The snarky bros of Madden

Andrew Belton makes a living playing Madden which is a sport he does not particularly like.

When he uploads his video, Belton challenges "trash-talkers" who send him with a snarky Instagram DM, arguing using colorful language that they should kick his ass during madden 22 coins the match. Therefore, Belton spends his time beating up on randos -and sometimes a pro athlete -- while teasing and yelling those who taunt him for his YouTube followers. That's the part that he enjoys beating, particularly against people who are so disrespectful. He persuades them to make reckless passes and urges them to play the game on fourth down , when the better option would be to punt.

In watching Belton's channel ABGotGame, the only thing Belton roasts more than his opponents? Madden itself. The most frequent refrains are "This game is trash" as well as "this game is so awful." In every video, Belton is cursing the game's creator, EA Sports, like it's some demon. Throwing erratically? "EA!" Taking a bag? "EA! !" Missing an easy interception?

In the month of January, 2022, he released a video titled "I've niews seen it before...You take home EA...I'm forever playing Madden again." ..." A week further on, Belton posted another Madden video. If you'd been watching his channel for a long time, as I was, you'd figured out Belton was never going to give up.

The thing that is funny concerning Madden -- the sole NFL authorized video game franchise more than 34 years old is that despite its massive popularity, all you ever hear is complaints about it.

The most frequent complaint, which is repeated frequently, is that each year's update is an incremental improvement over the last. Since EA Sports has the exclusive license, it's the only company to make the "simulation-style" NFL game. This means that the game's creator is under no pressure to meaningfully improve the game every year. In the year 2020, a massive twitter campaign was launched to urge the league to announce EA as its partner- #NFLDropEA. But despite the social media furore that included coordinated review-bombing on the game's Metacritic site, Madden 21 sales were in the ascendancy. This year's Madden 22 did well, too, and Madden remains the top-selling sports franchise ever.

The critics hail from a vocal minority, but one of the minority groups whose work is to be very vocal. I'm talking about YouTubers, who earn a living by streaming and recording themselves playing games they say they don't like.

The sprawl of different YouTubers' focuses shows just how big the game today. There are YouTubers like Belton who share videos of their own games and there's a variety of YouTubers uploading strategies and tips; and then there are YouTubers who dedicate themselves to playing Madden.

Last fall, a TV channel called SOFTDRINKTV released a video of 14 minutes that was titled "The worst Madden of All Time," and a week later, by a 19-minute film titled "Madden NFL 22 is NOT Good - A Review." They came back to an identical well last week by releasing a video called "Everything Wrong with Madden NFL 22 (in 16 minutes)." The narration of that one opens memorably in a dramatic way: "This is the kind of game that inspires you to stick a thumbtack in your eyeballs. When you play Madden 22, the gift of life turns into one of the worst curses. It is no longer a desire to be alive. It causes existential dread."

Like any subculture, Madden includes its very own expressions of slang. Precise throws will be "lasers" (self-explanatory). The most common throw is a "dot" that means you'll get "dotted up" -- which somehow changed into "dart" (less clear). Additionally, solid defensive coverage was once "bagged," though recently I've come across YouTubers commenting on being "booked." However, the most logical one in my opinion is "mossing" someone else, which is when a receiver leaps over a corner to grab the ball from the air, inspired from Randy Moss.

But hating Madden is just an integral part of the society, even if it is a bit sexy at times. The subreddit , r/Madden, is nearly completely "rants" about why Madden doesn't work, which is usually only a short video clip of a bug or glitch. The tag #Madden22 that is on TikTok is a mix of highlights, equally part calling out the faulty plays that EA ought to fix.

Of course, if hate a video game so frequently, why continue playing it year in and year out?

The case for Andrew Belton, Madden earns him his money. The game has been played since 2005 Madden, but more crucially, YouTubing since his 2018 Madden. His channel has been growing to the point that the channel earns money from it, enough that he can move out of mut 22 coins his parents' home and into an apartment in Brooklyn. (He also sells books using Madden tips on his Patreon website, which he estimates makes a third of his earnings.)