i think that all narrative designers should understand how at least one sport works. And not just the rules, but the politics and fandom behind it. Where are the rivalries drawn, how is identity formed, what have the individual players gone through to get here - ThreadSky

barilleon.com • 18 days ago

i think that all narrative designers should understand how at least one sport works. And not just the rules, but the politics and fandom behind it. Where are the rivalries drawn, how is identity formed, what have the individual players gone through to get here

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barilleon.com•18 days ago

I think about Baseball in particular, and how the relentless string of seemingly random statistics (“Juan Soto is the youngest player to play a world series game on his birthday twice”) as the automatic need for the human mind to create narrative from a set of arbitrary rules and figures.

barilleon.com•18 days ago

Between every football play, fans and commentators are constantly redefining goals (“3rd and down — we just need to go 30 yards and we’re good.”), mythologizing their enemy (“Mahomes is a beast - how do we combat that?”), and coming up with solutions (“are they gonna do a tush push?”)

hey.knilly.me•18 days ago

I rememeber the backward butt-touchdown the Giants had against the Patriots to win the game at Super Bowl 48 had people leaving bars and crossing streets like that in Hoboken...

barilleon.com•18 days ago

We invent superstitions, chants and curses (how the Bambino cursed the Red Sox for 84 years). We bring *other* real world dynamics into play. For the Yankees/Dodgers world series, it was east coast vs west coast. What do you think played at the vr stadium I was at the night the Dodgers took it all?

barilleon.com•18 days ago

Sports shows do a pretty good job of capturing it, but Narrative Designers could learn so much from engaging with a primary source.

In conclusion, Go Birds

yutrio.bsky.social•18 days ago

Honestly, I think it's a great reminder that humans have always and will continue to invent stories to explain why things are the way they are. We're not making myths on how the world works anymore, but we'll make myths over something as simple as "well, why hasn't my team won in 50 years?"

cardstockcaster.bsky.social•18 days ago

You're going to giggle at me a little for saying this, but having been a blaseball fan genuinely gave me such a greater respect for sports than I did have when I was growing up

i love me some baseball team politics its so good (in general NY sports fans are SO fun, but especially baseball)

cardstockcaster.bsky.social•18 days ago

I think being an anthropology student helped this too — it's really enjoyable culture to see when at its best — and at its worst it's really interesting culture to try to understand how we got there.

n-z0.bsky.social•18 days ago

I've been seeing this sentiment a lot across different writing disciplines (journalism, fiction writing, etc.) and while diving back into pro wrestling for the first time in years, using that lens to process the raw amount of "lore" (for lack of a better word) has done such wonders for my (1/2)

n-z0.bsky.social•18 days ago

enjoyment and engagement of the product, especially as someone who doesn't typically enjoy sports. Similar to the politicking surrounding a draft in any major sports league, the intrigue is so juicy

dangatesj.bsky.social•18 days ago

Part of the reason drive to survive and to a lesser extent Tour de France unchained were so popular is, unless you’re familiar with team based individually won racing, it’s just hard to fathom all the narratives on happening on massively different timescales at any race

ethanyen.com•18 days ago

I got into the EPL after watching Ted Lasso and sports culture is FASCINATING. Such history there with Premier Teams = Great Houses.

My white whale of game design is to make a fantasy sports game that captures the politics and fandom of sports.

tabletopcrow.bsky.social•18 days ago

Taking this advice to heart while exclusively relying my knowledge of blaseball instead of real sports.

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