A case of a glitched gamer.

 

Every now and again I come to conclusion that no matter what I do with my gaming time I am always behind and always on the losing side loosely speaking.

I do love the multiplayer aspect of gaming but I also enjoy the single player experience and somehow I always lose the track of the balance between them two meaning I’m grumping about at times “as everything sucks big time” and making me wonder what is wrong with me or my gaming choices.
Anyway… It’s all grumbling. I think I found a problem with the gaming itself and it’s the gamers themselves making everything so… dull and kinda wasted.
I recently decided to take a brake from longer gaming session of sports games and just enjoy some shorter sessions as I found myself a bit exhausted with my usual group of people where I play sim like style Madden.
As I had some unused tickets in MUT16 I decided to jump onto the ship of Draft Championship and play against random humans to see where I “really” rank and it only took two games to remind me why, nowadays I tend to look for communities and trying to see if they’ll fit me rather than play online randomly.
I mean, the competitiveness, the must win no matter what attitude is just draining. Every player I faced in the initial phase was basically cheesing his or her way to win. If it wasn’t for hurry up offense, it was then going for it on 4th down, if it wasn’t that it was some strange blitzing and all it went through the five placement games. Most of which I had quit around half time due to not seeing the point of being beaten up by any means and usually loosing by at least two scores. “I get it dude! I’m rubbish. Here’s your ‘well deserved’ win”
Once I went through the initial phase, I then could play against players similar to my level and the only thing that really changed was the person doing the quitting. I was pleased with myself, knowing I can beat cheap tactics of the less skilled/experienced players and win the games but in the end I had to give in as there was just no point in this exercise since I hadn’t managed to finish any games properly due to the quits. Once I thought I’d see the clock ticking down to zeros but my opponent quit on me because I tied the game (!) in 4th quarter. OK, there were a couple of fair instances where the opponent was struggling and would quit in 4th after another turnover or my score but majority it was just rage quitting because things didn’t go their way.
So I found myself enjoying the shorter times of playing but the opponents sucked big times. I changed the opponent to AI and finished some of the solo challenges to win some cards or coins to buy more cards and as I was browsing through the collection sets I realised how many “new player” cards were added and it reminded me why MUT is such a money grabbing business and I turned the PlayStation off to think about it all for a while.
The thinking took me to good old times of several years ago when I used to roam the Battlefield Bad Company 2 fields with my trusty rusty gun and some grenades and then I realised I haven’t played multiplayer FPS for years and the main reason was the same I came across here in Madden. Must win attitude, must have all the gadgets (or anything that the game developer throws at you) and using any kind of glitch one can find about.
As much as I can understand “the need” to exploit AI at some rare times when a developer make things crazy (some MUT solo challenges can drive one nuts)but can’t players just keep these cheap methods to entertain themselves when abusing the AI as opposed to coming into my living room and make me grumpy?
Why everything has to be unlocked straight away? Why we must pay for it? Why can’t we earn things through natural progression while gaming?
Is it all because we all want the instant gratification? Plug and play and master anything within minutes? Where’s the joy of learning? Can’t games be taken as an educational tool as well?
Well. All this thoughts and questions are going through my mind wondering how much the society has changed since the last time I asked that question. And why am I seeing it in fairly dark colours…?
Perhaps I have a strange take on gaming coming from an era of board games and other games kids used to play outside which didn’t need the money (once your parents bought you the Monopoly or Talisman or deck of playing cards…) or there was no way of abusing rules as there was self policing and playing against humans was fun even if you didn’t know them well due to being temporary under a tent somewhere near a lake. We wanted to win too but it felt much fairer and definitely much healthier and funnier. At least I’ve also got games like Fallout where I don’t have to make choice whether to game against humans or not. O!

