Sim style Gamplay ..... (Sim style for the guys who don't know what cheese is)

[newmoon]

This Was Originally posted by Flipshouse in 2004 and I'll be ****** if it doesn't still apply
if you ask yourself am I a cheeser the answers are in here



Everybody talks about sim play; just about every league out there boasts that it’s geared toward sim style. People accuse other players of “cheese” all the time. Rarely, though, is sim play defined. I’m going to take a little bit of time to give my interpretation of what “All-Sim” means to me, then explain why it’s a style of play that gives you the most enjoyment out of this game. Again, this is obviously just my opinion, but I think the majority of people would agree with me on most points.


What is Sim Gameplay?

Simply enough, it means playing the videogame like the real sport that it represents. It means not taking advantage of obvious flaws in the AI. It means controlling the game yourself, and not allowing the computer to play the other player. Probably most importantly, it means playing with variety.


The Ideal Perfect Sim Player

I’m going to describe what the ideal “All Sim” player would play. I’m not going to get into particular strategies, because there’s an unlimited number of ways you can play, and still be considered “All Sim”.

Defense
* Controls the defender on the ball
A sim style player almost always is controlling the defender on the ball. Why? Because you’re playing head to head against another person, how you do on defense should depend on how well YOU play defense, not how well the CPU can guard the other player. The ball is where the action is….that’s where you, the gamer, should want to be playing. If you’re playing away from the ball, that just leads to dirty gameplay habits (which I’ll discuss later) anyhow. Besides, anyone who actually D’s up on the ball will tell you that a steal or a charge that YOU actually control is so much more gratifying than anything you can watch the CPU do for you.

* Plays at least some man-to-man
All legit players play at least a portion of the game in man-to-man defense. Why? Well, have you ever seen an actual NBA game where the team didn’t play at least half the game in man-to-man? It just doesn’t happen, even “zone” teams in the NBA still play the majority of the game straight up man defense. There’s another reason for this as well. For some reason, the plays in NBA 2K5 just don’t work against zones. I don’t mean they’re not effective….I mean there’s an error with the AI, and most of the times the players won’t behave like they’re supposed to according to the play called. In fact, most of the time, they’ll just sit there. I’m not saying it’s necessary to play the whole game in man to man, but if you’re truly a sim player, man to man should be part of your repertoire.

* Doesn’t abuse double teaming
A straight up sim player will almost never double team anybody ALWAYS. Double teams are obviously part of basketball, but there’s a limit to how much they can be used. It’s pretty obvious when somebody is abusing double teams. Honestly, double teams aren’t inherently bad, what makes them dirty is when the defense allows the CPU defenders to handle the ball, while the human controlled player roams for the steal (Again, something I’ll bring up again later).

* Pressuring inbounds
This isn’t that big of a deal, but it’s definitely something that bothers me. Playing a sim style game means that you’re not going to inbound the ball directly under the hoop (another thing I’ll touch on in a bit), so I get a little upset when someone pressures the inbound and attempt a steal (I’m speaking of inbounds from half court, after a foul or out of bounds). Essentially, they are pressuring you to inbound toward the hoop….which they really don’t want, and I can guarantee they would accuse you of cheesy gameplay if you did. As a side note, all cheese can be beaten, it just requires that you stretch your gameplay a little to the cheesy side yourself. That’s why I consider this poor gameplay, it punishes you for playing straight up, and forces you to inbound toward the hoop, which is a huge no-no. A legit player would recognize he is playing a sim player and allow the inbound to the pg in the backcourt without denying him the ball. Like I said, this is kind of being picky, but after all, I am describing the ideal sim player.

Offense
* Passes the ball and runs an offense
All sim players out there actually run an offense that either involves exploiting mismatches or relies on using ball movement to get the defense out of position. Why? Because that’s what basketball is all about. It shows that you not only have skill at pushing the buttons, but also have at least some knowledge of what makes for “good” basketball.

* Spreads the ball around
A true sim gamer doesn’t just go to one or two players all game long. That just doesn’t happen in real life. In a real game, almost every player on the court gets a chance to be part of the offense at some time. I realize that there are dominant performances by superstars from time to time, but there is nothing even close to what most “No Sim” gamers out there play like. Take for example, just last night, Lebron went off for 56 pts, while the Cavs only put up 98 points for the game. Lebron had 36 shot attempts in that game and while that seems like quite a bit, the team had 81 attempts total. So, even on a completely dominant game by Lebron, he still took well under 50% of the shots. A true sim player remembers who his superstars are and gives them the most looks, but still remembers that this is a five player game.

