Editorial: Thoughts On The Strength And Growth Of Smash

[LiteralGrill]

It seems as if the community is standing on a precipice with Smash. Toes over the ledge looking down from a dizzying height trying to figure out the best way to proceed. The Smash scene wants to push forward and show the world the incredible games we love and how successful they can be, but I feel as though something is amiss.

Players want to distinguish the game they play and its scene which is obviously admirable. However while doing so they are measuring their success against another game in the series (Melee) instead of looking at the game on its own merit. The irony is that in seeking to make the game something on its own they are taking the game and interconnecting it to another, thus fighting what they seek to achieve.

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This Tweet is a unique and curious example. Top Smash 4 player Zero was talking about some excellent things the community should be doing to support the game and they are all good ideas no question, but look at how it was worded. "Where's our MIOM equivalent?" Why is it not: "Where's our Smash 4 news hub?" Whether consciously or not, small comparisons like this are made across Reddit, Twitter, Twitch chats and more and they are not healthy. Even upon such a website being made with that goal, you find this line: "We’ve long heard the cries for a Smash 4 site in the vein of MeleeItOnMe, our primary inspiration (<3) However, we also plan to do some cool stuff that none of our predecessors in the Smash universe have done yet." Soft whispers linger in the air that a new if subtle rivalry has begun.

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It feels almost like a weird desperation, forcing steps on a community that took Melee fifteen long years to get to. Most people know of the recent shots fired by Zero, calling out many top players, convincing many to step up their game, and even inspiring this bounty placed on him at CEO 2015. While this has overall be quite a strong force in improving the community it feels like there is a sense of urgency to push forward, like something has to be done or else Smash 4 will slowly start to fade away. If the people playing the game are fearing for its life this will NOT inspire confidence in others to give it support.

I'm not saying it isn't admirable to put in so much work to try and push the scene forward, more that the motivations behind doing so seem to be negative and may have an adverse affect over time. While it may not be intentional, many fans are spreading fear or pitting the game and themselves against Melee. While this rivalry may be motivating it could easily take a quite a negative turn when tensions are already so unnecessarily tight between all of the Smash titles.

Despite Similarities None Of These Are The Same​

The worst part is they aren't even comparable as each game has so many unique things about it and its scene. Smash 64 is still being played on a console released in 1996 with strong tournaments in areas and a populated netplay community. Brawl still has its devoted fans and the modding community is as strong as ever. Project M continues to fight and thrive despite the difficult place it finds itself in. Super Smash Flash 2 has a vibrant and growing online community that is starting to really spread its wings and fly. Smash 4 is the newest title in the series with new players hungering to show their mettle in battle. How is what Melee is doing a fair standard to be made for these games? It seems all Smash games are having players trying to compare how successful they are to Melee which simply makes no sense to me.

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While there are many things that Melee does that makes it so successful, do not seek to just copy it to gain your own success. Just copying someone's homework doesn't mean you are actually learning. The games and scenes for every Smash game are so vitally different that the same approach may not always work. Fresh new ideas can be found everywhere and what works for one game may not work for another. While we all love the idea of Smash in general and have tournaments side by side, we must accept that there is a diversity in what we enjoy to watch and play and even embrace that to strengthen all of Smash as a whole.

The Super Smash Flash 2 Community Raising Game Awareness Through A Combo Video Series​

This goes out to ALL games: stop measuring what you do against an unreasonable and illogical goal. Measure the success of the game you play and its growth based on the game you are already playing. The success of a scene is not based on how other scenes are doing, only in the leaps and bounds the scene makes itself.

Players may set a goal for greatness, but do not base it on another game because whether or not that goal is achieved bitterness will result on one end or another. I have only ONE caveat to that aforementioned rule, the one and only comparison you will ever need to make with Melee to be successful. They are out doing instead of looking back over their shoulder or side to side for approval. There was a time when Melee not only wasn't accepted by the fighting game community, but was demonized and shunned. They played the game they loved, grew among adversity, and now are such a powerful force they cannot be ignored.

