In any given year, I play a lot of video games. This is the nature of the job. There were a few staple games, like Street Fighter, but other than that, things kept coming and going. For example, this is the year of Zelda and the year of Final Fantasy, but not every year. But one aspect of the game remains constant every year: fantasy football. This year is especially exciting.
Some of you may have played it already, or have played it in the past. Others may have no idea. But, as an RPG guy myself, I have to say, this real-life sport has always tickled me like a lot of the best video games do – which is why I wanted to do it in Finally give it the treatment it deserves.Best of the Year – Even at this point, one of the best
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Fantasy football is all about statistics. It involves research, planning, and minimizing. Apparently, it also has something to do with luck. Basically, it’s a role-playing game.
I get a weird RPG vibe from NFL Fantasy, but I have to admit it’s not the only sports world where I do this kind of thing. I also like Sega’s Football Manager (real football, you know), although unlike American football, I’m not that into real sports. I just played it like an RPG, browsing the menus, analyzing stats, and making tactical decisions.
However, there are a few months out of the year where NFL Fantasy seriously takes over my life. No matter what I’m doing or looking back on, it’s going to be the “game” I think about the most once the NFL season starts. It’s also more time-consuming than it seems – playing in several leagues, making roster moves, making trades, reading research, reacting to injuries and other major events, and making predictions about what’s to come throughout the season.
It’s just…a video game. In my friendship group, we run a competitive league filled with knowledge and trophies, only facilitated by our Street Fighter matches for more vivid diatribes. I like it.
This year has been incredibly exciting for me because I quickly found myself in a bind. By Week 7 of the NFL season, the midpoint of Fantasy’s “regular season,” I was 1-6. I was in the pit. I was desperate and I had to take action.
Later the team rethought, including convincing some opponents to make some complicated trades, and by the end of the “regular season” I had an 8-6 record and a playoff berth. As of this writing, I’m three wins away from winning it all.
Of course, it doesn’t matter if I do it or not. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely optimistic about my chances. But what I can say is that correcting the ship’s behavior is one of the most exciting, tense, and rewarding “game” things I’ve done this year – even though it doesn’t involve touch controllers.
This story happens every year, but in the real-life NFL, it’s been a year filled with drama and massive player losses (mostly due to injuries, sadly), and it’s been a great year for fantasy. I don’t like it as much compared to The Legend of Zelda, Baldur’s Gate, or Street Fighter 6. I admit. The title is a bit of a shameless nudge. But it’s definitely one of the best games I’ve played this year.
