More Virtua fighter! A community topic

On my stream earlier today we were talking about the current state of the virtua fighter community and the tournament scene. I talked about some of the things that the community needs to do as a whole to bring attention to new players and to get more attention from others. While I am not going to type everything I stated on the stream, I will however state some of the things that I feel the community as a whole should do.

1. Rapid exposure: Virtua fighter gets very little exposure in general. Even with in our own community. We don't have enough regular streams running to keep a rapid interest in the game. We don't have enough videos on other websites showcasing what virtua fighter has to offer the players from another game to bring new players into the game. We need to saturate people with virtua fighter in order to draw in new blood. I mean consider it like an advertising campaign. You see something so much, you eventually get tired of seeing it. That's what we need to do for virtua fighter.

2. Akai's virtua fighter circuit: This especially is something that I think we need to talk about. I mentioned on stream that this circuit is too closed. Basically what I mean by this is that we need more people to be watching the circuit and again, exposing pple to more vf. I think the circuit is a fantastic idea. I feel that it needs to be shown to the masses and be a regular thing at that.

3. Tournaments: This is the big one! We need to do our own tournaments! Yes, people play for the love of the game but we go to tournaments too. I know you guys don't like getting low turnouts at majors for vf. The reason that is happening is because players aren't seeing MONEY in the game. If there was more money, there would be more players. Evo had a great turnout for vf. And had a lot of views for vf. Vf needs to have its own home here. We have everything we need to do our own tournaments. We just need people to step up and make it happen. We need our own beat tribe cup and whatever other tournaments japan has. If we build it, they will come.

L_A akira is doing an amazing job with wnf and everything he does for the community. The community isn't one person or a set of people. The community needs to learn to build itself by using the example of other communities. Srk being a prime example of what I am talking about. We don't need tournaments with vf at them. We need tournaments where we go to play vf!. Just my opinion....feel free to discuss....

 

More money will just attract the mercenary players. You don't want that, they pull attention away from the games "heroes/top players", which is one thing that needs to be established. There's no BALAs, Perfect Legends, CDJr, etc. at the moment. The money will come after and last longer when the interest and player support is genuine.

 

Maybe you guys should stop referring to VFDC as the US community.. Europe does exist as well you know...
While I've never been a big poster myself. I feel the veterans post less these days.

 

I dont remember once saying that VFDC was the AMERICAN community....maybe i did and i missed it.

@Akai: I am not bashing the circuit, Just making a suggestion. I will post in your thread.

@Mr X: Actually I think that is something that the VF community needs. We do need to get those types of players because that's how players rise up to the occasion. It worked for MK and even the DOA community. DOA to me is a very crappy game. But they had all types of people playing that game. DOA is more of a casual players game sure but still. 10k tournaments for a shitty game? Tell me why VF cannot do that despite it being a much better game?

@Jide: You are right about that though, Vets do not post often if not at all especially nowadays. That is something that needs to change....

 

need more chicks with big boobies

 

Some Vets post, others just stop. I'm inclided to think they were never really big posters from the start.

@Jide: *snipped* I do get where you're coming from though US folks are going to talk about growing it where they live (VFDC is run by an aussie!). It's just natural to speak about where you specifically are; no offense is ment. I'm pretty clueless on the state of things in the EU in regards to fighting games.

 

Lol.. Don't worry about I'm not upset or anything. Just an observation...
as Marly's T-shirt says Keep calm and PLAY VF.

Having said that.. The stuff that everyone has done to promote VF FS has been awesome.

 

You mean Marly's shirt that has mysteriously vanished?

 

Oh yeah, as part of an international exchange, it is now on Shidosha's head

 

(This post will talk about North American VF scene because the I feel I have no right to propose ideas on what is good for all the scenes outside of North America because I have very limited exposure to those regions--but I think any region represented here by a member of that region would be AWESOME)

First off, I really like your post Chibiaya, and yes, I believe that the greatest challenge is ahead of us and "North American VF" is to prevent a great deterioration of interest and to maintain a campaign of activity and relevance of Virtua Fighter on this continent. Truth be told, Sega did lay a lot of ground work and the Fighting Game Communities have given Virtua Fighter a lot of good will!

