LiteralGrill
Smokin' Hot~
Reading the Apex thread has had me thinking a lot about the 64 scene, and I want to have what I hope will be a thought provoking thread to really think about the present condition and the future of the Smash 64 scene.
Let's face it, 64 is unfortunately the least popular version of Smash. With Melee at Evo, Melee and even Brawl have gotten some new players either joining or coming back to play their games (not to mention the success of Project M). Where are the new people coming to 64?
The answer is, there probably aren't. We can all play this game together until our hands give out, but I love this game too much to think that there will not be a next generation of Smash 64 players. This game has something unique no other iteration of smash can offer, and it must live long and prosper.
I know I can personally think of a few things that might help players who say "Wow! 64 STILL has tournaments? I should check that out!" come and have a better chance of staying.
1. Guides
Go to the character section. Let's be honest, if you looked at them as an outsider having never played this game, could you really start learning how to play a character? The best guide I could find was for Link, (very good guide too). Most character discussions are random ramblings with nothing in the OP to be a definitive guide. A new player coming here would almost instantly be turned away by this.
To fix this, let's try to make a REAL guide for each character. Detailed explanations to help people learn the ins and outs, gifs of hitboxes, relevant videos. Check out some guides for characters on other forums or that nice Link guide I mentioned. Format them well, give them catchy names, get people interested!
2. Video and Critique Threads
Other forums have easily accessible threads for each character for you to post videos and have others critique your play to offer insights on how to get better. These are great grounds for new players who are just getting into the game to get encouragement and advice so they can get good enough to feel confident competing. Also a great place for veterans to post of videos of their character to give these new guys something to watch and learn from, spread those hype matches!
To fix this, all it takes is when we make the guides to make a link to this thread PROMINENT in every guide so new players know where to find it in case it drifts down a bit on the board. We also all need to go to these threads and help all we can to give the advice players need.
3. Tournament Results Threads (For Characters)
Also a staple on other forums, this is a great way to promote character diversity (which makes matches a bit more fun for us) as well as provide a format to help us boast a bit about our achievements, or to watch our progress as we place higher and higher.
To fix this: just make another thread and ATTACH IT TO THAT GUIDE!!!
4. Yearly Tournament Result Threads
This covers EVERYONE. We're a smaller community needing to grow, let's try to show off every tournament we can! One big thread to report all the results for each tournament we have, recognize people placing high, and link videos of the matches if we can so people can watch. Strengthen our community by bringing us all together.
To fix this, wow, another thread. We could start this after new years, it'd be a great project!
5. Exposure
Simple, try to get 64 at more places. going to an event? bring a TV and a 64 and show off the game a bit, offer to play friendlies and show off the game a bit. A lot of people play more then one smash game. If you are at a smashfest without 64, or have a place you know plays smash locally but doesn't have 64 there, BRING IT! Show them why they should include it there. Start your own scene if you have to, bring in people and make 64 big in your area. This has a HUGE bonus of giving you LIVE practice partners. No matter how good online is, it can't beat a real person right next to you.
And a regular 64 stream of some sort wouldn't hurt either! Get these events so people can watch them. I know they have said this year at Apex we could have an independent person streaming 64 so we could see more matches. MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
6. Rules?
I don't know about this one. It was mentioned things like 4 stocks or removing Hyrule might make the game a better sport for the spectator. This one is a much greater sacrifice then just making a thread, and I'll leave that to discussion to see whether it's worth doing or not. Let's all talk this out.
7. Let's Organize These Forums
This is a call to those higher up. Give us a forum for each character, not just one "character discussion forum" that is totally different from everyone else. Make it so people who navigate those forums can do the same for ours with little effort, and allow us to be better organized as well.
Video Forum. Some of the threads I already said we could make could demolish this forum. Take a few threads and pin them on the main forum, reorganize to show all these people posting videos better, provide better lists of video makers, and get people to find the videos they want to see faster. Why make getting information difficult? Let's reorganize and make this a better place for people who are coming in.
Online Events Forum: For 64, this is really nice. But let's condense this into an Events Forum if it will exist. The main page being filled up with all the events doesn't look organized. Let us make it organized so we can make a big thread pinned for both online and offline events so we can keep it updated as a major resource, then people can make the smaller threads with more information of for people to get hype in. Make it easier for those people looking for events.
General Forum: Clean up.
I know everyone here likes to have fun, and a tiny bit of joking and trolling is okay now and then, but let's not bust up our own forum with 5 pointless posts or something similar. It makes this place look unprofessional and uninviting in a way and doesn't help us in getting respect.
Let's get this forums beautiful, let's get it so we're not a side event, but a main event. All of us putting in a little effort could make things really happen for Smash 64, and legitimize the game in the eyes of more people.