* Variety in shots
The shot chart is the true gauge of an “All Sim” baler (at least on the offensive end). A legit player takes shots from a variety of locations….including a mix of 3’s, shots in the paint, and the oh-so-rare midrange game. A sim player doesn’t just jack up 3’s, nor does he just pound it to his bigs on the inside….a decent player does both, but a truly sim player will shoot with a decent player wherever they can get an open shot, including some shots that are neither 3’s or dunks (midrange).

* Inbounds to the pg in a realistic location
Sim players never inbound the ball all the way down court. It takes advantage of an AI flaw that apparently doesn’t let you steal inbound passes. A straight up player will actually move his pg back toward the inbounder and receive the ball below the free throw line the majority of the time. I shouldn’t even have to talk about inbounding the ball directly under the hoop after a foul, timeout, or any dead ball past half court…..anyone caught pulling this is immediately known as a dirty player.

Team Selection
It isn’t always the case, but normally, the truly “All Sim” players will play with lesser teams. Why? Because they play enough to get sick of the same powerhouse teams over and over, and they also realize that the team’s rankings aren’t as important as how you use them. Like I said, this isn’t always the case….sometimes you’ll find a sim baller who just happens to be from Minnesota, but a truly sim player will, at minimum, match up teams if he is the challenger.

[newmoon]

The “No Sim” Baller

On the flip side, we have the “No Sim” gamers. I’d say they account for roughly 95% of all the gamers out there….at least the players in the ranked lobbies, that is. These are the people that nobody wants to play. Not because they’re good, but rather because they’re exactly like almost every other player out there, and will exploit anything they can in order to get the win. I’m going to quickly describe the most common traits and techniques these guys use:

Defense
* Excessive double teaming
Dirty players typically double team A LOT. They do this because they’ve perfected taking a player off the ball and going for the deflection of any pass coming from the double team. I said perfected like it’s a skill, my bad…it’s definitely not. Everybody knows that this is way too easy, and not realistic in any way. Just as a quick tip, any strategy that seems like a good idea when you’re brand new to the game is usually the least skilled approach. It’s sad to see how many players out there have played over a hundred games online and are still using the same gimmicks they used when they first picked up the game.

* Camping
I know a lot of players out there think they play a pretty legit game, and will argue that it’s OK to control a player off the ball. Typically these players will roam the paint trying to get pass deflections, and moving over for the block if you happen to get past their CPU controlled defender. In my opinion, this is not OK….even though at least 99% of the players out there will do this. Why is this dirty? Quite simply, the offense doesn’t control the players away from the ball, if the defense does, this gives the defense a 2 to 1 advantage. It makes the CPU handle on the ball responsibility, and gives the defense the advantage of having a human controlled player anticipating what the ball handler’s going to do. If I as the offensive player had control of the player off the ball, and I saw you playing defense on me (presumably cheating away to get into passing lanes, or double and hack away at somebody down low), I would simply move either toward the hoop, or into the open area on the court. The problem is, I'm am busy controlling the guy with the ball, so your defense cannot be broken using real basketball strategy. The only advantage you get from playing off the ball (other than not getting burned if you suck) is being able to cheat away from the guy you should be guarding....since the offensive player can't effectively burn you for cheating over like that, the defense has the obvious advantage. So what you're doing is taking advantage of the way the game operates, rather than actually learning how to stop the other gamer. The game is designed to be played on the ball, it’s pretty obvious by the defensive options you are given (swipe for the ball, take charge, go for block). Anybody who has spent any time defending the ball, also understands that the way these defensive options work is extremely well balanced while playing the game properly; however, if you start camping away from the ball, the advantage is clearly tilted toward the defense.

* Zone abusers
Typically, if a “No Sim” player isn’t a chronic double teamer, he likes to sit in a zone all game long. I’ve already covered that man-to-man is a staple in the NBA, and that zones in this game for some reason short-circuits most playsets. Once again, the “No Sim” players usually go for the easiest, least-skill-involved strategy available. I honestly don’t think I’ve EVER seen an NBA game in which any team went exclusively to a zone defense, but for some reason, you see it all over the place in online gaming. Why? Because it’s easy, and it worked for them when they we’re learning the game.

