outright.
13) What surprise Online goodies are awaiting us in NCAA 2005?
It seems difficult to reveal surprising goodies, and still have them remain surprising! There is one great new mode which will allow gamers to represent their favorite schools on a level playing field. Personally, I'm looking forward to taking Tulane into Death Valley and kicking some Tiger butt .
14) What's the chance we'll ever see a NCAA post production team that will deal with glitches and gameplay loopholes as they are dicovered a la SOCOM?
This is more of a EA SPORTS brand question rather than an NCAA-specific question. This has to do with patching, downloadable content, and possibly executable content. EA has not commented publicly on its stance on patching and can only do so in conjunction with our platform partners, Sony and Microsoft. So with that in mind, I can't really answer this question right now. Sorry.
15) Will we see a way to rate opponents based on how "fair" they play?
The problem with rating opponents' "fairness" is that there seems to be disagreement in the community as to what counts as fair. Is going no-huddle the entire game fair? Is going Ace 5 wide and chucking it up to your Heisman caliber wideout 3 plays in a row fair? Is running up the score online despite the lack of polls or a BCS fair? There are some areas that we all agree are cheese, but it is difficult to arrive at a consensus on what is fair. We do have a Feedback ability which will allow you to provide a report to EA on another player's behavior (both positive and negative). However, if you abuse the Feedback system (calling everyone you lose to a cheater), then we may take action against your account.
16) It seemed "Quits" and "disconnects" were often miscredited, will we see a better system this year?
This year we will have friendly quit, which will allow to players to quit and agree that the game never happened. We will also have Concede Defeat, which, if the other person agrees, will allow you to cry uncle and take your loss without being labeled a quitter (or taking a hit to your DNF%). On the reverse side, you can Offer Mercy if you are pounding your opponent. Those are only available in the right conditions.. Naturally, we will also have the standard Quit option, which will give you a loss, count against your DNF%, and not record your stats. A disconnect will also give you a loss, count even more against your DNF%, and not record your stats. This way (along with features mentioned in #3), we hope to cut down on both disconnects and quits.
The following questions only deal with ONLINE portion of the game. There will be another interview that deals with the offline, gameplay and dynasty from Kushmir at a later time. So stay tuned.
1) Any chance we'll see Online dynasties with stat tracking?
Keep in mind that NCAA supports over 100 teams. An online dynasty that supported that many teams would be very, very difficult to coordinate, run, manage, police or maintain. We have different ideas for how we can get the same group play as online dynasty, but those will have to wait until next year.
2) Homefield Advantage is one of the great new features this year, but as a checks and balance, how have you guys chosen to deal with the fact that some players will simply block all challenges with the intention of never playing a road game? How will this be remedied? Perhaps a system where Home field is random but you still get 50% of your games at home?
When you choose the "Play Now" ("Quick Match" on Xbox Live) feature, home versus away is random. When you challenge another player you will always be the home team and the person you challenge will always be the away team. However, if you are the away team and play in a difficult venue, you will be given a bonus multiplier in the ranking formula if you win. So if you want to steal more of your opponent's ranking points, beat him in his own backyard.
3) What incentive is being used to dissuade people who quit or pull the plug excessively?
There are several features we have implemented to discourage quitting. First, we have included the DNF stat (Did Not Finish) which tracks not just quits and disconnects, but punishes you for tournament games you were supposed to play, but did not show up for. We can set up rooms and tournaments were users with a high DNF% cannot even enter. Second, in the Scouting Report screen you can see how often a user quits or disconnects. Third, in the Recent Games screen you can see a guy's last several games. When he quits we show a "Q" and what percentage of the game he quit at. So if you see a Q(98%), you know you've got a quitter who lost in the last few seconds of a game. Fourth, we have implemented a trophy system based on stats, and stats are only recorded if you complete a game -- quitting earns you nothing. Fifth, we have implemented an EA REP system (short for Reputation) which will take into account several details such as DNF%, feedback from other users, reliability, a registered email address and other factors. We hate quitters as much as anyone and have tried to implement many features to discourage quitting and are always looking for more suggestions from the fans.
4) Excessive no-huddle, motion & audibling were abused in NCAA 2004 Online, how are these being rectified?
Madden and NCAA now have the same Fair Play logic which punishes players for certain kinds of play. We also display important stats in the players' Scouting Report, such as no-huddle, hot route, audible percentages and more.
5) Although College Football does tend to be a more "open" game, unconventional gameplay involving things like WRs or RBs at TE and numerous other players out of position (that take advantage of gameplay loopholes) are totally out of bounds, how are these being remedied?
