EA's Madden series is one of the highest-selling franchises in the market - and although a lot of gamery-gamers don't pay much attention to sports games, on the whole, one shouldn't ignore the huge cultural impact that sports games have had, and continue to have.
Witness this insipidly written but still rather interesting article in the Washington Post about gamer kids who know more about football than coaches (supposedly) because of the hours spent playing Madden. If indeed the game knowledge translates so well to real football, then EA has done a fantastic job of modeling the sport.
The other side can be ugly (and hilarious): the lowest-ranked player in the game fires off an angry letter to John Madden in complaint.
Hi, John, my name is Ethan Albright. I play line for the Washington Redskins. You probably already knew that, so I'll continue. I am writing in regards to the overall player rating of 53 that I have received in Madden NFL Football 2007. I feel that this is fucking bullshit and you should kiss my mother-fucking ass. Ahmed Carroll was rated a 78 and the Packers just cut his ass on a Tuesday morning after his performance in a Monday night game. That is pretty terrible. The worst part is that his overall rating was sniffing 80.
Yes, it's a joke, but it plays off something real - how *do* players feel watching their own stats go up and down with each iteration of the franchise? How would it feel to be a character that hundreds of thousands of people around the world play?
I suppose people who are that famous become somehow inured to it. But it must still feel odd, sometimes, all the same.