Remove the OVR rating?

[jmik58]

I like to think about subtle changes that sports video games could implement to make the games more challenging and realistic at the same time.

I had a thought yesterday and I feel like it's worth a little discussion.

What impact would it have on sports gaming if the OVR rating was removed from players?

All players would have the same attribute ratings for specific skills they currently do, however; no one would be given a rating for "overall". You would have to evaluate their talent based on the specific skills necessary for the position you want them to play.

I like this on the surface for a few reasons...

Having a number to use to manage a roster or set a depth chart is too simple/easy - it's a crutch. It takes very little thought or skill to put the 91 OVR player above the 87 OVR player. If we didn't have the OVR to look at, we would have to think long and hard about the skills of each individual player and how/when we should use each player based on our scheme and match-ups.

Also, football is a game of situations. Few players are always better in every single situation in comparison to teammates. If you want to get the feel for what it's like to be a real coach or GM; ignore the OVR and focus on the specific attributes necessary of the position in relevant situations and deploy the appropriate players when necessary.

The final point that stands out to me is the idea that "this is how it works in real life." On every staff there are mixed opinions over who the best players are at each position. Some coaches like leadership, others pocket presence, others speed. There is no magic OVR rating that a coach or GM can pull out. These guys have unique philosophies about what makes a guy good and they stand by that. We should experience that as well.

Imagine if it was taken a step farther and the coaches within the games took on those personalities and philosophies. Who would the Raiders start at WR? The guy with exceptional speed with no hands, or the guy who can catch but is hitched to a plow? There is no OVR rating to decide. Each team's specific philosophies would keep this dynamic.

Anyways...how would you feel about such a change?

[DCEBB2001]

I would love it. No more OVR calculations. It is so hard to determine a players "worth" from position to position that the OVR is almost useless in that regard. It is the reason why they have to rate QBs higher in each draft class, when in some classes (2005 comes to mind) the top 2 players (Rodgers and Smith) in the draft weren't the two best of that class for quite some time. Everyone had Rodgers and Smith as 1 and 1A and although Rodgers fell to #24, his position warranted a higher value. If we did away with the OVR rating, we could evaluate the parts of the player more attentively, which I think would make for a better scouting process.

[msdm27]

This was a very well written post, it really explains all the benefits from "no OVR RAT" and puts them in perspective. Tbh I've never really been in favor of removing ovr rating, but I think this logic has made me at least consider it as a very viable option.

Kuddos to the op!

[DeuceDouglas]

Definitely wouldn't be against this.

I think it would definitely make the draft as well as signing and cutting guys a heck of a lot more interesting.

[jmurphy31]

Not a bad idea, but I dont think we will see the day when they remove the OVR rating anytime soon. It is part of EA's marketing each year. They place a big emphasis on releasing the OVR ratings first by top 10 at each position and then division by division on ESPN.com

[JerzeyReign]

I don't want them removed but I want a 'random' system. My only blog entry is talking about my idea. Didn't go too deep into player ratings but that was part 2.

[Figment]

I have been asking for this for years, or at least an option to turn off overall ratings in franchise mode. It seems as though they have not even updated their calculations for overall ratings for many years as well making it almost a worthless, sometimes deceiving number.

[CM Hooe]

It's impossible to remove the OVR rating from the game entirely, as the AI needs some way to grade players for its own roster evaluations and also determining trade value. How does an AI team know to keep Larry Fitzgerald over Early Doucet, for example, without doing some calculation that has a numeric result? As soon as one says, "well, it looks at (insert any rating here)", one is effectively beginning an OVR rating calculation, though not necessarily in the manner EA does it right now.

That said, I think EA needs to flesh it out a bit. NFL Head Coach 09 had many different OVR rating calculation formulas per-position which were swapped in and out based on coaching scheme per-position. That definitely should come over to Madden. Also, I've always been in favor of masking ratings to the user, be it by letter grades as NBA 2K does it or by a more robust implementation of the scouting system, where no ratings numbers are visible and player abilities would be conveyed to the player in plain-text English, Combine numbers, and the old weapon icons (whose purpose would be just to show the most highly-regarded players at a particular skill, but having an icon in-and-of itself wouldn't have any in-game function).

[Cre8]

Quote: Originally Posted by CPL_6492

I have been asking for this for years, or at least an option to turn off overall ratings in franchise mode. It seems as though they have not even updated their calculations for overall ratings for many years as well making it almost a worthless, sometimes deceiving number.

Totally agree here... I have been hoping for it to be invisible as an option. Also, the Awareness Rating is something that they have made into a mystery and it plays into OVR quite a bit.

[kcarr]

As has been stated the overall is needed in at least some capacity for the AI teams to determine rosters as well as trade value, contract demands, etc. However something needs to be done to make it more advanced. This would probably require something along the lines of head coach 09 which had several formulas for determining the overall.

Although this would be a great move in the right direction I would also like to see it taken further by giving a rating range which would be hidden and just "seen" by each teams scout and would shrink as the team learned more about the player. This range would apply to each individual rating. The scout would then within that range give a numerical value for each rating to the team, either user or ai, and that would be used to determine the overall within the giving system. The same could then be done with the potential which should apply seperatly to each rating like it did in HC.

Doing this would add many of the same benefits that you mention in the initial post:

A simple number system is too easy. While this still leaves a number system in place the ambiguity and of the actual ratings as well as determining the correct system for your team would add some depth here.

Football is a game of situations. This is very true and if taken further, allowing players to be rated differently by the same team for different situations. That way not only the user but also the CPU could use different players for different situations.

This is how it is done in real life. This would take that realism further in both ways. The different systems in the same way as the OP suggested and the ranges by adding the ambiguity that is actually present in real life football.

Along with adding those benefits it would allow EA to get away from this idea that so many players need to be rated so highly across the board. Right now to achieve the high overall ratings EA has to over rate some of the top players making them the best option for any situation when in reality many of them are not perfect all around players but rather have strenths and weaknesses that make them elite in some situations and only average or worse in others.

EA could still have their same rating release media but release the top players based on their best fit system but could rate players much more accurately not having to worry so much about them having the "right overall" in the current system