Michael Serazio in his article Virtual Sports Consumption, Authentic Brotherhood: The Reality of Fantasy Football published on https://essayslab.com/presentation-and-speech-writing.html raises the issue about such phenomenon as a fantasy sport and its role in modern life. The author states that fantasy sport today is more than a game; it is a part of life, where real people spend their time, playing for real players, but in a fantasy world. Cyber sport opens its door to another world, where people unite and build teams to compete with each other.
On the other hand, the achievements of this new entertainment have negative consequences on a real life. First of all, it concerns the cyber gamers’ presence in a real world; some of them spend 2-4 hours a day in a virtual world, while others play about 6 hours a day. This tendency is not referred only to a particular social group; the latest report showed that 50% of players are at the age between 24-44 years, 37% of them have at least a Bachelor Degree and 33% earn about $75,000 per year. This statistic demonstrates that the tendency to spend much time in a fantasy world does not belong only to teenagers. Moreover, the desire to play cyber games does not become weaker within aging.
The author provides facts which state that a fantasy world becomes more realistic today. Players create fantasy fandom and community, where they share their opinions, arrange competitions and celebrate their victories. Nevertheless, the virtual sport does not mean only the entertainment function for its participators. Many of cyber players believe that fantasy world is a good simulator for the development of organizational skills. In this world, a player can test his/her skills as a team manager, promote his/her team, develop new strategies and implement them into a game. All these opportunities are introduced in a fantasy world and thus, it is so attractive for people of different social groups.
The study shows that there is another point why people so fond of cyber sport. Many of them want to experience the passion of victory. The research demonstrates that the average cyber player uses virtual sport in order to compete with other players and show his/her superiority over them. The desire to be better than others can be easily implemented, using fantasy world’s tools. However, fantasy world has its own challengeable situations that may cause cognitive dissonance among players. One of these challenges is connected with discrepancy between a real and a fantasy world; for instance, a fantasy MLA team plays worse than a real one or vice versa. This phenomenon causes mixed feelings among fantasy world’s players, because their world does not reflect the situation in the real world.
Nevertheless, the greatest advantage of virtual world, which is highly priced by all players without exception, is to create a team that will demonstrate a good performance. Fans can be often disappointed because of the favorite team’s play; they believe that it could show better game than it did. In a fantasy world, one receives an opportunity to make a match of his/her dream that will be the best game ever.
To sum up, it this article provides a critically new view on the fantasy world. The author introduces facts that illustrate numerous benefits of a fantasy world, though there are also some negative aspects that influence people’s life. The biggest advantage of cyber sport is an opportunity to implement one’s dreams and make the game according to his/her rules. The biggest disadvantage of this world is the loss of connection with a real life.
