The future of Street Fighter/FGC... (IMO)

[bypostman]

God I hate the whole " Are competitive video games a sport ? " argument.
I read and heard it a thousand times when I was into Starcraft, it never goes anywhere.

And it just makes people outside of the scene look at us funny. And lead to the creation of stupid shit like the word " e-sport".

Yea, it just feels like it’s being a trihard. Videogames don’t need to claim they’re sports to be cool, relevant, or fun.

[blufang]

Ugh…e-sport, agreed a stupid word. A competitive game, that’s all video games are. There is nothing wrong with that.

[d3v]

the only interesting part of comparing the FGC to sports is pointing out how the business models differ. sports teams are for profit, and by watching the games or buying merchandise you are directly helping our the owner and team, so in a way you are part of the team community despite never having played a game.

the FGC is generally not for profit, mostly comprised of local grassroots events with a few bigger events here and there. most people make absolutely no money out of it, and so by extension by watching a stream you are not really contributing anything to anyone, and by buying merchandise you are contributing only to a few select people.

if the FGC was a for profit enterprise and was selling viewing numbers to general big name advertisers while selling official FGC merchandise and paying players a monthly salary, then yes you would be contributing to the community just by watching and you could accurately say “the FGC needs people like me.” since that isn’t how it works, all you’re doing is enjoying the fruits of other people’s hard work while you sit at home and contribute nothing in return. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be allowed to do that, but you can’t claim that you’re important to the community or that it needs people like you. the community benefits way more if you actually show up to tournies and local casual sessions.

I’m going to have to disagree since there are more than a few people who are starting to figure out how to make a profit out of this. I mean, it’s not that big yet and nowhere near how much other competitive gaming genre’s make, but it’s there and we’re starting to learn how to increase out profits. More and more sponsors are coming into to FGC events, mostly because they’re the cheapest “e-sport” event to sponsor so far (unless you’re SCR). The thing is, what brings all the sponsors (and ergo, all the money) in is viewers which means that as the scene evolves we’re going to start having to think more and more about the viewer experience.

Street Fighter Comic - needs you!

1. Street Fighter and other fighting games are in effect an individual sport… One v One…
   What other sports do you know are played one v one? Boxing… Tennis… MMA etc.
   Now these are big industries… But not as big as team based sports…
   You watch Boxing or MMA when you go vegas… or if you know theres a big fight on… unless your a hardcore follower… CASUAL VIEWERS like me only watch when its an occasion…

Casual viewers enjoy team based games because there is reason to get behind a brand or symbol. “I like the way this team plays, or I am from the same area so I will support them.” When you meet someone who supports the opposite your support for your team grows… Its natural. “Fuck that team, we are going to win”

As a casual viewer, I support players… Not enough for me to get angry about it… Disappointed maybe… But I don’t really have a side to get behind… The FGC could look at more team based tournament ideas, like sponsor v sponsor etc…by increasing pot size and making team v team a main event… However the 5v5 matches so far have been mainly exhibition stuff… this is because again… The game is fundamentally one v one… why would you play it as a team v team? lulz

Teams and individual competition are not mutually exclusive.

Let’s take a look at the biggest sporting series in the world.

FORMULA 1.

Yes, F1 has teams, but at the same time, even the drivers are competing individually against each other. Just look at this week ends’ Bahrain GP. Both Mercedes drivers (Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg) were actively fighting for the win even when they were both up in front of the pack.

Same thing happens in NASCAR and most other motorsports.

IMO, this is a formula that the FGC can follow, especially since we do have eSports teams such as EG, Razer, Red Bull, etc. coming in.

[pherai]

God I hate the whole " Are competitive video games a sport ? " argument.
I read and heard it a thousand times when I was into Starcraft, it never goes anywhere.

And it just makes people outside of the scene look at us funny. And lead to the creation of stupid shit like the word " e-sport".

same for the “are video games art?” argument

[Iam_Pulsar]

Everyone has a fair point. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

If a fat guy can do it without sweating its not a sport

I think your a genius and I laughed too hard when I read that.

