Over the past few years gaming has become serious business and has started to challenge our conventions of sport. To explore this phenomenon further, the National Football Museum curated an event, From Pixel to Pitch – The World of Football Gaming.
The room is filled with football gaming memorabilia, old and new games and even light-up interactive table football. There’s people playing against each other in a battle of Fifa 16, and others trying to find their way around an old games controller, attempting to control pixelated figures on a tiny screen – games have come a long way since then!
It’s a far cry from a real football pitch. At the top of the museum feeling warm on a rainy Manchester day sounds better than running around a muddy field. But which is more popular? Which can earn you the most money?
We all know that footballers earn a lot of money, up to £300,000 a week (In the time it took me to find that link, Lionel Messi earned £43), they train endlessly and work hard to maintain their titles. But the same goes for people who play eSports. eSports, or sometimes referred to as electronic sports, have grown in popularity massively in the past few years, with some of the top players earning millions curing their reign. These sportsmen, if we can call them that, also train tirelessly and dedicate their lives to being the best they can be.
Little Sports Coaching train children aged between 18 months and 18 years. They are the UK’s number one provider of soccer schools, sports coaching and dance programmes. We spoke to the manager, Luke Berry, and 9-year-old Ben Taylor who plays for one of the teams to see what they thought about real football vs. football gaming.
The main point is that football games don’t give you much of a workout – besides the thumbs. And in the past it would have been considered antisocial to sit at home playing on your own all day, but that is no longer the case. Along with the invention of the internet came the invention of co-operative games.
Before the internet it was possible to play video games with up to 4 friends at once all in the same room on the same console. But when games companies decided to make it available to play online, the world of gaming quickly changed.
Being able to play with anyone, anywhere in the world has made the gaming community massive. It’s hard to find someone under the age of 30 who doesn’t play games regularly and games like Candy Crush on Facebook proved that the older generation loved to play as well.
Ryan Parker who studies Computer Games technologies at Manchester Metropolitan University feels like computer games and real sports work hand-in-hand.
“Although you’re not technically working out, you’re working your brain. There’s studies that show playing video games increases you cognitive function and your hand-eye co-ordination.”
A study done into gaming and brain function by the Daily Mail showed that those who play video games tend to be better at visual tasks and have shown to be better at learning.
Ryan also said that the social side of gaming is becoming more prominent.
“Some of the games I play get people together from all over a certain city to play a certain game. I’ve met a few good mates and especially on my course at uni – we don’t all just sit at home on our own all day.”
Games like Hearthstone, a massive online card game, hold events at cities across the globe called ‘Fireside Gatherings‘. These gatherings are aimed at making the community more social, and allowing people to meet up with those with similar interests.
Virtual reality (VR) also plays a part in making video gaming more social. Soon we will be able to feel like we are physically in the room with people whilst actually being at home alone with a VR headset on. It will also help in the activity levels in games. Virtual reality will require us to be more active than just sat twiddling our thumbs and may lead to virtual reality football pitches, where people from all over the world can link up and play football together from the comfort of their own homes.
But until then, if you want to play football you’ll have to meet your mates at the park. Or maybe just send them a message online to meet you on Fifa.
From Pixel to Pitch at the National Football Museum is aimed at enlightening people on football gaming and it’s place within the real sport. It’s clear that there’s a long way to go until eSports will be considered a ‘real sport’ but events like this prove to us that each are as popular as one another.
From Pixel to Pitch is running at The National Football Museum until the 5th June 2016 – go check it out!
Manchester: European City of Science 