Sports newsgames: prediction, speculation, and accuracy

Abstract

Sports videogames are increasingly used by sports news outlets for predicting the outcome of sports events. Player-less simulations of Super Bowls, World Cups, and individual games are executed by developers and journalists to attempt to gain insight into the upcoming event. This paper will build on the concept of a "documentary newsgame" positioning these simulations based on their journalistic use. Furthermore, by including players into the discussion the notion of an "accurate" simulation or model is problematized and the practice of sports speculation is reconfigured. This paper will look at the two differing conceptions of an accurate sports videogame simulation, that conceived of by the news media, and that generated by players of sports videogames. Looking at the intersection of these two simulative practices, we might ask how "accuracy" is differently qualified, and how sports journalism may be changing with the inclusion of predictive videogame based simulations.