You said “not really”, then talked about a different subject entirely…
And BTW “getting paid to play” also means travel expenses, not just tournament and venue fee. lol
Your idea sounds cool though. Worth a shot.
It’s not my idea, it’s just how those who have done this much longer than video games do their tournaments. It only works if you have everything working together from sponsors banking the events to players attending those events to spectators watching those events. Right now, fighting game events have most of the ingredients, they’re just missing the big sponsors bank rolling the events. Unless those guys running those events start taking it to the next level, then it will always be the same. The only thing that would help give them a free lunch is more attention to what they are doing from the consumers.
I really wish someone would take it to the next level or at least convey the pitfalls of doing so. For example, I worked in the video game industry for a very long time bankrolling eSports events for the titles we made to some extent. I would need a good outline of the event with traffic, demographics and etc to get a good estimate of what my conversion would be if I dropped say 10 grand on something. I doubt I could go to most of the bigger fighting game events and they have their entire event broken down to where sponsors could actually think seriously about dropping money.
Because to be honest, a few hundred players who are entertaining a few thousand consumers on live streams is still a good advertisement platform for someone like me (if done right), who represents a video game company. It’s not millions, but if there was a way to get a good conversion off those thousands to where they buy into what I’m selling, then I would be willing to drop a few grand for top 8. Problem is, no one is really selling it well or improving their platforms for advertising sponsors with these events based on my own assumptions.
I know I’m kind of going off the beaten path here, but it all relates to pros, high-level players, whatever you want to call them seeking investment from the community to get out to these events.
People really need to think about their priorities in life. These fighting game professionals are in their 20’s and 30’s, I mean damn.
Then we have people who are willing to give cash to a complete stranger for such a thing when our society is basically in a recession. Some people are actually trying to look for any work even though they have a degree etc - while being too proud to ask for any support.
This rant makes me sound like my grandparents lol but these sort of stories annoy the hell out of me. Some people find voting too bothersome but are willing to wait ages for Black Friday “bargains”. Now it’s Christmas time, the ONE time when one might consider doing some community volunteering and what not. But no. Instead I’m going to open my twitter/facebook, use people 's goodwill and travel to a gaming exhibition.
Bunch of fucking slackers. -_-
That’s what set me off about the whole thing tbh. People are hurting, but yet we should be donating to get people to a tournament.
It’s not just about fighting games though. People are begging cash for other frivolous activities.
“Give me money for a better camera so I can upload my rants to youtube”
And obviously there are clever ways to somewhat mask the true purpose.
“I’m setting up a charity. Give me 300 bucks and I will donate 200 of it to y” instead of being honest about it and just asking for a hundred right away. Same applies to raffles. Good thing most states/nations have laws against ripping people off by such schemes.
I just hope people will eventually look back and realize how pointless it all was.
While I understand where you are coming from, the word ‘frivolous’ is an opinion. Importance is in the eye of the beholder, what’s useless to us is important to someone else. That why the phrase “There are more important things in life” doesn’t make sense, because we individually set the parameter for what is important in our own lives.
Truetrue, it’s in the eyes of the beholder. Someone mentioned earlier about how investment money in someone to simply have them entertain could be important enough for that specific set of people to warrant the funding. I can see that being a perfectly valid reason for that community, especially in this example where the KoF community is smaller compared to the other fighting games.
I hear you but there are certain realities in life.
Video games becoming your main focus, because people are willing to donate money, is not a good thing. Political commentary and grassroots activism in social media might lead to positive results however.
I’m just saying young men are in for a really rude awakening. The financial and demographic realities dictate that all these social security nets, and what have you, are going to be gone in the near future. Then you will either have the necessary skills or you are fucked. In my country the ratio of girls to boys is now 2/1 in academic circles. And boys : “Yo, can you spare some cash so I can play games”.
Ok I’ll stop right there. Too much ranting heh.
You don’t have to tell me, I work for a living. 
Yeah didn’t want to direct any of that towards you, just speaking in general.
Most gamers have good attitudes and the right balance depends on the weigher etc.
On the other hand, there’s a commercial entertainment market. This area isn’t nearly as commercialized end-to-end, but clearly people have been proven to be willing to outlaw for a) entertainment and b) supporting those they like or appreciate. Relying upon playing games to keep you fed is probably a horrible life plan, but can games can be a fun addition to your life plans and goals.
Pretty sure the definition of being a pro is getting paid a salary you can live on to do x thing.
Seems this person is missing part of that criteria.
The ‘it’s on the people giving’ thing has been covered pretty well, and that’s the important part.
Otherwise, it is a mite opportunistic.
Trying to remember why, what was the official reason for the community powers trying to stamp out raffles?
Because illegal.
Was a legal grey area and gambling laws right?
Yep
If you give your money to someone to spend on going somewhere to play videogames so that they can potentially make money off it, you are an idiot.
Note that this doesn’t apply to actual loans, or close friends. Anyone who gave fucking filipino champ their money deserves to be parted from it.
If you need money to get someplace as a top player, sell of some of your vast collection of free sticks you get for no reason / tournaments. You’d make more raffling them, but that’s not legal.
Indeed, call them what you like. If you’re making money off video games then you should be separated in your own category whatever you may call them. If you want to just refer to them as competitive gamers, then by all means. But, there is a huge difference between casual players and tournament players. That’s the separation I was trying to make.
important part bolded, the FGC has no real pros.
I’m pretty sure there are at least a handful of players who don’t need to work 9-5’s because they can live off tournament winnings.