BUSINESS MODEL.
Hi, Dustin.
And Your top 16 SRK members/WNF attendees would probably look like this: (list)
1 Akagi - 5
2 Andrew Strife - 6
3 AndyOCR - 4
4 Calipower - 7
5 Choysauce - 4
6 DJ Divine - 5
7 Easier to Run - 7+
8 Jared - 5
9 Kapwan - 5
10 Masataka - 6
11 o-----Robb-----o - 6
12 Onslaught35 - 4
13 Warahk - 6
14 shglbmx - 4
15 The Answer - 4
16 Redrapper - 3
16 Risingtied - 3
16 Tatsujinken - 3
16 The Butler - 3
I stopped by a few times to use the bathroom and check my email, but I forgot to write my name down.
Can I have my thousand dollars now?
Sorry let me correct that… it was 6… but that is really besides the point as you and I have already discussed, but I’ll update it.
I’m ashamed that we haven’t met in person.
I watched you play at WNF and was impressed by your recklessness and vigorous arm pumping. We shall talk soon!
Haha, we shall! Good shit on Wednesday, btw. Managed to catch the last bit of your fight after being salty for about 30 minutes.
What time are folks dropping by today?
After going back and checking the dates on everything, once the tournament was ANNOUNCED, there were only FOUR WNF sessions held at the cafe. So, some of those numbers are wrong.
1st WNF after tournament announced: June 30th
2nd WNF, just before Evo: July 7th
3rd WNF, just after Evo: July 14th
Kira’s Birthday gathering at PC Arena: July 16th
4th and final WNF before changing locations: July 21st
So those were my 5 times going this last month (I didn’t miss a WNF), and they match with Will’s count. While this all isn’t the main concern right now, I just noticed the last few posts people have been throwing numbers around. I can say that Andrew Strife was with me at all of the events because I drove with him each time.
My 2 cents: Anyone that has 4 or 5 points means they went 4 or 5 days in a month, which is like saying at least once a week. Going to a community event once a week isn’t lacking in dedication IMO. That one guy on the list that has 23 points… o_O that just means he plays WoW there.
Will, Andrew can be pretty abrasive so take what he says with a grain of salt. On that note, he’s just arguing passionately for his community. It is one that is not currently the largest contributor to your revenue, but one indefinitely that has the potential and will grow to be.
Today is the day of your tournament and there has yet to be updates: be it be to answer questions or to post the participants list. Many, many folks here are waiting to hear from you, please address the concerns. People need time to arrange things to make it out to your area.
Whether some sides of your patrons are dissatisfied or all works out well, come to a resolve and look to see what can avoid this in the future for your business.
whatever the numbers may be… if i AM off by 1 point… thats besides the point. That’s not what I’m trying to argue here. But I see your point in showing that the people who did show up at least 4 times did NOT lack in dedication because they attended the WNF Program almost every week.
Lets see if I can address issues here…
The whole idea for this tournament is to promote constant offline play. As a business in its own, this will only work if there’s activity at my shop, I mean I have to make sure I can pay my bills.
It’s obvious that there’s enough offline play for tournaments like this to be VERY realistic (and not destroy businesses)… there’s just too much division where people play at, which is exactly the problem.
At this point it’s up to you guys to decide where it is that you wanna play at… I offered a $1,000 incentive, nobody took up the offer… so lets break it down:
If you take out the WNF factor… there’s practically NO ACTIVITY. This week specifically without the weekly WNF there was ZERO activity.
Am I to assume there was ZERO Orange County SSF4 offline play? Of course not. It’s just that nobody cares.
Apparently everyone would rather go to other venues who do nothing for you. Something of which I don’t understand.
If I were to give my money to somebody, I’d give it to a place that would bring me the most reward for my buck.
My local customers aren’t good, but they support my shop. Are they any less important than you SRK guys? Should I tell “the reason why I’m still in business” that they can’t play because they’re scrubs?
Half way through the month I posted everyone’s point totals, and aside from Kira’s “going away party” there was no activity.
WNF was all the points 90%+ you guys got. No WNF = no attendance at my shop.
As Far as my “WNF requirement” goes, if you can’t attend you need to present your case to me justifying why.
Just because I have a customer who can’t attend doesn’t mean that I’m gonna shaft 'em out… especially since they’re the reason I’m still in business.
I made everything VERY clear in my opening post.
I posted everyone’s point totals half way through the month.
Aside from WNF, people only showed up 3 other days… each day brought ~2 people (as reflected on the point totals)
With the absence of WNF this week… ZERO ACTIVITY
All this hardly screams dedicated.
There are multiple other venues you guys go to instead. Which is perfectly fine. Everyone is entitled to go anywhere they want, pay whatever shop they want.
I offered a big incentive to play at my shop. shrugs
I decided to check out other threads to see what the activity there was… I spoke with other people as well.
To claim that the attendance at my shop is “dedication” is laughable.
Bottom line is that 8 points for the entire month isn’t much… and even at that there’s only ~4 people who have more than 4 points.
Everyone knew the situation, everyone could have showed up for additional points to guarantee a tourney spot.
Instead everyone decided that there are better venues to play at.
Which is perfectly fine… it’s all good. But to get really defensive about me not giving you guys $1,000 for free when you don’t support my shop is a whole 'nother story.
Honestly I thought everyone would jump on this… especially seeing how much offline activity there is.
If you guys were even paying attention, you coulda just randomly showed up here 'n there despite the fact no other SRK goers showed for a easy tourney win in the end.
I really don’t understand the reasoning behind most of the people and why you’d choose to go elsewhere when there’s no incentive to do so.
I also find it odd how everyone is surprised by this… the mid July totals I posted showed everyone what their comp was.
