Sports Games & Sociability
(cross posted)
Not usually my area of interest, but after a conversation with a colleague’s partner last night, I wonder if it is not something we should look at a bit deeper. We talk of the sociability of play in mmog’s, and Lan parties, but I haven’t read much about the social elements of play in sports games. Shanly’s thesis approaches this form of sociability in her MA thesis in how boys use games as a social meeting space. (Please add more and/or correct me if I am wrong Shanly).

There is a different culture between sports and fps, rpg etc. games. Typically (but not exclusively) those who play the latter set don’t usually play sports games. In the case of sports games, guys tend to get together in groups to play 2 on 2 hockey, have a few beers and have a good time. Whereas (often not always) when my partner gets a new game, he might call his buddy to talk strategy, but it is more of a solo experience.

In terms of exploring the social, it seems to me that sports games, and the culture that surrounds them would be an interesting place to explore. Surely, some of the counter arguements would be that sports games culture is simply sports fan culture. But there must be some ludic differences between playing sports and playing sports games - the most obvious being the leisure social space the video game creates is a different kind of space that being in the park playing a game of football. Something to think about I suppose.