What we’re seeing now is not people coming out for the sake for competition, but for the money. Clearly that’s not a bad thing, but now everyone wants a piece of the pie. We’re not playing the games because we actually enjoy playing them, we’re playing them because 40,000 people are watching and there’s $10,000 at the end of the match waiting for them. People don’t come to a tournament to play against Justin Wong, they come to see him in person / ask him to sign their stick. Folks don’t get excited to see Yipes in hopes of getting a few games in, they’re happy to just scream ‘WHERES YOUR CURLEY MUSTACHE’ in his face for the umpteenth time.
The whole reason many of us aren’t against the sake of getting a corporate sponsor or backing for tournament isn’t because we want to become this commercially acceptable and marketable demographic, it’s because we fucking love playing against each other. Corny as it sounds we want as many people as possible to experience the same thing.
The problem is that with all this esports nonsense going on this isn’t happening, to the point where even the upper echelon of players are getting spoiled. People gain a status without having to compete in a community that thrived for that feeling.
I mean obviously I can’t fault you for wanting to feel the way you do, or playing how you want, but the only thing esports did was make that entire section between beginner and top player horribly bloated and self entitled while sprinkling illusions of grandeur in front of the faces of some folks at the top.
Wow, I really like talking to people who think differently to me, I find it very interesting. I’ve heard several people now talk about “status”, like that other person who said he wasn’t entirely happy about girls in the FGC because they get “more attention than their skill is worth”. In competitive circles obviously the main currency is attention/fame, to the degree where people are getting quite annoyed that there are some that are getting this currency without being considered to have “earned” it. As a person outside of that world, it’s fascinating. I don’t want to sound like I’m arguing or attacking you, I’m just bringing an outsider’s perspective into this.
II don’t really understand what you mean by “bloated and self entitled.” Maybe you’re commenting on real-life behaviour, because from my perspective, everyone is a jerk on the internet in the past and it’s still the same now. I don’t know, I’m sure there are frustrations that have happened to you that I don’t know about or understand, but the tone of many of the people with same concerns as you seem a bit whiny, jealous or “entitled” to me? Like you think the world used to be a certain way, and you’d like it to stay that way, but it’s not and now you hate it. People get attention/fame for all sorts of reasons that can’t be controlled or predicted, so wishing that it was just based on skill seems a bit pointless, in this era of youtube, social networking and streaming video.
Finally, I don’t know if I agree with your comment about the money. Obviously, money sweetens the deal and raises the stakes, but noone is planning to get rich by playing fighting games - it’s a labour of love for everyone involved. Do you honestly think that the meagre amount of fame and money you can get from FG tournaments would motivate someone to practise enough to be a top player, if they didn’t love playing and competing? I really doubt it - anyone with a brain would spend that time and effort on, I dunno, tennis or poker or stockbroking or real estate trading or something. Sure, there’s the matter of a player choosing event X that pays money over event Y that doesn’t, or choosing game X which is big vs. game Y which isn’t, but ultimately they still enjoy things enough to devote a large part of their life to a fairly unprofitable (and stigmatised!) activity.
Even the MLG, that much maligned organisation, might be doing everything they can to make a buck, but they wouldn’t be in this business unless the people involved are passionate about games. Because they could make much more money with less risk by doing any number of other things.