Madden Fooootball

Jon Schnaars attributed to Dan Shanoff  the claim (made in "The Daily Quickie") that "(v)irtual is the new reality" [1.].  The comment was directed to Madden NFL 2006.  Too, Shanoff was also noted to have said "(f)an-dom was a full time job."  We're now up to Madden Football 07 and along comes the Washington Post with a different cross-over...

In the Dec. 5 WP ("A Virtual Chalkboard for Budding NFL Fans") two related arguments are presented:

1.) A game (Madden Football) is good for the NFL (attracting youth with little football background to the sport)

2.)  Players who otherwise know nothing about football learn a great deal about football playing the game.

Jon Schnaars presented the case that Madden Football is an example of Convergence Culture of the sort that Henry Jenkins writes about: "the cooperation between multiple media industries and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want."

I am intrigued by  (2.) above.  It seems to be an example of how one can gain a more in-depth understanding of a facet of the real world via a virtual platform.   What did you learn (or not)?

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[1.] Jon Schnaars.  "Football as Madden 07."  The Escapist.  68.

Comments

[Matt Mihaly]

1.

#2 rings true for me insofar as virtually the only things I know about either American football or basketball have come from playing video games. I wouldn't even know who this 'Duane Wade' fellow is that I saw in a tv commercial the other day were it not for one of the NBA video games I've played with a friend who is obsessed with spectator sports.

Granted, in this particular case, we're talking about some truly pointless knowledge (akin to lauding a soap opera's educational capabilities because it teaches you which character slept with which character that week), but the point stands.

--matt

[Damion Schubert]

2.

Most predominantly, you learn that football is a highly tactical sport. Watching football on television will leave your average viewer with a very skewed idea of how football works - as an example, if you listen to most of the airheads giving commentary during the game, you'd think that you should always blitz.

Madden teaches that blitzes can burn you, the difference between a 3-4 and a 4-3 defense, the impact of the salary cap, and numerous other things. Of course, it's possible for the detail to be overwhelming to the user, but it's almost impossible for the gamer to come out with a better understanding of how the game is played.

[Andrew Baerg]

3.

And as these kinds of games become increasingly complex, I might suggest players begin to acquire at least some knowledge that would not seem to be necessarily "truly pointless". Even as I agree with Matt on the pointless knowledge argument for the most part, if I play something like SI Games' Football Manager, I begin to learn things like which countries have EU membership and some of the details behind work permits in these respective countries. In order to play the game as it is designed, one cannot really avoid gaining this knowledge and expect to understand the gameworld. From a North American perspective that is often myopically focused on all that is the United States, I would see this knowledge as potentially more valuable than the difference between a 4-1-3-2 and a 4-5-1 or a 3-4 versus a 4-3.

[lewy]

4.

Damien Schubert wrote:

"Most predominantly, you learn that football is a highly tactical sport."

Yup. Just watching a game on the tv might leave some viewers with the mistaken impression that football, bastketball, what have you, is primarily an arena for individual athletic achievement. In reality any team sport is primarily an exercise in tactics and strategy, and any game that teaches you something about tactics and strategy can't be all that bad.