Thursday 10 October 2013

Reading Video Games: NBA 2K


Sport is unique in its ability to bring people together. Fans are simultaneously divided and connected through the inherent "us vs. them" mentality that sporting leagues provoke. Their connection to the players has always been somewhat distanced as professional athletes are often akin to quasi-gods. Video games can close this gap to an extent. Legendary basketball player Lebron James says, the video game series NBA 2K "is among the coolest and purest ways for fans to connect to the NBA" (Whitaker, AllBall Blog, 2013). How much closer can you get to Lebron James than pretending to be him... or at least controlling the avatar of him? James' statement is especially true when considered in light of the four distinguishing characteristics of video games: multimediality, virtuality, interactivity, and connectivity (Rassens, 2005: 373). 

The range of sport represented in video games is immense. Cricket, NBA, FIFA, NFL, NHL, UFC, WWE, MLB... They're all there and then some. Although the ways in which we as an audience view sports video games is vastly different than if we were to watch an actual game, the reading of these games encompasses both gaming and sporting culture studies. As a huge NBA fan, I'll be looking at the different ways audiences read messages and construct meaning in the NBA 2K series in relation to Stuart Hall's theory of encoding and decoding.

First and foremost, video games are interactive. Lebron James isn't just Lebron James... we can be too! The participatory nature of video games (Rassens, 2005) enables audiences to de-/construct meanings of gender, age, class and race in interesting and meaningful ways. According to Hall, though, "the event must become a 'story' before it can become a communicative event" (Hall, 1980: 52). Our understanding of competitive basketball games is structured through the context of an unfolding season. The NBA league is subsequently the context through which we generally understand NBA 2K. However, although NBA 2K reflects the NBA league, it is still somewhat fictionalised and meanings can be constructed, read and in turn understood through the additional signs within the game. Signified messages may be encoded in one way, but can be decoded by audiences in another. 

Hall identifies three ways in which media messages may be read (1980: 59-61):

1. The preferred/dominant-hegemonic message which has been encoded to reflect social and political ideologies. In the NBA 2K series, this could be that the stats for the best players confirms the stereotype of "Black athleticism".

2. Negotiated messages in which the audience adapts the hegemonic reading on a situational level. That is, even if the great NBA players are archetypically African American, we can't deny the ability of someone like Blake Griffin or Brook Lopez.

3. Finally, oppositional readings which are defined by the audience greatly, if not entirely, rejecting the encoded meanings. In NBA 2K this is exemplified when the gamer creates his own players and teams to fit his own desired tropes, such as through the 'My Player' option in My Career mode:

Creating a 'My Player'
The encoding and decoding of media messages are the "determinate moments" of an audience's understanding (Hall, 1980: 52). The way in which audiences read NBA 2K will vary depending on the reasons they play - whether gamers are playing as an extension of their experience as a fan of the NBA, or whether they don't follow the league at all but just like to play computer-mediated basketball, for example. I'll do my best to look at it through both perspectives but, as stated throughout this post, I'm a little biased. 

First, for a little theory: The multimediality of video games - i.e. that they "share one common digital code for sound elements (including spoken word, music, and noises) and written text" (Rassens, 2005: 374) - enables the participation of gamers in the construction and reconfiguration of meaning. By modification "users can extend or change the text by adding their own writing or programming" (Aarseth in Rassens, 2005: 381). That is, the culture of modification means that gamers can construct meaning in a way unlike with other media forms. Game-mods and game patches literally reconfigure the meaning of the game. 
"Despite the fact that some of these practices of game modification has been accepted, encouraged and commercially exploited by developers and publishers... The gamer can still be considered as a point of resistance against the gaming industry" (Rassens, 2005: 381).
In other words, although mods and patches can reconstruct meaning in the game, they are first oppositional responses and readings of the original text. Although only a minority of gamers contribute to these forms of participation (Rassens, 2005), many use and consume them as the results can be both entertaining and serviceable.

The fact that most, if not all, sporting video games are yet to feature women's leagues is an issue of gender inequality in itself and reflects a social condition that places men's sports over women's. However, in NBA 2K, mod-culture has already contributed to altering the messages pertaining to the construction and decoding of gender and its position in basketball. Female patches have been created which stand in contrast to the dominant reading of the game: 


But I will return to this later.

The commentary in the NBA 2K series also illustrates the predominance of male figures in sport and any representations thereof. Since its initiation in 1999, NBA 2K has had the likes of Bob Fitzgerald, Bill Walton, Tom Tolbert, Kevin Frazier and Michele Tafoya commentating the simulated games. Of all the commentators throughout the game's duration only one is female! NBA 2K9 (excluding the PS2 version) features Cheryl Miller and NBA 2K11 includes Doris Burke, but both as sideline reporters. Personally, it isn't an issue that I consciously think about when playing or watching the game. As these are all presenters that have commentated the televised NBA games, it's just considered normal. The authenticity of this representation heightens the value of the video game in one way as a genuine NBA product, but that just means the dominant-hegemonic reading of the text validates the broader occurrence and confirms the stereotype that basketball, and sports in general, is a profession exclusively for men. The validation thus occurs through the choice of inclusion and exclusion of certain groups and how they are included.

