Smashboards Username: Binx
Region: Oregon
Primary Character(s): Ice Climbers, Fox
Secondary Character(s): Falco, Peach, Pikachu
REQUIRED
1. Q. How long have you been playing competitive melee?
A. Over 6 years
2. Q. How often do you attend tournaments? How familiar are you with your local scene? Your regional scene? The national/international scene?
A.I try to attend at least one tournament a month, more if there are a lot going on. I also go to a smashfest every week or other week as they are available.
3. Q. How would you classify yourself as a player relative to the current metagame? (beginner, average, high level, pro, etc.)
A. I guess I would say I am bordering on high level play, there are many people who are much better than I am but at least locally im in the top 3.
4. Q. Do you think the other individuals in your region would support you being a member of the MBR? Why?
A. Yeah I believe the majority of people in my region would support me for the backroom as I try to be active and helpful for the community.
5. Q. Do you consider yourself a discussion leader? Why?
A. It really depends, I have moods where I am very impassioned and spend a lot of effort and time leading a discussion but more often than not I would prefer to just give input and not necessarily lead the discussion.
6. Q. Are you an active Tournament Organizer? If Yes, what are some recent tournaments you have hosted? If No, what are some ways you feel you contribute to your local scene despite not being a TO?
A. I've helped run some smaller events to build the community like gamestop tournaments and such in the past and I will tell the beginning players about smashboards and the oregon thread, I've started gaming clubs at my college and invited a ton of people to participate in tournaments. Haven't run anything official though.
7. Q. Do you feel that the current tier list is accurate? Why?
A. I feel like the current tier list is very accurate, the only thing I could maybe argue is that it might be time for Falco to be above Fox based on placements of smashers like drpp.
8. Q. Do you feel that the current MBR recommended stage list is fair? Why?
A. I think certain stages lend themselves differently to different match ups and its hard to determine if a stage is "fair". The better player will almost always win with this rule set but the stages also favor the higher tier characters, since for instance Fox and Falco are at a disadvantage on mute city or brinstar. That being said i think the stages are great the way they are.
9. Q. Do you feel that the current MBR recommended rule set is fair? Why?
A. Ruleset is perfect, not much to say here.
10. Q. What is more important to you: Tech Skill or Strategy? Why?
A. Tech skill is what lets you use strategy, your possible range of options are limited by your tech skill, so I would say as a beginner it is more important to work on fundamentals so you can take advantage of the opportunities you are given and punish to the maximum ability of your character. But its also important to think about how your opponents move to be able to do that.
11. Q. What is more important to you: Maximizing Punishments (Combos) or Initiating Punishments (First Hits)? Why?
A. I used to think initiating, but the better I get the more I realize that getting the most you can out of every connected attack is super important simply because vs good people you don't get a lot of chances to connect. If you can't kill someone everytime you hit them and they can, then they can be half as good at first hits and still beat you.
12. Q. Does SSBM have a limited lifespan as a competitive community due to its age or any other factor? Why or why not?
A. I believe this game will be played until every gamecube controller and game is lost to overuse.
13. Q. What do you think could be done to expand our community?
A. We need sponsors, we need active loud people who care to get money infused into the system so that we can get new blood on the scene.
14. Q. What do you think the MBR could do to stimulate the community?
A. Make finding tournaments more accessible.
15. Q. How do you think the MBR would benefit from your input?
A. Its hard to tell, I assume that I have different viewpoints on many subjects than others and at the very least could help diversify the mbr.
OPTIONAL
1. Please provide up to 5 examples of contributions you have made to the melee community. Links to exceptional, informative posts are highly valued here.
1. Link:
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=112141
i. Description: This is currently the most detailed match up guide on SWF in my opinion, I put dozens of hours of work into it.
2. List up to three players you feel demonstrate good discussion ability or have outstanding contributions to the community and explain why you think they are a good example.
1. Player: Wobbles
i. Reason: He articulates himself very well, if you read his posts they are consistently lengthy and high quality with a lot of really in depth information that is useful for the higher level player.
3. Have you read Sirlin's theories regarding "Play to Win"? Do you agree or disagree? Why? How do you think these theories affect and apply to the Melee community?
1. Answer: Yes I have read it. I agree with him in principle he gets a little preachy about scrub mentality and I think there are times where we place arbitrary rules on games anyways like banning infinites or stages or characters due to "unfairness" and such that he doesn't really address well.
A much better source of inspiration for competitive disciplines in my opinion would be "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS/FINAL WORDS: I hope I get the opportunity to join the mbr and help out the community in another way other than what I already do, even if I don't though I will still continue to be excited and supportive of this awesome game.