We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on the issue of “black plates” in NBA 2K24, and how complaints about those gamers are missing the big picture.
After several years of grinding to level up a MyPLAYER so that I could partake in MyCAREER’s connected online modes, I gave up shortly into the life cycle of NBA 2K21. It’s simply not fun to repeat that journey every year, especially as the mode has become pushier and pushier with its recurrent revenue mechanics, and the scene has only grown increasingly toxic. With that being said, I do keep tabs on what’s going on with NBA 2K’s online scene, paying attention to what my fellow basketball gamers are saying about it on social media and Reddit.
Sadly, from the sounds of things, not much has changed. Well, it might’ve grown even worse if anything, but it certainly hasn’t improved! It seems that one of the biggest issues in NBA 2K24 – at least according to discussions over on the official NBA 2K subreddit – has been the matter of “black plates”. For those who are unaware, this is referring to a rep system in MyCAREER’s connected modes, which displays different colours behind a MyPLAYER’s overall depending on their online performance. As the players with the lowest rep, “black plates” are generally avoided. While this is understandable, it exemplifies an ongoing issue with the design of 2K’s online modes.
While I loathe gatekeeping and elitism in general, and am highly critical of what it’s done to NBA 2K’s connected modes, there is value in rep systems like this. It may not exactly be welcoming or sociable, but it’s not unreasonable that experienced gamers desiring a robust competitive scene don’t want to play with newcomers. It’s usually not a lot of fun for the newbies, either! Similarly, gamers who perform poorly and are frequently bad teammates will likewise sport black plates behind their Overall Rating. It’s understandable that competitive players want to avoid being teamed up with those people. I can attest to how frustrating The Rec is when you have terrible teammates!
Still, branding gamers with the black plates of shame is problematic. It draws no distinction between someone of low skill or selfish habits and someone who is simply new, or for that matter, someone who’s experienced but has delayed jumping into the online scene. It’s a roll of the dice that isn’t fair to anyone who wants to avoid bad teammates, or to the good players who are currently black plates and need to play to raise their rep. It doesn’t help that creating a new build will bump you back to a black plate, so any rep (and in essence, goodwill) that you’ve earned is out the window. It’s understandable that other online gamers are wary of you, but it’s not entirely fair.
More to the point, this system and the approach that it fosters misses the big picture, and the Catch-22 at hand. You need to play games in order to raise your rep and shed the black plate so that people will want to play with you, but while you still have that black plate they won’t want to play with you, meaning fewer opportunities to level up so that you can get games. To put it another way, you need to prove yourself worthy through playing games, but the only way to get into games is to be worthy. You can’t blame gamers for looking out for the red flags – or black plates, as the case may be – but you can’t demand that newbies prove themselves when they don’t have the chance.
Black plates are essentially a colour-coded means of representing the eternal (and externally obnoxious) “get good” rhetoric. After all, the only way to “get good” is to play, developing your skills and learning from experience. However, experienced gamers don’t want to be teamed up with someone who’s still a novice, thus making it challenging to find opportunities to “get good”. Once again, it’s a Catch-22: the only solution to the problem requires you to do what the problem is preventing in the first place! It’s like putting a key in a box, locking it shut with the padlock that belongs to the key, and then asking you to open it without a spare. What are you meant to do?
That’s why we must always look at the big picture. And yes, that means bringing up an evergreen complaint: the lack of proper matchmaking. Players with lower rep need to play games in order to raise it, but their fellow gamers are wary of them because they have no reputation to stake. Therefore, the obvious solution is to match up the black plates with other black plates for however many games they need to level up. Granted, it’ll likely mean some messy games for good players who just need the rep as they’re teamed up with bad players who don’t care, and that’s not ideal. Still, if they’re good players, their performance should soon rank them above the dregs of The Rec.
The system isn’t foolproof, however. Lost rep can lower a MyPLAYER back to a black plate if they have too many disconnections; fair enough if they’re quitting or dashboarding indiscriminately, but harsh if they encounter connection errors, which isn’t uncommon. Ideally, there should be greater distinction between someone who is new, and someone who has actively earned a bad reputation. Newcomers should have a more neutral rep, new builds shouldn’t lose all the goodwill that they’ve earned, and toxic players should be clearly identified. Classing those gamers under the same plate colour and throwing everyone in together doesn’t create a friendly, healthy scene.
