Madden Conspiracy Theories

What are your conspiracy theories on this Madden? 

I'll start:

Pack odds are bad (on purpose). This is because of all the glitches that happened throughout the year and EA is trying to offset all of the coins that were made from those glitches.

Is DDA real? I think so.

Older mut cards get shadow nerfed. Some of the older cards don't play as good as they used to. This could be due to the OVR increase, but some of the older QBs have a longer wind up now. 

What are your thoughts?

EA literally holds a patent for dynamic difficulty adjustment technology. 
The patent describes a system that adjusts game difficulty in real time based on player performance data, with the goal of enhancing player retention and enjoyment.

This doesn't sound like a conspiracy theory to me. I worked for a while as an apprentice at a gaming company, and on titles that generate revenue through microtransactions, player retention is everything. The company focused on browser games, and their primary concern was how to get people into the game in the first place and, once there, how to keep them playing.

This is achieved through quick and simple success experiences in the game that are programmed in, keeping engagement high with daily tasks and rewards, and similar mechanisms. All of this is done because a player who spends a lot of time in the game is increasingly likely to become a paying customer. A player who leaves the game early, on the other hand, is a missed revenue opportunity. Now Madden is obviously not a browser game but when looking at retail prices of the digital/hard copy and what a bundle on the MUT store costs, it's obvious where the revenue comes from. 

Them patenting the technology is proof of its existence and the closest to proof that we'll ever get of it being in the game (pun not intended). They can never admit its use in the game without players immediately getting off Madden, knowing that their skill is not the only determining factor in winning or losing.

That is definitely interesting. I do believe there is some aspect of DDA in the game because things tend to happen in the 3rd/4th QTR of the game that did not happen in the first half. Maybe this is due to the adaptive AI concept they implemented into the game. Who knows. I just know that I haven't seen many blowout games this year. Even the pros give up a few touchdowns to the average joes this year.

PBateman said:

EA literally holds a patent for dynamic difficulty adjustment technology. 
The patent describes a system that adjusts game difficulty in real time based on player performance data, with the goal of enhancing player retention and enjoyment.

This doesn't sound like a conspiracy theory to me. I worked for a while as an apprentice at a gaming company, and on titles that generate revenue through microtransactions, player retention is everything. The company focused on browser games, and their primary concern was how to get people into the game in the first place and, once there, how to keep them playing.

This is achieved through quick and simple success experiences in the game that are programmed in, keeping engagement high with daily tasks and rewards, and similar mechanisms. All of this is done because a player who spends a lot of time in the game is increasingly likely to become a paying customer. A player who leaves the game early, on the other hand, is a missed revenue opportunity. Now Madden is obviously not a browser game but when looking at retail prices of the digital/hard copy and what a bundle on the MUT store costs, it's obvious where the revenue comes from. 

Them patenting the technology is proof of its existence and the closest to proof that we'll ever get of it being in the game (pun not intended). They can never admit its use in the game without players immediately getting off Madden, knowing that their skill is not the only determining factor in winning or losing.

Who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory?

EA has always maintained that despite the fact they have and use DDA in some games it is not used in Madden. I say it that way because I think someone went into the code 2-3 years ago and found it. I might be wrong about that.

I struggle believing EA would directly lie about that. I’m not sure their legal department would allow it.

That said it’s difficult to account for the strange or random things that happen in game without a better understanding of the algorithms that determine them.

As Giorgio Tsoukalos from Ancient Aliens would say “ALIENS!!!”

Card nerfing is the big one for me. It makes sense why they would do that on top of feeling like I've experienced it before. Andrew Luck LTD for example. Almost never misses a throw and can bomb the ball 60 yards in the air right now. However, I wouldn't be shocked that once we get cards with 95+ throw power and all mid 90s accuracy stats, Luck suddenly starts throwing ducks.

joemainey said:

What are your conspiracy theories on this Madden? 

I'll start:

Pack odds are bad (on purpose). This is because of all the glitches that happened throughout the year and EA is trying to offset all of the coins that were made from those glitches.

Is DDA real? I think so.

Older mut cards get shadow nerfed. Some of the older cards don't play as good as they used to. This could be due to the OVR increase, but some of the older QBs have a longer wind up now. 

What are your thoughts?

I have zero conspiracy theories for MUT...everything you noted is 100% a fact in my opinion.   Well...maybe not the pack odds...I don't think they are bad because of glitches earlier in the season...I think they are bad because EA made them bad to make more money and we keep buying so...can't hate on them (think I will buy some EA stock...that way when they greedy me it will hurt in MUT, but payoff in my retirement account).

