Given that most mainstream articles paint the FGC in a negative (sexist) light, I really enjoyed reading this article which talks about the positive side of it: that you can watch a stream with a vast amount of ethnic diversity and there is never a real issue with anybody’s race.
GOOD JOB GUYS!
“Well written” with a title like that… Lol.
No but seriously, I appreciate the article, but the writer needs a thesaurus around.
And right on cue at the end of the article yet another vehicle for gaming journalism to once again bring up Cross Assault. I am completely amazed that writers still try to come up with ways to still talk about that show even though no one has given a fuck about it since they stopped accepting videos to get on the show.
It doesn’t exist in some vacuum, you can still find it on Youtube and it’s what brought the FGC a ton of outside attention along with making members of the community do some soul searching. Why not mention it?
Because its a couple of years old, ridiculous and overblown?
The FGC is very racially diverse because it’s hard to call a group of black guys the n word when you have to get to your car unmolested 3 hours later.
All jokes aside, I’m really glad to see pieces like this. The experiences the author (Mitch Bowman) and his interviewees mention are broadly ones I’ve had too. Not about arcades per se (I went to very, very bad arcades)… but FGC events. Those have been pretty good. The general lesson I’ve learned is most of us try to adhere to a sort of ‘tolerant meritocracy’ at tournaments; the winners are elevated, certainly. That’s the point of a tournament. Yet on the other hand, we usually don’t give the non-winners a lot of crap unless they go out of their way to bring it upon themselves. You can just show up and have fun so long as you’re not causing trouble for others, has been my general experience.
My best memory of this would be Evo 2005 (or 2006, I unfortunately forget which). One of the more interesting incidents there was at the hotel’s food court, just a short walk from the tournament room. Seating was very crowded at the hour I went, but there was one guy who had a slot open at his table and, noticing me glancing around like a clueless dumbass… he waved me over. We sat, and ended up sharing a decent (overpriced, but tasty and satisfying anyway) meal over each others’ stories; about why we had come to this tournament, what got us into fighting games, things like that. It was a pretty relaxing 15-20 minutes, a welcome respite from what had otherwise been a terrible week due to work hounding me during Evo (they even knew full well what it was and why it meant so much to me).
He was a complete stranger to me. He didn’t care, and after a few minutes I didn’t either. He called me over anyway and we talked due to our shared hobby. Just as much as the exciting competition, moments like that are why I love our tournament scene. I only know one or two other communities where I could have that happen, and they have sadly fallen due to the demise of their games. Yet FGC events endure, and even grow; I’m glad to be here for it!
My favorite part of that article is that it reinforces my new years resolution to stop, rolling out of bed an into walking into tournament ballrooms in 2014.
The increased number of cameras at events and my proximity to the stage lead to me ending up on camera more and more, and half of the time I look like a like I just rolled out of bed…because I just rolled out of bed.
What’s the most diverse race, anyone know?
Let’s talk about race and gender because we have nothing profound to say about the videogames themselves. -Games journalism
Kotaku and IGN the worst offenders.
Polygon creepin’ on up to snatch that title.
If race and gender are a part of the games, I see no reason not to critic them on their portrayals of race and gender. However, Kotaku is a great example of this done wrong.
What about mechanics? Where are the professional VG writers who can share insightful opinions about mechanics? Oh, no one wants to do that because it requires like… actual expertise and shit, while pointing at obvious bouncing breasts or a character’s skin color is so easy even a 2 year old toddler can do it.
True, game reviewers could know more about the mechanics of the games they review. I know how you feel when you read a game review for a fighting game that ignores/ gets the mechanics wrong and I’m sure you’re going to have a field day when Kotaku/IGN/Gamespot reviews Xrd.
Sure, anyone can point out boobs or skin color. However, pointing out why something is objectification and why something is problematic in regards to race is quite a skill imo. I think there is room in video game journalism for that.
Judging from your Guilty Bits series, you’re quite skilled at breaking down fighting game mechanics and characters, heck you’ve even made me want to pick up +R and I don’t typically like airdasher games. Maybe you could show the way on how to review these games.
There’s room for websites about eating shit as long as someone out there is interested in eating shit. What bothers me is that there’s lack of what I am interested in.
That’s not just me but 20+ people’s insights as well. And regarding fighting games specifically, in our scene where popularity matters (not talking about money at all. even online player pool size, tournament turnouts etc.) true criticism doesn’t really have a place, sadly. So it clashes with my current goal.
Nice read