In an effort to keep the weblog afloat, I figured I'd kick off a series of weekly/bi-weekly editorials detailing my own perspective and personal opinion of situations occurring throughout our society. Some may be fringe issues afflicting few among us, or conversely, on a much larger, proliferative scale which ultimately affect all of us to some extent or another. I understand and accept that I haven't been the best weblogger that I can possibly be, and through these pieces, I hope to reinvigorate this space and, in the process, get something going in the way of fruitful discussion and rapport amongst my handful of readers (which in itself is probably laughable, but I digress).
Over the course of the past several weeks, there's been controversy brewing between the online "eSports" and fighting game communities. What seemingly began in earnest as a discussion regarding the difference between commentary during online broadcasts/streams between the two collectives has ultimately revealed, over this brief period of time, an underlying and long withstanding difference in culture, and ultimately, context of opinion. One side of the coin sees the other as an uncultured, boisterous lot with no real sense of professionalism, ethics or humility. The other fashions the opposite as stodgy, overly pompous and unable to derive any sort of enjoyment from what they purport to "love" doing for a living. What both fail to realize, however, is that talk is fundamentally cheap and until someone or something puts forth an idea that is both profitable and viable for both factions nothing will be accomplished. The baseless assumptions, rampant xenophobia and misunderstandings, and above all else, foolish politicking will continue on ad nauseam until the scenes implode with ignorance.
We all want to make a comfortable living. That's what being a professional is about, in essence. You must thoroughly enjoy that which you've taken up as your chosen profession, but when the work is finished and the smoke settles, you want that payment for a job well done. Anyone who denies this is either a master of false modesty or outright lying between their teeth. What those in professional gaming seem to misconstrue is that one can be "true to their roots", HONEST and still make a significant profit in the process. To expect someone to eschew all that they represented prior to coming to prominence in their chosen field is disrespectful not only to the person who has the burden of professionalism placed upon them, but to the profession itself. Without passion, the person cannot perform to the best of their ability. Without having a reason to "fight onward", there cannot be progression of any sort. Instead you'll fall into the process of the inane and of routine, and that's not good for anyone.
To expect less outbursts or "hype" (excitement) from the FGC would be taking away an essential ingredient to the identity of the movement. Socio-economical issues aside, to demand one to remain reserved and docile during an exciting match up -- be it within the fighting community or elsewhere -- is delusion. Do you attend a boxing/MMA event and expect the crowd to sit on their hands and politely applaud throughout the festivities? No. There's little difference in watching someone play a thrilling match up in, say, "King of Fighters XIII" or "Street Fighter IV" than there is watching a heavyweight boxer smash his competition to bits in the middle of the squared circle. Delving deeper, there's little need to make demands upon the social behaviorism of an audience of a product, particularly if it augments said product or the immediate culture surrounding it. We don't expect affluent Englishmen to represent us as gamers because that's not who we are. It's not who we're going to be tomorrow, it's not who we're to become in the distant future.
Just as we cannot compromise ourselves for corporate interests, it would be folly to think that, if we should choose to pursue a career as video gamers, we're selling ourselves short and abandoning our principals as a cohesive unit. What there needs to be is a joining of the minds -- an understanding that we are gamers first, fighting/RTS players secondly -- and move from there. When I sit down to enjoy myself with a session of "KOF XIII", "Heavy Rain" or "Grand Theft Auto IV", I don't want to be burdened with the stolid compartmentalizations/taxonomies of "race" or "ethnicity" or any other of our society's multitude of ills. Likewise, I don't want to deal with factions of adherents of these idiotic viewpoints bringing these thoughtless and antiquated social processes into my hobby that I embrace solely to ESCAPE the trappings of my reality through the vein of "genre loyalism". I think this is another underlying issue that's at play here. I can see it now: "My RTS is much better than that primitive mashing you call fighting games." "Well, my fighting game is more watchable and 'hype' than your RTS," Not the greatest example, but you can see where I'm leading with this.
People, we need to stop allowing emotion and loyalty to get in the way of what will ultimately allow us to grow financially and, I hope, as gamers. Respect community members should begin a conversation among themselves and pledge whatever resources and time they can offer to every community that falls under the category of competitive video games. Be it finances, streaming equipment, advertisements -- if we can at least respect what one another is doing and offer our support -- even if it's a verbal show of approval -- and get something done instead of incessantly whining and pointing our fingers, we'll all be for the better of it. One solution would be to hold three or four majors a year for our respective communities (with as much support from others as our own, bear in mind, as it would ultimately prove to be a collaborative effort for everyone's benefit): for example, the first-person shooter community would have three or four regionals, a national (think "Evolution/EVO") and then grand finals would be held at one large event held by the competitive community as a whole; the same would go for the fighting, RTS, racing communities as well.
The aforementioned would be the best way to streamline what would at first appear to be separate communities into a cohesive, self-functioning unit and perhaps garner interest into a particular sort of sub-genre from strict adherents of another just by exposing them to something that they may have maligned simply out of ignorance and little to no personal experience. Now, I know this is simply wishful thinking to many, but it can be done if the right individuals come together and, again, get their priorities straight and can come to a rational consensus about the current situation of competitive gaming -- which is, let's face it, pretty dire in the grand scheme of things.
At the end of the day, we can do all of the bickering in the world but it's not doing us any favors. Let's shut up and do SOMETHING.
The assorted ramblings of an emotionally-charged neurotic.