Offense:
* Crazy inbounders
For some reason, there’s a flaw where deflecting inbound passes is nearly impossible while running toward the hoop, no matter how it’s defended. Dirty players take full advantage of this by running their point guard, or whoever for that matter, all the way downcourt past all the defenders, then miraculously thread the needle with a full court pass. Not a very good strategy, and definitely nothing you would ever see in a real game of basketball They take the cheese to a whole new level when they’re inbounding from half-court. A popular “play” is to simply run your best player directly under the hoop then pass it directly for them for an easy 2 points or a shooting foul. Sometimes you’ll run into an exceptionally classy player who will actually use his time-outs specifically to set up this “play”. Wow….the really scary things is how often you’ll run into these players, very sad.

* Quick Posters
A real popular play out there is the quick post. Anybody’s who’s played more than 10 games online, has at least seen this play ran 100 times on them. There is no off the ball battle for position in the post, enabling the quick post to sit their favorite post player essentially directly under the hoop. Then once they find a way to pass it to the post, they’ll immediately hit the shoot button and do the nice little jump hook. Sometimes you’ll see a little variety in this, where they’ll dribble around in circles and then penetrate to the paint, giving them the easy dish to the guy they have sitting there with the quick post. I’m not going to say there’s anything actually wrong with play….what is wrong is when it’s used everytime down the court, and in a very unrealistic way.

* Pick and Rollers
Again, another favorite play by most of the newest players out there. Everybody knows how to run a pick and roll, it’s an integral part of basketball at every level. I see nothing wrong with running the pick and roll at all….once again, where the problem lies is how often it’s ran and how it’s ran. It’s way too easy to take your powerhouse players and make this into an alley-oop fest. And if it isn’t an alley-oop, they’ll sit and wait until the roller sets up and use this play practically the same as the quick post. Another thing the pick and roll shows is just a lack of imagination or creativity in your game. After you’ve played a bunch of games, wouldn’t you agree a skilled player would expand his offensive strategy past the simplest plays?

* Circle Runners
A lot of the people you’ll find online tend to just run around in circles with the same player until they can find a crack in your defense, usually along the baseline. There’s nothing really dirty about this, it’s just an unrealistic way to play the game. The problem is that most players like this take advantage of other less than honorable techniques.

* Pull Back Iso-Motion Players
When someone is in the paint, then performs a pull-back iso move, and immediately shoots, the player goes into a practically undefendable lay-up or dunk. This was a flaw in the game that people who we’re watching videos in anticipation of the game knew about even before the game was released. So, in a way, this little bit of cheesy gameplay is actually older than the game itself.

* Alley-Oopers
Alley-oops are cool, they’re great, they’re probably the most exciting play in basketball. The problem is, you’ll run into quite a few players out there that like to abuse the ease of alley oops in certain situations. Alley oops on fast breaks, in my opinion, are 100% OK….so are oops that result because of double-teams….as are the ones that come from “good” offense. The problem I have are the alley oops that are ran play after play after play. These typically come from pick and rollers, which gets old. The worst though come from people who use the give and go. These plays again, are fine, if used sparingly, it isn’t until it’s abused over and over that I consider it real dirty.

* Three-Point Chuckers
A real boring strategy that is used way too often out there, is just to take your best 3-pt shooter and throw up a shot with him every time. No offense, nothing other than maybe running around in circles and then a couple pump fakes, than a three pointer. Over and over and over and over.....all game long. Again, it all comes back to variety and originality in your game. How can this be fun for anybody. All it’s doing is reducing the game to the numbers of the player ratings. I think I’d have more fun pushing buttons on a calculator….it’s about the same thing.

* Paint Pounders
The exact opposite of the three point chuckers, the paint pounders won’t shoot a shot unless it’s a dunk, layup, or a little quick jump hook. Quite often, these are the same people who abuse the quick post, the pick and roll, and the alley-oops. When you look at their shot chart, all it shows is a big grouping right at the rim, and maybe one or two shots outside (those are usually mistakes that they deeply regret). Boring, and very unrealistic style of play.

* Star Abusers
Earlier I talked about spreading the ball around, to some gamers out there, that’s completely unthinkable. To them, it would be a much more fun game if Tracy McGrady takes EVERY shot. Once again, not realistic, not fun, and definitely not a gamer who understands what “good” basketball is about.