What if? The Madden Way. Time goes by, so do people…

 

Patience is a funny thing and sometimes it simply runs out. There were plenty of changes within the 49ers, first the offensive coordinator was gone, the newly appointed one moved Marcin Magician to number 2 and apparently there was talk of trade if he wouldn’t deliver any results. There was also change of offensive philosophy and it was all meant to pay dividends.
It didn’t though. San Francisco went to play Tampa Bay and they lost badly 14-28 while looking more lost than ever in the season.
The only person to find a mojo was Magician as he finished with 6 catches for 98 yards. Fans could see him smiling a bit but it was all sour sweet as the team was 1-6 at this point and there were no sign that things would be better.
Washington’s fans uplifted after last win were hoping for more and knowing that the team employed a new quarterback coach to go along some virtual technology there were hopes that Liam’s game would become less erratic.
It didn’t. Most of the day Liam kept missing wide open targets and then he’d go onto squeezing the ball into tight windows for 238 yards with one touchdown and one pick on 23 completions out of 40 attempts, the Redskibs left the turf beaten up again. 17-34 was a brutal sight on the scoreboard. At this time of the season 2-5 record was not what was expected of the team.
But not all was lost in the world of our characters. Griswald’s Colts went to Jacksonville for a very important divisional match up and left victorious with big time beating of Jaguars 31-13. Luck didn’t do much with 187 yards (15-20, 2-1) but he didn’t have to.
Running backs had the game under control with Jackson racking up 92 yards on 23 carries plus a touchdown. C. West filling in for injured Talbot carried the ball 15 times for 57 yards and a score. Was it a sign of changes? 3-4 Colts were hoping for that as they needed some good games to become a serious playoff team.

What if? The Madden Way. Can’t keep loosing.

 

As the old saying goes. If you lose you can’t choose or something or other. Our characters found themselves in this desperate hole where they so badly needed a win, a good performance that would lift their moods. Their coaches were grumpy, fans weren’t so cheerful and the life in general sucked like nobody’s business.
It was time for changes, but would their effort work? Indiana travelled to Tennessee for this very important divisional match up, they really couldn’t afford to lose and somehow they pulled an upset when with 1:30 left and Titans driving they did enough to cause a fumble and preserve their lead 31-27 to then it into a win. Andrew Luck had a sluggish game and was again outplayed by opposing quarterback but his 225 yards with no interceptions was enough, especially that his passing was really good with 17-23 ratio. Griswald was happy to win and there were few smiles around the team.
Washington was hosting Baltimore and the Skins were very determined not to let their fan base down plus they really needed the big W so there was plenty of motivational speeches from the coaches and team captains. The day was a great one for a family day out and the stadium was packed, Liam Magician was pumped up and he delivered a great game stealing the the win in last minute with a 65-yards pass for a winning touchdown. The Redskins won 29-26 and Liam had 261 yards (23-37, 3-1) on his account. The problems were not over yet but things looked a bit better in Washington.
Were matters weren’t improving was in San Francisco. Battered 49ers travelled to Arizona for well needed win but yet again they came short losing 17-24 after series of few mental drops and couple of unusual drops by Marcin Magician who finished the game with career low of 13 yards and one reception. It was obvious things were getting to Marcin and he needed to sort his brains out sooner than later as the coaches were thinking of making him number two receiver due to his ineffectiveness with a view into benching him altogether.
There were tough times ahead of Marcin and some fans still believed in his hidden skills and that he’d deliver a game that would lift his confidence up.

What if? The Madden Way. Another day, another down.

 

