Second Life and EA Sports?… The Sporting Virtual World

With the introduction of Fifa ‘08, EA Sports world soccer platform, comes a new and exciting feature called Be a Pro. This new game mode allows the user to develop their skills as a player through training and live matches on or offline. Just as a RL player would do, Be a Pro gamers will put in the same kind of effort (if not as physically demanding) to see their player rise in stardom.

This new feature begins to bridge an interesting gap between RL, video games and Second Life. In SL, users exist in a virtual world in which they control all of their experiences. Now, with games like Fifa introducing these new features, how long will it be until online teams consist of players from all over the world who have individually crafted their skills as individual players?

The Madden Challenge has become so popular that the finals of the competition is the topic of an ESPN reality show. The difference, however, is that these gamers control entire teams and not just a single player. With this kind of popularity for competition, it may only be a matter of time until the gaming platforms allow a full 24 users at once to play simultaneously as members of a team.

With the growing popularity of machinima, will there then develop an entire online sports culture of broadcastable machinima (ESPN E)? Will this in turn become a new dream of kids, to become a professional (insert sport here) player? Of coarse with this come all the endorsements, to wear the E-Nikes, etc.

The RL comparissons would not stop there, however. If EA Sports were to team up with Second Life to launch a sporting component to the virtual world, would avatars fill the stadiums and watch the games live, even paying Linden Dollars for their admission?

Its all wishful (or deplorable, depending on your POV) thinking now, but with the popularity on online video game play and communities, along with the growing virtual world of SL, is it really that far fetched?