I agree with everyone when they say, that casual stream viewers are not as important as the actual people turning up to the events.

One of the points I made about geography is in part the reason why many people cannot turn up, I myself live in Europe so I have no community near me, to be honest I cannot really make it to the tournaments I know I would love to attend, the guys I know here see it as a holiday/pilgrimage to see Evo in Vegas, or any other tourney for that matter.

If there were other ways I could support I like to think I would, but again, as a follower of the community I just do that… Follow.

About the sport thing…
“Sport (or sports) is all forms of usually competitive physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing entertainment to participants, and in some cases, spectators.”

Its debatable… But I feel Fighting Games can easily fall under this definition. The physical exertion and skill needed to compete satisfies this criteria… I mean if curling is considered a fking sport, then surely fighting games can make the cut lol.

Teams and individual competition are not mutually exclusive.

Let’s take a look at the biggest sporting series in the world.

FORMULA 1.

Yes, F1 has teams, but at the same time, even the drivers are competing individually against each other. Just look at this week ends’ Bahrain GP. Both Mercedes drivers (Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg) were actively fighting for the win even when they were both up in front of the pack.

Same thing happens in NASCAR and most other motorsports.

IMO, this is a formula that the FGC can follow, especially since we do have eSports teams such as EG, Razer, Red Bull, etc. coming in.

I love this idea, and I gotta admit I totally overlooked the F1 model. But I totally agree, if its possible to do this with the FGC it would be a dream. The only question is how?

The people behind the scenes surely work hard enough, as the community continues to grow, if everyone behind the scenes had a common business model in mind they were looking to achieve it could possibly happen.

[NickRocks]

Street Fighter Comic - needs you!

I’m not a hardcore SF player, I played Capcom v SNK casually, and it’s when I first played Street Fighter 4 I thought the game was awesome. But its when I first saw the Daigo Parry and my first EVO I fell in love with the FGC. The rest is history…

I don’t have to get into why it’s a great community, but suffice to say that I have enjoyed and have been entertained by every match, troll and tournament since I started watching half a decade ago. The FGC has a certain sense of humour and hype that you don’t find in other sports, and I’m happy that I made a contribution to the community by buying the games, watching the streams, buying tshirts, donations, buying equipment etc etc.

However I am bowing out as a casual viewer and follower of the community as the game I originally follow has run a bit stale.
The FGC needs viewers like me… We casually watch, discuss at work with other likeminded people, share videos with them and generally support the game and community, even though we do this quietly in the background…

So the future of Street Fighter/FGC…
Where do I start… Well let’s start with the basics and what they have got right… What are we looking for… What is the end result?

The end result I feel the FGC is looking for is… “to make your preferred game into a sport” Like basketball, football hockey etc… Where players are paid stupid amounts of money to play, crowds are hyped when you win, hot girls walking around everywhere, and the opposition get salty as hell when they lose. Ultra Chen and Ultra David hosting a sold out 90,000 capacity venue on prime time TV so I can see Final Round Champion Ryan Hart go head to head with Topanga leagues champion Bon Chan in the main event! Champion Sagat v Champion Sagat… West V East, the ultimate showdown… Sounds good right?l ol

no, its just to have fun jesus christ wtf lol smh tbh imo ijs

[Omnigear]

Dota2/LoL/CoD/BF
dont really have a local scene and they are doing fine.

people who don’t show up to local events are not contributing to anything and no the “FGC” does not need people like that. great, you watched some streams and bought some shirts. that did literally nothing for anyone in your local community and for 99.99% of people who play fighting games. if you have a vision for where fighting games should be or complaints about what direction they’re going, you need to actually involve yourself in your local community and play. if you don’d do that, why should anyone care what you think? you’re just stream viewer #23,789.

[Lance3rd]

Apples and oranges, for reasons that are obvious and have been discussed many times before