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Candace Parker in NBA 2K21 on Next-Gen
2K should be applauded for offering a full WNBA experience in the next-gen version of NBA 2K21. Users will now have the opportunity to run a full WNBA franchise mode, create a female player that they can control throughout their entire career, and have the option of taking their created player online to compete in 3v3 contests against others with W Online mode.
All of that is great and adds one more layer to an already deep experience. However, many will point out the fact that female MyPlayers are not yet able to participate in the mode formerly known as The Neighborhood where male MyPlayers will be, and cannot participate in the yet announced expansions on that concept.
It should be noted that 2K’s female fanbase can still create male MyPlayers that they can carry into this mode as usual, but they won’t have the option to bring their player from The W.
Some will see this as discriminatory on the part of 2K, but I don’t think that’s what is behind this structuring. Honestly, there hasn’t been a massive outcry to add the WNBA experience to 2K, and the current iterations of the league aren’t among the most played. Were there people asking for female MyPlayers and for the WNBA experience to be expanded? Sure, I was one of them, but it’s far from most 2K users. Even without that being a push from the majority of people in 2K’s target demographic, publishers and developers still worked hard to bring this vision to fruition, and have developed the concept in a way that far surpasses any other. sports game franchise. on behalf of inclusion.
The reason for the split is likely due to a dilemma over how female MyPlayers should be represented in the game. When I say represented, I mean their heights and the type of athletic animations attached to the female avatars. Due to the separation of the modes, I am inclined to believe that 2K has taken the realistic route.
Average height in the WNBA is just under 6 feet tall, compared to 6’8 ”in the NBA. There may not be a single player in the NBA who can’t dunk, and if there are any, the number will almost certainly be in the single digits. On the other hand, seeing a dunk at the WNBA is so rare that it is often the subject of a SportsCenter highlight.
That is not a statement intended to lower the quality of the game in the WNBA, because it is phenomenal. Players like Breonna Stewart, Elena Delle Donne, A’Ja Wilson, and Liz Cambage are outstanding players with world-class abilities. Still, in general, the game isn’t so much about pure athleticism and above the hoop as it is about skill. The NBA is a mix of both.
Frankly, this is why many believe, including myself, that the WNBA experience at W Online will likely produce the best 2K action from a realism point of view.
With properly balanced players and without the help of exaggerated animations that sometimes prop up average club skills, players will have to work harder to be successful on the digital court. So 2K probably had to decide whether to allow MyPlayers women up to 7’3 ”weighing up to 340 pounds, and those with pure Slasher talents for high-flying dunks, or whether to keep building restrictions more closely related to what you see. today at the WNBA.
Clearly, they chose the latter.
It’s an understandable choice, but the result can lead to users feeling frustrated that they can’t bring the player they’ve been developing into the probably more expanded world that replaces the Neighborhood.
