The game is tied, 28-28. A wide receiver breaks off from the defender, wide open down field. The quarterback winds up, when suddenly…BAM! The other team’s defensive linemen tackled the quarterback before the throw, leading to a turnover on downs that allowed the field goal to be kicked. The game has ended, but only you are sad; instead of playing with a whole team, you were playing Madden, a common football video game. And now your rank has dropped from Silver II to Silver I.

Sports video games have been around for a while, games like FIFA, 2K, and Madden. Sports video games are video games that depict a particular sport. They help increase the popularity, fanbase, and knowledge of a sport.

Many people who do not play a sport do not know about it, but because of sports video games, they learn basic, or sometimes even complex, rules of the game. They typically gain general background knowledge of the sport. This can help high school students choose a sport they want to play. 

Sports video games help attract players to a game; many people who have never played that sport before start to play it because of a sports video game. It intrigues people and after they spend hours playing they begin to watch and enjoy the sport depicted.

“Sports video games helps [help] people get more involved in sports because they can play with certain teams or players and they will be able to know who players are that they might have not known before,” said sophomore Sean Fitzpatrick.

Furthermore, sports video games allow novice athletes to seek inspiration by experiencing the high levels athletics can achieve.

“[Sports video games] give you perspective on how you are able to play the game at a high level without training to that level. So it will get you interested in trying and practicing things you see in the game,” said junior Aidan Colgan.

“I think that it could increase the player’s interest in sports by a great amount,” said freshman Matthew Wallace.

However, a realistic approach must be taken to an extent when discerning between sports games and actually playing athletics.

“You can’t recreate the love that you get from being involved in athletics through sports video games,” said sophomore Mateo Masiclat. “To really discover love for a sport…you must actively be involved in the sport.”

 Sports video games do have benefits for the love and passion people have for sports, but the level of involvement that participating in actual athletics trumps the joy that can be found through video games. However, regardless of whether or not an individual participates in the sport, playing its video game represents an enjoyable opportunity to dive into the world of sports, so boot up your Xbox, join the voice chat, throw in the Madden disc, and embrace the world of sports video games!