A Game is a Game

So, it's Superbowl Sunday. Just like almost everyone else in the Greater Baltimore Area, I'm pretty excited about having the Ravens in the game. It's a chance to unite behind something and just enjoy the spectacle.  I can't believe the last time they were in the Superbowl, it was my senior year of high school.  God, I'm old...

By the way, check out the always awesome
Sheldon by Dave Kellett

To be honest, though, my interest in football is just a social thing.  It's a way to connect to my dad and my brother. They're both far more into the sports thing than I am. So, while they're wearing jerseys for specific players, I wear my custom jersey that I had made for Poe, the Ravens mascot. Literary reference and football solidarity in one move. I dig it. 

A lot of my friends who are nerds who are nerdy have no interest in football. Some are interested in other sports, like hockey or disk golf. Some are apathetic to sports in general. I totally get those sentiments. Sports is the realm of the dudes who beat us up in between third and fourth period, after all. Let us stick to smashing imaginary mosters in Dungeons and Dragons, and they can stick to smashing each others out on that hot, stupid field. 

But the reality is we're really not terribly different--we just have enthusiasm for similar things portrayed in different ways. And it comes down to an idea I've had for a long time but have never really codified. 

Every single game, no matter what form it takes, is a narrative. Be it told on a gridded map or a gridiron, it's still a story.

A lot of games tell elemental, binary stories. It boils down to who wins and who loses. But we attach bigger meanings to it. A great example of this is the card game Gloom, where the players create a narrative of bad stuff. The winner is the person who can make their family of characters suffer the most. You can find out more about it in the following video.

Other examples of win/lose games take on other forms. Games like Risk, Chess, and Warhammer 40K are supposed to represent military battles. Other games, like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, have a socioeconomic bent. But they're still about who comes out on top. RPGs can combine a multitude of themes into the game. Killing the dragon and take it's treasure works as an introductory quest because it has both the military aspect and the economic factor, and it's pretty easy to delineate the winner and the loser (the party versus the dragon). Things get more tricky when you start adding in character motivations, but player versus player in RPGs is another post for another time.

The iconography here is incredibly potent with story

At first glance, football is a win-lose narrative. Simple. Clean-cut. But that's only what happens on the field. There's so much more when you think about it. Add in the factor of the people who are involved in the Superbowl XLVII, and you have a really amazing story.

Just as an example, Ray Lewis. Far and away, he is the player who is associated with the Baltimore Ravens. He's flamboyant, charismatic, widely considered one of the best to play his position. But he's also old. He was the second player to be drafted by the Ravens after they moved from Cleveland, and he played his entire career for Baltimore. Earlier this year he announced his retirement. So today is his last game ever. What's he feeling right now?

Another story that's attached to this particular game is the passing of the Ravens original owner, Art Modell. He was a loved man in Baltimore, loathed in Cleveland, and his passing just before this season began provided a strong well of emotions.

The Ravens are playing the 49ers, and that's a really cool story right there because the coaches are brothers -- John and Jim Harbaugh. Not only that, but Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback Ray Lewis got his first NFL sack against. And he later served as a Raven as their quarterback in the 1998 season!  Imagine how hard it would be to lose your first Superbowl appearance (assuming the Ravens win) to a team you used to play for. The brothers aren't the only reunion, though. Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and 49ers Right Tackle Anthony Davis were teammates at college.

These stories are not things I really went looking for. It's just stuff I knew from keeping track of local news and looking at friends' Facebook posts. But it's really neat to see this kind of thing. It gives me even more investment in the game.

I realize that some people aren't into football. Conversely, I understand that my own interest in table top gaming is something others won't get. But I do think there is common ground. We're looking for a story. We're looking for something to connect to. And that human need is even more important than the game.