Sportsmanship and Reputation

Originally posted at www.myleagmanager.net by our friend Derek Adams

"Anyone can do the right thing when everyone is looking... it takes a special person to do the right thing when NO ONE is looking..."

What type of online gamer are you?! Do you play an online game with the intention of making a good experience for everyone involved, or are you a "win at all costs" gamer? In "Madden Speak": are you a true to the sport "sim-style" player. Every game on the market has bugs that will allow exploits, there are hundreds of gamers that spend their time finding these exploits and using them at every opportunity. Most of these gamers don't care if they ruin the game for others... as long as they win, have the highest kill:death ratio, or stay at the top of the leaderboard. I want to focus on sportsmanship because in Madden and NCAA... we are a different species of gamer. As a former commissioner of a NCAA and Madden league, I will have to say the single most frustrating experience is having to police a league. Any of you that have been in the same position know how many emails/texts/death threats you receive on a daily basis regarding the play styles of different owners. It can be absolutely exhausting for a commish, and many times take the fun right out of the game.

How you play Madden or video games in general, says a lot about you as a person. Are you the type of person that has to win at all costs? Do you get a big lead and keep pouring it on? Do you go to a money play every 3rd down? These are just a few of the questions we have to ask ourselves each and every time we play in order to better define our own gaming reputation. We have all had times when we look on our schedule in online franchise and say "oh great... that guy again", and not because they are a great player but because you know the owner will frustrate you with borderline play. No one wants to play that person, and I truly believe that no one wants to BE that guy. Staying within the rules your commissioner has set forth is an important part of maintaining a good online reputation. There are several owners I have dealt with that I absolutely look forward to playing because of their outstanding reputation in the Madden community. These are the owners who will give you a good clean game and show great sportsmanship no matter what the outcome.

I would like to finish this up with a few examples of what some feel is poor sportsmanship and disrespectful behavior that have an adverse effect on your reputation.

a) The obvious is running up the score. There is no reason any person should beat another by more than 28 points, show some class... take a knee or pound the ball, runs some clock, then punt. I personally have had an exception or 2 with this rule... not saying its right, but at the time it seemed justified... but more on that coming up.


The rest of this article can be viewed at:

http://myleaguemanager.net/index.cfm/2011/4/15/Sportsmanship-and-Reputation