Exposure
This is important, though it can be difficult. I do believe in the era of Livestreams that this is a great opportunity. VFDC just went through a major change, but I hope (and actually I believe) that the ones working on the site's functionality understand how relevant streaming is and will find a solution (beyond a thread) to making streams easier to access.

Livestream sites require popularity and timeliness (a VF stream always going on) before a VF livestream can even have a chance at being looked at. But at the same time, livestreams support people looking for the livestream. I could be way out of touch, but I feel that most people do not go browsing ustream/twitch/justin all day to find the content they want--they usually know what they want. Though if a stream hits some massive number like over a few thousand, then a few people will trickle in for curiosity. Like I said, I could be out of touch because I simply don't understand Chat-Roulette and I know people that do that and somehow it works

I hope VFDC becomes the very public TV Guide for VF Livestreams. Obviously that's not all I want VFDC to be, but I think if we have enough reliable streams to justify some front page space, then we are serving at least the VFDC community very well. And if eventually the best of the streams get regular attention beyond VFDC (like at IPW, SRK, etc...) then that is also awesome.

All this said, livestreaming is not easy. It can be simple to an extent for awhile but it is still production. And like all production, it's harder than people think it is, especially if it takes off and the demands for professionalism and always working becomes huge.

And of course, the other side of exposure is somehow always being in the conversation. A huge thumbs up to the person who is reminding people to post "suggestions" to SRK and other popular sites to make sure VF is getting exposure. Keeping track of great events and relevant tournaments around the world is also important imo.

Like, I think more people should be excited for Summer Jam. Whether you're a VFDC person from the East Coast, the West Coast, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America... wherever... I think you should know about Summer Jam! And the same for some of the best livestreams. I know the VF @ MLG situation is.... what it is... but at least now we can show some support for it.

And that leads us into Tournaments!

TOURNAMENTS
Yes, we definitely need to run our own events. That said, the challenge of online is convincing people how worthwhile it is to travel far for a VF event. We had no problem in the past, but part of that was because it was the only way to enjoy VF at that level. But nowadays, the decision is weight with alternatives... That said, I hope we run more of our own events in the future!

But I am very, very supportive of VF being at events. I totally get your point (that there needs to be VF player run events) and I agree, but I also think it is an honor and a chance for better exposure to be even an underdog at regional event where people are traveling to play. And if you get livestream or stage time, then that's ideal.

Summerjam is one of those. This will be a big tournament and I think the VF community should really push its weight behind it and say, "Hey, you gotta watch the VF action at Summer Jam! If you love VF, get on that livestream, let them know you're there for the VF, and if you can participate you should be going there and fighting!"

Also, I'm going to pitch the Northwest event, you should also check out The End of Summer 2012, which will be September 23rd-24th, it should be awesome and it is another way to support getting VF at Evo! We will be having players from Oregon (East, West, and Central), Washington, British Columbia, and Idaho there for VF and we might even have some from California. While the tournament doesn't have sponsorship from Sega, it has sponsorship from many other companies and the prizes and raffles are going to be huge on top of other things. On top of that, I have been given assurance that VF will be given the space and resources it needs to match whatever registration it gets--even if over 200 people registered.

The tournament organizer and the operators of the livestream have already begun working with me on making this a good event for the Virtua Fighter players. I am even working on a solution so that the VF players can opt in to a prepaid meal (limited menu to get this to actually work) so that they can get fed proper food and not worry about missing their matches or holding up the brackets. Hotel deals are also in place and everyone's here to help. And I'm working hard for this even though it's not my city (Portland is 3.5 hours away from Seattle).