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Let's put this bluntly. Many Smash players are waiting for the golden egg to commit to their game, but there's no chicken that's going to lay it. People have made accusations that some games are just piggybacking off the success of the others and unfortunately this is difficult to deny with how little we are seeing players invest into their scene. If the game you love is such a good game, why are you not doing everything within your power to show that is the case?

TOs want games that bring in players that are paying venue fees and game that can bring on the hype. No rulesets or other odd things will be what determines the future of Smash. It will be the players pushing their game forward in every capacity without worry of others that does so. If the game is no more than tolerated because it's bringing in numbers, it will be gone once the new flavor of the month comes out. You must make other believe in the game that you believe in.

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True success is creating your own definition, then living that. So create this definition, and see it happen. If your game is maybe getting around 25 entrants at your local weekly, work hard and bring that up to 50. If your game isn't even being hosted, host it yourself or bring a console and TV for friendlies to start interest. There is no need to have fear, if the work is being done by highly motivated people the scene has nowhere to go but up.

This is just a vibe I have been feeling from the Smash scene at large and feel it is unhealthy and needs to change. It would be very easy to change as well, just a simple shift in how players are tackling growing the scene. Maybe I am completely off base however, and would be happy and open to discussion on how we can all promote Smash to greater and greater levels. I encourage readers to discuss this editorial within the comments, or get in touch with me on Twitter.


This piece is purely the opinion of its author, and does not reflect the position of Smashboards or its affiliates.

 

[J.P]

I totally agree with the article, we shoulf stop comparing Smash games snd focus on making the ones we like stronger instead of wasting hours fighting on the youtube comments about which Smash title is better.

Many Smash players are waiting for the golden egg to commit to their game, but there's no chicken that's going to lay it.​

​

I love this methapor, as it expresses how I feel about rhe Smash 4 community at the momment. We need less bulls and more chickens in the Smash 4 comminity!

 

[Cant02468]

This article was absolutely beautiful. For once we don't have a video link explaining everything too.

 

[Animekey]

All communities take time to grow. But.
The ones that grow the most, are the ones with the hardest contributors putting forth their efforts along with those who are in the community. MOBAs and FPS competitive games, their communities grew so much due to how much effort and a high amount of positive growth they show.

Smash communities have been this doing more or less the same, but as explained here. It seems that we (Smash 4 Mostly) are just stuck in a motionless void. How do we get the word out? By spreading it of course.

 

[Zelbur]

Thank you for addressing what the Smash community needs to face as a whole. Very well put!

 

[MonkeyArms]

Better question: Why is melee so freaking overrated lol.

 

[LiteralGrill]

Better question: Why is melee so freaking overrated lol.

It isn't, it's a highly successful FGC title and in eSports as a whole considering it has no publisher support. A game doesn't just get its levels of success without being a solid game with great people behind it.

 

[Octavium]

The smash 4 community is going strong, heck like melee it broke through 1500 entrants for evo 2015. There's nothing wrong to base ourselves on a successful esports community to push smash 4 forward. It gives us a path to move forward on.

I'd sure love a news hub similar to the MIOM podcast for smash 4.

 

[J.P]

Better question: Why is melee so freaking overrated lol.

Better question: Why don't you accept the fact that Melee is a succesful game and leave Melee fans alone? Jesus I wonder if you even read the article -_-

 

[Octavium]

Better question: Why is melee so freaking overrated lol.

Its a masterpiece among fighting games, nothing compares to a 14 year old game who made a competitive comeback and has an esports community stronger than ever.

 

[ChikoLad]

I think the focus on "don't use other communities as a measuring stick" is a little too strong here. While you obviously shouldn't try to make your game exactly like another (as that is impossible - Melee and Smash 4 are not identical games), there are certain things called "standards" that should be considered in every community. Humans are a storied race of people, with millions of communities out there, and when it comes to competitive communities (in sports or e-sports), there are certain standards that are generally pretty good to have (this is possible - Melee and Smash 4 do share some similarities. They are not 100% different).

Look at how Melee does things. Rivalries, records, data sheets, hype videos. THEY LET YOU KNOW when anything goes down.

