Finished reading most/skimming the rest of the posts.
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Similar to you, I come from a thriving smash state (Florida,) and have had the pleasure of playing and watching many top smashers: Hungrybox, ShizWiz, Speedn, Rockcrock, QDVS, Colbol, etc. All of which I have tourney set wins against, (though I will clarify the last time I beat Hbox Shiz and Speed in sets were before they became completely amazing.)
I was also ranked number 8 in FL on the last edition of the FL power rankings. Right now FL does not have current melee rankings. I do not think I would have made a top 10 in FL rankings, mostly because I did not go to tourneys enough, top 15 is much more realistic.
Since moving to the MW I have been to one (real) tourney so far in Chicago. I got a disappointing 9th, losing to M2k and a defensive ORLY. Those who placed above me I played in friendlies/pools, 2-0'ing Dart, and going even with Andale in friendlies.
Moreso than my placing, I was extremely distressed at my inability to play hard in all games. I sandbagged. In every match where I had any sort of a lead I sandbagged. Even in some games where I did not have a lead I sandbagged. It was not as large in tournament, but almost every friendly before and after the tourney involved a pretty large amount sandbagging, including my friendlies post-tourney with Andale and Dart. (To whom I apologize, as I knew you both wanted to play me seriously but I honestly couldn't help it.)
I have not been back to a tournament since, as until I can guarentee I will be able to play as hard as possible regardless of the match, I consider myself a waste of time to play against. I think the time is approaching, and would go to the Chicago tourney on Sat, but my gf is flying into town this weekend and we haven't seen each other in 2 months.
But my experience with the MW has been very interesting so far. I told Quaz the other day that I believe the average MWer is perhaps more skilled than the average FL person. The reason for this being that FL still has a young and growing scene--a much larger amount of people still learning the game, who have only started playing in the past year.
In the MW I am surprised how many of you have been around for as long or longer than myself, and therefore have a similar pride to mine. Though we may not have ever been the best or well known, we've been around long enough to see some real **** happen. There's also a kind of exasperation, to have been playing this game for 4-6 years and feeling like you haven't improved in 2.5. You don't have any glaring bad habits, think enough to stop being punished for the same thing in any given game, but you lose to the same people over and over and over (and over) again. And you don't feel like you're getting better.
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I don't think you're giving the MW enough credit in your OP, LE.
However, the problems mentioned by LE are very accurate.
- While most of the people in the MW do want to improve, there is less of a drive in those people, and they are fewer than in FL or other strong smash areas.
- There seems to be a resignation of the MW to being the least skilled smash area. DRPP is a great counterexample to the common idea that population implies greatly skilled players.
- There is also a resignation about smash slowly dying in the MW. Very few new people are joining the scene, tournaments are growing smaller and further between. There is this idea that within 5 years there won't be anymore tourneys in the MW at all.
Overall the area seems to be resigned to its fate. Fortunately it doesn't have to be this way. I have spent all of my smash time since that tourney in Chicago trying to revitalize WI's scene. Madison is quickly becoming the envy of the rest of WI, due to the efforts several smashers are putting in here.
The whole business of being more spread out is only partially true. By far the MW is the biggest region. It is also the least densely populated. However, smash centers around
cities, not states, and definitely not regions. Orlando is one of the most active smash communities in the country, but it is outranked in population by 26 other areas in the United States alone, 6 of which are in the MW.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas
What I'm saying is that there could be 6 areas in the MW more active than Orlando/Kissimmee. There should be at least one.
The community has changed. We have to do legwork now. Everyone who is not involved in the tourney scene assumes melee is dead. How many more Dart!'s are out there? A bunch.
You want to bring life back to your community? Hold regular smashfests. Once a week or biweekly. Start advertising it. Mention it to your friends. Get involved in the university--start a smash club, or put up fliers around the U.
There is so much room for growth in the MW. Hosting tournaments is only part of the battle.
