Baseball and football have hardly remained unchanged.
Baseball today bears almost no resemblance to its roots. Here’s a few of the rule changes - each one of which substantially altered how a portion of the game was played - from the knickerbocker leagues to present:
> - The called strike was invented in 1858. There were caveats: The first pitch could not be a strike (unless swung on and missed), and the umpire had to issue at least one warning before calling a strike.
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> - Catching a fair ball on the first bounce was an out until 1864. Catching a foul ball on the first bounce was an out until 1882 (National League) and 1885 (American League).
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> - The number of balls to be given a walk was 8 until 1884 (when it became 6) and 1889 (when it became 4).
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> - Overhand pitching was banned until 1884 (National League) and 1885 (American League).
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> - Until 1886, batters could define their own strike zone by requesting a “high ball” or a “low ball” prior to stepping into the batter’s box.
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> - In 1893, the pitching distance was increased from 50 feet (the current distance for Little League play) to 60 feet 6 inches.
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> - Also in 1893, bats could no longer have a flat side.
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> - In 1908, the sacrifice fly rule was adopted by both leagues.
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> - In 1919, spitballs and other doctored balls were banned. This resulted in Babe Ruth going from 29 home runs in 1919 (an amazing feat for the time) to 54 in 1920.
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> - In 1925, the minimum home run distance was set to 250 feet from 200 feet to reduce the number of home runs. It was further increased to 325 feet in 1959.
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> - In 1969, the mound height was reduced by 33% (from 15 inches to 10 inches) and the strike zone shrunk to the modern zone (a shrink of about 30%) in an effort to liven up a wholly pitching-dominated game.
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> - In 1973, the American League adopted the Designated Hitter rule for the same reason as above.
Football, likewise:
> - Touchdowns were four points until 1898, when they became 5, and 1912, when they became 6.
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> - Field goals were five points until 1904, when they became 4 (yes, for the first 30 years after American football split from rugby, field goals were worth more than touchdowns), and 1909, when they became 3.
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> - The forward pass was legalized from within the pocket (but not outside the pocket) in 1906.
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> - In 1933, the NFL adopted its own rule book, distinct from college football, which included such new rules as actual inbounds lines, goal lines, and legalizing the forward pass from anywhere behind the line-of-scrimmage.
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> - Playoffs for divisional ties were invented in 1941, along with overtime.
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> - In 1950, unlimited substitutions (previously limited to 3 players) were allowed (imagine modern football without special teams, specialized defenses, or specialized offenses).
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> - In 1951, offensive guards, tackles, and centers were prohibited from catching forward passes.
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> - The facemask rule was invented in 1956.
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> - The two-point conversion option was adopted in 1960.
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> - The two-point conversion was removed in 1970.
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> - In 1974, massive changes were made to speed up the game and add excitement for the fans. These changes included moving the goal posts, moving the kickoff point, changing punting team blocking rules to allow the possibility of punt returns (such as no longer being able to cream the returner before the ball arrived), greatly expanding the definition of pass interference (no longer able to chop-block receivers, for example), reducing the penalty yardage for almost all penalties, and changing blocking rules and hand usage.
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> - In 1978, defenders could no longer contact receivers beyond 5 yards from the line of scrimmage.
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> - In 1988, the 45-second play clock was adopted.
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> - In 1994, the two point conversion was resurrected, along with a host of blocking rule changes.
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> - In 1995, one-way radio communication to quarterbacks was authorized, fundamentally changing the complexity of offenses.
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> - Instant replay with challenges adopted in 1999.
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> - In 2002, slapping balls out of player’s hands was legalized, the game clock no longer stopped if the tackle was behind the line of scrimmage, and additional blocking rule changes.
Games, movies, literature . . . everything evolves over time based on the changing tastes of the society that partakes of them. Simply because George Lucas hosed up the Star Wars reboot and a completely different set of writers and production crew could not make a decent Alien 3 is not evidence that evolution is bad. Counterexamples can be provided, such as the Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager - which all outlasted the original’s 3 seasons - and the complete reboot directed by J. J. Abrams. And CoD is hardly unchanged . . . AW bears little resemblance to the first title in that franchise, and includes such Halo-esque items as thrusters and regenerating hit points. It’s just that each of the three CoD WWII games were similar . . . followed by evolution with the MW games, which were similar to each other . . . followed by evolution with AW. The evolution may have been less substantial than what happened with Halo 4, but the net effect over the years is that the current series in the CoD franchise (AW) is considerably different than the original game.
Halo has followed much the same path. Three games that were similar to each other (CE, 2, 3), followed by evolution (Reach / H4). The difference is that Reach and H4 were received far less favorably by Halo audiences than MW was by CoD fans. That indicates that the direction of the evolution in Reach / H4 was suboptimal. It does not indicate that continued reskins of H3 would retain the same popularity as the original.
Evolution is necessary for Halo to survive. That doesn’t mean that adding sprint or adding loadouts is thus by definition necessary, but something must change, and game mechanics cannot be sacrosanct. Does anyone think that a reskin of Doom without any significant changes to the game mechanics would be a financial success on anywhere near the scale of the original? How about Pac-Man? Or Pong? And though Mario references are often brought up, how does Mario Kart bear any resemblance to the original? Even the side-scrolling 2D game is substantially changed . . . the only mechanics in the original were jumping and running. Enemies could not be squashed, either. It was only when the mechanics were altered with Super Mario Bros and powerups added that the game attained any significant level of popularity. Super Mario 3D fundamentally changed the gameplay with a 3D field and free roam . . . and became the 3rd best selling DS title ever (9+ million sold).
I don’t say this to justify the inclusion of sprint, by the way. I still prefer no-sprint to sprint. I say this because the call to reskin the old games (i.e., MCC) has nowhere near the financial upside of evolution. It’s a safer option, certainly - reskins do actually sell. MCC has sold 2M copies so far in spite of the ongoing issues and being on a new platform. But even if it were on an existing platform and the launch was smooth, it still would fail to eclipse either Reach or H4, which sold more than 3X and 4X as many copies, respectively, during the first 10 weeks (when about 80% of sales occur) as did the MCC.
Blindly denying the need for evolution is as bad as blindly using the word “evolution” to declare every game change the next best thing since individually wrapped slices of cheese.