Career mode

Career mode is a video game term referring to a mode of gameplay that involves taking control of a single character and guiding the character through their career. The mode is normally associated with sports games, where it is referred to by various names such as "superstar mode", "My Player mode", and "Road to the Show mode", in which a player controls the career of a single athlete.

Normal features of the mode include tracking the character's statistics and customizing the character's appearance and attributes. Additional options may also be available, such as participating in various activities outside of the main gameplay, as in NBA 2K13 which allows players to spend virtual currency to make special appearances at charity functions to improve team chemistry.

Compared to other modes of a typical sports or racing video game, the pacing in the early moments of career mode tends to be conservative and in favor of experience point/money grinding. This is especially true in games like Gran Turismo 6 where a player starts out with enough money to buy a lowly Honda Fit as their first vehicle.

Players in the mode are normally rated, sometimes with a scale from 0 to 99 (with 99 being the highest score) in both the overall category and in various categories that correspond to a specific position (e.g., a quarterback in American football, a catcher in baseball, a point guard in basketball).

Career mode generally rewards players for positive plays (such as scoring a basket, grabbing a rebound, hitting a home run, blocking a shot, or scoring a touchdown) and penalizes them for negative plays (like missed shots, throwing an interception, or striking out). During matches, gamers take the role of one specific player, controlling all of their actions with teammates controlled by the game's A.I. Normally a limited amount of control is provided over teammates such as calling for a teammate to pass or take a shot. Players can always benefit from the A.I. when they either take a shot that is appropriate for their skill level or pass to the receiver that they happen to see open.

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