How The Sprint Function Ruined EA FIFA by Lumiero

September 2018 -- Speed never slumps. When tactics, technique and skill can all experience "off days", it is said that speed is always a valuable weapon and that's hard to argue. Especially in world football, or soccer to some, when the "little guy" can flourish against the biggest and strongest athletes, speed is a delicacy.

You already know the names. It doesn't take a professional scout to know what kind of an impact a fast player can have on a play, a game or a team. It can turn an entire season completely around. You'll never hear me argue that.

Here is what I will argue.

Do you like cake? Of course, you do. Who doesn't like cake? It's that sweet, sweet frosting, am I right? There's nothing quite like it. It's primal. It's sugar and there's nothing wrong with a good amount of it. However, what would you say to a cake made entirely of sugar?

I'm sure your initial reaction is a very positive one but, think about it realistically. If it was the only food you could eat, all day, every day, I bet you'd be out by lunch time. How is that possible. The sugar is the best part, and yet, a cake without eggs and flour and even salt just doesn't sound as appealing. That's because it isn't.

That's my argument in regards to technique in all things but, specifically in sports. Balance is key.

Look up any championship team in recent years, nearly every one of them had a "superpower" offense, the epitome of a scoring agent. I'm only human. I appreciate a good scoring play but, I absolutely love a great defensive play. Every one of those champions was built on some semblance of a strong, disciplined defensive unit. If you're younger, you're already cringing because you know it's coming, so here it is...Defense wins championships.

I will concede this, however: without some semblance of an offence, there is no defense alone that will win a championship. I believe that when that phrase was coined, though, it was in response to the ever-growing obsession with offense. So, in context, defense really does WIN those championships because the teams that lacked one, weren't champions.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, there's a multiplayer function in EA Sport's FIFA franchise called Pro Clubs. You make a player and choose his (no women, yet) skill set, position and biology. Then, as you play more games with a club online, you earn skill points that allow you to level up.

If you don't have a club to play with, there's a Drop-In Match option. Be selected randomly to lobby of up to 10 players and play a 5 v 5 match. It's actually very fun. Unlike other game modes where you control every aspect and every player on the field, in Pro Clubs, you're only responsible for your "Pro".

As I'm sure you can imagine with it being open to the public, not every player you encounter is a "Pro". That's cool, by the way. I'm all for inclusion, especially in the world's game. On any platform it can be very intricate and difficult to play extremely well. Some play football in real life and aren't gifted gamers and sometimes, vice versa. More often then not, in a public Drop-In, the skill level isn't terribly high.

To the point of this post: The sprint function (RT on most controllers) allows the player a burst of speed to break away from opponents. As I mentioned in the open, this a valuable tool but, there's a problem. It has become a crutch.

I don't have the numbers on demographics so, I can't speak to the whether or not I've played with Americans or on what the average age of the players has been, though, I have my theories. That's all relevant, too. Younger Americans don't have the "football experience" that most of the world has. (Although, that is changing rapidly.) Regardless, these players have been given an excuse to ignore the intelligence of "soccer".

There's an air of desperation in many of the matches I've witnessed. In one of the first matches I can remember, I was playing the midfield and came upon a ball at the center circle. Naturally, everybody ran forward and the defense collapsed on me. I looked for an outlet but, I had no options to go forward with it so, I dropped it back to the defense. There was an audible groan followed by a passive-aggressive "You saw me."

There's a culture of demanding man-children where although there are 7 other options, 95% play the same position, Striker. The most forward attacking player, the ST, is the centerpiece of this offensive obsession in real life footy as well as the video game culture.

It makes sense, though. Some of the highest paid and most famous athletes in the world are strikers. Most of them are what you could imagine of a typical "jock" archetype. Audacious, entitled and often abrasive in ways to gain attention. Not all of course but, most. So, as you also might expect, this mentality finds itself manifest in the video game culture of Pro Clubs.

It's possible, that I might be biased. Sure, I'm a defender. I find pleasure in playing my position, holding my shape, diffusing attacks and facilitating my own offense with key passes and overlapping runs. More than a defender, I'm a total footballer. I'll score a goal when given the opportunity but, I make every effort to be first and foremost in the best defensive position to help my team at all times. So, yeah, maybe I'm biased but, this culture feels toxic.

I don't want to bring in the fact that the US Men's National Team missed the World Cup embracing similar tactics and moreover abandoning any likeness to a disciplined, possession-oriented tactic but, there it is. Like I said, I don't have the numbers on the demographics but, most players I've played with speak "american" english and are online in a West Coast primetime. (I've experimented playing at various hours of the day to see if I might find myself on an international server but, it's almost always Americans.) Even without those numbers, as an American, I find this possible link in mentality troubling.

The "toxic masculinity", overt hatred and childish behavior in the gaming world is a whole other topic but, they obviously contribute to the multiplayer experience in this game.

All that aside, I find that the "inhuman" speed abilities given to some players (earned in most cases) actually works against their greater good as footballers. Players don't look for teammates around them to relieve pressure and solve defenses. They lack the patience and most are too intimidated to keep possession of the ball long enough to build an attack. There is a constant "break away" back and forth and almost never a football match.

I'm worried that EA is responsible for this. I'm willing to accept that it's a matter of programming and code that they just don't have a hold of but, it's unlikely. Especially so, when the current obsession in world football is speed and scoring. However, if these are American boys and this is how they play, I fear we'll never see a World Cup worth celebrating because instead of developing the skill and technique to solve defenses with passing and movement off of the ball, they're being led to believe that a simple sprint and a wish will do it.

As long as impatience is being confused for "aggressiveness", "hunger" is being mistaken for thirst, our youth is being punished for having patience and tact and gamers are being rewarded for having a lack of imagination the game will struggle to improve. Not to mention, the cheating and hacking that goes into facilitating the continued "rewarding" of such behavior, both in the tech world and in real world scenarios, is a top concern and it's not impossible to address.

Fix your code.

Cheers,

Josh | Lumiero | #ProLumiero