We’ve talked a few times Will, casually after some WNF sessions late at night, do you remember when I mentioned about how many points these other people have? How surprised I was? You told me about how these players keep the business going, and I get that but you ALSO told me that you’ve told these “scrubs” they NEED to attend WNF in order to play in the tournament. Not only was it on your website, but you said it to my face the last night that WNF was held at your place. Did that just not count anymore? Did you go back on that? Did you tell everyone? From your post it sounds like you didn’t.
I understand your claim for dedication, but you also have to understand that we do have lives. In a post I’ve stated before, do you think us individuals with jobs (Or no jobs), college, and bills to pay can drive, pay, and play as much as a 5-15 year old kid who’s supported by their parents? We’re at a disadvantage here, in terms of the numbers department. That’s a small claim but something you have to understand.
Also, I live in La Mirada which is relatively close to Fullerton. However some individuals are driving 20+ miles weekly, paying $5 and driving back 4 times in that month. That’s a form of dedication, and while it may not be staggering or groundbreaking, it’s there.
Again, I’m dropping away from the real point I’m trying to make, and the one that Andrew was trying to make: You went against the key rules set up on the first page of the thread, claiming now that they’re irrelevant because of attendance. You said you had to attend WNF to qualify, and now you say that you shouldn’t have to follow that model because of the lack of attendance? Where on the front page does it say, “If not enough of you show up during the month, the tournament will be cancelled, or I’m going to let the non-SRK players have the spots,”? You didn’t, anywhere. Sure you made it clear dedication was your goal, but you did not say there would be consequences for dedication that did not live up to the level you were expecting.
You explained to us situation A.
Then you gave us situation B, with no warning, no explanation until the DAY of the scheduled tournament, and you have holes in your logic.
“Just because I have a customer who can’t attend doesn’t mean that I’m gonna shaft 'em out… especially since they’re the reason I’m still in business.”
This is you saying one thing to us for weeks, and then just deciding to change it 2 days before the tournament. This is a COMPLETE contradiction to rule number 4. You said they needed to attend, and if they didn’t they needed an explanation. They did not attend WNF, they did not provide an explanation, therefore they should be DISQUALIFIED. End of story. That’s what the page said, that’s what you’ve been telling us, that what should have happened.
But it didn’t, and frankly there are a lot of people who are angry, annoyed, and confused at you, Will. For giving us such short notice on a decision that you made that was against your rules and guidelines, and no valid reasons as to why you didn’t follow your original, proposed model. Yes, you gave us valid reasons as to why dedication did not live up to your standards, but that does not excuse the decisions you made.
I’m sorry if I’m not being civil, but in the last 2 days something has gone very wrong, and it’s crap that we’re the ones at fault for it.
One thing I’d like to point out, that I find odd, is that the list in the middle of the month (on the 16th) had 30 non-SRK people, and 11 of them had 3 or less points. Then when the list was updated yesterday (15 days later)… there were NINETY ONE (91) non-SRK players, 47 of them having more points than any SRK member (7+ points). That seems like a lot of Street Fighter action going on =O …unless most of them weren’t actually playing SF4?
If most of those people were not there to play SF4… how does playing an online game on one of the computers contribute to the Street Fighter Offline community?
If most of those people WERE there to play SF4… I think a lot of us would like to know what all of their reasons were for not being able to make it out to even one of the four WNF sessions held there.
How about the tournament gets thrown anyway and I cough up 45 dollars(which would equal the money I would’ve spent had I visited the shop 9 times), I play your locals, and then you give me a crisp thousand dollar bill.
Also, AndyZ plays SF4!? Crazy times to be alive.
Thank you for your update Will. It would be nice still to see the roster of the 32 players who are playing in the tournament, whenever your are inclined to post that.
I understand what you’ve addressed. The SRK community participants’ involvement at the lan center is very lacking. I can’t argue in our favor that their attendance vs your other customers’ is laughable (1-9 match-up in SF terms if you will). The point of your confusion and upset is clear. I really do hope the dominant supporters of your business continue to do so, and even more that they level up in the FGC. Dedication comes in many different forms.
Understand our perspective in that though not earth-shattering, we became active again at your shop with the promise of this amazing tourney…that no longer applies to us. You created this tourney FOR the interest and hype of the srk community, and if that upsets some of your other patrons you have to proceed with it. If you lose a lot of money, you still must deliver. If we didn’t meet your unshared expectations, you STILL must keep your word. Learn what went wrong and adjust the next month. That is a noble thing to do.
This is aggitating to me but it’s probably just where we see through different eyes. These other venues don’t do ‘nothing’ for us just because they don’t offer huge amounts of cash prizes. Cheesy as it may sound, other active members’ venues in the community warrant a lot more than what money can buy. The integrity, genuine efforts and intentions are well worth going out to.
Your efforts are appreciated. It is unfortunate things fell short.
Went through the “locals” list again. LAUGHING MY ASS OFF.
What I’m curious about is what if one of us had 9 points… would the tournament have commenced? Would that one person just gotten the 1k? How would you get the other 31 non-SRK members to join?
I have to agree with Wakasashe’s point, while the cash prize at the end of the month is awesome, and appreciated, I don’t think everyone here (I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I don’t think we’re all greedy bastards) play to pocket money every week. I mean, we all go to WNF with no cash prizes involved, just games, games, and more games.
This x100.
Something that was sort of hinted at, but not directly stated, is the fact that at $5 each time, and having to have gone a minimum 8 times just to barely make top 32, most of the SRK community just can’t afford the 40 dollars a month.
And as stated by others, most of the community isn’t playing to make money, or get the biggest reward when choosing where to play at, it’s about the atmosphere/environment that the games are played in… also location (Some people don’t like to drive far if they don’t have to).
I’ve been too broke to go anywhere. =(