Sweat trickling down his arms as his hands wrapped around the metal rim starts to bounce repeatedly, causing an outburst in the crowd. They cheer his name, “Go King James!” as he sprints across the court, wiping his face with his Lakers uniform.
This is not only displayed in reality but also in the virtual game NBA 2k, a game that teenage and adult boys, and even girls, across the world play, usually more than any other game. 2k is the game that keeps people up at night, causing broken controllers and even agony for being dunked on so viciously. NBA 2k was first released on November 10th, 1999 and its developers have still been creating more of these games year after year. 2k20 will finally feature WNBA, even though it has already been on NBA Live 18. There has not been much told about WNBA’s involvement in 2k20, however society is definitely aware that it will be in 2k this year.
Nonetheless, WNBA’s upcoming position in this game has caused an abrupt reaction from some 2kfans. They are just not for this new development of the game. It is unreasonable that some people in society feel as though WNBA shouldn’t be added because WNBA has been out long enough for women to get a chance to expand their network and have a chance to shine. Also, it’s very condescending to hear that female players should not have access to dunk on NBA players or that 2k should add a “MyKitchen” (a disgusting reaction by random instagrammers). “No one cares about WNBA” another random instagrammer replied. Society desires men’s sports way more than women and are much more recognized. Many people actually don’t watch WNBA or are not familiar with any players in this league. This should be mainly blamed on society and their absence of trying to put the spotlight on this female league.
What took 2k so long to feature the women’s league? What impact has this wait had on generations of girls who want to join the WNBA? For generations, girls have not had the inspiration of playing basketball on the game as women. 2k is the game we’ve been playing almost our entire lives, and it’s become a part of our culture. These young boy ballers love to play 2k because they aspire to be on 2k, but for girls, it does not come the same way. NBA players sign huge contracts with companies like Nike and Hulu Plus are also featured in 2k. But when it comes to WNBA players, they only sign low money contracts to star in a supporting role for the company. Nike, for example, has a number of female athletes signed with the company but none of them have a signature sneaker. Due to this, young girls see WNBA players as second class professionals. There should honestly be a valid explanation as to why it took 20 years just for these girls to be inspired.
Would the way life is now be different for female and male gamers? Now, this is just a part of the experience. Teenage boys in high school might have the thoughts of wanting to “become rich” and “buy video games” and desire to having all of these deals in their life, however would it be the same experience for girls? Are they able to acquire a big sneaker deal? It took 20 years for these developers and these game designers to realize that women deserve this. Were these people just too comfortable that NBA 2k should just be the “boys game.” Well, NBA should have more consideration about this.
The WNBA’s involvement in 2k20 will definitely make most women happy. Now they can play against men and learn the rules of the game and play strategically, instead of having to use a male NBA character like always. I believe this is a chance and the next step forward for some of us who even have dreams of going professionally. It even gives us an opportunity to learn ball movement and the techniques and get it locked into our heads.
The effect on women will be that they will be able to be more inspired by the game. The effect on men would be that they would have the opportunity to play from a different perspective. For the WNBA, this means that society will give them a lot more recognition.
