Casual tournies to recruit competitive players?

[kirby3021]

I don't know if this is the right place for this thread and if it isn't, I apologize. Lock it and I'll look for a better place to post it.

I was just wondering what the competitive community's thoughts were on using casual tournaments as a means to recruit players (by casual tournaments I mean all stages legal, items on, customs, etc.). Items and such take some of the skill out of the game, but they may give casuals a greater chance to win, help them enjoy the game more, and over time lead them to the competitive scene when they decide to up their game. What are your opinions on the matter?

 

[Raijinken]

I support growing the scene that way. But it's important to note that it'd be very hard to get existing competitive players to attend, much less participate in, that sort of tournament.

But really, if you think about it, that's more or less how some people start competitive Smash. I had several small "tournaments" (using tournament mode with whatever silly rules we wanted) with friends back in middle and highschool. That sort of competition, while not as serious as the standard tryhard no-holds-barred competition, is still a good way to get people interested in the game (kinda like kids playing sports).

 

[Doval]

I don't think this solves anything. If a player doesn't compete, it's probably because:

1. They don't want to.
2. They don't even know there's a competitive scene.
3. They don't have the money, transportation, people to play with, or don't know where to find info on how to up their game.

Group 1's a lost cause. They're happy with how they play now, they're not going to want to "up their game". The problem with group 2 is that they don't even hear about the events. They probably won't hear about your tournament (unless the reason they're unaware is that there simply are no tournaments in your area at all), but if they do, playing with "casual" rules will only hurt them. Group 3 doesn't need convincing, they either have other problems or the only thing stopping them was that there were no tournaments in the area. Those that can will come, but they'll hate your casual rules.

Just hold regular tournaments and smashfests, make sure people hear about them, and make sure the atmosphere is not hostile to beginners. The people that want to compete will come, and if no one's rude to them just for being new, they'll stay.

 

[Raijinken]

but if they do, playing with "casual" rules will only hurt them.

Is there some issue with building a community around enjoying the game how they want to play it? Maybe I'm just weird, but I'd far rather have casual Smash gatherings of 30+ people enjoying the game than just the ten best Smashers in the world playing Diddy dittos on Smashville.

Of course, I'm basically interpreting this as building a community of less-skilled players in a more-open ruleset, rather than scouting for sponsorship-worthy talent and recruiting to the big leagues.

 

[Doval]

Is there some issue with building a community around enjoying the game how they want to play it?

Not at all, I just don't think the "anything goes" rules is conducive to introducing people into competitive play. I think gatherings are great, but you have to decide if you're catering to the people that are just playing for fun, don't care what the rules are, and will never compete, or the competitive players looking to practice/improve/socialize.