While the fact ZeRo uses Melee as an example may sound like he's saying "be like Melee", I don't think he meant it quite so literally. The things he lists here are standards any competitive community has. Heck, you used SSF2 as an example of something different, and while it certainly handles things in some unique ways, it's community has ALL of the things ZeRo lists - demonstrated well on the official McLeodGaming Facebook page. They're always posting about tournaments, rivalries, combo videos, good character analyses containing data, etc.

Every community needs a bulletin board of some sort, or even better, a network of people dedicated to spreading awareness on all things pertaining to that community. However, Smash 4 doesn't have anything really solid like that yet. Even this site is sporadic about reporting things, often times being late. But other parts of the Smash community have dedicated hubs, as do other communities in every area you could imagine. Smash 4 does not. You have this site sometimes updating on things. And we do have a bit of a hype builder in EtikaWorldNetwork. But we haven't developed our infrastructure enough yet in the Smash 4 community.

There is nothing wrong with saying "Where's our MIOM equivalent?". Every good argument/question is made up of three key factors - Point ("Where's our Smash 4 news hub?"), Explanation ("Where's our network of dedicated individuals keeping the community at large updated on all important Smash 4 scene news?"), and Example ("Where's our MIOM equivalent?"). The example statements you gave are not glorifying Melee. They are using it as an example to represent the conceptual point Smash 4 should be at, at some point. They're not saying to handle things EXACTLY like Melee did, but they are saying that some notes should be taken from it, and they are right. Basic community infrastructure is not something that needs to be different for the sake of it.

Your article is a good one and I'm glad you made it though. The fact you wrote it serves an example for the core message of getting out there and taking action, too. I just thought that one little element was a little off.

 

[sc458]

Better question: Why is melee so freaking overrated lol.

Don't be a nob.

 

[SuaveChaser]

Better question: Why is melee so freaking overrated lol.

Because it isn't a slow pace boring game.

 

[ELITEWarri0r115]

Good explanation!

 

[Routa]

"Look at how Melee does things. Rivalries, records, data sheets, hype videos. THEY LET YOU KNOW when anything goes down."

Why does everyone think Sm4sh needs drama? This isn't Desperate Housewives, eh?

 

[ChikoLad]

"Look at how Melee does things. Rivalries, records, data sheets, hype videos. THEY LET YOU KNOW when anything goes down."

Why does everyone think Sm4sh needs drama? This isn't Desperate Housewives, eh?

Rivalries don't necessarily equal drama. Rivalries are often among friends, and are healthy - they give you a goal. Someone you want to surpass. And that encourages growth as a player.

It's the very essence of competition. Without rivalries, competition does not exist.

 

[NoviceSmasher]

Because it isn't a slow pace boring game.

you took the bait ...idiot

 

[Sabaca]

Really good article! Definitely agree with you.

 

[LiteralGrill]

snip

First, thanks for commenting. I was hoping some discussion would happen here and it's awesome to start a dialog. I think you made some very valid points there.

First I'll try to tackle your first few paragraphs. I have to give credit to an awesome Smasher named Figglypuff for this line, but it put together one my thoughts very well: "Just copying someone's homework doesn't mean you are actually learning." I'm worried a bit that folks might just be trying to copy it without getting exactly why, or to the point it actually feels like an imitation instead of genuine. Yes there's a standard every community should be trying to set itself to based on some of the things we know that works though I agree.


For the last few paragraphs, I can see it as not being something meant to glorify Melee, but I find it odd that the verbiage that always is used ends up being "like (example)" instead of sometimes being just focused on ourselves. It gives off an image of piggybacking, a need for approval, and trying to copycat. I do also worry it sort of subconsciously pushes the rivarly between the games in a way that people wont notice on the surface, and I don't want more tension going on when it's already so bad.

"Look at how Melee does things. Rivalries, records, data sheets, hype videos. THEY LET YOU KNOW when anything goes down."

Why does everyone think Sm4sh needs drama? This isn't Desperate Housewives, eh?

We do not necessarily need drama, however things like storylines help the scene grow. I recomend this video from Extra Credits that explains the concept perfectly.

 

[Deleted member]

I just wanna have fun and play games, man...
I like the insight.

