Speaking as someone who has done what he could when he was around to support the smash scene (well melee at least, sorry brawlers) it is a downright fallible to believe that the competitive community does not revolve around numbers. I think there are very few people besides Austin and some others who actively supported the melee scene pre-brawl, and you can't blame them for their jaded fatigue when it comes to trying to keep a scene alive. When they say that SC smash has always been dead they mean it. It is hard to keep the drive going when both games lack a solid online netcode and localized play is the only available source. This is how important the smashfest is for both games, while still not offering the complexity and mental determination provided to win in a tournament setting it gives the players the competition and physical solicitation of appearing to have a viable tournament scene. You can be the best on your block but to be the best in the state is another thing.
However, this means that those people must have a drive to succeed and learn from their mistakes so they may capitalize in the future and keep on winning. The problem with having five very driven players is a similar problem to having 40 crap players. Those players are amazing amongst themselves and have had enough time to adapt to patterns and exploit them as they play each other consistently, yet have trouble adapting to players tendencies on the fly. While the 40 players may not have the drive or determination to get better, you have better odds of having your very own freak of nature (I will use Yayuhz for this instance) that seems to come out of nowhere to emerge as a top player that transcends their state. Yay shows an example of a player who dominates over the 40 that bask in mediocrity and even the 5 who are driven to win. The five would gain more from playing yay than the 40 who would more than likely go to the mentality that he is invincible and never win. This is the dynamic that it takes to have a successful scene that surpasses distances.
Melee, in this sense, is a much harder game to acquire numbers for because the technical proficiencies needed to play at even the most basic of levels. It is disheartening to get stomped on, it is even more disheartening to get destroyed after investing an incredible amount of hours in a game and still have the gall to return for more. Brawl is an easier game to gain the numbers for but most of the players lack the determination required to improve because it takes far less time to become above average at.
Speaking as someone who has organized tournaments and has seen active scenes first hand I can tell you that if South Carolina had 40 people that had 20 of them regularly attend tournaments, the story for our moral and respect across the borders would be drastically different. Tournaments rely on these numbers to succeed and incentive for players to reach into their wallets and travel for a chance to win back their gas money and pride.
*Challenge*
This is the first year that I may not host my yearly Christmas tournament. However, I would like to open it up as a smashfest to everyone who plays brawl, melee, and Street Fighter. I cannot emphasize how important the average smashfest is to the community because it builds those needed numbers up in a less competitive arena for their first times coming out to an event. I don't feel like organizing a tournament because honestly smash isn't really my game of choice anymore and I have too fallen victim to the discontent of holding a tournament where more out of staters how up than actual SC residents. I am open for suggestions for what day would be good for everyone because I am only going to be here until around New Years.
Love,
-SK 47
