As a young member of the fighting game community, I can’t help but be worried that they’re not many young people playing these types of games. I go to local tourneys were there are only 2 people under 18, and even through casual play the amount of people that play these games competetively are 95% time older than 20. That’s excluding how competent they are, because that just makes most young players non-existant, and that really bothers me. In general, it seems that only the guys that were in the Capcom fighting game era of the late 90’s are keeping fighting games alive, and that when they eventually stop playing fighting games, that the community will just die out and will leave the few young guys that just happened to stumble upon the community in it’s recession, alone.
Of course, I’m basing this off my own arcade, CF. I don’t know what you guys experience in other arcades, or how you guys feel about this, but I would say here at CF only a few young players are actually apart of the community. I find it extremely hard to be able to find someone my own age that genuinely cares about the community, and would actually travel and participate in events.
I would say this is caused by how hard it is to appreciate fighting games and their depth. It was easy for guys of the capcom era to find the gold inside these games, because the characters were cool and everybody liked SF2 in the early 90’s. It gets harder as time progresses because the accessibily is constantly getting lower. Now, were lucky to get a new member that happens to stumble upon a Magneto combo video, and that actually knows something or two about the characters to keep him (yes, only males) interested in the game at surface value. He then MIGHT run into the wall were he doesn’t quite see the whole picture, but can see that it will take critical thinking and dedication to be good, in which at that point he might just stop playing, or will then be even more interested. Judging from my generation though, I highly doubt people will choose the latter, or even get to that point.
What do you guys think? Am I worrying for nothing? I would elaborate on a few more points, but I’m typing this on my phone.
Weird on my side I’m like the oldest dude, most guys must be like between 16-23 where I play, might be a 3rd world thing.
I even have 12/13 year olds challenge me sometimes.
If it was going to die it probably would have died like 5 years ago? I don’t think it’ll ever be mainstream again, like back in the day MK2, SF2 Turbo.
I worry about 2d fighters, I really think they have to add a easy mode like MSH VS SF, to get them interested, think 3d fighters will always be okay though?
3D fighters are here to stay, 2D fighters as they were presented are dying out. Still, a crafty developer could make a 2D fighter that runs on 3D visuals and have people play it that would view sprites as archaic. Those games are easier to develop, too (we hear about extra characters in SF4 and three seconds later we get videos of their gameplay).
On topic, its ironic that the newer generation seems to be okay with games with casual slants - considering they are the console exclusive generation that would have the time and relaxation to fully explore a console debuted fighter whereas testing out strategies was literally gambling quarters for us old dogs! Would this be an end to hardcore fighters? Who knows, but we must note that the genre stumbled when fighters got so hardcore in the first place. I can’t explain CvS2’s Groove system in five minutes, which is about the length of time a girlfriend may let pass before she asks you to put in the flashier and aesthetically appealing singular-play-mechanic Street Fighter 4.
Its evolution, I guess. Or maybe a cycle? The videogame industry is still young, perhaps our kids will play games more hardcore than we ever imagined.
You know, I never understood where all these fears come from.
I mean, look around. fighters aren’t dying. 2D fighters aren’t dead. Smash (and I’m not about to argue about it being a fighting game or not, so please don’t bother) has a massive COMPETITIVE scene that rivals that Halo scene. Street Fighter 4 is GOING to sell a shitload of copies AND have a massive competitive scene.
Fighting games in general sell like fucking crazy and always have. Every Namco fighter in recent history has made the million seller list.
As far a tourney scenes go? As long as they keep making money, devs will keep making these games. As long as the devs make these games, people are going to play them. As long as people inhabit the earth, there’s going to be the hunger for competition. As long as there is a hunger for competition, there’s going to be a FGC.
One thing that the community depends on is that the devs keep things simple. Meaning make these games difficult to understand and pick up for newcomers. (like, I dunno, every arc game, Cvs2, etc) And I don’t think that’s a problem because the games that DON’T keep things simple are usually the ones that don’t do so well.
In short, the FGC isn’t struggling. It isn’t going anywhere. It can’t be stopped. Stop worrying.
FGs are not basketball. No one can really become too old to play them. John Choi and Alex Valle still compete actively, and they are far beyond the assumed normal age of competitive gamers. They are still damn good too. If anything the FG community has just gotten older. Sure there are many top players of the years who have disappeared into obvlivion. But for every one of those, about 5 new players take their place. Games are not like basketball or football. Justin Wong c’t just not play anymore because he is old. No he can continue to play as long as he wants to, because at the end of the day, all you are doing is pressing buttons and wiggling a joystick. You aren’t shooting 3’s from downtown or running down the field. People disappear from FG for several reasons, but age is just a coiencidence, and not a driving factor. People either just don’t have time to travel to tournmanet anymore or get more responsiblity of the years, and fighting games become secondary.
I am one of the older players, and most people at tournies are much younger than me. For me, it’s just a nice way to spend Saturday off. It’s my hobby. Chess Champions who are amatuers play way beyond their 40s even 50s. Why? Because it’s their hobby. People will inevitably make time for FGs to play them at a competive level, because it is their hobby. Most top players in the world have jobs and other responsiblities, which is normally the kiss of death for your FG career. But they just keep on playing and keep on showing up at tournies. So really, there is little to worry about.
Good point. This is one reason I think FG’s will move towards more strategic, less execution-intensive games. The older games won’t have the time to invest in learning exotic combos, and will enjoy out-thinking their opponents more.
i’m not the amazing kreskin. who knows what changes will take place in 5 years. i recall talking to this guy in an arcade about the SNES port of MK and other FG. i thought it would kill FG in the arcades as we knew it. he disagreed because there was no comparison between the hardware. at the time, he was quite correct. obviously, things changed.
I do worry sometimes that perhaps the flow of new players will slowly taper off. It seems that plenty of people still play fighters, but not many are actually into them enough to want to get good. They’re content playing the computer and their friends on occasion. So, maybe we’ll stop getting new players…but that’s ok.
Some of us will stop playing due to responsibilities absorbing all of our time. Some of us will just lose interest. However, I know that SF and other fighters bit into most of us long ago, and they have a VERY firm grip. For all of us that have been playing forever, we will most likely continue. We’ll still be here.
Hell, I know if I’m like 80 years old with cane, hobbling along, and I see Street Fighter 10 in an arcade, you can bet your ass that I’m going to be reaching into my pocket to find a quarter. :wgrin:
Yeah, because an installment of a series that has a cult following in North America at best and is run by a company that doesn’t know how to market their games outside of their hardcore fanbase is really going to get more people interested in fighting games.
And SF4 and Tekken 6 are “the same old games”, while an HD version of KoF '94 isn’t?