 

[DrRek]

@ LiteralGrill , awesome article. That's really all I have to say. Keep up the good work.

 

[NiZMO LS1]

Diddy being OP, Greninja shadow sneak cancel, Peach turnip cancel and Link's bomb cancels.

The adversity, hype and drama would be far greater had these not been nerfed.

Diddy being OP was exciting honestly...

 

[Keeseman]

Excellent editorial, @ LiteralGrill . If I could add anything I'd say that we can't depend on top players to do this alone. We all need to support the games we love and believe in, and work together to make them stronger.

Start friendly rivalries. Spread the hype. And please, be constructive. If we could focus on building our own communities instead of comparing them to others - especially in a negative way - then I think the development and strengthening of our games would go much more smoothly.

 

[Luco]

I really like the intrinsic message of the article, and I think if more people took that advice, you'd probably even start to see Brawl tournaments again at some stage (which would be awesome).

I also agree with @ ChikoLad in the sense that it's alright to look at certain fundamental or good aspects of another game and say 'we want [our own] version of that.' Because "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." And although I don't consider Melee to be a 'Giant' of which we must imitate, I do think that we should be able to shoot off in our own direction whilst using some of the successes Melee has had for our own benefit - just as man builds on the success of man, so too would other games (in my case smash 4) build off the groundwork that has been laid, and we're convenient to have a game close enough in structure to ourselves that has done well that we can take initiatives and really make them our own.

Beyond that though, I agree, we're not Melee, although I think we can certainly respect it. I think it's most relevant when people argue over 'which is the best game' and other related matters. We don't have to aspire to be 'better than another game', we should just ride off the fact that people like to play our game and focus on that.

I really can't wait for competitive smash 4 to boom even further. Nintendo appears to be focusing on this scene more and more (Nintendo of AU and NZ tweeted a shoutout to BAM 7 when it was going on), so I think our best bet is to really boost off our own success and be proud about it. ^_^

 

[TheKmanOfSmash]

Very interesting article, thank you for writing it! You raise a lot of very important questions, but I fundamentally disagree with your argument and your suggested solution. I think @ ChikoLad said it better than I could have: Comparing one's game to another is not a blanket admission to want to be exactly like them or copy what they do without looking inward into the community. The purpose is to achieve a standard of excellence that has been shown to work for one particular game's community and try to emulate in within one's own community. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this, this is how people make advancements in the human race. If a group of people are doing something successful, others will want to do what they do. That doesn't mean that the ones emulating their predecessors lack inherent creativity or do not take introspective looks into their own community. It just means they want to try to utilize a formula that has been shown to be successful.

Your entire article from my understanding (and please correct me if I'm wrong; I most likely am) seems to be a call-out against the Smash 4 community simply trying to copy Melee's success and your alternative is to solely adopt an introspective approach to community growth. I agree that they should not simply copy another community, but what I disagree on is this being the actual problem. I would go so far as to even suggest that your entire article is a straw man to the actual reality, which is that the Smash 4 community seeks to emulate Melee's success, not copy it. When big Smash 4 names like ZeRo ask "Where is the MIOM equivalent" they are not saying this because they want the Smash 4 community to copy Melee or to ride on the back of their success. They're saying this because they see what the Melee community has done and are simply calling for the emulation of an already successful formula within the Smash 4 community. Now sometimes, there are strategies and techniques that work in one community but do not necessarily work for the other, but when you emulate such strategies, you make the necessary adaptations for it to work in the new community, whereas you don't get that with copying.

I also disagree with your proposed solution of solely relying on an introspective approach to community growth. Such an approach is important and absolutely necessary to grow a community, but to solely rely on this and ignore the progress and success other communities have made is extremely counter-productive and inefficient. You save a lot of time and resources simply emulating what works. And again, emulation is not the same as copying. Emulation takes a strategy or concept that already works and tries to adapt it into one's environment, while making necessary adjustments based on what is in this new environment. Copying does not do this and instead adopts the same exact strategy without respect to the environment. If you don't utilize emulation and solely rely on just introspective approaches to community growth like you seem to advocate for, then the community will grow at an enormously slow pace, wasting valuable time with trial and error when successful formulas waiting to be adopted and emulated already exist. Melee took 14 years to get to where it is today, largely through trial and error. Are you suggesting that the Smash 4 community not learn and utilize anything the Melee community has done and also spend 14 years trying to achieve Melee's results through the same trail and error? If so, then I don't believe you will obtain the results you hope for.

