Like most of the people I knew in elementary school, I played soccer for a few years of my pre-teenhood. I was alright at it – once every so often I’d dribble past a defender and score on the kid that was forced to play goalie for his team. But I never really had full control of my feet. Like the other non-gifted players, my foot-eye coordination was mediocre at best. Fifth grade marked my last game of soccer, when I went on to be pretty average at basketball and baseball full time (until I quit those as well after my freshman year of high school, to become a runner). Anyways, the point is that soccer never really became a part of my life. Upon reflection, the main reason was that there were very few outlets through which I could become involved in the sport, specifically as a fan. With baseball and basketball, I grew up watching the Red Sox and Celtics on TV. Bulletin boards in downtown Boston advertised the players, the teams, and upcoming games. We took pride in Boston sports, but soccer was never a part of that pride. The New England Revolution weren’t even half bad – they just never received much attention. That being said, soccer has taken a great leap forward in popularity in recent years. Now, everywhere you go you’ll spot people sporting the jerseys of their favorite soccer stars. The most recent World Cup brought our national team into the limelight and made soccer fans of us all, if only for a few weeks. So what changed? We can almost certainly attribute this surge in national attention to the success and emergence of the FIFA video game franchise.
In 2014, the year’s edition of FIFA became the highest rated sports video game, scoring 87-90.5 out of 100 points based on the reviews of gaming critics across the country [1]. Madden, the EA Sports American football counterpart of FIFA, had previously held the throne regarding sports games. What makes FIFA so appealing as a game? As a kid, I saw a few soccer games on television (unintentionally), and had formed the opinion that the games were too low scoring, and overall more boring than something like basketball. Up until the point I played the game, my outlook on soccer was not too great. But I was a huge fan of video games as a kid – still am. So when my friend got me to play FIFA, I figured why not. The first match I played I think I lost 7-0. I barely got to touch the ball. I was passing the ball out of bounds, trying to shoot from the halfway line, and dribbling into too many people. Granted, I had just learned the controls, but it seemed nearly impossible to score. It took me about 5 games to score my first goal. But I can say with confidence that putting that tiny virtual soccer ball into the net against my friend was one of the best feelings I had playing video games. Obviously the game is a watered down version of the real sport, but playing FIFA made me truly appreciate the complexity and elegance of soccer. You start to see the meaning behind passes, feel the pace building during a possession, and the burdening pressure to score as you head into stoppage time – because you experience all these things playing the game. You start to develop likings for certain teams, for their ability to suit your personal FIFA playstyle. The names of certain players start to stick – the ones that scored goals on you, the ones you favor with your passes and dribble moves, and the ones you won games with. You become attached to soccer through the virtual experience that is FIFA, in a way that makes you want to watch the actual teams and players that you like.
This is not a unique experience. An ESPN poll conducted by Richard Luker found that 34% of FIFA players became avid pro soccer fans after playing the video game, and 50% gained at least some interest in pro soccer as a result [1]. Another ESPN poll found that, since 2009, the percentage of self-identifying pro soccer fans in the U.S. has increased consistently every year [1]. Uncoincidentally, unit sales of FIFA games have also risen by 35% between 2010 and 2012 [2]. The overwhelming popularity of the franchise has unquestionably had a strong influence on its core audience, which has in turn left a mark on the nation’s perception of soccer. America remains soccer’s last frontier, one of the few countries where soccer is not its most popular sport. But as the graphics get better in FIFA and the game mechanics get more realistic, the number of soccer fans can only continue to trend upwards. Especially now with live in-game rosters containing up-to-date injured players and transfers, people that are already fans – and even those that are just becoming fans – can immerse themselves in the full experience of playing as their favorite club. FIFA has opened the door for the sport of soccer, and it’s looking bright on the other side.
Citations:
[1] Markovits, Andrei. “FIFA, the Video Game: A Major Vehicle for Soccer’s Popularization in the United States.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 3 Sept. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrei-markovits/fifa-the-video-game-a-maj_b_8085220.html>.
[2] Badenhausen, Kurt. “EA Sports’ FIFA Video Game Helps Fuel Interest In The World Cup.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 13 July 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2016. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2014/07/13/ea-sports-fifa-video-game-helps-fuel-interest-in-the-world-cup/#2b6862ee1c74>.
