Zoned in

August 17, 2007

Personalizing the experience makes sports games more compelling
By Michael Lafferty

Having a namesake in the game puts name pride on the line and lures gamers deeper into the experience

It seems like it was so long ago, and maybe it was, if you think 10-12 years is a long time (it certainly is to a dog), but that was when I bought one of the few video games that I have actually paid money for – though for the life of me I can’t remember if it was NHL 95 or NHL 97. In looking at cover art, neither really strikes a chord. I do remember that it was a PC title and well coveted in my little world. I had to drive 30 miles to the store to buy it, and I played it for months.

First and foremost, I am an RPGer (and MMO gamer), but sports follows closely behind in terms of genres I enjoy. I spent quite a number of years working in newspaper journalism as a sports editor, so I was used to looking at different sporting activities with a discerning eye – analyzing plays and execution of plays to the nth degree. Having the responsibility to be the one that was responsible for a game plan was a great outing. As a former athlete (mainly soccer, but there was also volleyball – they had varsity high school volleyball in Canada; and in truth, though I tried, I was not very good offensively at basketball, but that was one of many, many sports I played) I knew the value of the individual effort, but with the broader scope presented in sports games, the team concept was becoming much clearer.

A little more than a year ago, Sony’s sports developing arm put out an MLB game that had the minor leagues attached (MLB ’06) and after a media event in San Diego it was still a bit of a surprise to find a second baseman playing for the St. Louis Cardinals triple-A farm team that bore my name. That was icing on the cake for a sports enthusiast. But with games like EA’s MVP, where the create a player option was in the game, I had already played with some of the greats, as not only the coach but as a teammate.

That is one of the pure joys of sports gaming – the “create-a-***” function. It really personalizes the game. NCAA Football has seen not only a player with my name, but a Division 1 college in my small home town. You can imagine the horror and outrage when, after creating a wide receiver with my name, setting a very tough schedule and calling play after play to deliver the ball to him (which resulted in some NCAA records falling), and having him win the Heisman as a junior, when he announced that he was foregoing his senior year and heading to the NFL.

“But … but … you can’t do that!!! I created you!! You are me!!! I want to play the senior year and go after a second Heisman!!!  … You selfish jerk!!!”

(And people thinking talking to the TV is abhorrent behavior, what about yelling at your namesake in a video game?)

Remember Sierra’s Front Page Sports? That was a dev team that was taking some innovative approaches to sports games. They actually put out a baseball game that allowed players to take the batters’ perspective when hitting. Hitting real baseball delivered by a pitching machine seemed like a piece of cake compared to facing a Randy Johnson heater. John Kruk’s reaction in an All-star Game (when Johnson threw on over his head) summed up the feeling received in the virtual world … well, with one major exception – if the ball hit Kruk it would hurt a lot worse (for him) than having a virtual pitch hit me.

So what sparked all that? NHL ’08, of course. The game is bringing back the personalization, with the create-a-player and create-a-team modes of play. This is what sports is about. Allowing gamers to jump in and mix it up with their favorite players. Sure, NHL 08 didn’t go far enough. It included a variety of leagues, but no legends of the game. In MVP 2004 (the last year EA Sports had the baseball title; in 2005 Take-Two Interactive inked an exclusive third-party licensing contract with Major League Baseball, the MLBPA and MLBAM that barred third-party developers like EA Sports from continuing its franchise), you could, through game play, unlock Hall of Famers. Imagine being able to play with some of the game’s greats like Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax or Mickey Mantle? It was a breath of fresh air and kept the game compelling.

RPG development studios have known for years that to keep gamers interested, they have to make them feel as though they are part of the story. In any sports, the story is the season, the epic novel is the dynasty. In sports games we can take the distant perspective of merely being the coach or general manager, but the games have more meaning when you feel a part of the spectacle. Name pride is on the line.

It’s nice to see this element becoming more a part of sports gaming, and with the power of next-gen consoles, the experience is becoming a lot more real graphically and a lot more satisfying.