 

[ChikoLad]

@ LiteralGrill :

First I'll try to tackle your first few paragraphs. I have to give credit to an awesome Smasher named Figglypuff for this line, but it put together one my thoughts very well: "Just copying someone's homework doesn't mean you are actually learning." I'm worried a bit that folks might just be trying to copy it without getting exactly why, or to the point it actually feels like an imitation instead of genuine.

Yeah I definitely agree with that, and it's a valid concern to have, one I share too. I just think your wording in the article came off as saying "don't take influence from others at all", especially near the end. I kinda had the feeling that you didn't mean anything that extreme though, since other than that misconception on my part, I was in agreement with pretty much everything you had to say.

For the last few paragraphs, I can see it as not being something meant to glorify Melee, but I find it odd that the verbiage that always is used ends up being "like (example)" instead of sometimes being just focused on ourselves. It gives off an image of piggybacking, a need for approval, and trying to copycat. I do also worry it sort of subconsciously pushes the rivarly between the games in a way that people wont notice on the surface, and I don't want more tension going on when it's already so bad.

When people say "like (example)", they really don't mean it in a piggybacking way a lot of the time. I certainly think ZeRo doesn't, he likely knows better than to do that. It's just that, often times, something that did well to such an iconic degree will become an often quoted point of comparison, forming part of a base argument on "how to make something better". However, using myself as an example, when I say "Smash 4's scene should be more like Melee's scene", I don't mean it needs the exact same infrastructure Melee does. I just mean it needs infrastructure period, as it's one of the main things that makes Melee so successful, and there is no reason to not want an infrastructure as strong.

However, Smash 4's scene definitely can't completely copy Melee's, and has to do things differently beyond a few baseline concepts. We need infrastructure just like Melee has, and we need to tackle problems, just like Melee does. But Smash 4 is literally born into a different era - when Melee first came out, the internet and social media was not so big, gaming was not that socially acceptable, and there was no other Smash game to compete with (as people were mostly in agreement that Melee improved over it's predecessor), and Nintendo did not support the community. However, Smash 4 is in an era where social media and the internet is thriving and part of most people's daily lives, and gaming is much more socially accepted. We also have Nintendo supporting us now. However, our main issues are the people who think there should only be one Smash game and that it should be Melee, and the general cancerous areas of the internet that spread misconceptions about Smash 4 like wildfire. We also have patches, which can be both a positive and a negative.

So at the end of the day, the Smash 4 scene actually has MORE tools at it's disposal than the Melee scene did. But it also has some much harder and more complicated issues to deal with. So we can take notes from Melee, and we will have to, but we also have to do things our own way, and utilise these tools Melee players did not have back in the day.

Sorry if I rambled, as it seems we are generally in agreement anyway, though I just wanted to elaborate things a bit.

 

[Kidney Thief]

You're all very welcome in the melee scene if the smash 4 scene doesn't work out and it will be our pleasure to teach you or answer you everything you want to know about the game

 

[Mechageo]

I was at work reading this and had to look up "MIOM" because I didn't recognize the acronym.

Be warned, do not google that term by itself!

 

[Dandy_here]

Can I download ssf2 or do I have to play it on the website

 

[90007000]

FINALLY! SMASH CAPPS MAKES A THREAD ABOUT SOMETHING HE DID!

 

[L1GHT]

why dont you stop telling the community what to do and telling them everything their doing wrong and just let us work our **** out. because honestly, this isnt helping...

 

[ChikoLad]

why dont you stop telling the community what to do and telling them everything their doing wrong and just let us work our **** out. because honestly, this isnt helping...

He's part of the community. He has every right to try and contribute.

Think what you want about his article, but making inflammatory cease and desist demands and twisting the intent of the article, is not going to contribute any more than an editorial piece might.

