10-26-2024, 10:14 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-26-2024, 10:15 AM by modpro. Edited 1 time in total.)
7.
The ISFL has a serious issue. It is mitigated by how long player career's take, but it is a serious issue that limits their ceiling as an activity and as a community. There is a lack of diversity and flexibility within the sim at basically every point. For starters, gameplans have very very little wiggle room. I'm not insanely familiar with the war room process but I was in the ducks war room for a bit and you legit just run the sim a bajillion times and pick one of the 5 or so options MAYBE shift around positions. The whole thing is very formulaic and doesn't have the creativity that you would expect gameplay to entail. Now, understandably, a more customizable gameplan might require too much work on the war room's end, but IMO it would be way more fun and would keep matchups from feeling the same. The fact that the sim is dots and not real players make plays feel very similar. You don't get "highlight" plays. You don't get to see players put on a great move, make a great pass breakup, make a great catch, avoid a great sack, or lay someone out. These plays in many ways define football fandom IRL. There's a reason promotional videos highlight these sorts of plays. You lose out on the competitive and exciting nature of games when every catch is the same, every PBU is the same (sometimes the players aren't even where the engine technically locates them so you get pass breakups from dudes who are not even in the vicinity). In this same vein, the plays act like each other. You don't get tipped balls, hook and laterals, even bootlegs and play action basically don't exist. I'm not even sure if we have gun versus under center. It makes everything homogenous and repetitive in a way that football really shouldn't be. Most importantly, every player of a position are the exact same. There is basically no such thing as a play style. QB's can be more or less rushing focused, but otherwise they're all the same. You don't see bruiser versus speedy backs. You don't see route running specialists versus contested catch guys. If you pick a position, you will be just like everyone else of that position. This is the biggest deal to me. You lose out on a lot of fun because you can't differentiate your player. You can break records, you can win championships, but you can't create a distinct playstyle and therefore your legacy and impact are significantly less. The amount of times people talk about real life football players in the manner of: "Man watching ___ play was something else" you don't get that here, and I think that's an issue.
My solution I admittedly have not thoroughly examined, but I feel strongly about it nonetheless. We should switch the Sim to an older version of Madden. Doesn't need to be too old, but just one that is easier to get because it's not the current one anymore. This would solve basically all of the issues I listed above. (I don't know how gameplan would work, but that one was the most minor so it's fine). A few potential issues would arise. Firstly, the game would basically only be accessible to those with gamepass on Xbox. It is insanely expensive in any other format even for old versions. Gamepass gets you it for free though. I have no idea what the supply chain is like for simmers. Secondly, importation would be difficult, but would be worth it IMO. The third issue I think is highly fixable though, game length. Game length of a normal Isfl game is around 12-13 minutes. 2 or 3 minute quarters would approximate this length. As far as I've seen, the short quarters would not affect average scoring totals although I could be wrong. Overall, if we can find a way to make Madden work, the experience would be SO much better. Watching your player would be actually exciting as they get to actually make plays and separate themselves from others at the position.
The ISFL has a serious issue. It is mitigated by how long player career's take, but it is a serious issue that limits their ceiling as an activity and as a community. There is a lack of diversity and flexibility within the sim at basically every point. For starters, gameplans have very very little wiggle room. I'm not insanely familiar with the war room process but I was in the ducks war room for a bit and you legit just run the sim a bajillion times and pick one of the 5 or so options MAYBE shift around positions. The whole thing is very formulaic and doesn't have the creativity that you would expect gameplay to entail. Now, understandably, a more customizable gameplan might require too much work on the war room's end, but IMO it would be way more fun and would keep matchups from feeling the same. The fact that the sim is dots and not real players make plays feel very similar. You don't get "highlight" plays. You don't get to see players put on a great move, make a great pass breakup, make a great catch, avoid a great sack, or lay someone out. These plays in many ways define football fandom IRL. There's a reason promotional videos highlight these sorts of plays. You lose out on the competitive and exciting nature of games when every catch is the same, every PBU is the same (sometimes the players aren't even where the engine technically locates them so you get pass breakups from dudes who are not even in the vicinity). In this same vein, the plays act like each other. You don't get tipped balls, hook and laterals, even bootlegs and play action basically don't exist. I'm not even sure if we have gun versus under center. It makes everything homogenous and repetitive in a way that football really shouldn't be. Most importantly, every player of a position are the exact same. There is basically no such thing as a play style. QB's can be more or less rushing focused, but otherwise they're all the same. You don't see bruiser versus speedy backs. You don't see route running specialists versus contested catch guys. If you pick a position, you will be just like everyone else of that position. This is the biggest deal to me. You lose out on a lot of fun because you can't differentiate your player. You can break records, you can win championships, but you can't create a distinct playstyle and therefore your legacy and impact are significantly less. The amount of times people talk about real life football players in the manner of: "Man watching ___ play was something else" you don't get that here, and I think that's an issue.
My solution I admittedly have not thoroughly examined, but I feel strongly about it nonetheless. We should switch the Sim to an older version of Madden. Doesn't need to be too old, but just one that is easier to get because it's not the current one anymore. This would solve basically all of the issues I listed above. (I don't know how gameplan would work, but that one was the most minor so it's fine). A few potential issues would arise. Firstly, the game would basically only be accessible to those with gamepass on Xbox. It is insanely expensive in any other format even for old versions. Gamepass gets you it for free though. I have no idea what the supply chain is like for simmers. Secondly, importation would be difficult, but would be worth it IMO. The third issue I think is highly fixable though, game length. Game length of a normal Isfl game is around 12-13 minutes. 2 or 3 minute quarters would approximate this length. As far as I've seen, the short quarters would not affect average scoring totals although I could be wrong. Overall, if we can find a way to make Madden work, the experience would be SO much better. Watching your player would be actually exciting as they get to actually make plays and separate themselves from others at the position.
![[Image: AENTy9f.png]](https://i.imgur.com/AENTy9f.png)
