I’m both a gamer and an avid sports enthusiast.  That’s not necessarily a unique combination, but it certainly doesn’t fit the stereotype.  That said, I was thinking about two of my favorite things as of late:  tower defense games (thank you, iPad, for feeding that hunger so well.. Fieldrunners FTW!) and fantasy sports (shout out to The 06010).

Both games have several elements in common, which I feel oh so appealing, as a “lazy” gamer (StarCraft is fun, but man, it can be demanding and require quick reflexes).

Passive particpation

In fantasy sports, you set your lineups.  You just have to hope for the best.

In tower defense games, you set your towers.  You just have to hope for the best.

The Random Element

In fantasy football, you just have to put your faith in a guy sometimes and hope for the best.  Last week, Pierre Garcon and Curtis Painter developed a loving relationship and Garcon chalked up 100+ yards receiving and two touchdowns.  They’re facing an even weaker secondary this week, but maybe that means Painter will spread the ball around to other guys.  Who knows…

In tower defense games, you often find yourself yelling at your towers, wondering why they won’t target enemies more intelligently.  Rather than letting three tanks through, it could have kept focus on that one tank with the sliver of health remaining, and at least knocked him out – thus allowing maybe two tanks through.

Sit back and watch with pride (or horror)

Whether it’s the barrage of 18 tanks and 37 soldiers that got past your last machine gun turret, or Adrian Peterson snapping his ankle on the third play of the game, there’s not much you can do but cry into your beer along with your friends who are silly Minnesota Vikings fans.

Well, I guess there is one key difference…  In tower defense games, you can always just hit the “restart level” button!  Remember when you let those two tanks through?  Yeah, back to the drawing board..