We were playing a videogame. Now, we're playing football..!
It happens about halfway through our brief but eye-opening ten-minute go on Football Superstars: it's like a switch has flicked in our head. We carry on playing more or less as we were (badly), but our perception of the match, and our tactical approach to it, have changed completely. A minute ago, we were playing a videogame. Now, we're playing football.
The change occurs when we instinctively understand something we rationally knew already. We're running about on the pitch not with bunch of AIs, but with a bunch of other people; the developers sat around us in Monumental Games' Nottingham offices. Only the two goalies are handled by the game server. And we're not a team; we're only players.
We start thinking about marking opposition players, positioning ourselves to receive passes, swinging the camera around to track the ball and our team-mates as we make a (badly) coordinated run on goal. The difference between Football Superstars and PES or FIFA is as wide as the gulf between Call of Duty and Command and Conquer. Or - perhaps more accurately - World of Warcraft and Warcraft III.
Hands On by Oli Welsh
