When people fire up their console to play Madden, most don't think of the way that the game is poised to influence the future of real football.
Don't follow? That's alright, let me break it down for you.
Don't follow? That's alright, let me break it down for you.
Retirements are changing the NFL
Football fans have seen a recent rash of young, talented players deciding to retire early due to health concerns. Some related to concussions, some to less terrifying injuries, like bad knees or ankles. As more and more players begin to make the decision to walk away from a game that is being played by larger, faster and stronger people, the owners of these businesses will start to look for a way to protect their profits.
How do you do that? It's simple really. The less people you need to pay, and the less money you need to invest in infrastructure to support massive sporting events, the more money flows back into your own wallet. When you combine the massive popularity of the NFL with the surging popularity of E-sports, you get a match made in heaven.
As players, and people in general, become more aware of the cost of playing football, you will begin to see a movement to get away from using actual flesh bags to play the game. The initial thought is to use something close to a human, like a robot, but you lose a bit of the human element of skill when you go that route. So how do we keep the excitement and unpredictable nature of football, the skill required to make amazing plays and the intelligence and nuance of the game without risking permanent damage?
Video games.
How do you do that? It's simple really. The less people you need to pay, and the less money you need to invest in infrastructure to support massive sporting events, the more money flows back into your own wallet. When you combine the massive popularity of the NFL with the surging popularity of E-sports, you get a match made in heaven.
As players, and people in general, become more aware of the cost of playing football, you will begin to see a movement to get away from using actual flesh bags to play the game. The initial thought is to use something close to a human, like a robot, but you lose a bit of the human element of skill when you go that route. So how do we keep the excitement and unpredictable nature of football, the skill required to make amazing plays and the intelligence and nuance of the game without risking permanent damage?
Video games.
Simulating Games Isn't Enough, You need the Human Element
The easiest, and likely first, way people will think to replicate the NFL with computers is through a simulation. The problem with this is that algorithms, no matter how advanced, will never match the processing speed of the human mind. We will get close, but I don't think we will ever match the human mind within the realm of computers that lack sentience, but that is another article.
Since we can surmise that people won't be enthralled by a computer playing itself, we need to think of the next best thing. We want the human element, but we don't want to hurt people. It is here that we turn to E-sports. We already have a huge movement in the scene, with several games drawing huge crowds through avenues like Twitch.
The natural expansion to that is for large investments from people with plenty of money and little sense into the scene in order to try to capitalize on that popularity. You see the beginning of that with companies like the WWE creating YouTube and Twitch channels and MMA champions moonlighting as streamers. The next step is for the owners to see the opportunity to make serious cash without having to spend money on the more annoying aspects of sports, like player health care and safety.
As soon as one of these billionaires realizes he or she can still exploit the popularity of the NFL, make a ton of cash and spend a lot less, you can bet they will start to invest in the couch athletes. Throw a few million at a guy who has to worry more about sprained thumbs and not so much about concussions and you can see the appeal of the bottom line from the perspective of the owner.
Since we can surmise that people won't be enthralled by a computer playing itself, we need to think of the next best thing. We want the human element, but we don't want to hurt people. It is here that we turn to E-sports. We already have a huge movement in the scene, with several games drawing huge crowds through avenues like Twitch.
The natural expansion to that is for large investments from people with plenty of money and little sense into the scene in order to try to capitalize on that popularity. You see the beginning of that with companies like the WWE creating YouTube and Twitch channels and MMA champions moonlighting as streamers. The next step is for the owners to see the opportunity to make serious cash without having to spend money on the more annoying aspects of sports, like player health care and safety.
As soon as one of these billionaires realizes he or she can still exploit the popularity of the NFL, make a ton of cash and spend a lot less, you can bet they will start to invest in the couch athletes. Throw a few million at a guy who has to worry more about sprained thumbs and not so much about concussions and you can see the appeal of the bottom line from the perspective of the owner.
Madden Already Has Infrastructure in Place to create competition
Thanks to multi-player, the capacity for competition already exists. Madden players are already creating leagues and hosting matches, so all the owners need to do is convince the league that this is the future. Think of the benefits; less people to pay, less laws and rules to worry about, and stadium costs become nonexistent, unless you want to broadcast streams on massive screens.
No more players union, no more Congressional hearings, no more ugly CTE scandals, and all the hard hits, athletic catches and skill you can ask for. You still have scouts, you still have coaches designing plays, you still have GM's and you can even still have a draft. Many of the elements that already exist can be modified slightly for the new, pastier, slower and softer athletes of the next generation.
You can even draft a guy who looks good enough to market, and is dumber than a box of rocks, just like you do now, but you don't have to worry about his performance, since no one knows who is holding the sticks. The future is bright, fellow nerds. We just need to wait for the crass billionaires to make the move to E-sports and ruin it.
See ya next time.
No more players union, no more Congressional hearings, no more ugly CTE scandals, and all the hard hits, athletic catches and skill you can ask for. You still have scouts, you still have coaches designing plays, you still have GM's and you can even still have a draft. Many of the elements that already exist can be modified slightly for the new, pastier, slower and softer athletes of the next generation.
You can even draft a guy who looks good enough to market, and is dumber than a box of rocks, just like you do now, but you don't have to worry about his performance, since no one knows who is holding the sticks. The future is bright, fellow nerds. We just need to wait for the crass billionaires to make the move to E-sports and ruin it.
See ya next time.