The NBA 2K official account spins a tradition of giving with a playful video; “Top Plays of the Week,” which states, “making it a season of giving.” The team presents a few glamorous assists—non-hoopers’ terms for elegant passes—and asks which one you would choose. That is all; simple and funny. Hats off to the season! However, if you keep scrolling down to the replies… yikes. The ‘season of giving’ was quickly turned into a season of complaints, and the change in atmosphere is so drastic that it virtually uncovers the present-day NBA 2K community.
The video is really very thrilling. Watch LeBron shrinking along with his accurate pass, Luka doing a no-look, and Ja Morant exhibiting a windmill just in one game—yeah, everywhere is virtual magic. The likes of Glitchy 🪄 were there, debating about which was the most flavorful pass. ‘That pass by LeBron was a classic. But Luka’s no-look dish had that extra flair. A tough choice!’ was the prevailing idea in the post. Just gamers going ‘wow’ at the virtual craftsmanship.
However, if you go down to the comments, the ones from Jacob Reno especially, the atmosphere indeed changes entirely. You feel like you are going from a Christmas party to complaining to customer support. Jacob is not referring to the plays; instead, he is whining about a 25,000 VC bonus he got by playing the game but has never actually received. ‘I’ve been playing this game and putting money in for over 10 years. I can’t even get the 25k vc bonus I earned… I’ll won’t get a response from anyone on here either, it’ll just be the customer support denying.’ Ouch! That is a player who has supported the game for a long time and now feels completely deserted by the developers. He even replies to himself, softening it: ‘I’m honest so tired of this game and how it treats its community… The lack of customer service, or community in this company is sad.’
Apart from that, others are voicing their similar experiences. This triggered an avalanche of complaints from other gamers, some of which had nothing to do with the first complaint. It is really amazing how one post about awesome passes becomes a venue where the frustrated voices of all are heard. For instance, Javi is inquiring, ‘When will we get our tier rewards for dime time ?? I only got the first two tiers, not the third.’ Another player, FacettedWolf348, posts a screenshot along with the lament: ‘Please help I got only the tier 3 and 4 reward for the event. Please fix.’ StupidFast_Uno posts a similar screenshot indicating that he did not get rewards for making 250 assists. The situation is a big echo of ‘Where’s my stuff?’
Such a scenario is the strange bipolarity of live-service games like NBA 2K. On the one hand, there are the cool plays, festive events, and community moments as the player enticements. On the other hand, the noise and the backend that silently frustrates players, where players lose rewards, support tickets disappear, and players who invested years and money feel neglected. An event post just spotlighted this disconnection. It was pretty much like saying here is a shiny present but do not pay attention to the broken ones under the tree.
Then comes the… another side of the community. Eddy shows up and asks, ‘Can I share my shots? This new Zen working overtime ngl.’ For those who are not familiar, ‘Zen’ is a cheating device. Thus, while some players are pleading for their deserved VC, others are explicitly saying that they are cheating with hardware. And the flood does not want to end. Bots like PatxhMadeDrippy are posting in the replies with full price lists for ‘rep grinding’—the process where you pay real money to have someone level up your account. ‘Christmas Discount Rep Prices!’ they scream right under the official tweet. There is a whole economy in the replies going on, which only contributes to the chaotic and at times toxic environment.
Even the criticism of the actual plays gets spiced up. Tyler Real goes wild: ‘These plays are fucking ass. Ban the cheaters there’s plenty.’ And Green Machine simply shouts at the void: ‘Defense in this game is straight ASS!!!!!!!!’ The intensity of the feelings, although negative, is surely there.
And, don’t forget the international players. A user ‘li’ posted in Chinese, which is approximately translated to: ‘Doing a shtty event so stingily. Tired to death grinding 250 assists, still need over 6 million. Does anyone even play on PC? Idiots. Deserve to have your DLC refunded.’ Frustration does seem to be a universal language, it seems.
So, what can we learn from this? The vibrant but often troubled community around NBA 2K highlights the challenges of modern gaming platforms, which are also experienced by players on PlayStation and Xbox.
