Papapaint
Just your average kind of Luigi.
The third and final post, and hopefully the one that will actually hit home to some.
My first two posts dealt with how the community grew and how it stayed together, and only briefly touched on where it's headed. I believe this to be the most serious issue in competitive smash. Not the camping. Not the stages, not the characters, not the game itself, but the community.
The community has been torn to shreds. If you don't think so, stop and take a look. Go through every thread and try to find the number of posters who aren't adamantly on some side of an argument, or obsessively pro-this or anti-that. See how many of them are actually respected posters, melee pros, or even just longtime members. You'll find that they are far and few between.
Some of you who are new to smash's competitive scene--not necessarily new to smash--don't understand the significance of this.
We, as a community, took melee and forged it into something. We took a party game and developed a serious following, enough to land spots on professional gaming circuits. We didn't do it on the forum. We did it in person, in people's basements, in university game rooms. It was done in game stores and friend's houses. It was done alone, or with hundreds of people. The forum helped, but didn't even scratch the depth we reached in the game by having an in-person community... much like the arcade games of old.
Now look at where we are. We're trying to dictate a game's competitive future on forums and through internet discussion. We're bickering and arguing, the old and the new, everyone at everyone's throats, because we are not a community. This forum has been reduced to individuals.
If things continue this way for two, three months... Smash as a competitive game will die. Melee and Brawl together. You'll see the occasional underground tourney, but it won't be too long until those whither. There will always be Smash tourneys of some sort, but no longer will there be "pros" and respected members.
You may think I'm exaggerating. But all of the respected melee players became respected in person, not on the forums. Gimpyfish didn't show up and say "I play Boozer good," he beat people with Bowser. Ken and Bombsoldier didn't come on the forum and say "Itemz aren't good because their random," they played in person and realized this and discussed it and tested it.
And now we're trying to make online leagues and special tourneys and giant modifications to a game that doesn't have a community, no matter what people think.
Homeowners Associations often exist to help set and enforce rules on a community while providing benefits. Their purpose is to better the community by setting lawn care standards, neighborhood watches, etc. The effective HOAs are the ones in which the community gets together, talks, shares experiences, and settles on something at the end of the day. Not everyone gets what they want, but they have a voice and a chance to defend themselves.
The ineffective HOAs send anonymous letters to people living within the community, often with threats of legal action. Even if they're enforcing the same rules as an effective HOA, they're guaranteed to meet with disapproval and anger. These HOAs fall apart.
We have a lot of new members to smashboards. This is good. But they are not new members of the community yet. Before posting your opinions, before arguing, before trying to set standards... get out with groups of people. Smash with people you haven't played before. Not on Wifi. In person. Here's a quick and easy list of ways to do this:
1. Look on the regional boards to find a nearby tourney. This site was initially a networking site, and still is. This is a good way to play people who are better--or simply play differently--than you.
2. Find an official "Your Place" thread. Use this to find people who live right down the street from you, and try to meet up with them. Order pizza and smash til dawn.
3. Host a tournament yourself. This is easier than you think. If you're in college, just go to the activities board and ask to use a room of some sort. Post a tourney planning thread in the regional zone forum, and get people to bring TVs and Wiis and games. Set your own rules. Set entry fees, and then use them as the winnings. Do research first for suggestions on smoothly bracketing the whole ordeal.
It is out of this experience that the new community will form. Not experience vs. computers, not your testing, not even smashing with your crew.
I hope that this community, which has so long felt like home to me and many others, is not destroyed.
My first two posts dealt with how the community grew and how it stayed together, and only briefly touched on where it's headed. I believe this to be the most serious issue in competitive smash. Not the camping. Not the stages, not the characters, not the game itself, but the community.
The community has been torn to shreds. If you don't think so, stop and take a look. Go through every thread and try to find the number of posters who aren't adamantly on some side of an argument, or obsessively pro-this or anti-that. See how many of them are actually respected posters, melee pros, or even just longtime members. You'll find that they are far and few between.
Some of you who are new to smash's competitive scene--not necessarily new to smash--don't understand the significance of this.
We, as a community, took melee and forged it into something. We took a party game and developed a serious following, enough to land spots on professional gaming circuits. We didn't do it on the forum. We did it in person, in people's basements, in university game rooms. It was done in game stores and friend's houses. It was done alone, or with hundreds of people. The forum helped, but didn't even scratch the depth we reached in the game by having an in-person community... much like the arcade games of old.
Now look at where we are. We're trying to dictate a game's competitive future on forums and through internet discussion. We're bickering and arguing, the old and the new, everyone at everyone's throats, because we are not a community. This forum has been reduced to individuals.
If things continue this way for two, three months... Smash as a competitive game will die. Melee and Brawl together. You'll see the occasional underground tourney, but it won't be too long until those whither. There will always be Smash tourneys of some sort, but no longer will there be "pros" and respected members.
You may think I'm exaggerating. But all of the respected melee players became respected in person, not on the forums. Gimpyfish didn't show up and say "I play Boozer good," he beat people with Bowser. Ken and Bombsoldier didn't come on the forum and say "Itemz aren't good because their random," they played in person and realized this and discussed it and tested it.
And now we're trying to make online leagues and special tourneys and giant modifications to a game that doesn't have a community, no matter what people think.
Homeowners Associations often exist to help set and enforce rules on a community while providing benefits. Their purpose is to better the community by setting lawn care standards, neighborhood watches, etc. The effective HOAs are the ones in which the community gets together, talks, shares experiences, and settles on something at the end of the day. Not everyone gets what they want, but they have a voice and a chance to defend themselves.
The ineffective HOAs send anonymous letters to people living within the community, often with threats of legal action. Even if they're enforcing the same rules as an effective HOA, they're guaranteed to meet with disapproval and anger. These HOAs fall apart.
We have a lot of new members to smashboards. This is good. But they are not new members of the community yet. Before posting your opinions, before arguing, before trying to set standards... get out with groups of people. Smash with people you haven't played before. Not on Wifi. In person. Here's a quick and easy list of ways to do this:
1. Look on the regional boards to find a nearby tourney. This site was initially a networking site, and still is. This is a good way to play people who are better--or simply play differently--than you.
2. Find an official "Your Place" thread. Use this to find people who live right down the street from you, and try to meet up with them. Order pizza and smash til dawn.
3. Host a tournament yourself. This is easier than you think. If you're in college, just go to the activities board and ask to use a room of some sort. Post a tourney planning thread in the regional zone forum, and get people to bring TVs and Wiis and games. Set your own rules. Set entry fees, and then use them as the winnings. Do research first for suggestions on smoothly bracketing the whole ordeal.
It is out of this experience that the new community will form. Not experience vs. computers, not your testing, not even smashing with your crew.
I hope that this community, which has so long felt like home to me and many others, is not destroyed.