 

[SphericalCrusher]

Good points. You can never get to a point where everyone understands this though.

 

[shapular]

It would be a lot easier if for everything we did to build up the scene, Melee didn't do something to try to tear us down. Melee came back from the dead through insults, lies, and fake hype, and unless we pay them back double, we won't be able to get anywhere. Unfortunately, Melee has to die for Smash 4 to reach its true potential. I wish it weren't so, but they brought it upon themselves.

 

[Codaption]

I would say the main reason these sorts of comparisons are made is because not only is the Smash 4 community young, but for the most part everyone in it as well. As @ ChikoLad said, we live in a different era- one where gaming is much more accessible. Thus, we have a lot of less...experienced faces to deal with. Since mostly everyone is inexperienced, there's not much we can do to teach and learn from each other...thus, Melee is often brought in as an example for many things.

I myself came here with the specific goal in mind to learn as much about Smash 4 as I could, in an attempt to become an eventual competitive threat. While that hasn't quite happened yet, I HAVE learned more about the meta...and I've often had to teach others about it, too. We have people like Zero and Smash Academy who make helpful videos, but oftentimes this leads to a sort of parroting of those sources- repeating the knowledge found within their guides without necessarily understanding its meaning (Something I myself have been guilty of on multiple occasions). We need people who can think for themselves and apply their own knowledge to expand the meta.

And of course, we need a community that isn't rife with tension. Paranoia and hoo-ha complaints do little for the meta in terms of growth, and yet we hurl all sorts of senseless insults at each other.

It would be a lot easier if for everything we did to build up the scene, Melee didn't do something to try to tear us down. Melee came back from the dead through insults, lies, and fake hype, and unless we pay them back double, we won't be able to get anywhere. Unfortunately, Melee has to die for Smash 4 to reach its true potential. I wish it weren't so, but they brought it upon themselves.

Insults like this, for example.
The Melee community does not want to tear Smash 4 down. The very small minority of jerks within it do. Jerks that are also very present within OUR community, and every single one on the face of the Earth.

I honestly hate these sorts of misconceptions about Melee players, because smash 4 players seem to think they're out to get us. They're not. They just want to play their own game, which they like more than smash 4 and have every right to that opinion. Posts like these make you look just as bad as you perceive their community to be, and only further poison our relations with them.

 

[Wintry]

What would me a good MIOM name for Smash 4?

I was thinking something like the 4-um (four-um). But that sounds stupid lol

 

[Zajice]

Insults like this, for example.
The Melee community does not want to tear Smash 4 down. The very small minority of jerks within it do. Jerks that are also very present within OUR community, and every single one on the face of the Earth.

I honestly hate these sorts of misconceptions about Melee players, because smash 4 players seem to think they're out to get us. They're not. They just want to play their own game, which they like more than smash 4 and have every right to that opinion. Posts like these make you look just as bad as you perceive their community to be, and only further poison our relations with them.

In general this is true, however Melee has the most cases of people hating on other games. The community has a lot of elitists, to the point where seeing "Melee is better" or "wow this game is so bad compared to Melee" doesn't even surprise me anymore. People chanting for Melee during Smash 4 matches at a big tourney is not cool, and stuff like that only happens when it's Melee vs another Smash.

Melee isn't bad, and Melee players should be allowed to enjoy it. It's just sad that some Melee players are so vehement on spreading hate for the other games. These people don't reflect the Melee community as a whole, it just has the most bad apples.

 

[Macdaddy53156a]

Yo seriously, stop ******** about the melee community, and help your own damn game out. If it dies, the only ones at fault will be your guys fault for simply shouting at the fire as it burnt down. Complaining solves nothing.

 

[ItsMeBrandon]

I honestly love all the Smash games. It hurts to see us fight among ourselves.

 

[ミスティック Speed]

Because it isn't a slow pace boring game.

And this is why Brawl/SSB4 players hate Melee players.
They can never be pleased so long as there isn't wavedashing, l canceling and a whole bunch of other criteria.
They selfishly set their standards so high because they're afraid of change.
Report me. Give me an infraction for all I care, but this is exactly how I feel about statements like this. You all are no better.