Did I miss something? Got better suggestions? Get posting then. I want to see what people think.
Let's face it, 64 is unfortunately the least popular version of Smash. With Melee at Evo, Melee and even Brawl have gotten some new players either joining or coming back to play their games (not to mention the success of Project M). Where are the new people coming to 64?
The answer is, there probably aren't. We can all play this game together until our hands give out, but I love this game too much to think that there will not be a next generation of Smash 64 players. This game has something unique no other iteration of smash can offer, and it must live long and prosper.
I know I can personally think of a few things that might help players who say "Wow! 64 STILL has tournaments? I should check that out!" come and have a better chance of staying.
1. Guides
Go to the character section. Let's be honest, if you looked at them as an outsider having never played this game, could you really start learning how to play a character? The best guide I could find was for Link, (very good guide too). Most character discussions are random ramblings with nothing in the OP to be a definitive guide. A new player coming here would almost instantly be turned away by this.
To fix this, let's try to make a REAL guide for each character. Detailed explanations to help people learn the ins and outs, gifs of hitboxes, relevant videos. Check out some guides for characters on other forums or that nice Link guide I mentioned. Format them well, give them catchy names, get people interested!
2. Video and Critique Threads
Other forums have easily accessible threads for each character for you to post videos and have others critique your play to offer insights on how to get better. These are great grounds for new players who are just getting into the game to get encouragement and advice so they can get good enough to feel confident competing. Also a great place for veterans to post of videos of their character to give these new guys something to watch and learn from, spread those hype matches!
To fix this, all it takes is when we make the guides to make a link to this thread PROMINENT in every guide so new players know where to find it in case it drifts down a bit on the board. We also all need to go to these threads and help all we can to give the advice players need.
3. Tournament Results Threads (For Characters)
Also a staple on other forums, this is a great way to promote character diversity (which makes matches a bit more fun for us) as well as provide a format to help us boast a bit about our achievements, or to watch our progress as we place higher and higher.
To fix this: just make another thread and ATTACH IT TO THAT GUIDE!!!
4. Yearly Tournament Result Threads
This covers EVERYONE. We're a smaller community needing to grow, let's try to show off every tournament we can! One big thread to report all the results for each tournament we have, recognize people placing high, and link videos of the matches if we can so people can watch. Strengthen our community by bringing us all together.
To fix this, wow, another thread. We could start this after new years, it'd be a great project!
5. Exposure
Simple, try to get 64 at more places. going to an event? bring a TV and a 64 and show off the game a bit, offer to play friendlies and show off the game a bit. A lot of people play more then one smash game. If you are at a smashfest without 64, or have a place you know plays smash locally but doesn't have 64 there, BRING IT! Show them why they should include it there. Start your own scene if you have to, bring in people and make 64 big in your area. This has a HUGE bonus of giving you LIVE practice partners. No matter how good online is, it can't beat a real person right next to you.
And a regular 64 stream of some sort wouldn't hurt either! Get these events so people can watch them. I know they have said this year at Apex we could have an independent person streaming 64 so we could see more matches. MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
6. Rules?
I don't know about this one. It was mentioned things like 4 stocks or removing Hyrule might make the game a better sport for the spectator. This one is a much greater sacrifice then just making a thread, and I'll leave that to discussion to see whether it's worth doing or not. Let's all talk this out.
7. Let's Organize These Forums
This is a call to those higher up. Give us a forum for each character, not just one "character discussion forum" that is totally different from everyone else. Make it so people who navigate those forums can do the same for ours with little effort, and allow us to be better organized as well.
Video Forum. Some of the threads I already said we could make could demolish this forum. Take a few threads and pin them on the main forum, reorganize to show all these people posting videos better, provide better lists of video makers, and get people to find the videos they want to see faster. Why make getting information difficult? Let's reorganize and make this a better place for people who are coming in.
Online Events Forum: For 64, this is really nice. But let's condense this into an Events Forum if it will exist. The main page being filled up with all the events doesn't look organized. Let us make it organized so we can make a big thread pinned for both online and offline events so we can keep it updated as a major resource, then people can make the smaller threads with more information of for people to get hype in. Make it easier for those people looking for events.
General Forum: Clean up.
I know everyone here likes to have fun, and a tiny bit of joking and trolling is okay now and then, but let's not bust up our own forum with 5 pointless posts or something similar. It makes this place look unprofessional and uninviting in a way and doesn't help us in getting respect.
Let's get this forums beautiful, let's get it so we're not a side event, but a main event. All of us putting in a little effort could make things really happen for Smash 64, and legitimize the game in the eyes of more people.
Did I miss something? Got better suggestions? Get posting then. I want to see what people think.
