Blending the Real and Virtual
in Games: The Model of
Fantasy Sports
Frank Shipman
Department of Computer Science &
Center for the Study of Digital Libraries
Texas A&M University
Real and Virtual: Together
“Real or virtual” vs. “real and virtual”
– Decades of comparisons of on-line
communities to physical communities
– Computer games vs. in-person games
Separation is artificial – forms of
entertainment and art can integrate the
physical and digital
This is not news … we see it all the time.
Existing Methods for Combining
Real and Virtual
Using real people
– Playing against other people
– Basing people in game on real people
Using external personal contacts
– Friends lists
Using physical location
– Location aware games/arts
Clearly not an exhaustive list
What are Fantasy Sports?
Fantasy sports: a derivative entertainment
Players of fantasy sports take on the role
of coach
– Draft actual sport players for team
– Decide which players start each week/game
– Get points based on player statistics that
week
– Trade players to other teams/waiver wire
Many other variants of fantasy sports exist
Why Fantasy Sports?
Fantasy sports rely on real sports
Fantasy sports can / will change the real
sport, perhaps to the point where real
sports rely on fantasy sports …
A big, mainstream phenomenon
–
–
–
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27 million players in the US in 2008 survey
75% play on-line
$800 million to 1 billion dollar industry
Magazines and TV shows devoted to topic
Yet, rarely discussed in gaming literature
History of Fantasy Sports
Dates
1962: paper-based fantasy football
game
1979: start of Rotisserie baseball
Characteristics:
– Leagues among local friends and
colleagues
– Significant effort of collecting
statistics and computing winners
– Trophies and prizes for winners (and
losers)
Digitization
A natural fit
– Automatic collection and manipulation of
statistics reduces overhead of leagues.
– Network provides easy access for players
from around the world to create leagues.
Effect
– Low overhead, no knowledge of other
players
– Low consequences results in lower interest
– Players abandon teams early in season
Recapturing What Was Lost
New interfaces aid sense of community
– League statistics / power ratings /
transactions
– League newspapers / polls
– League message boards
Integrating virtual and real sport news
– News of injuries, anticipated changes to
starting players, and weather forecasts
– Alongside articles about fantasy teams
Rhetoric in Fantasy Sports
• Empowerment
“becoming the team's manager, owner, and
president all in one”
“have star athletes working for you”
• Competition
“ever thought you could do a better job than the
people running the teams?”
“show the world just how smart you are”
• Participation
“In Fantasy Sports, you can be as much the
beneficiary of an athlete's performance as the
athlete himself!”
Framework for Games and Sports
Real Action
Player Control Playing sports
External
Control
Watching
sports
Virtual Action
Playing
games
Observing
game playing
Fantasy sports combine spectatorship with gaming
– Players must understand and anticipate the real
sport
– Players act in the virtual sport based on this
knowledge
Emotion and Engagement
Lessons from fantasy sports
– Ease of playing resulted in less
commitment to game
– Community presence and surrounding
context can increase engagement
– Real consequences increase engagement
(e.g. financial or other awards)
– Connection to events in the real world
can remove the boredom that results
from predictable game engines
Potential Effects of Fantasy
Sports on Real Sports
Audience:
– Greater interest driving larger television
audiences
– Spectators via multiple media
Game:
– Rule changes to better support fantasy sports
(e.g. injury reports, starting line-ups)
Viewing:
– Personalized presentations of real sports events
Games as Derivative Forms
Simple model
– Real world acts as data source for game
engine
– Model maps data to game
Real-World
Event
Collection of
Data from
Event
Model Mapping
Data to Game
Context
Virtual
Event
Examples of Model
Simple mappings
– Fantasy stock markets
– Fantasy elections
Streaming or querying data
– Weather and traffic in racing or other
simulation
– Play/action selection in sports game
based on database of play selections
retrieved by similarity of conditions
Fantasy Sport meets Reality TV
Information flow in model is in single
direction
What if:
An Alternative “XFL”
– Vote for next play, or player substitutions
– Audience communication with players on
the field
Summary
Fantasy games have 45 year history
– 10s of millions of players in US alone
– Billion dollar industry
Connecting the real and digital
– Using the real world as data for or part of
“game engine”
– Community, context, and consequence
result in engagement
Potential for digital games to be combined
with existing modes of entertainment