It is hard to imagine what must go through the mind of a player who tries his best, yet his team looses. It must be frustrating and it eventually can start affecting said player’s performance.
That was the case with Marcin Magician and his struggling 49ers. He was beginning to struggle. In the game against the Dolphins he caught 4 passes which resulted in only 19 yards. Granted, one of them was a great 2 yard pass for a touchdown but Marcin was great he was far away from home and his friends. He began doubting himself and the shadow behind his back grew bigger and bigger. Especial after another ugly loss 21-35.
In New York, the Redskins were facing local Giants. It was obvious the team really needed great game from its quarterback but that just wasn’t about happen.
Liam Magician had a pedestrian game where he threw for 254 yards (18-29, 1-1) but the line interception he threw Kate in third quarter possibly changed the game momentum as at the time both teams were tied 13-13.
Sometimes it just happens, sometimes it sparks something else and sometimes it is only a reaction to previous action. Liam was in dumps and he needed a pick up.
Griswald was struggling to get his message through the players and he struggled with calls during games. It was evident in an ugly loss to Denver at your own turf. The 17-37 score stung and no one around wondered why the fans were booing. The Colts were awful and Andrew Luck kept on being outplayed by the opposing quarterbacks. This week, Luck passed for only 172 yards (20-39, 2-2) and he got fully outplayed by Sieman who had a game of his life with great stats of 387 yds, 27-41, 4-0.
People started begin to question if Luck was the future and whether he was the right choice. Struggling running game was not making things any better.
That what football life can be about. The painful lows and nowhere to hide. And the end of the season was season was far despite it felt like it was over.

What if? The Madden Way – Ugly truths.

There has been more and more discontent among the Colts’ players. You could feel the atmosphere getting more and more intense so the Week 4 match up against divisional foe, Jaguars was very important for the team.
Both running backs had great games with Talbot recording 96 yds on 17 carries including a touchdown. High expectations towards Jackson finally had been met when he got two touchdowns, on 15 carries, 54 yds wasn’t a great deal but the scores were.
Unfortunately the team lost another game when Jacksonville drive late for a winning touchdown leaving Colts measly 15 seconds. The scoreboard read 34-41 in favour of guest team. Luck had a decent game going for 272 yds (21-35, 2-0) but was easily outplayed on the opposite side of turf with Bortles dropping 442 yds on the Colts D (29-45, 4-1). It was time for serious talks within the franchise. It really was.
Things got really out of hand in Dallas where Washington was playing. Liam Magician looked uncomfortable since the go and was replaced after one quarter where he threw one pick and completed only 2 passes out of 7 attempts for 67 yards. He looked hurt and the Redskins were easily defeated 10-22.
In San Francisco there was plenty of hope for the local team that played against the Cardinals but it became quickly quite obvious that another loss was on its way when at halftime the score was 7-20. Eventually the Cardinals got the win 27-17 and the 49ers were scratching their heads, so was Magician who finished first time scoreless this season with only 2 catches for 22 yards.
It came to the point, everyone needed to rethink their ideas and plans as they obviously weren’t working at all.

What if? The Madden Way – Expect the unexpected

After pulling amazing comeback off against the Chiefs, Colts and coach Grumplet were like on cloud nine expecting to steam roll through their next opponent, Titans at home.
The ugly truth was, they got run over like repeatedly and finished the game with an ugly 7-30 score that was followed by a lot of booing by their fans. Tennessee’s defence was so furious it kept Luck to under 100 yards (13-25, 95 yds, 1-1). It was horrendous. The only score came again from Talbot who again luckily escaped some poorly placed tackles. Things in Indianapolis, started looking grim…
Liam Magician was travelling to Phily with his Redskins and they had the game in hand until some poor defensive choices in 4th quarter that saw them giving it up two easy touchdowns for Philadelphia’s win 28-21. Liam had a decent game (21-35, 312 yds, 1-0) but was visibly upset after the defeat.
Marcin on the other hand finally caught a break and his 49ers stole a late win from the Jets hands with a crazy touchdown with 30 seconds left to give them 25-19 victory. Magician had another solid game as he finished with 9 catches for 117 yds and another touchdown.
It was becoming obvious that 2016 season was going to be a test of our lovely guys will and patience. No one really knew what to expect anymore.

What if? The Madden Way – Win’s a win regardless.

