What Sports Gamers are Missing

When gaming was still at its birth during the early days of NES and Game Gear (Yes, LONG AGO), The games that were being released and mainly the people who were playing them were always labeled as "nerdy". Thus for a decade or two, Gamers didn't really care what kind of games they played, be it, Sims 3 or Devil May Cry or Dota. It didn't matter because Those gamers would just simply be labeled as "nerdy" or "geeky" only because they were into games. 

This was pretty much how the world saw gamers decades ago. Geeks.

But now, gaming has moved away from this image. For the most part at least. With the rise of indie games, mobile games etc. Games made in this day and age transcend that "nerdy" or "geeky" barrier. That's not to say that there aren't anymore geeks out there. Games now cover a wide variety of genres and categories ranging from extremely short narrative driven tales (Brothers:A tale of 2 sons and Gone Home) to something as simple as tapping the screen and watching a bird fly through it. There's Casual, Action-Adventure, FPS, TPS (Third person shooter) and the list goes on and on and on. And the most popular genre, in my opinion, has to be Sports.

Think about it, why shouldn't the most popular genre be sports. Now read carefully, the most popular genre is sports doesn't necessarily mean that the best games are made in that genre. In fact, I don't think there has ever been a GOTY award given to a sports game (unless it's for Sports GOTY of course). At any rate, it seems that it would make sense that sports be the most popular gaming genre (other than shooters), It's on the TV, Newspaper, on the internet, magazines etc. Sports covers almost every type of media outlet there is including games. 

 

The most popular sports games like 2K's NBA franchise and EA's FIFA series sells, literally, millions upon millions of units every year! It's the kind of game that you can play alone, with friends or online with strangers. And the best part about sports games. It's probably the least "nerdy" type of game out there. There's a saying - "Sports bring people together" - and that statement is true to the last letter. Being a guy that indulges in sports activities, I know how playing with someone you never talk to can enable you to find things in common with them. Sports games helps people do this just as much as the real sports do themselves. 

But this creates a problem. I like to call it "The Sports Gamer Problem". Like in every group of friends, or a community of gamers, there's always that one guy who just plays sports games. To be honest, Nothing wrong with that. It's when they refuse to play anything else because they don't want to be classified as "nerdy" when the real problem begins to surface. I'm sure this doesn't happen to everyone but I think we can agree that we know 1 or 2 of our friends that have this problem. They play Fifa or NBA and strictly only those games and as soon as you start mentioning RPGs and Action games, you see the blank , uninterested expressions on their faces. Oh, if only there were some way to remind them that the world of gaming is exciting and brimming with excellent narratives and unique gameplay mechanics that are so much more than mere Basketball and Soccer sims. 

Don't get me wrong, I love me some NBA 2K14, I practically play it everyday but I still enjoy games with good stories or light puzzle solving. It's quite difficult to not feel a tad-bit sorry for someone who wants to get a PS4 - The next generation of gaming - and all they want to play is NBA and FIFA. In a way, that's such a waste of money. I can only imagine what they're game library will look like. There's so much more to the PS4 than the Xbox One than the NBA and NFL franchises, What about inFamous? or Final Fantasy? not even Destiny or Titanfall? 

Gamers who have even a little bit of the Sports Gamer Problem should just open their minds a bit and realize that long gone are the days of only "nerdy" and "geeky" games. Games that would've been classified as those terms are now classified with words like "unbelievable", "ground-breaking" and even "touching" at times. *cough* Last of Us *cough*. 

I know this hasn't been the most straight-forward post so to conclude this piece, I'd like to suggest all the sports gamers out there to go out and try a game that focuses on story or puzzle solving (basically anything not sports related). Telltale's The Walking Dead would be an excellent game for sports gamers to step out of their comfort zone with. Other easy-going casual games for you guys can be Fez or Sound Shapes. 

Share this post if you know of a friend who has "The Sports Gamer Problem". And feel free to leave a comment saying.... ANYTHING :) 

Peace.