Of course, this messiness is by design. Without matchmaking, you’re encouraged to grind or pay to upgrade quicker so that you can both compete and be taken seriously by others at a glance. The grind is unpleasant and even tougher online, especially because people aren’t going to want to play with you while you’re levelling up from a dismal 60 Overall rating. This means that you’re more likely to buy VC, or at the very least invest in the special editions for that boost to get you started. NBA 2K’s online scene isn’t designed to be fun, or even to be a proper competitive setting that truly rewards stick skills and represents skill gap. It’s designed to get gamers buying VC.
It’s vital to see the big picture here, because telling someone that it only takes a few games to get to a bronze plate, or that they just need to “get good” in order to enjoy the online scene, is ignoring the Catch-22s guarding the gate. I don’t entirely disagree that someone who can’t get beyond a black plate no matter how many games they play is probably not that good on the sticks, but does that mean they shouldn’t be allowed to play? By all means relegate them to the lowest rank or unranked matchmaking, but everyone has to start somewhere, and most people will get better with practice. That’s why proper matchmaking is necessary for everyone to have the best possible time.
Implement proper matchmaking, and even tarring all black plates with the same brush won’t be an issue, because the cream will rise to the top while leaving all of the dregs behind (well, sometimes). Once again though, designing the online scene to be fairer potentially impacts profits. Much of the toxicity and elitism has actually worked in 2K’s favour. It’s what gets people trying to upgrade as quickly as possible. It’s what gets them spending VC on cosmetic items so they’re not being dodged in the Park, and that means a greater likelihood of purchasing it. It gets people grinding to level up and raise their rep, in turn encouraging – or rather, pressuring – others to do the same.
To that point, it seems as though NBA 2K online gamers are always finding ways to look down on and not play with or against each other. Default outfit, basic outfit, low Overall Rating, high Overall Rating, level, rep, build name…I even saw a post on the NBA 2K subreddit claiming they avoided anyone who still had 2K shoes equipped! In lieu of proper matchmaking, the community devises its own criteria for setting up games. The result is an approach that’s as hostile to newcomers and latecomers with good intentions as it is to toxic players who want to play selfishly and sabotage. It fosters an attitude where standing around is seen as better than risking losing a game.
And look, I get it. I’ve played enough Rec games over the years to know that certain gamers throw up red flags, and it’s unwise not to heed them. Even if something isn’t necessarily always a red flag, many people understandably don’t want to take the risk. The real problem with black plates – and any other recognised “tell” of a bad player – is that the only way to shed the stigma that scares off other gamers is to play, which is exactly what they’re having trouble doing because the stigma exists in the first place. It isn’t that black plates always suck; it’s that they may or may not suck, and finding out – and allowing them to no longer be a black plate – involves an undesirable risk.
Until such time as the games introduce proper matchmaking, black plates – the ones that are ready, willing, and able to be competent or better – will have to rely on the kindness of strangers. Conversely, gamers who have already left that rank behind will need to take the occasional risk when a black plate enters the locker room. As long as there’s a Catch-22 at play, that risk will always remain. It demands trust of both black plates and everyone else, and for that trust to be rewarded with goodwill and genuine effort on the sticks. Until we get proper, deep matchmaking, and ideally ranked and unranked play like Rocket League, everything comes down to the honour system.
Ultimately, it’s why we must look at the big picture, note the flaws with the current system, and support the idea of proper matchmaking. Look, I realise that not every top player wants to sweat every game, but that’s what ranked and unranked matches are for. At the end of the day, wouldn’t it be better to not have to back out of games and duck players in case they’re problematic, while giving unproblematic players a chance to rank up and shed the label that stigmatises them? That’s thinking big picture! Of course, it’s up to the developers to make it happen, but we must support the idea. We shouldn’t be buying into the gatekeeping that does nothing but make money for 2K.
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