I think making it a two day shindig would really work out.
When I wrote my post about considering the future, I wrote at the bottom
“No Porn Sponsors”
but then thought, “Nah,” and erased it. Guess I should have left it there.
I completely agree. I think we should inquire with all those businesses about sponsorships. Even if the answer we get is no, as long as we are very professional in how we go about it, we are establshing contacts, and we can say, “We will see you again next year.”
Me too.
also shoryuken lol >.>
Ay dongs,
WE should have someone sellf ood during the tournaments. Can you imaging going to a tournament where niggas be selling food outside the mothafucking venue? Shit would be boss hog. I dont want to walk four blocks away to get some grub while beasting ong niggas on the regualr.
Drunk post nu,ero 1.
moar
another thing too, intros for top 8 players AND intro songs. I miss that shit from Evo 2k3?? Or was it 2k2 and 2k3
I know we can’t be sure of any pricing right now, but if we do allow a vendor to set up, I think charging 100 could be a minimum rate, depending on what they are selling. They are getting a chance to sell to a captive audience (possibly for 2 days), getting free advertising (hopefully to their target customers) and earning grandfather rights should they choose to return later when we become bigger. Plus the logistics and hassle of including a vendor (contracts, space, set-up) would mean we would want to get something worthwhile for our trouble.
I also agree that food could be very lucrative if we do it correctly.
hot dogs bitches!
I know it’s late notice, but if you guys are serious about advertising through Penny Arcade, I could hand out fliers this coming weekend during PAX. The main drawback is that exact details could be scarce, since we’re so far away from NWM 09. Still, we could at least direct them to the website and suggest checking for updates in six months or so. While advertising on their site will reach a much larger audience, this could help generate early awareness.
As for games, are we going to mimic Evo and ditch the old lineup? Obviously, ST will return via HD Remix. I think Marvel should stick around in some form or another, considering it’s a staple around here and doesn’t seem to be dying off anytime soon. I would personally kill off CvS2 and 3rd Strike, but that’s assuming both scenes adopt SF4 or another game. Finally, it’s time to let VF5 go into the sunset.
We should wait a while before deciding whether or not to include newer games, just to see if they survive. Also, some games might not be out for a while. The Guilty Gear scene will likely move to BlazBlue, and that won’t be out on console until late winter/early spring at the earliest. Also, to my knowledge, Tekken 6 still doesn’t have a console release date. Soul Calibur 4 is off to a good start, but whether or not it lasts is up in the air; the Northwest SC scene isn’t what it used to be.
Then there’s Brawl. Being the cynic that I am, I doubt it’s going to survive for much longer. But if it keeps going, why not? If nothing else, including Brawl would potentially boost turnout by a pretty wide margin.
3s will never die >.>
All the reasons you just listed are why I think it is tough to discuss games right now. There is so much up in the air as far as release dates, and whether the games will actually be good and have a scene around it, we can’t say anything for sure. If we can decide on some core games and then saying that the others will be announced later I think that will be fine.
It guess it was stupid of me to suggest that we put a hold on game discussion till later, but I do think it needs it own thread. There are 16 pages of 25 posts per page about game choice discussion in the old PNWMajors thread, and none of it got anyone closer to making a decision or holding the tournament. I think its the reason nothing got done in the first place, so this thread needs to stay organized and dedicated to planning.
I would like to second, the idea of doing a bunch of player interviews, and maybe a trailer for the tournament. A couple interesting interviews posted online could build some hype.
Will interview for food.
A few people have mentioned having two per year; one in the Winter and one in the Summer. I like the idea of having more than one tournament a year, but planning two majors per year and having them both be as well done as I would like would be a really big responsibility and it isnt something I want to do. I really want the tournament to grow with each outing and I feel like spending a year planning for each one would give a much better opportunity to do that. With that much time we can really work to make each one better.
I do want to hold more than one tournament. I think it would be good to hold smaller tournaments in the months before the major as a way to build hype for the bigger tournament, try out new ways of running them, and explore how well some different ideas could work. The smaller tournaments would also give people more opportunities to get involved and be a place where we can get more practice at setting up and putting them together. They would be smaller so it would be okay to make mistakes and learn from them. We could try out different styles of recording and set-up, give people opportunities to try out announcing for different games, and all the while we would be establishing a players base and organizing for the major.
Holding 2 small tournaments three or four months before the big one would be good way to build hype and figure things out.
That’s just an idea, so let me know what you guys think.
if you’re going to hold more than one other tournament other than NWM in order to build hype, it’d probably be best to have them enough far apart for people’s travel money to build up for both, so that attendance is high, especially for those traveling. so in other words this might look like a small tournament in the winter, a small tournament in the spring, and then NWM in the summer, in other words tournies going for the better half of the year while still being 1. sizable enough to manage 2. far apart enough to be accessible for those people coming from other areas and 3. great hype building for NWM
although if you wanted to focus on building hype then you’d probably have to close the time gap more to be around 2 months but that seems sort of short and issues could come up, especially ones involving $$$ (for -everyone-)
EDIT: after taking a quick look at the games thread, this would also be a really good way to test out how attendance would go for certain games which i think is really critical, especially this year with so many new games coming out to be unsure of (after all it’d be really really difficult to include them all while still keeping the core games)
Here is a list of goals for the next tournament. Its a mix of things that I want to see and a lot of other people have brought up and suggested. It’s pretty long, and lots of things fit into multiple categories, so I’m just going to do the best I can to organize it. We don’t have to do anything about half of this now, but I want to write it all down so that we can build on it and it doesn’t get forgotten.
