First of all, Evo 2010 was amazing. There were countless positive aspects such as award ceremonies with unique prizes, and having some of the quickest turnaround time on matches as far as SF4 is concerned. I really enjoyed it, if only as a spectator. Hell, I was even played the devil’s advocate when they kidnapped Adam Sessler, threw him in a aerosol filled cement mixer, and dumped him onto the announcers table during the grand finals to let him figure out where he was. Aside from all the mostly positive aspects of evo, the female invitational was terrible.
The main problem being that fighting games have no inherent advantages given to either sex. Females can play SF4 with the big boys. If they choose not to for whatever reason, should we just get boobs on the stage simply for entertainment value? It’s a valid question that brings up another issue:
It was not entertaining! It was an awkward mess from the choppy commentary to the grand finals featuring players that would struggle to make top 200 in the real tournament. Obviously, being in the 80th percentile or so of the tournament is great, but getting an award for it seems patronizing.
You can either put them in the main tournament, or have a wet T-shirt contest. It’s hard to find a medium that satisfies anyone.
It went smooth enough that it can be declared a success regardless of what it was trying to achieve.
I will say that it seems a bit hypocritical to have bring in a female commentator during the tournament as if the female version of SSF4 was in fact a different game that needed an expert opinion. I don’t think Sherry’s commentary was necessarily bad, but that implies to me this tournament wasn’t taken very seriously, which kind of defeats the purpose of it.
I think it served its partial purpose as a way to attract new female competitors into the community but I have to agree on a lot of the points about the commentary, could use some work if they reintroduce it next year.
I thought the tournament itself was kind of cool. I think they mentioned there were 50 female competitors, which is a success in itself. While I think some of the grand finals was a bit choppy, once it got to the final two, there was some hype. Kayane and Burnyourbra played pretty well and there were some close matches.
What I didn’t/don’t appreciate is the community’s behavior (which, in all honesty, was to be expected). Plenty of disrespectful comments in terms of physical appearance and things that were not relevant to the gameplay (please refer to LaughingElfMan’s comment for an example).
I do believe that Kayane did make the top 200 and was very close to making it into the semi finals.
Indeed … the most unfortunate part is that I think the result was a net negative for the perception of female gamers. A lot of people undoubtedly came away from watching that with reinforced stereotypes, thinking “That’s the best they’ve got?”
Patronizing really is the best way to describe the overall atmosphere. The crowd was cheering for combos like linking jab fierce was just so clutch, and the commentators were getting excited when Hazanshou’s were being blocked instead of just whiffing. But at the same time, it’s hard to blame them … those were pretty much the most exciting parts of the matches.
So I dunno … it wasn’t a bad idea, but the content was lacking. Maybe it’ll encourage other girl gamers to see that and say “Hey, I can do better” and get out there and compete.
What does it take for it to be a bad idea? One of the girls getting raped? You admit to believing the net result worsened the overall perception of female SF players, and the matches themselves were bad. Sounds like a bad idea to me.
My girlfriend was not too happy about this invitational, until she found out that the girls were also requiered to enter the main tournament.
As long as the girls are playing in the main tournament, what is so wrong about letting them have their own side tournament?
The patronizing part of it is when we treat it like a separate event for them because they’re not good enough for the main event, which is probably what my girlfriend had a problem with.
I would have felt like giving a golden stick to the winner was a bit overboard/patronizing - however they also gave a stick to a random audience member, so with that in mind I see no problem with giving a stick to the winner of the women’s invitational.
As long as it stays as a smaller side tournament - i can only see it bringing more people (read: females) to evo.
Yo, let’s be real, AT EVO, the Ladies’ tournament was a success. Yeah, there were a few DQ’s for people who weren’t there, but people played their matches and there was HYPE. Not only for who was playing, but for the matches as well.
@Otter, yo, maybe you should have read the rules for the Ladies’ tournament. Anyone wanting to be in the Ladies’ tournament HAD TO BE REGISTERED FOR THE MAIN TOURNAMENT.
Blazblue or any Team games would’ve been more hype then females invites. Sure it’s a total success, sure this helps bring out some females players but I’d rather see the female play in the main tournament, showing their stuff (pun not intended). Even more so that team plays would’ve been SO much more hype. 5v5 last years? good times.
Nonetheless, good stuff from females invitationals and go AAA Kayane! <3
I understand what you mean about patronizing, but it actually might be worth it to get female players into the game a little more…
If they start playing the game, they know they have no shot of winning the main tourney… hell, I know that I don’t have a chance in hell of winning the main tourney. But if they know there’s a women’s side tourney they might think “hey, you know what, with some practice I just may have a shot at this! I’m gonna go to Evo and find out!”
Anything that helps turn Evo into less of a sausage-fest is a probably a good thing IMO… as long as we’re not coddling them too much.
I actually fought a ton of girls in my pool bracket… it was weird. I fought more girls than guys I think.
I dunno man, I’m just trying to look on the bright side of it. I don’t think the matches had to suck, I don’t think the commentary had to suck, and I don’t think the net result had to be negative. It could have been an opportunity to showcase talented female players … and there is nothing inherently wrong with this. Yes, I know, the main tournament, yadda yadda yadda … point is, I just think that done better it could be an interesting exhibition instead of a freakin’ side show.
I am a very casual player, and am in no way asserting that I could have beaten either Kayane or Burnyourbra, but after watching the top four I feel kind of incensed that those were the top four out of FIFTY. The commentators were justified in basically pointing out something like, “Hey, what do you know, they can do combos after all!” It reminded me of Futurama in that episode with the Amazon women when they started talking about basketball: “we no can dunk, but good fundamentals.”
I think Kayane definitely has a solid game and Burnyourbra might be something fierce if she stuck to one character and got her execution down. And mad props to them.
But ultimately, I did walk away with that reaction described in the quoted post: I can do better. I WANT to do better. :karate:
I agreed that the top 4 matches on stream is pretty boring. Probably cutting the top 4 to just grand final on stage is better. But I’m not opposed to the idea of having a female invitation. It looks like everyone is having fun @ EVO, including the ladies.
