Over the past couple of years, NBA 2K series’ popularity has increased even more. With the advanced graphics and updated rosters, it has been the top basketball video game in the world today. Even NBA players themselves play it, and are not shy in voicing out their opinions on the ratings they received in it on their social media accounts.
While many think of giving ratings as an easy task, there is certainly more to just assigning one to a particular player. Mike Stauffer, the ratings-guru of 2K Sports, recently admitted, via Jordan Zirm of Bleacher Report, that he used to live and breathe Basketball-Reference in forming his own rosters in the past. Although it’s expected that he is a big fan of statistics, what many do not know was his previous job.
“I got my degree in middle-childhood education,” says Mike Stauffer, NBA 2K's player-ratings guru. “I was a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher. But I was always a passionate sports fan, and I've always been really into statistics. A hobby became a job.”
His job may seem like the a piece of cake and something that does not require a lot of thinking to be made, but he also shared all that needs to be checked first before coming up with player ratings.
“It's not like as the ratings guy I say, ‘Oh, Kyrie? He'll be a 90,'” Stauffer says. “We rate all the individual attributes, and whatever we put through our formulas that we constantly tweak gives us an overall value. I'm proud of what the results are. I think we get a pretty accurate representation of how good these players are and their different skill sets.”
Stauffer is a huge NBA fan until today, and has not lost his passion for the game despite receiving a lot of criticism from players who were dissatisfied with the ratings he gave them. After all, he wouldn’t want to trade what he’s doing for anything else, and he knows that is part of his job.
“I look at it almost like I'm a referee,” Stauffer says with a laugh. “No one's going to be like, ‘You rated me perfectly!' You don't get that kind of feedback. But you learn a lot. It's been cool to get some perspective from the players on their individual ratings. They all care. But it is hard when some of your favorite players don't love your rating.”
The man who fondly calls himself as “NBA 2k Stauffer”, just like his Twitter handle, is expected to be busy once again calculating stats as soon as the new season starts. Players’ ratings still change within the campaign depending on their performance and averages, which also serves as motivation for them to play better. By then, Stauffer makes sure all relevant data is accounted for, and he does the same for each player appearing in the game, which is truly not the easiest job in the world, but arguably one of the most satisfying for a basketball video game lover at the same time.
Follow Us
Subscribe