If I missed anything, let me know.
Goals for Next Tournament-
Be More Open to Community-
I read this guys response to EVO, and I think he made some good points.
http://www.thecgs.com/EVO_Fighters_Paradise_Viewers_Bane
The guy who wrote that review in the Stranger, along with the guy above, is probably a pretty good representation of how most people are going to view the tournament. For people interested enough to show up, a tournament shouldn’t be a place where they better know their shit to have a good time. It could also be a place where they could come to learn about the games and get into the scene and meet people. I still think the tournament should come first, but I there is a lot we can do to make it interesting for people who don’t know about games.
Name Tags- This is so simple and there are so many benefits, I’m not going to list them. Basically helps promote people interacting.
Wall Scrolls with Game Info- Some sort of reference in the room with information about the games we choose would help a lot of people who don’t know anything about the games but are interested. It would also serve as decoration. To anyone who went to EVO and saw the giant posters with SF4 characters on them, I imagine those around the room, but with explainations about each game on them, with pics and graphics.
Announcers- Besides just being great in general and making finals more interesting, they also explain the matches for those watching and keep you engaged.
Promo Videos with Player Interviews- Seeing people at the tournament who they saw in a video would give people a better idea of who plays what games and create a more fun atomosphere.
Other Game Side Tournaments- This is just an idea, but with a two full day event, there could be a lot of time to do things that could make the event more interesting for other gamers.
Advertising-
Player Interviews.
Promo Videos
Event Posters- I think it would be cool if we could hire an artist to create a poster for the event. Something beyond just a flyer. Real art that we could also sell at the tournament and that people could hang on their wall could be a way to get the word out, make money, and encourage people to come.
Create a New Logo- A logo we can stick with and that people can recognize will really help out.
Get Reported On in the Paper/News- Could be helpful.
Figure out Copyright Laws- O_o Not sure how we’ll go about this?
Day of Goals-
Better Documentation- The more pictures and videos we have of the event itself, the better we can advertise for the next year. A designated photographer/videographer would help, and deciding what kind of shots we want ahead of time will make sure we get more then just people staring at TV’s.
Use Bracket Software- This is going to help a lot with records and making adjustments quickly. We can even put it on a screen while the tournaments are running so people can see how things are breaking down.
More Structured Casuals
Numbering TVs- For better organization.
Food- For making profit or just to make a better tournament.
Capture a Majority of Matches- I’d really like to capture a ton of footage at the next one. We may have to figure out how, but I think this is really important.
Rent Sticks- If stick builders wanted to cheaply rent out a few sticks for the event, we could take the rental money, they get free advertising to people who don’t have sticks but want them, and it would help people without sticks have more fun.
Team Tournaments- Could be fun.
Better Security- I think this is important to figure out.
300 Person Attendance
General Goals
Make a Profit- We shot to break even on the last one and we did, so I think if we shoot to make a profit this time we’ll be able to do it. If we can make money on this, we can invest it back into the tournament and be able to buy consoles or games for next time. Making profits on smaller tournaments would be a good way to practice.
A Dedicated Website/With Frequent Updates- I know this is a lot easier said then done, but something similar to this could really help.
Sponsors- Important.
Faciliities- Better Facilities overall.
Input Results on ST Ranking Site- This would be a good way to promote Julien’s site also.
After we came back from PNWM1 and the pics were posted, a lot of players in BC were really disappointed that they didn’t come because the turnout was so large. I think that if you guys hold another event (and even larger one) that more people from up here will be interested in coming!
Maybe what we can do while building the hype with interviews and stuff like that, is have short videos explaining some of the basic stuff. Kinda like a video tutorial of the games, and when I mean basic, I mean breaking all the shit down example:
MvC2
talk about how to tag, and what can/cannot happen if you miss the tag or hit it.
The assists buttons and what snapbacks do and like explain what their inital use was for (forcing said teammate in the game), and explain how people found uses for the snapbackk assist kills.
Now I know there’s no way in hell that we fit every single solitary detail about the games. But stuff like basic shit like I said above, and usual characters/teams that players use (as well as a few off the wall teams for variety and letting people know that they don’t have to win with said team or how team’s counter each other (again using Marvel as a refference). Or even a brief history of the game and how some characters moved up in teir ranks etc. etc. Or how teams were formed and why they are effective. I think if we can open the door to those that aren’t into fighting games and show them that it’s not all that intimidating to start out. We can definately pull together something here…now the only problem I can think of is…how to promote those videos.
Sure you got youtube and stuff like that, but what about other gaming sites as well? Like ign, or gametrailers or something like that, so that way we at least have people that are interested in games already. Instead of like random guy/girl that only knows about halo or CoD4 or something like that. Or maybe setting up like a video podcast and putting that shit directly on iTunes.
end of long post.
i wouldn’t expect the basic explanations to be for all games, probably just the mainly hyped ones
also, if any of the newer games appeal a lot to the mainstream crowd (talkin’ bout you sf4), it probably won’t be needed for them.
either way you’d need a game list to be able to make it all clear and we probably wouldn’t be getting that for a while