Sometimes all you got left is anger. Nothing else, pure exhausting anger and you can’t get rid of other way than just getting down to business and getting the job done.
Or struggling again… Life can be really annoying at times.
Marcin Magician had the best feel of how annoying the life can be with seconds left and last dying attempt he could have changed the outcome of his team’s game but somehow he let it slip and the 49ers had to bow in front of the Saints as they won game in front of the angry fans 16 to 10. Magician was called for offensive pass interference in the last attempt, only coz little known rookie cornerback was that little bit annoying. A moment of lapse in concentration and despite 5 catches for 162 yards and the only team’s score, all Magician could say was “Oh I fucked up!”. Life.
Matters gone better for the Colts who had a very late run to force an overtime and get the job done there with 37-31 score at Chiefs home turf. It started ugly with the running game going backwards more often than forwards and with Jamaal finding holes in Colts D line but eventually Luck’s 5 TD to 0 picks and 388 yards (27/44) was just enough to scrape this win together. On the other side Alex Smith played a solid game going for 320 yards (28/41, 3-1) but it just wasn’t enough.
The story of the week happened in Washington where the Redskins ripped a win out of the defending champions, Packer’s throat and they could thank Liam for a desperate scramble in last minute of the game leading to his first rushing TD. The place went nuts and Magician 359 passing yards to go with 1td and 0 picks (26/34) was enough despite Rodgers 426 yards on 50 attempts with 33 completions and 3 to 1 TD to interception ratio. After the game Rodgers said, that this loss really stung hard as he felt he couldn’t do any more to make sure they’d win and yet it wasn’t enough.
So some of our characters caught a break finally. Let’s hope it’ll continue into the future weeks.

What if? The Madden Way – Tough Beginnings

The 51st season of the NFL didn’t start well for our characters. All of them tasted the bitter loss in games that way well beyond competitive after only first half. Marcin’s 49ers lost to the Falcons at home 28-35. At one point of 4th quarter it 32-11 and the score didn’t show how poorly San Francisco played, including Magician who caught only 6 passes for 67 yards and a score in garbage time.
Liam had one of his worst games going 21-38 for 194 yards and 0 td to 3 picks. It was a brutal manhandling delivered by the Giants to the home team. 9-38 was not the score the fans expected.
Indianapolis travelled to Cincinnati and they got there so unprepared that after first quarter the scoreboard read 20-3 for the home team. It was an ugly uninspiring game that coach Grumplet had not much to say. At the end the Bengals won 34-10 . Where Colts failed was the running back, as their hyped potential stud running back, Jackson was benched in second half. it then sparked the running game with a beauty of a run by Talbot who only needed 9 attempts to amass 62 yards. Luck went 16-28 for 222 yards with no td and garbage time, forced pass resulting in pick but the team looked all uninspired, especially the defensive line that allowed Bernard run for 132 yards, setting short fields for scoring. The 2016 campaign didn’t get the start some were expecting. Still, there was plenty of football to play.

What if? The Madden Way – Onto 2016 season.

After one retirement announcement following another one, matters settled. We knew we had lost Peyton Manning, Witten, Woodson, Vinateri, Andre Johnson and Frank Gore amongst many others it was time to prepare for free agency.
Liam Magician was a hot cross bun topic of the opening week but his agent did whatever he could (at least it looked like that) not to find him a new home but finally after some sweaty negotiations, we had the news that Washington Redskins was going to make Liam their franchise quarterback offering him over 30 million dollars contract with nearly third of it guaranteed. Not bad for a firmer undrafted quarterback.
Matters looked much dimmer where Marcin sat as despite some initial interest in him, no one decided to take Marcin on board and the young lad was considering career in accountancy. For our luck though he stuck out and later on he got his chance.
Griswald landed in hospital as he needed few new organs due to killing his own ones with heavy booze celebrating but he was back in driving seat for end of free agency and he spent some Buck on reshuffling o-line, finding new kicker and few other pieces with the most important at the linebacker by striking a multi year deal with Brandon Spikes. The secondary looked a bit shakey not to mention running back position.
When the draft came the Colts invested in some lesser know rough diamonds and scored a talented running back T. Jackson who after some evaluation looks really like the Deal and they added a nose tackle T. Burton who is said to be a hard working creep. Rest of the crop was pretty lousy but two possible studs out of seven picks, sounds like a smashing weekend!
While Liam was learning in and outs of new system, Marcin kept on drowning in depression until the 49ers decided to give him a chance and he made through the training camp. The season 2016 looked to be so exciting with Packers defending the title, our brothers trying to conquer the NFC and Griswald trying not to damage his kidneys again. It was a beautiful time to be alive!!!!