This is something that we're constantly debating as a game team. On one hand, a player should be able to do whatever they like, even if they want to shoot themselves in the foot, on the other hand we're trying to encourage a "natural" game with Fair Play settings and the like. In the end, we feel it is best to affect a player's ratings if he is out of position rather than prevent it outright.
6) Although people abused the Position Subs feature by placing players at unconventional positions, it is invaluable and necessary. Will we see its return? (Without the ability to use unconventional position changes of course)
Again, we don't want to completely tie gamers' hands. We do allow you to rearrange the Depth Chart however you'd like, but if you a put a player wildly out of position, his ratings take a hit and his overall play will be weaker.
7) Sports Games without Roster Updates are essentially dinosaurs as they are essentially outdated after a few weeks (as there is too much flux in sports games) Players like Maurice Clarett ended up not even playing College Football in reality (and Mike Williams status in up-in-the-air this year) and Jason White and Larry Fitzgerald were among the many players who should have benefited from major stats increases (and declines), along with entire teams that should have increased like LSU and USC (not to mention an updated top 25) will we finally see statistical, injury, eligibility and missing player updates this year?
Unfortunately, we cannot offer roster updates due to stipulations from the NCAA.
8) What about limiting unorthodox gameplay that uses calling audibles as a loophole (i.e. audibling a WR to a TE position) how is this being dealt with?
As you mentioned previously, college football is more of a wide open game. There is nothing in the code to prevent unorthodox play such as audibling a WR to the TE position, so we try to discourage the issue by affecting a player's ratings.
9) Will the default Online setting be Heisman or All-American?
All ranked games are played at the All-American difficulty setting, with 5 minute quarters, and Fatigue, Injuries, Fair Play and Home Field Advantage set to ON.
10) What's the status of Major Online glitches like the Audible/Forced disconnect glitch?
Naturally, those glitches, including the audible desync, have been fixed.
11) Will we see the option to see and save Online replays in 2005?
Unfortunately, replays are not possible for us in online because we need the replay buffer memory for other functions, and because of the usability issues of replays. Going into replay could possibly be a griefing tool, so we would have to limit the number of replays, and it gets more complicated from there. We're investigating it for the future, but it will not be possible this year.
12) Repeatedly pulling out and replacing the ethernet/connection cord is a popular tactic to ruin field goal attempts and otherwise generally slow-down gameplay, how is this being dealt with?
Sadly, there is nothing we can do at the game level to combat this. To the game and to the server, it is very difficult to distinguish normal latency from user-generated lag. What we can do is search for a pattern of behavior of some users who show a spike in latency at crucial points. If we discover a pattern of this behavior we can suspend users or ban them outright.
13) What surprise Online goodies are awaiting us in NCAA 2005?
It seems difficult to reveal surprising goodies, and still have them remain surprising! There is one great new mode which will allow gamers to represent their favorite schools on a level playing field. Personally, I'm looking forward to taking Tulane into Death Valley and kicking some Tiger butt .
14) What's the chance we'll ever see a NCAA post production team that will deal with glitches and gameplay loopholes as they are dicovered a la SOCOM?
This is more of a EA SPORTS brand question rather than an NCAA-specific question. This has to do with patching, downloadable content, and possibly executable content. EA has not commented publicly on its stance on patching and can only do so in conjunction with our platform partners, Sony and Microsoft. So with that in mind, I can't really answer this question right now. Sorry.
15) Will we see a way to rate opponents based on how "fair" they play?
The problem with rating opponents' "fairness" is that there seems to be disagreement in the community as to what counts as fair. Is going no-huddle the entire game fair? Is going Ace 5 wide and chucking it up to your Heisman caliber wideout 3 plays in a row fair? Is running up the score online despite the lack of polls or a BCS fair? There are some areas that we all agree are cheese, but it is difficult to arrive at a consensus on what is fair. We do have a Feedback ability which will allow you to provide a report to EA on another player's behavior (both positive and negative). However, if you abuse the Feedback system (calling everyone you lose to a cheater), then we may take action against your account.
16) It seemed "Quits" and "disconnects" were often miscredited, will we see a better system this year?
This year we will have friendly quit, which will allow to players to quit and agree that the game never happened. We will also have Concede Defeat, which, if the other person agrees, will allow you to cry uncle and take your loss without being labeled a quitter (or taking a hit to your DNF%). On the reverse side, you can Offer Mercy if you are pounding your opponent. Those are only available in the right conditions.. Naturally, we will also have the standard Quit option, which will give you a loss, count against your DNF%, and not record your stats. A disconnect will also give you a loss, count even more against your DNF%, and not record your stats. This way (along with features mentioned in #3), we hope to cut down on both disconnects and quits.