Video game plan

In the old days, video games were never really been a hobby, for the most part, of the physically fit. Mention video games, and the image of a pasty nerd decked out in glasses usually came to mind.

Battling his retainer, he told friends about the level of Pong, Pacman or Donkey Kong he just cleared, complete with a detailed description of each unbelievable jump or spectacular save he made. The plaid-clad weirdos’ best athletic achievements consisted of not getting picked last and taking the dodgeball in the stomach to avoid the need to tape together his glasses.

Times have certainly changed.

After a hearty lunch following a tedious morning of training camp, MU football players had a few hours to themselves before their second practice of the day. Some players packed into a white-walled, scuffed-tile cell, familiar to many as a residence hall room, to play a little EA Sports’ “NCAA Football 2007” on their Xbox. The console and the TV, with the exception of some towels and bedsheets, were the only nonstandard things in the room.

In the game, Martin Rucker, playing as MU, faced Del Howard, who picked the Georgia Bulldogs. As the teams took the field, Rucker noticed a player on the team run by twice.

“It’s not perfect,” he said.

Before the game got going, Rucker made sure he was at the top of the depth chart and substituted himself in as a receiver as well, a crucial part of his game plan.

The game’s tone was set early when Rucker chucked the ball deep to himself in double coverage.

“Go get it! Go get it!” he yelled while the ball sailed about 40 yards downfield. In the game, Rucker flew up into the air, one arm extended, and spun around, pulling the football in with one arm and getting his feet in for the touchdown.

Laughing, Rucker shouted and pumped his fist while Howard could only shake his head in disbelief. Singing along to the fight song, “Every True Son,” Rucker kicked off with MU’s familiar rock M, power plant smokestacks and residence halls towering in the background.

Later in the video game, No. 82 (Rucker’s character) went down with an injured wrist. Rucker, who had vowed to quit earlier if his character got hurt, said it was OK because he had an freshman All-American backing him up.

Unable to get the ball in the end zone, kicker Adam Crosset, known only as No. 90 in the game, came in to kick from 24 yards away. Shanking the field goal wide right, Rucker said, “I’m not sayin’ nothin’, man, not sayin’ nothing.”

Online action

Running back Tony Temple logs on, hoping he is able to catch someone from another school online. He wants the chance to show off the team’s capabilities.

“We play ALL the time,” Temple said. “We get on the Internet and play against fans, fans of other schools and if you get lucky, players from other schools. Who knows? Coaches might even be on there, but they’d never tell you.”

Technically speaking

From a technical standpoint, the games require tons of research and development before being produced.

According to NCAA rules, schools can’t give rosters or stats of players to game developers, so each player must be individually researched. Players’ names can’t be used either, but random name generators can be used. Players’ numbers can also be used, which is why Rucker only showed up in the game as “TE #82.” In addition to players’ numbers, the games can use their positions, heights and weights along with the previous season’s statistics.

In order to get the rights to use school logos and names in the game, the games’ producers must work out a deal with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), which handles most of the licensing issues for Division I schools. Certain freedoms are given to the games’ producers, but the game manufacturers work with the NCAA throughout the process.

“They work closely with the NCAA throughout the developmental process and gain approval for all aspects of the NCAA-licensed products before the games are released,” Chrissy Schulep, NCAA assistant director of public and media relations, said.

The NCAA puts 93 cents of every dollar of its profits back toward member schools in the form of scholarships, championship expenses and other student-athlete initiatives.

The agreements also make profit for the universities. In terms of revenue, schools receive money from the royalties generated by the games. The amounts, measured over the course of the fiscal year (July 1-June 31), had remained steady before shooting up this past year.

From 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, MU made slightly more than $24,000 from sports video games in which MU names and logos were used. From 2005-2006, however, the number greatly jumped to just above $35,000. Catherine Singer, systems administration vice president of the CLC, said the numbers were similar to those of other comparable schools and that the increase wasn’t all that surprising.

“The number went up, probably in part because a new deal was negotiated with the universities,” Singer said. “But really it was because of the increase in volume of sales of actual video games. They’re pretty popular.”

Pay for play?

The increase of money in the system has lead to some video game players wondering why the athletes in the game aren’t being paid. Of course, NCAA athletes can’t be paid.

“The guys in the game are the reason the game is being bought in the first place,” self-described video game aficionado James Strickland, 26, said. “If there is any money being made, I think it would be fair for these guys to at least get a cut of it.”

Players themselves have mixed feelings on the issue.

“I think some players should get paid, but you can’t pay just some them,” Temple said. “It’s a tricky situation.”

Schulep was quick to point out that despite some fans’ and players’ wishes, paying the players in any form was against the rules and had been upheld in votes many times.

“NCAA member colleges and universities have agreed upon rules that do not provide extra benefits to student athletes,” she said. “A violation of the rules would occur if someone broke this. NCAA member colleges universities have voted to uphold the principle of amateurism, meaning student-athletes are not paid for their performance.”

Rucker, who acknowledged that it would be nice to get a little extra money, said it would be nice to just get a little extra recognition.

“The scholarship’s not always quite enough,” Rucker said. “At least if our names on there, we’d feel a little more respected.”

Teaching through games

Players are unsure of what the future might be able to do with the games. Acknowledging the fact that playbooks are out there for players to look at and possibly learn, players said they tend to get themselves the ball in the game.

“Learning plays? Well you kind of can, but I don’t know for sure how well it’d work,” Temple said. “I wish we had some more of our plays in the game — the running ones, of course.”

Rucker said, “A lotta guys change the playbooks around so that they get one that emphasizes their position a little more.”

This offseason, MU quarterbacks’ coach David Yost started uploading plays from MU’s playbooks into the new Madden game to help his quarterbacks go through their reads and figure out what works in certain instances against different defenses. The coach, who was formerly at Truman state, discussed the idea with Yost at a clinic, and the new play design tools on Madden allowed them to accurately recreate situations.

“The best part about it is going through the reads and knowing where to go with the ball,” Yost said. “It’s accurate to a point, but a lot of it deals with the difficulty level you set it on. We’ve actually seen guys get better using it.”

Coach Gary Pinkel thinks using the game as a form of teaching is a great idea, but he doesn’t really have much of an idea how exactly to set it up.

“I think it’s a really good learning tool to help out our players,” Pinkel said. “I just have no clue how to do it.”

Growing up

Asked if he thought he would ever grow out of playing the games, Rucker shook his head no.

“I started out playing Atari in my basement with my brother,” Rucker said. “We played Frogger and Tecmo Bowl and old school stuff but left our basement at night ‘cause it got scary.

“Now we play at my brother’s house on movie screens. It never changes — new place, but same game.”

And the nerdy association that was once was joined at the hip with video games?

“I play with guys on the team and we predict how they are going to do on the season based on their simulated season results, which is kinda geeky,” Temple admitted with a chuckle. “But the geeky thing in general is an old stereotype. We’re like everybody else out there who plays. We’re just big kids.”