* One Trick Ponies
This would describe almost all the no sim players out there. Usually, they know one little move that works almost always for them, and they abuse it over and over. A perfect example of this are the pull back iso people, but it’s not limited to them. You can even take a legit move and use it over and over. This isn’t very effective, the problem is it’s just so boring to play against.

[newmoon]

* Odd Substitutions
I have no problem with substitutions of any kind…..do whatever you want in my opinion. Try to create mismatches….I applaud this because it’s real basketball. The problem with it, is that it is usually used to enhance cheesy gameplay. A perfect example of this is for a 3 point chucker to put in their 2 best shooters, then all centers or power forwards. This way they can jack up 3’s and have the clear advantage for rebounds. Like I said, I have no problem with any substitutions of any kind….it’s how the players on the court that are being used.

* Comment on Hop Steppers
I’ve seen other people refer to people who hop step into the paint every time. I disagree that this is cheese, and I guarantee it’s not because I use the hop step much. It’s because I, and I think I can speak for the other legit defenders out there, ABSOLUTELY LOVE those people. The hop step is extremely easy to stop….if you’re playing on the ball that is. This becomes a little more of an issue if you play on the lower difficulty levels, but I’ll talk about that a little bit more later.

[newmoon]

Glitching and Cheating

So far, I’ve just focused on gameplay issues; however, there are other dirtier techniques floating around out there in the online gaming world. While “No Sim” players are bad, there are people out there who outright cheat. These players obviously care about nothing other than to get the win, no matter what they’ve got to do…..so almost always their gameplay will be horrendous as well. These people will play with their connections in order to create lag. They’ll try and use technical errors in the game to drop and still receive the win. They’ll pause at inappropriate times, or even worse, pause repeatedly like a strobe light. I don’t want to talk about this much, because this stuff is just plain obvious cheating….everybody knows it when they see it, and anybody who actually does anything like this knows what they’re doing is dirty, ignorance isn’t even a possible excuse. One thing I do want to point out, though, is that I feel people who drop games quite often should be labeled as “No Sim” as well, because it fits into this category. For some reason, drops are considered OK for most people. I do understand some drops will happen due to connection issues or a variety of legit reasons. But there are some out there who will take a drop rather than the loss regularly. I fully believe you should finish every game, but if you do have to quit, the game should at the very minimum be quit through the menu….not just abruptly cut off. Quitters are bad, droppers are cheaters. The reason for the differences is that quitters at least acknowledge that they are beaten, droppers don’t accept that they lose….always giving them a network issue or some other B.S. as an excuse.

[newmoon]

Taking a Loss

When you start an online game, each player is playing under the assumption that both players have agreed to play a complete game. For some reason, a large number of gamers out there just can’t accept that they will not win each game. An “All Sim” player will play ever game win or lose, because that’s the nature of games….someone’s gotta win, someone’s gotta lose. If you’re the winner everytime, that means that someone else is the loser everytime. The online community is probably more self-centered than runway models. Everybody wants to believe that they are the very best, and will not accept that sometimes either there’s somebody better, or their opponent just outplays them. Instead of playing out the game and giving their opponent the satisfaction of the win, they pull the plug on the game and simply drop or quit. I know that it still registers as a win (well in most cases), but that’s not the issue. If you play out your wins, play out your losses. There’s really four good reasons to play your losses fully out:
1) This game runs on momentum….you never know, a comeback is ALWAYS possible. A lot of times people will quit still early in the first half. I know I’ve come back from some huge first half deficits.
2) You’ll learn more. If it’s a certain loss, you can play with your rosters, you can experiment with new plays, etc. etc. etc. Just consider it good practice time.
3) Wins don’t mean nearly as much to you if you don’t take losses. It’s just simple human psychology. Everybody wants to win every time, but if you actually do….eventually you’ll even get bored with that. I personally like a close loss a whole lot better than a big win.
4) People will respect you more. Your record will look a WHOLE lot more respectable with a L than a drop or a quit. I know that’s the first thing I look at when deciding whether to accept a challenge. If I see more quits and drops than registered losses, I immediately question what type of gamer they are.

Why Play Sim?

