Devlog 4

The sport I learned about by watching Mr. Animate's videos was three on three basketball. This sport is a more relaxed version of traditional basketball like the NBA plays. There are two teams made up of three players each, so six players overall play this game. The goal of this game is for one team to get twenty one points before the other, which ultimately results in a victory. The rules of this game are much like traditional basketball, in that the players attempt to shoot and score on the other team's basket and work to prevent the other team from scoring on their basket. One point can be scored by shooting successfully from inside the arc on the basketball court, and two points can be gained by a successful shot made from outside the arc on the court. Instead of starting the game with a jump shot like in professional basketball, three on three basketball is typically started with a coin toss. This game is overall better suited to more casual environments for basketball fans, such as playground games or neighborhood games. While a regular basketball court is still required, it is more easy to play with just a handful of friends and a basketball.

This game in particular is a good example of competitive play. In three-on-three basketball, “teams of players try to come out ahead of their opponent” like Macklin and Sharp describe while discussing what makes competitive play. Since three-on-three is more informal and typically played among friends, the concept of yomi can also apply. “The Japanese concept for knowing the mind of your opponent” like The Kinds of Play discusses can be particularly applicable to games among friends, such as knowing where a friend on the opposite team prefers to take their shots at in basketball. This sport is a great example of the specific type of competition discussed of head-to-head competition, meaning that the players go directly against each other, rather than something like asynchronous competition which measures players “by their performance rather than the outcome to head-to-head play”. Basically, three on three basketball conforms to a category of play just like traditional basketball and what people might typically think of as what kind of play sports conform to. Most often people think of two teams going up against each other and competing to get the most points as part of what makes a sport, and three-on-three basketball certainly conforms to this.