Fighting Game Journal

I've been thinking on this one a little bit, finally decided to go ahead with it. My general interest in things tends to wane when I either lose focus or nothing interesting comes from it. Rarely do I actually push myself to finish or do something for a long time. When I was in High School, I started writing every Wednesday and Sunday to update an incredibly terrible story. By standards, keeping it up for my entire Junior year of High school, not missing a day unless it was due to something serious, I consider the true triumph. Course that was fucking years ago now and deserves no credit on my wall anymore.

So, from here on until this very date one year from now, I will write a post about the fighting game scene in Kansas City as I both learn and grow with the scene itself as well as the people. I'll post my comments, thoughts and overall view of the scene, every week, on Tuesday. If all goes well, I will not miss anything, but it's not fair to make assumptions when things have only just begun. So let's get to it.

My initial impression of the fighting game scene of Kansas City is rather limited. I see a lot of things happening but nothing truly going in any direction. People are fighting each others, showing up to one another's houses to play fighting games for a sometimes exhaustive amounts. Still, I believe direction is the true thing this scene needs to become a sort of midwest mecca to the fighting game community. Being the center of the continental united states, we have interesting position. With the right marketing and advertising, we very well could become a high end market for fighting game enthusiasts. I think we only lack the financial backing of an investor and the proper marketing to the right people.

From what I see, we have the resources to through our own tournament, but we lack the general cohesion that major tournaments have. Sponsors, media and big names help sell a tournament and make a scene that much more serious. We also lack the population density of other major city's with competitions that're 'major' like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. This doesn't necessarily mean we're completely boned because we lack the true standing amount of people who can come. We have an international airport, we have a major convention center. We can do this type of thing, but unfortunately we just can't get the numbers to come out and do it.

Now, I'm sure there's multiple things that are in the way of a major tournament, aside the prior mentioned funding and such. The city would need to okay a major event like that to warrant use of public buildings but I look at a Comic Convention as a perfect example. With the charging of gate fees, most people can make back all the cost of renting it out quite easily. It's selling such an even that's the true pain of this type of business. Getting a city counsel man to listen to a bunch of guys wanting to through a convention is one thing, but a nationwide tournament might get a confused look. Still, with the proper work, you might get something out of it. With a large scale tournament, Kansas City might have something to be known for outside of Bar-B-Que and bad sports teams.

The people of this scene are kind a mix of the atypical and the truly enigmatic. While, I see and understand the motivations of some, others confuse me outright and others just plain weird me the fuck out. I'll only mention a few people by name but I'm not going to accusatory towards anyone. John (Spottswood A.K.A. JSpot) is a cool guy who made sure I was rather welcome when I went to Kansas City's Maxout Tourney in the end of April. Le (Nguyen A.K.A. Radian) seemed nice but I got the vibe that he was trying to feel me out because I was a journalist covering the thing and spectating to boot.

Note, in the fighting game community, you can spectate as much as you want. However, respect is earned almost solely by your skills and personality. Make no mistake, this community is judgmental much like anything else. I look at my position as being a house guest rather than a part of the crew at the present. I know things they don't but before I dare tell them this, I would rather keep my trap shut and listen. Prior experience to being in an environment where things can go wrong at a moment's notice is invaluable. I try to not make the same mistake twice and like anything, work myself in among them slowly and cautiously rather than be bold and possible put myself at odds with someone and fuck my situation all to hell.

I've noticed that among the 'lower' tier of players, I'm welcomed very openly. I believe this is due solely because of the poor handling of Street Fighter 4. The story goes simply that people who started playing Street Fighter 4 and never played prior were not true fighting game people and thus shunned which shunted the two communities. The old guard realized that the new guard was just like them at one point and they reconciled though my impression is that this type of thing happens with every new game that comes out. I understand this type of environment and I know I have much to gain from both study and practice but first and foremost I need to make sure that when I'm around people know me and are as comfortable as can be when I'm around without giving off this jittery feeling.

In the line of fighting, I have realized I'm hitting a fork in the road. There's two options, both of which carry a price. The monetary price is menial but still there in the distance and the other price is that I sacrifice a better shot at living up to my possible potential in fighting games. I speak of whether to choose the controller or the fighting stick. Like this blog, I must maintain a working relationship with each choice if I want to get better, but I sacrifice my controller for a stick I gain execution and accuracy which is what I need.

Still, I'll end it with a simple note. The Tuesday hook-ups I tend to find myself playing more frequently and learning the game where as in on Friday I find myself having a lot more fun and enjoyment because I tend to get looser with my style and focus less on actually trying to impress. Honestly, I suck at Street Fighter right now, but I'm learning thanks to JSpot and a little pep talk from Chachi. Hopefully, by the end of summer my execution and skill will have improved, god knows I need to learn it as fast as I can because if I want this segment to continue I need to keep going. I will not stop, even in the face of complete failure.

51 Weeks to Go
Drew "Simsar" Misemer
:D