Why would someone play sim style? It seems as if players take advantage of some of these questionable ways to play, they’ll generally win more than the lose, so why would anybody not? Quite simply because legit players out there realize that this is simply a videogame and a win or loss isn’t as important as respect in the way you play against somebody else. Personally, I would much rather take a loss and impress my opponent with a realistic style of game that’s getting rarer and rarer out there, than to beat them with the same old boring game everyone plays. No sim gameplay basically reduces this game into nothing more than a battle between who knows the most dirty tricks. If you’ve never played a straight up game between two sim players, you’ve never really appreciated the beauty of this game.


Are You a “No Sim” Player?

A lot of players out there are “No Sim” and don’t even know it. They just picked up the game and started playing, and never really put any thought into what they’re doing. This article is essentially aimed at those people.

How can you tell?
First, consider how you play defense. Most post in the message boards about cheesy gameplay talks about offensive techniques, but the easiest way to distinguish sim players is through their defense. Second, after each game, take a little time to examine your shot chart. Are you shooting from the same places all the time? Are all your shots coming from the same guy or two?

How to Improve?
If you find you’re not playing as straight up as you thought, it’s time to actually learn how to play the game. Spend time practicing running plays against the CPU, find 2 good plays to use regularly, then rotate 2 others each game you play…..until you’ve got at least 4 good solid playsets that you know well enough to run with different options in each. Use your offenses to try and create open shots and be willing to take them, even if it’s not a 3 or a dunk. Practice manning up on the ball. This takes some practice, so at first run zones so you have back up, but don’t hide in the back of the zone. If you find yourself doing the same thing over and over, work and try to break these habits….force yourself to explore other options. Remember, this is a game, have fun with it, win or lose….always look for ways to improve or just changeup your game, don’t just resort to the same-old, same-old. The most important thing is VARIETY. There’s almost no technique, no matter how dirty, that I would look down on, as long as it’s used sparingly.

[newmoon]

Why Are There So Many Dirty Players?

Quite simply, because it’s a videogame. Some people have too much of their self-image tied up with being the best out there. Somehow they’ve forgotten that it’s just a videogame, being #1 doesn’t get you anything. I think they think that if they’re ranked high, other players will respect them. The opposite is quite often the case, in reality, though. Most people know the majority of the players out there playing for rank are the dirtiest of the dirty. But for some reason, they’ve still gotta prove they’re the “best”. I personally think this mentality is the biggest problem of online gaming; it’s come close to ruining it for me I know. Until people surrender the notion that they’ve can prove they’re the best by winning a game, no matter how they play it, cheese will be a part of online competition.

“He did it to me, I’m going to do it to him.” While I understand this completely, and sometimes the only way to counter shady gameplay is to get a little dirty yourself, I honestly think this way of thinking just has a snowball effect on the online community. Eventually if the “No Sim” players out there have their way, we’ll all be throwing the ball all the way downcourt and jacking up 3’s. I had quit the NBA game in favor of College Hoops for some time and just recently came back to the NBA. I had expected the competition to have had improved….I was wrong. Instead of players getting better, I’ve just run into more cheesers, and more effective cheesers. People have to stand strong to what type of game they want to play, and not let the dirty players take control of online play.

Gamers also often forget there’s somebody else on the other side of that internet connection, most of these gameplay issues would never come up if people were playing face to face. So I think the anonymity of online gaming also contributes to how many dirty players are out there.

And like I said earlier, there are people out there that just don’t know. They never really gave playing a videogame that much thought. I can accept that as an excuse for somebody relatively inexperienced, but players with over 50 games played should know what’s legit and what’s not.

Conclusion

Remember, these are only my opinions, I’m sure there’s a bunch of people out there that would disagree with every point I’ve tried to make. That’s cool, I understand it, everybody has their own way of thinking, and likewise, their own way of playing.

Why would I take so much time to write so much on such an over-discussed topic? Because for as much as people talk about cheese and sim out there, I really don’t think the “All Sim” way of playing this game is being represented. I personally have no problem with people playing this game however they like….they bought the game, it’s theirs, they can do with it as they please. I just play a different style, and would prefer not to play people obsessed with winning so much that they’ll compromise the integrity of the game. The best thing we sim players can do is just try and make sure all the “No Sim” players get labeled properly so that we can avoid them. What I’m trying to do here, though, is expose players to a different way to enjoy this game.

[FreshPrince22]

i meet all the sim stuff. i quick post too though.

[eko718]

Games need to *force sim play because most won't force themselves to play sim. 2K11 may do that to some extent, which excites me.