Hi, my name is Earl and I am a Fantasy-Football-aholic! I said in my first blog ever that I was not a big fan of fantasy sports, but I have been changed! Converted! I am a different person now because of it. I have developed a theory as to why fantasy football and other fantasy sports have taken such a hold on people. How did I get here? For me, it has its beginnings from another source of entertainment.
With the myriad of problems facing people these days, its fun to have an escape. For some, its TV shows or movies or anything. There are many things to do. I like to think that I have a variety of ways to escape the everyday monotony and stress of life. But one of my favorite ways to escape is through video games. I have several games that I like to play.
Final Fantasy VII (that’s 7 for all of you not well versed in Roman numerals) is my all time favorite. It is a RPG, or Role Playing Game. This means that you play or control an active character in the game. This character/player fulfills a role throughout the game. It’s slightly different than just an action game. There is a distinct storyline that this character follows and certain actions determine later events in the game. So not only are you playing an active character, but you’re following a storyline as well. It’s like controlling a character in a movie. FF7 is considered by many to be the ultimate RPG, even the best of all time. While there are many RPGs that came before FF7 and many that have and will come after, FF7 is an icon among that style of game. It exceeded limits of RPGs that preceded it, yet is was instrumental in paving the way for immensely popular RPG games now such as Halo or World of Warcraft. It was an apex of storyline, drama, graphics, and gameplay. No other game before or since has combined all of these ingredients like FF7 did.
I remember my roommate and me seeing commercials for this game and getting extremely excited. Upon the game’s release, my roommate immediately bought a Playstation and the game. It’s worth noting that Playstation was a fledgling gaming system compared to Nintendo and Sega at the time. Squaresoft, FF7’s creator, had exclusively used Nintendo gaming systems for the previous Final Fantasy games. However, Playstation was the only system with enough CPU power to play this game and Squaresoft sold the rights to Playstation. Needless to say, this game put Playstation on the map for good… now that’s POWER.
Anyway, even though FF7 is my favorite, it has it drawbacks. I have played the games start to finish at least 5 times. I know every mission, every secret door, every little nuance of the game. Given my knowledge of the game, it stills takes at least 50+ hours to complete the game. That is 50+ game hours! And this only includes doing the minimum amount to complete it. FF7 has supplemental missions as well. These missions are not required to be completed to beat the game, but are extra missions if you want additional challenges. This lengthy game time means that you have to devote significant time to game or else you will become frustrated and eventually give up.
Thus, I have begun playing a new game: Madden! I have never really been a big fan of sports games, but once I began playing Madden, I was hooked! I especially enjoy franchise mode. Franchise mode lets you assume ownership of an NFL team and make decisions regarding the franchise. These decisions range from drafting players to building a new stadium. It is mad fun. But of course, being the nerd that I am, I have developed a theory as to why people love Madden and video games so much.
My theory: video games allow you to control that which is uncontrollable. I will stay with Madden for my examples. Earlier this season, my favorite NFL team, the Miami Dolphins, lost to the New York Jets. I hate when my team loses, but I ESPECIALLY hate losing to the Jets. I had absolutely no control over this outcome whatsoever. I was powerless to prevent this atrocity. So what did I do? I promptly turned on Madden and commenced to thrashing the Jets. Why? In my own way, I was atoning for the loss just experienced in reality. I could control the destiny of my team on Madden and therefore in a weird and limited way, prevent this loss from happening.
This is why I have become a fantasy football fan. I have that control factor again. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a control freak! But in the area of competitive sports, control gives you an edge. Control feeds that competitive urge that drives sports fans. If I do something to control my team’s destiny, then those competitive urges are satiated. I mean, this is why we even play sports to begin with. We all have a desire to win at something. I cannot play professional football, but I can control a fantasy team or a video game team. My fantasy team won for the first time last week. I didn’t control the actions of the players, but I did control my rosters. I sat the right people and started the right people. Fantasy football, along with Madden, allows our internal general manager to come out. We push the right buttons, make the right calls, or setup the right circumstances for our teams to win. And we feel the results personally. A win is exhilarating while a loss stings. In some small way, we are a part of the NFL and that is a great feeling!
I still play competitive sports that my body will allow me to play: golf, softball, some basketball. But fantasy sports allow people to be connected with pro sports outside of the regular boundaries of fandom. It is a new wrinkle on sports that increases love for the game.
How has this affected me? Well, I’m not the ultra-fantasy geek where my entire week hinges on games. But I do peer over stats, evaluate teams and match-ups, and look at making player deals. I review my team for possible trades and acquisitions. I am trying to control that which I cannot control. And in some small way, I am doing just that.
What can I say…? I’m hooked!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment