One of the central parts of the world I am developing is a long history of gladiatorial arenas. In preparation I spent some time at the Colosseum, which I learned is actually not the name of the arena. It is actually called the Flavian Amphitheater, which begs the question: If a thing is known more by its nickname than its name, is the nickname thin simply the new name? Anyhow, I wanted to get a sense of the place and the horrors that occurred there. A simple truth of the Amphitheater, the gladiatorial sport, and all modern counterparts is that these things were used to sate the masses. The goal was to keep the people happy and keep them off the local or state leader’s back. I often argue that modern sports serve the same purpose, though they have embraced additional roles over time. Gladiatorial combat, in its purest form, gives the people something to watch while reinforcing the idea of what happens to you if you step out of line. The fighters, you see, were slaves. They were largely fighting for their freedom. The handful of elective gladiators were so down on their luck that they chose that life.
How can I put that into play in a story? From what I have so far, the combat is outlawed in some regions but welcomed in others, creating socio-political lines of distinction and giving rise to underground combat rings. It isn’t much, but it is the start of a larger slave trade network and a larger conversation about power and relations among nations.
Some Thoughts:
- Reading an interesting article published a few years back that does a deeper analysis of the Madden platform. Specifically, it dives into the problems of quarter length. I’m definitely one for the realistic stats and gameplay shortcuts make it easy to break that–especially with longer quarters, but the number of plays you get to run in a game is so far less than NFL standard to be unfair and unrealistic to the stat need. Turns out I want to work on the Madden team.