Welcome to Invisible Walls, a column hell-bent on asking questions about video game design from the gamer's perspective.
Around the time of the UEFA 2012 Euro Championships, a group of my friends became so enraptured by the competition that they wanted to turn to video games to continue their new found love for the sport. With EA's FIFA franchise being the premiere soccer (sorry, Europe) experience, I recommended the latest game in the series: at the time, FIFA 2012.

But few of those friends stuck by their purchases and told me that, while they enjoyed watching live games, they realized how little they understood the rules and strategies on the pitch.

I've had a similar disconnect with the NFL. As a Canadian expat, my regular sport of choice is hockey. But with the NHL (once again) threatened by a season-long lockout, I've had to adopt a new sport. Over the last few weeks I've absorbed as much football as I could, watching any game my HD antenna can capture ... and I've grown quite fond of it.

So, I grabbed a copy of Madden NFL 13 to extend that experience into another one of my passions and I realized that I don't have a clue what's going on.