And Tekken definitely doesn't have to be bitter anymore. Although for a while they may have felt like the "outsiders" of Evo, that status has definitely been handed over to another game. Now, the most isolated community is the Super Smash Bros. Melee community. They have definitely taken the crown for the community that has every right to be bitter. Their game is never taken seriously by a large amount of Fighting Game players. Their game is always seen as "kiddie." Though they were a part of MLG, they were always relegated as a sideshow. Halo was the main event of MLG, and Smash was just a group of little kids, shunned by the Halo players and thrown into the back corner to play their tournament where they wouldn't disturb Halo. These players never seem to get any respect.
And yet, they are the furthest things from being bitter. I kept saying that the Guilty Gear community needs to learn to be professional and to take themselves seriously. Well, the Smash Bros. community is where they should look for an example. Just as with the Guilty Gear community, The Smash community has a game that some people frown upon. Both communities have players that have a bad stereotype associated with them (Guilty Gear players are often accused as being weird, anime-loving otakus and Smash players are always accused of being 6 year old Pokemon-loving kids or something). As a brand new community added to the Evolution line-up, the Smash Bros. players had every reason to come is very skeptical and behave very poorly.
But instead, they decided to prove why they deserve respect and why they deserve to remain at future Evolution tournaments. The players came out in droves, becoming instantly one of the largest tournaments at Evo in terms of number of contestants. The players showed up for the pools on time and were extremely cooperative with whoever was running the brackets. There wasn't even a big stink made over the decision to turn the pools and semis to best-of-1 game. The players were not happy with the decision, but they played through it. And no one seems to believe the results were "tainted" by that rule change. And on the Finals of Smash Bros., the community was there in full force, cheering their game on. It didn't seem like they were worried if non-Smash players were enjoying it because they were enjoying it too much themselves to care. But because their crowd added a lot of energy to the game, it ended up making it that much more fun for those unfamiliar with Smash to enjoy it as well.
And that's why I like this community so much. They know who they are and they know where they stand. And they are better off for it. There were two main things that surprised me about this community. First of all, they are all very competitive and skilled, but were extremely good natured and friendly to each other. There was a lot of respect among players. Someone joked to me how footage of Smash players involved more handshakes and hugs than any other game.
The other thing that really surprised me about Smash was how deep its history is. From talking to the top 8 players that qualified for the Finals, I was very pleased to discover just how much the community has gone through and grown. It was almost as if Evo had just walked into a movie that was already in progress. There were stories of Ken's early domination and subsequent early retirement... only to return to tournaments for this past Evo. There were stories of East Coast dominance being threatened by an emerging group of top-level West Coast Smash players. There were stories of wanting really badly to prove that certain perceived mid-tier characters could dominate. And there was a lot of stories regarding their history with MLG (both good and bad).
They already have their celebrities. And with them, they could have their upsets and grudges and hugely anticipated matches. They are already a fully established community and, frankly, even if Evo never picked them up or drops them next year, I can't imagine they would lose any momentum. And I took strong notice of that. This community has already built itself up and is already self-sustaining. It's a model Fighting Game community.
The Smash community should be used as a blue print for many of the other budding communities. Whether you are King of the Fighters fans, Melty Blood fans, Arcana Heart fans... hell, even Street Fighter Alpha 3 fans, the key to getting your game into the lime light is building up your community. Everyone likes to say that being included in Evo is what breathes life into games. While I do admit it helps a lot, I still believe that a game thrives solely on its community. It has very little to do with the inclusion into Evo. In fact, inclusion into Evo is usually the result of a strong community or a potential for a strong community.
So this is lesson for today: if you want to see your favorite game thrive, do your part. A game is nothing without its community of players. Just start that fire, and if you continue to support your community, the fire will continue to fuel itself.
It's true.