DDA is definitely used in madden.  There is no other excuse for the way the game plays.  They do it keep games interesting where all they have to do is get their matchmaking fixed and dump the DDA.

cards definitely get nerfed after a while.  That’s how they force you to believe that you just can’t get it done with the same players anymore, so you have to update! 
 

all this information sounds like a great big “WELL DUH”, but there are people out there that believe EA doesn’t screw us over with this crap.  Ahh, to be so clueless and empty headed…

The momentum meter from years past and how buggy It was Implemented( both of us score on our open possession and then I get a pick, but he’s still has his first momentum perk). And this years home field advantage make me think that there is arbitrary buffs and debuffs in plain sight when they used to be hidden
 

Also stuff like removal of the play ball/swat ball And stuff like goaline stuff(shed in the redzone), read and react AI to runs, and pass commit/weak boxing from years past make me think all still exist in the game or can be registered.  But probably tuned  year to year.  
 

im also a firm believer that the game plays worse when ppl have bad internet or are playing on wireless. I’m not even talking about the random teleportation stuff just that things don’t work prop like throws start sailing consistently in the same drive but once their internet recovers it’s back to normal play.

DDA is 100% real. I've given examples in another thread, but a new example is when your winning the game and you get an AI interception, the AI will just fall to the ground even though it would have been an easy pick 6.

Gent said:

Card nerfing is the big one for me. It makes sense why they would do that on top of feeling like I've experienced it before. Andrew Luck LTD for example. Almost never misses a throw and can bomb the ball 60 yards in the air right now. However, I wouldn't be shocked that once we get cards with 95+ throw power and all mid 90s accuracy stats, Luck suddenly starts throwing ducks.

I 100% believe cards get nerfed and felt this from the 1st season I ever played MUT.

Not only is it completely real, the patent file is worth a read. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20170259177A1/en. The opening paragraph is also clear as to why :

Software developers typically desire for their software to engage users for as long as possible. The longer a user is engaged with the software, the more likely that the software will be successful. The relationship between the length of engagement of the user and the success of the software is particularly true with respect to video games. The longer a user plays a particular video game, the more likely that the user enjoys the game and thus, the more likely the user will continue to play the game.

This is no different than the type of things social media platforms do (or really anything in the attention economy).  I guess the perceived issue here is it tilts the competitive balance so that makes me wonder is it something hard coded into the system or can it be disabled for things like MCS where engagement isn't the issue.  Does it exist in all game modes too? Also, given how it describes the process, can the model be trained intentionally by users.

All of those thoughts make "input data associated with the user" pretty critical to understand.  Interesting stuff for sure.

Also that system likely allows for nerfing cards too. Given the "input data associated with the user" certainly includes interactions with the online store, AH, etc., this would make total sense as being in line with the mission of keeping the user playing and engaged.  The card is nerfed, thus you are likely to go buy a new one and continue to play.

mrwrestlingno2 said:

Also that system likely allows for nerfing cards too. Given the "input data associated with the user" certainly includes interactions with the online store, AH, etc., this would make total sense as being in line with the mission of keeping the user playing and engaged.  The card is nerfed, thus you are likely to go buy a new one and continue to play.

I appreciate the post and quality info. I’ve gone through some of the patents and I’ve ended up going deeper into more of them as a result. So Thank you. While I am completely convinced DDA exists I am not convinced it is in use in Madden. For me it’s as simple as them definitively saying it is not in the game. I do not believe with as deliberate, careful and thorough as EA’s legal department is they would allow an outright deception of consumers but that’s ok we can disagree. I should also state the idea floated that it’s accidentally turned on because of this buggy mess of a game seems preposterous but it is EA and Madden. I can’t toss that idea out either.

While DDA does/would alter content to accomplish its goal I don’t believe it is the same as altering cards performance to increase monetization. Though that concept within MUT is an interesting one. As I see your argument for nerfing cards to increase “engagement” in MUT as a whole. That could drive players out of competitive game modes though. Clearly that’s happening and your argument offers an interesting perspective and connection.

-the rest is just a bunny trail about EA patents

At the bottom of the list of Patent Citations there is a group of 6 or so patents that look like they are associated with AI controlled players. One is customized models for imitating player game play in a video game. Love it.

In March they filed for a collusion detection system. I wonder if that one is involved with the new AH. If you stumble across any potentially pertaining to the new AH I would be very interested. There’s over a thousand patents and I’m not entirely sure the new AH is their code anyway. They may have used a third party. The legal way we can research.

In January they filed for contextual aware communications system. Sounds like they are still pursuing ways to monitor and take action against the toxicity stuff.

Also a new one worth checking out is play testing coverage with curiosity driven reinforcement learning agents.

Here’s one for you. Look at these things as if they are all linked

-The almost complete elimination of pack trash

-The removal and reintroduction of totw packs

-EA squeezing methods while elevating sets as a coin making method

-The increased platinum card offers

-The AH bots

-Price caps

-Strategy items being so rare to acquire combined with above

-The current redux system

-The increased use and sale of BND cards

I know these can be explained in several ways but maybe the goal is more than better control of the AH, economy and more $$. The goal may be the elimination of the market as we know it. What do you think the likelihood is that this can all be linked to a step by step process towards that goal? I know it’s a big leap but isn’t that kind of the point of a good conspiracy theory?