What if? The Madden Way – Prologue 2

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The second half of the season was fairly uneventful for Liam right up to last week when he was awarded Player of the Week award for passing 347 yards with 3 td and 1 pick with astonishing amount of 55 attempts. Unfortunately the Browns struggled and finished the season with disappointing 4-12 record and Liams person was linked with being kicked out during the off-season as Magician wasn’t picking words when ripping the franchise to bits and pieces. Yet with 4114 passing yards 19-17 td-int, completing 55% of his passes for 6.4 yards Liam hoped there’d be coaches there willing to train him and turn him into a star.
In Buffalo, Marcin had a disappointing end to the season, missing few games out. He finished the year with 44 catches for 615 yards and three scores. He knew the team would let him walk as all the glory was a on Sammy Watkins who he didn’t agree with at all. His Bills cracked into play offs with 9-6-1 record where they’d face the Colts.
Grumplet put a solid coaching year behind him and led the team to 11-5 record to face Bills in wild card round. They blasted through the Bills with 52-28 dominant win just to crash in divisional round against San Diego in close game decided by last minute touchdown to give the Chargers the win 45-38.
AFC Championship was won by the Chargers who soundly beat the Pats 32-21. NFC Championship went to Green Bay who came away with victory at Seattle 27-23.
The Super Bowl 50 seemed to lack atmosphere and the whole week leading up to was flat. But before that happened, there was time to announce yearly awards across the league during NFL honours night.
That’s where things got really bizarre as the Head Coach of the Year award went to Griswald Grumplet and everyone was just shocked since he did have some success with Indy but every one knew it was mainly down to players doing their thing. Anyways, when they were announcing the MVP the place went nuts and after people realised they heard Russell Wilson’s name things gone quiet and everyone was just confused as hell. The Seahawks had a top scoring offence but it was riding on backs of two running backs, Marshall Lynch who ended up leading the league in rushing yards with 1639 and Rawls who led the NFL in rushing touchdowns with 17 (jointly with Williams from the Steelers). No one could understand how handing off and looking cool earns you an MVP but hey. Life!
Marcus Mariota and Jamie Winston became Offensive Rookies of the Year in their respective conferences with D. Perryman of San Diego and E. Kendrich of Minnesota earned the defensive honours amongst the rookies.
Big Ben led the league in passing yards with 5027 of them and he also snatched the passing touchdown crown with 36 scores through the air. Can Newton was the most accurate with 71% passes completed and he also had the highest passer rating at 108.7 whilst Eli Manning got sacked the record 78 times and he was still alive.
Other achievements worth mentioning were those of: A. Brown leading in receiving yards (1721 yards and 111 catches), Jordy Nelson (1590-105) and Larry Fitzgerald (1393-81) split the leadership in receiving touchdowns with 14 each.
Kelvin Sheppard of Miami was the league leading tackler with 152 while his angry teammate Such led the NFL with 17 tackles for loss. Justin Houston grabbed himself 19.5 sacks and Darrelle Revis was the top interceptor with 8 picks.
Thomas Davis (Carolina) blocked to field goals during the season and K. J. Wright was the only one recording a safety….
And finally, night after the award ceremony Packers squared off with Chargers and had a solid and sound victory 44-33 to take Lombardi Trophy to Lambeau Field.
And Aaron Rodgers was named the Super Bowl 50 MVP. Then the lights were off and the world was already preparing for another crazy season.