2K Sports, the developers behind NBA 2K, introduced a new MyCareer mode in NBA 2K18 that included the first open-world experience in basketball video game history. While the new MyCareer mode isn’t without faults, they’ve continued to push the series forward rather than resting on their laurels.
NBA 2K18 is still innovating post-release, and they just added a new feature that is so simple and so smart that it makes you wonder how nobody has thought of it yet. Community manager for NBA 2K, Chris Manning, announced on Friday that the game’s latest release will now feature verified users.
That means NBA 2K employees like himself and “verified NBA guys” will have an identifying characteristic that helps you know you’re playing with the real deal.
https://twitter.com/LD2K/status/919069991118323713
It’s unclear what, exactly, Manning means by “verified NBA guys.” NBA players fit under that umbrella, certainly, but if it includes NBA writers, reporters, social media managers, etc. that’d be another fun wrinkle to all this. NBA 2K18 already surfaces messages from LaVar Ball in MyCareer, but imagine if you knew you were playing against him in NBA 2K?
Ronnie Singh, AKA Ronnie 2K, added a little more insight into how this feature is actually going to work.
Cool thing about patch: we can now verify NBA players so you'll start seeing them around The Neighborhood. Let your favorite player know!
— Ronnie 2K 2K24 (@Ronnie2K) October 12, 2017
The details are still a bit vague, but we’re hoping this verification button will cross over to other modes outside of the neighborhood soon as well. If you’re playing an online quick match against an NBA player, it would be pretty cool to know that’s what’s happening.
More than any other sport and any other collection of athletes, NBA players love themselves some 2K basketball. They complain about their ratings all the time. They trash talk about who is better all the time and, most importantly, if you follow any NBA players on social media you know they’re playing NBA 2K18 all the time.
You’ve probably played against NBA players in the past already, but now you’ll know when you come across one, and that’s pretty fantastic. It’s a feature we’d love to see added to other games like this moving forward.
UPDATE: Chris Manning from 2K Sports got in touch with us to relay a few more details on NBA 2K18‘s new verification system, and it sounds even better than we originally thought.
@TonyXypteras Saw your verification article! More details: NBA logo = NBA players, Stars = celebs & "VIP's" & 2K logo is 2K employees/dev's.
— Chris Manning 🏀 (@LD2K) October 16, 2017
