PlayStation Develops Character Modeled After Hans Smith, an Avid Player With Cerebral Palsy

March 17, 2010 — -- Twenty-three-year-old college student Hans Smith has never swung a bat on a baseball diamond, but that hasn't stopped him from playing baseball in the virtual world.

Bound to a wheelchair by cerebral palsy, which makes it impossible for him to grip a bat or throw a ball, Smith has spent hours upon hours playing "MLB: The Game" on his PlayStation while his friends play ball on an actual baseball diamond.

But Smith was so grateful that a game existed that allowed him to experience baseball even a little bit, he wrote a letter to PlayStation thanking the company.

As a result, he's now experiencing the virtual game more completely than his friends could ever dream. The game's developers were so moved by Smith's story that they modeled a character in the game after him -- placing his virtual likeness alongside such Major League Baseball superstars as Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter.

"I said that I know this might sound strange, but I'm a 22-year-old college student who is also a baseball fanatic, and I absolutely love your game," Smith said, quoting the letter he sent to PlayStation in 2008. "I have cerebral palsy, and I'm unable to step foot on a baseball diamond, but you guys have really given me the experience of playing baseball.

"[The game] is so real I am able to experience the same adrenaline rush, the same nervousness, the same frustration and the same excitement as [the real thing]," Smith wrote to PlayStation, which is owned by Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Jennifer Kacizak, a licensing specialist who works closely with PlayStation's development team, received Smith's letter and said that everyone was moved to tears.

"The team really took it to heart. We never get letters like this," said Kacizak. "He is just so inspirational, humble and grateful, he keeps telling me that he never expected us to do this, he never asked us to."