Gamertell

Have you ever wondered what athletes thought of their virtual avatars in video games? Well, The Vancouver Sun found out exactly how T.J. Oshie, the center (and occasionally winger) for the St. Louis Blues, feels about his counterpart in NHL ‘09. Apparently, Oshie isn’t too pleased with his character, complaining that virtual-Oshie can’t keep up and drops if any other player so much as taps him.

Oshie claims this causes a problem for him every time he plays the game. Not because this portrayal embarasses him (though it is a bit of an insult), but because he always plays as the St. Louis Blues when he plays NHL ‘09 as a show of team loyalty. Oshie also comments that he hopes EA releases some sort of patch for the game that will fix the issues with virtual-Oshie.

I’m not a big sports game player, but I always was curious how athletes would feel about their virtual portrayals. I remember playing a handful of basketball and baseball games, and I know there are teams I wouldn’t play as because I knew that one or two players on there weren’t as well rounded as the others. Its interesting to hear that the real athletes can take some offense or issue with the performance of their virtual selves.

Read [The Vancouver Sun]