I'm mostly inclined to agree with you outright but before I do I think it's important to clarify a few things from the article. Did Twitch donate the money with the intent of it going towards melee, and thus, the Apex admins and so forth are simply following through with Twitch's desire, or did Apex effectively pool sponsorship money, then make a calculated decision to throw it all at Melee? This question is really what matters before I take a side.
If it's the former, then I'm not super surprised or jarred by this information. Twitch is supporting a game that has proven itself in the past to be a platform for significant viewership, which is how Twitch ticks. It's really no surprise at all.
However, if it's the latter (as you seem to be implying), then I would have to agree with your sentiment. It's absolutely true that a games quality has the ability to speak for itself but we aren't supposed to make all of our franchises's games go through what Melee did to get to where it is, just simply because Melee was forced to do it. That's truly unfair to the players of said games. Whether anyone should choose to believe it or not, these kinds of situations require risk. Smash 4 needs a good shot at the limelight, and such a thing will help get the cogs spinning for a consistent and constantly improving meta-game paired with determined & competitive players that will lead to the exciting type of developments we've had to watch in only Melee the past forever years.
If Smash 4 gets no support, it will die an early death due to nothing but skepticism and bittered pasts (looking back to Brawl), which is profoundly immature, in my opinion.
Absolutely, 100%, yes, can't agree more. The reason I'm concerned is because, without quoting bits and pieces of multiple sentences and making this post look like garbage, the OP says that Twitch donated to the "APEX series" and that they are supporting "the series", which, to the extent of my knowledge, APEX runs multiple games, and presumably will, or at least CAN, run Smash 4. Nowhere in the OP does it claim that Twitch donated money specifically to
Melee itself, only to the series, which implies that the series can choose to which games the money is supplied.
If this is wrong, and Twitch specifically said "you may only use these funds for Melee", that's one thing, which still makes me wonder, did admins try to negotiate that to include Smash 4, or did theyjust let Twitch dictate terms because $14k is a large amaount of money, and **** Smash 4 if it means getting that much, we'll do anything you say. Which is ALSO a bad thing, and troubling. I don't exactly like the thought of us allowing any sponsor who pays sufficiently enough money to buy our admins and their game allegiances.
I kinda feel you but the difference is this:
1) The Melee community put in work to establish and maintain those connections. The money that is donated is taking advantage of their hard work.
"Melee had it hard, so damn it, Smash 4 should, too". That's not how family acts, and we go through great pains to make us all seem so freaking familial when it's getting $90k raised to get Melee into EVO. Yet, when it comes to supporting the new scene, screw them, they have to stand on their own legs.
2) There is nothing stopping you or any other smashers from contacting Alex Strife, or anyone else for that matter who have connections (including likely support from Nintendo which SSBM will have limited support for as of Smash4's release in order to promote Smash4). Alex has even said in video form that people whine about these connections but no one even asks or actively seeks them out.
Yes, because I'm == Twitch, and can donate $14k to Smash 4. That's just an excuse to explicitly support one game over another, not negotiate equally for both games, then blame the results on other people.
3. By all means, the Smash 4 community just needs to learn something from the Melee community: Mainly, get organized and take advantage of opportunities to grow. Certainly it won't be a problem for Smash 4 to grow as of now, but for future scenes to thrive it will eventually need this type of community persistence and passion if it wants to gain this type of support.
We're not supposed to be separate communities. It's ALL supposed to be Smash. You're just proving my point. We're all one community when it comes to supporting Melee, but we're separate communities when it comes to supporting Smash 4, and THEY have to do everything themselves and learn how to be more like Melee before they deserve help.
