From rssfeeds@jmason.org Mon Oct 7 12:05:14 2002 Return-Path: Delivered-To: yyyy@localhost.example.com Received: from localhost (jalapeno [127.0.0.1]) by jmason.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9693816F76 for ; Mon, 7 Oct 2002 12:03:52 +0100 (IST) Received: from jalapeno [127.0.0.1] by localhost with IMAP (fetchmail-5.9.0) for jm@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 07 Oct 2002 12:03:52 +0100 (IST) Received: from dogma.slashnull.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by dogma.slashnull.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g9780OK23233 for ; Mon, 7 Oct 2002 09:00:24 +0100 Message-Id: <200210070800.g9780OK23233@dogma.slashnull.org> To: yyyy@example.com From: boingboing Subject: Football players addicted to video football Date: Mon, 07 Oct 2002 08:00:23 -0000 Content-Type: text/plain; encoding=utf-8 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-930.9 required=5.0 tests=AWL,T_NONSENSE_FROM_40_50 version=2.50-cvs X-Spam-Level: URL: http://boingboing.net/#85531549 Date: Not supplied Pro football players are addicted to football games, as a means of wish-fulfillment -- by "managing" the team, they can be free of the rule of their coaches and bosses. Maybe this explains the amazing success of The Sims, which, on the face of it, should be dull as hell: While away your free time away from the office by simulating an existence as a shlub with a day-job and a drive to acquire consumer goods on credit. You'd think it'd be the last thing you want to do. But it's not. When you're a Sim, you can tweak your existence a smidge, discover what life would be like if you took Path A instead of Path B, try the alternate universe on for size. The idea of football players playing themselves in licensed video games is neat and recursive, like the episode of the Simpsons when Mr. Burns runs into Krusty buying Krusty-O's at the supermarket and asks where he can find the "Burns-O's." "It's always a trip," Carr says. "The first time I saw myself in a video game was in college (at Fresno State) when I walked into a Best Buy store and some kid was playing with me. That kind of trips you out a little bit." For every 12-year-old kid who spends countless hours in front of a television playing video games, there's a group of 300-pound offensive linemen challenging each other at everything from Madden NFL 2003 to the action-packed "Halo: Combat Evolved." Link[1] Discuss[2] (_Thanks, Lawrence[3]!_) [1] http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/1604474 [2] http://www.quicktopic.com/boing/H/XWcdy9AcBAh [3] http://www.io.com/~lawrence