A person with whom I have had a substantial amount of mediated communication would have to be my online friend VazzyFresh. We met while playing Madden for Xbox 360 a few years back. Madden is a video game developed by EA Sports based on professional athletes of the National Football League that is very popular among the gaming world and can be recognized worldwide.
Madden allows the fans the opportunity to take ownership of their favorite team and even become a star player on the same team. The video game has every player, team, and stadium currently in existence with the league as well as Hall of Famer’s from years before. You don’t just play Madden, you become the game. Every tackle made and every touch down thrown is all because of you; only you can control your team’s destiny.
This experience brings together millions of fans, as well as allowing us to meet new people with similar interest, like VazzyFresh. He lives in New Jersey and is a college freshman. We have never met before, but we consider ourselves to be friends over the “Madden Nation” network. We talk on instant messenger every now and then and always chat about what’s going on in the world of Madden.
Video games aren’t just about playing against the computer now; it’s more of a social interaction with other people around the world. Whether you meet online randomly or through a friend, the ability to interact with new people is very easy. This is due to the common ground principle. Through Madden we are able to identify with people because of their interest with Madden and football. Classification can now be put into different groups whether it’s based on the likings of a player, team, or just the game in general. McKenna describes this as “connecting to similar others.”
Another one of McKenna’s theories that relates to “connecting to similar others” is “getting the goods,” or the ability to receive information about others before meeting them. In online gaming you might not ever meet the person on the other screen, but you do know much about them due to their profile from EA Sports. Interaction occurs also through blogs, facebook groups, chat rooms, and through websites as well. These interactions are what I like to refer to as “MADDEN NATION.”
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2 comments:
I like how you chose to analyze sports games. This was a great blog to read and very different from the norm. I have a few questions, you touched the point made by McKenna regarding "connecting to similar others," but is this all you get. I feel you under utilized the many possibilities that are available through online gaming and could have developed excellent points regarding other aspects of McKenna's theory. Great work on the post!!
A game like Madden is a special application of the Social Identity Processing Theory. I understand that's not a McKenna or Wallace factor, but I feel it's especially relevant. Unlike some other online games, Madden attracts a pretty specific crowd: hard-core football fans. Some other games (say, fantasy games) may attract people who are not particularly interested in fantasy but who just signed up to see what's the game is about. THEN they get addicted and keep playing or get bored and quit. Thus you would be wrong if you are a fan of fantasy role-playing and you assume everyone else in the game has that in common with you.
But very few non-football fans would sign up for Madden. They already know what it is about. Only an avid fan would participate, so your assumptions about their love for football are usually true, so your common ground here is more solid than in some other games.
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