Testing Your Mind – The Video Games Where No-one Gets Shot

The popular view of video games seems to be that they entail someone sitting with a controller in their hands, shooting people on a screen.

Of course, this is a simplistic view, and there are several other kinds of video games. However, the ones which fit in with a stereotypical idea of what the games entail tend to involve controlling someone’s physical activity in a very simplistic way.

Many video games, however, are based around a more considered, statistical way of getting to an end goal. It doesn’t fit in with the “rots your brain” crowd’s idea of what gaming entails, but never mind.

Sports management simulations are very popular. Perhaps the most popular of all is the soccer management game Football Manager. Unlike a great many sports simulations, at no point in this game do you control a player and choose his immediate path to goal.

Instead, you take all of the duties of a soccer manager and try to create a winning team. You sign players, you choose tactics, you give motivational team talks and you try to analyze the computer-generated opponent to get the best results.

As this game gets developed and updated at least once a year, new elements are added. It is possible to release a statement designed to play mind games with your opponent before a big match, and players who aren’t getting much time on the field will express their disillusionment with you.

It cannot be long before the game develops to a point where you leak stories to the press about players who are annoying you – but there is such a thing as “too realistic”.