While I’ve never played FIFA extensively or become a huge soccer fan, I’ve always been very interested in the algorithms behind video games like FIFA because they manage to create such a natural feel in the movements of the players in the game. It amazes me that a computer can mirror human behavior in sports in such an accurate way. One of the ways the creators of FIFA accomplish this is by using Artificial Intelligence techniques and this reminded me of a presentation I saw at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing about RoboCup. RoboCup is an AI research and robotics competition focused on teaching robots how to play soccer in accordance with standard FIFA rules. Their ultimate objective is stated as such: “By the middle of the 21st century, a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players shall win a soccer game, complying with the official rules of FIFA, against the winner of the most recent World Cup.” (http://www.robocup.org/about-robocup/objective/). How crazy would that be! For now, it’s only robots competing against other robot teams. Even though we’ve had many different advances in the world of gaming through AI, like with Google’s AlphaGo being able to beat the world champion in the very complicated game of Go, there’s another layer of complexity to playing soccer by adding a physical component. I’d be interested to know if the FIFA video game and RoboCup contestants use the same sort of algorithms in computing the rules of soccer. While I may not have personally generated an interest in soccer out of playing FIFA, I love seeing the intersection of technology and sport and how games can inspire us to create new technology.
If you’re interested, here’s a fascinating video of a RoboCup match. You can see a robot score at 8:45. Warning, it’s super slow and the robots fall down a lot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNLcGqbhGcc
Here’s another video of faster-paced but less human-like appearing robots https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMGiPDregS0
I very much appreciated this blog post, as it reminded me of my childhood, my introduction to soccer and my more recent renewed interest in the sport. I was introduced to soccer as a player on a recreational league team but did not continue to play the sport after my middle school years. However, I learned more about the intricacies of the game—its dynamics, different tactical formations and the strategy behind substitutions—from my virtual experience than from my physical experience of soccer. My renewed appreciation for, and interest in, soccer and my following of Major League Soccer and the men’s and women’s national teams are byproducts of my more recent obsession with the FIFA videogame franchise, hence why I do not find surprising Andrei Markovits’ finding that 57 percent of Americans watching Premier League games on NBC became interested in the sport only after the emergence of the videogame. Indeed, the FIFA videogame has driven the popularity of soccer within the United States to unprecedented levels. America was the second bestselling country for the 2014 edition of the videogame, and 50 percent of Americans who play the videogame claim to have become more interested in professional soccer as a result. Furthermore, Americans who play the videogame have become more supportive of their national league, choosing to play with Major League Soccer clubs with the 2015 edition of the videogame nearly twice as often as they did with the 2014 edition of the videogame. For this reason, I believe that the FIFA videogame serves an important function, inspiring Americans initially uninterested in the sport to learn more about it, care more about it and increasingly follow it, just as they do basketball, baseball, football or hockey.
One thing I like a lot about FIFA is that it gives you the chance to learn more about teams and players that you might never really get to know. I play almost everyday with my roommate, and to keep myself from getting bored, I switch teams pretty frequently. Earlier last year, I started playing extensively with SSC Napoli. In my first game, I noticed a massive center back named Kalidou Koulibaly stopping every attack; when I examined him closer later on, I saw that he had 93 strength and reasonable speed and defending stats at the same time. The more I played with this team, the more I realized how overpowered he was, and I started learning more about both him and Napoli in real life, which has also translated into watching more Serie A. While FIFA is obviously far from a true representation of how soccer is actually played, it definitely gets me thinking more about the different teams and players that exist and has made me more interested in the sport as a whole.
I found this post extremely relatable. I to played soccer in my preteen-hood and was competent in the sport but for whatever reason I never grew to love it, but FIFA brought the sport back into my life. As an almost purely sports gamer FIFA was and is hands down the best sports game on the market, sports fan or not. I think what makes it special and different then other sports games in the variably of the players, and play styles. For example, in Madden though you can pick from a variety of teams, and players you get to a certain point where each game feels the same with little variability or additional difficulty. While in FIFA, each team plays different as the numerical physical attributes given to them are very concretely seen on the pitch. In FIFA it is very easy to see how a player with 90 speed can outrun a player with 60 speed while in Madden that disparity isn’t as stark. By increasing this disparity between the superstars and your average player I believe Madden can elevate their game and reenergize their fans.
I agree completely. I have never played much soccer myself, and was never very interested in the sport until my friend introduced me to FIFA. Once I started playing and enjoying the video game, I wanted to learn more about the players and teams with which I was playing, and so I started to watch more soccer. I have now even started playing, although much of what I have learned comes from the video game. I know this is not unique to me; I have numerous other friends who similarly found soccer through FIFA. The soccer world, and especially the presence of the sport within the United States, has profited immensely as a consequence of the overwhelming success of the video game.