Hey everybody, I’ve been an fighting game fan for a while but never really got competitive until around the beginning of 2010. I’ve wanted to go out to certain events, but there are none near me and I don’t have a car. I know going to tournaments and the like is really the only way to improve because online really doesn’t amount to shit due to lag among other things. My question is should I just stop playing if I’m forced to be online only? And if I wanted to build a scene around where I live, how would I go about doing that?
You might have to dig in the archives if no one can vouch for me but I heard a Wake Up, Shoryuken podcast with the exact concern. I’ll admit having nothing by you can hinder on your game but won’t stop your progress completely. I agree however with discerning online-play.
Try the regional matchmaking threads, you never know who’s in your area.
Honestly I don’t get why people think online play amounts to nothing. Sure it can be laggy but you get to play so many different types of play styles which is essential for getting better. I’m lucky enough to have a scene in my area, but I seldom actually go out to the weekly’s since I don’t feel like I’m leveling up any faster then playing online. The only real difference is you can get feed back on how you play and this can help you get better.
I don’t believe you should give up even if online is your only means of playing right now. Just try to make some friends that go in hard on online and pull out the mic. Talk about the matches with them just like you would do if you were playing offline.
As for building a scene well that’s a bit difficult. First I would check the regional match making thread to see exactly who’s in your area to get started. After that you can start small just inviting a few guys over to your place to play who are close to you. Once you get a steady set of players try looking for a venue to house you guys. I’d suggest a gaming lounge or an arcade, that’s where we have our weeklys in Chicago. If you don’t have anything like that maybe try a place like a trading card shop, just see if they’ll let you use their back room or something. If a venue really becomes a problem, hell get some setups going in someone’s garage if you have to. After you find some place to host the amount of players will only grow. All that’s left is to get a stream going and you’re in there.
Dude, let me tell you. For leveling up, online is garbage. You need to find an offline crack session. You will level up wayyy faster. Just find people around on regional match making. And if there are none, just start hosting your own crack sessions. All you really need is one other person to grind it out with.
Well there is that odd Wolfkrone example of a an online player busin’ out and taking names, I wouldn’t consider it common. This has less to do with the intrinsic value or lack of value that online brings. It still is the same game [albeit input issues will create an issue that doesn’t exist with f2f’ers]. The real issue is that FGs like all skills is in constant need of reinforcement and guidance. You didn’t think that tests in school were just there too punish you did you? People who strictly play online tend to be disassociated with all that and therefore their improvment is staggered by how much they can glean for themselves so to speak. Basically you should want to connect with as many people as possible if you seek to improve, whether through daily/weekly/monthly seshes or even mic chat nights - that’ll help you improve the most.
Building your own scene is never easy, but basically yeah. Work to find players. Work to bring players together. If it gets big enough you can call it a scene. Simple right? Well the sentence was, but good luck with that - lol.
About building a scene… check the regional threads. Look for things close to you first.
If none, then make a new thread and gauge interest.
You may start casual meet ups to level up by renting out a local place or simply having a group of folks around at your house.
Obviously this also depends on if this is feasible and relying on your visitors to have some decent public etiquette so your crib doesn’t get trashed.
Though most of us are sensible people.
I think its preference. I try to go to the gatherings here in MA and CT, but all they do are tournies. I go to them and I barely get rounds till after the tournaments and there are barely any setups to learn from including the quality of the fgc here isnt all that good. I know for a fact that if there is good netcode, a good solo learning session, good friends online and a good training mode can get you far. If you need to fix your ‘mental’ in this community, people are needed
And online play on a casual whim is good if you play decent players.
Check out the online matchmaking threads on SRK for Live and PSN.
You’ll find plenty of people looking for some online matches; albeit not perfect it’s a good way to learn matchups and get used to different playstyles.
Better than running into random gimmicks on ranked and never seeing the player again to learn how to deal with said tactics.
It took playing with local people to really see how different it is from online. I am fortunate enough to have found people n my area that like to play and are willing to teach without being assholes. Like people have been saying, find those people out there that want to play. I’m sure you can find a few people to session with. Alternatively, try and recruit your friends. It helps to have people that you can regularly get some games on and talk about strategy.
Well I would get my friends to play…but there’s a bit of a problem with that. All my friends that do play that I can see regularly IRL I can stomp with not a lot of effort for the most part, excluding two people who are my sparring partners for AE. I do play Marvel 3 too but I’m the best out of all my friends and they can’t really challenge me, except for one guy who moved but we play on PSN regularly.
The one’s that don’t play FGs are really closeminded saying stuff like “hurr durr all fightan gaems are the same” so I eventually stopped trying to get them into it.