Female patch for NBA 2K10
As a female, I represent many of these minorities: gamers, sports enthusiasts and sporting athletes. In a certain way, I'm also very hypocritical because I love, love, love the fast-paced action and almost inconceivable professionalism of the NBA, while to this date I haven't been able to sit through an entire WNBA game. I'll be the first to admit that while they may comprise the same sporting concept (basketball), they are very different in playing styles and have different audiences. This is not to say they are not equal; just different. And while patches for female characters is one way to attempt to level the playing field, so to speak, I don't think the issue of gender equality in sports has ever been about women intruding on men's leagues but having one of their own. It's not about women playing like men, as they do in the above video, but showing off their own styles. For this reason, I'm not a total fan of the female-mods above. I recognise that they're a step in the right direction, no doubt about it, but having a female face does not a woman make. They still play like NBA players and have the muscles and heights of most NBA players. As many crudely stated in online discussions: "She needs boobs".  And while that particular aspect is of little consequence to me, I do believe that women have their own sports league, they should have their own representation in the gaming media that accentuates their own unique abilities. To amend the crudity, she needs to be a she.

Getting back to what is included in the game, rather than what is not... In NBA 2K, gamers can create their own players and teams. Physical appearance, tattoos, gears, ability, play style and signature moves of avatar players can be established according to the gamer's will. Want an all Japanese team? You got it. Prefer tattoos and brown hair? Sure, why not. This ability to create and change the subject's through which the gamer plays encourages a negotiated reading of the gender, race and age of professional basketball players. The interactivity of video games, that is, the ability for players to "intervene in a meaningful way" (Cameron in Rassens, 2005: 374) and control the game's proceedings and conclusion enable the unique participatory reading of video games.


Though, undoubtedly, most who actually follow the NBA might tweak their players to reflect those in real life, or indeed just choose them in their starting lineup - like the legendary Michael Jordan in 2K11. This is the game's preferred reading: to choose real-life popular and archetypal NBA stars. As one user commented in an NBA discussion board: 
This comment articulates the stereotype within the game and wider (American) society of who plays basketball and, specifically, who plays it best. 22 out of 25 of the best NBA 2K players, according to Complex Games, are African American. Two are Caucasian and one is Asian. Unless the gamer creates their own racial tropes, the use of known NBA players means that the depiction of race isn't as much an issue in the game unless you consider it one in the actual league, except that it reinforces hegemonic stereotypes in sport. 

In NBA 2K13, representations of class are established through the soundtrack. Made in collaboration with executive producer Jay-Z, the soundtrack reflects the hip-hop culture that surrounds the NBA and basketball in general. It's somewhat ironic that the preferred reading of the game - when read in relation to the soundtrack - is of a subculture that stands in opposition to the traditional dominant ideological order. That said, this function is the purpose of the soundtrack. It places basketball in society, among a certain group of people. 

NBA 2K is interesting to examine in regards to Hall's theory of encoding and decoding meaning in media forms. This is not only because of the participatory and interactive medium of video games, but also because it is not purely fiction, and based on real events. That said, there are still a number of ways in which readings may be accepted, negotiated or opposed by gamers, particularly concerning tropes of gender, race, age and class. As Rassens states, "computer games are not just a game" (Rassens, 2005: 383) but can have broader implications in determining cultural meaning. The participatory nature of video games as inherently interactive means that we get a greater say over what that meaning is. 



References:

2K, 2013, ‘NBA 2K14 Official Trailer’, Youtube, 28 August, accessed 06 October, 2013 >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxRf8LuPqmA

Baniceto8 2010, ‘NBA 2K10 My Player Mode - Creating a Player’, Youtube, 20 February, accessed 10 October, 2013 >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lUp_zMu7QA<

Hall, S 1973, ‘Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse’, Centre for Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham, England, pp. 507-17, accessed 2 Sept 2013, >http://visualstudies.buffalo.edu/coursenotes/art250/250A/_assets/_readings/encoding_decoding_hall.pdf

JaoSming 2013, ‘Girls in the Open Court - Mod for NBA 2K13’, Youtube, 28 May, accessed 08 October, 2013 >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djh27uNozug

Ken-fly 2009, ‘WNBA? Female Athlete Patches for NBA 2K10’, NBASky.com, 02 December, accessed 09 October, 2013, >http://nbasky.com/wnba-female-athlete-patches-for-nba-2k10/<

Lee, N 2012, ‘Game Review: NBA 2K Series’, Blogspot, 26 September, accessed 3 Sept 2013, >http://lenam701.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/game-review-nba-2k-series.html

Mazique, B 2012, 'NBA 2K13: Tips for Building a Beastly 'My Player' in My Career Mode', Bleacher Report, 02 October, accessed 10 October, 2013 >http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1355718-nba-2k13-tips-for-building-a-beastly-my-player-in-my-career-mode<

McPherson, S 2013, ‘Greatest Players in “NBA 2K” History’, Complex Gaming, June 23, >http://www.complex.com/video-games/2013/07/nba-2k-greatest-players/<

MkEliteWorksX 2013, ‘NBA 2K13 Avengers Vs. Justice League!’ Youtube, 13 January, accessed 09 October, 2013 >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZn9LjCBt74

Rassens, J 2005, ‘Computer Games as Participatory Media Culture’, Handbook of Computer Studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp. 373-388 

Robinson, J, 2012, ‘Jay-Z named ‘NBA 2K’ Executive Producer’, ESPN Playbook, 31 July, accessed 3 Sept 2013, >http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/tech/post/_/id/1431/jay-z-named-nba-2k-executive-producer

Whitaker, L 2013, ‘LeBron James Covers NBA 2K14’, AllBall Blog, June 7, accessed 2 Sept 2013, >http://allball.blogs.nba.com/2013/06/07/lebron-james-covers-nba-2k14/<

White Bball Pains 2013, ‘Making yourself black and athletic in NBA 2K14 just because you can’, Inagist, 06 October, accessed 09 October, 2013 >http://inagist.com/all/386981511850770432/<