I really believe that the biggest silver-bullet that can help make promoting VF5FS easier going forward is to make sure that VF5FS makes it to Evo. I've seen it in my own scene when it comes to the competitive (in other games) players, if they invest time in VF, they want it at Evo. But being at Evo keeps VF very relevant (externally) to the North American Fighting Game Community and guarantees a proper stage for it.

Side note, big props to SoCal for securing another season of Final Showdown at Wednesday Night Fights. I think it was a smart decision to take ownership of the VF stream, and while a lot of work will probably need to be done to improve the stream, they've established steps for the Fall campaign of VF in SoCal though the battle is not even close to over.

TO BE CONTINUED (for breaking the 10k character limit) -->

 

Akai's Virtua Fighter Circuit
As a player, I'm really enjoying it overall (though the last one on PSN had a lot of hiccups, including ones out of control, but everyone is pitching in to address issues that came up and manage what can be managed).

It does get front page news space, which is very good. And it is also in the Events Box.

But I think I share with you that there is some sort of promotional challenge for this event. However, it is an experiment (at least I think so) and what is there, I personally like a lot.
Livestreaming a bracket of it, as you are offering, should definitely help. Blackstar has been archiving it and putting it online which helps.

I do think that explaining what exactly the circuit is and who should be in it is difficult. It's kind of the classic VFDC problem... meaning... The rules are actually written, but people don't read the rules, they go on an intuitive sense of what the thing is and who it's for and find out in the middle of it that they were pretty wrong... so in the end, it has a challenge of message. Not any fault of Akai or anyone else really, just more like, people's attention spans are short so the message has to just nail it quickly (unlike Chanchai's posts).

In any case, we are learning a lot about this process and these challenges in Season 1. I'm excited to see how it evolves and I'll try to help if I can. But there definitely are a lot of challenges.

VFDC
I like a lot of things about the new VFDC though I will probably miss some things about the old one for awhile. But overall, big thumbs up on the new VFDC ^_^

That said, the online environment is changing gradually. I think VFDC will always be important but the hard part is, how should it adjust. Well, right now we're worried about infrastructure so it's good to focus on that. But of course some questions will have to be answered (though they might already be privately).

I would love VFDC to be what it is, as well as:

• a VF News Hub
  • which it has been
  • But down inside I wish it was capable of doing more content production but that is really up to the community and the weight shouldn't be pushed on the mods and admin. But I know they're working on knowledgebase first and they have been posting news very well. Content creation is another beast though... BTW, because I wish, does not mean I'm underwhelmed--Reno, Akai, Myke, Plague, etc... they've all done some excellent content production.
    • One of the biggest challenges to content production though is VF is a game one can really end up debating about and not everyone is ready to handle the "scientific-journal-like scrutiny" we give here. This scrutiny gets us to the truth well, but it also makes it a challenge to enlist content authors who could post something relevant weekly.
• an Event Hub
  • which it has done well functionally, I' not sure how to make it better but I'm glad there's an event box. But I have to push myself to remember tournaments like Fist of Legend, Summerjam, and even MLG--even when they are written in the news and highlighted...
  • I think this concern is about constant promotion and energy about the events as opposed to the act of posting them and mentioning them. I think we are good at posting the events and informing. But some level of hype or energy from the whole community is missing. Maybe we just need more ignorance lol (so that we can get hyped on ANYTHING! )
• VF.TV Guide
  • I mentioned this earlier.
  • I will also admit that we need a lot more streaming content in general for this to happen.
  • But we do have some content already:
    • Akai has been awesome at posting the schedule and following the Japanese tournaments (or all events really). Props to Akai! That said, from the community, I wish there was more hunger for this content on display, and a lot more conversation and appreciation about it. These feeds are entertaining as hell to watch and you're seeing a lot of various levels of VF play including top level play.
    • I almost wonder if we could rotate reruns in a public way that almost randomly showcases things, appealing to different people that like VF. Mostly newer content like the last Kakutou Shinseiki or recent Japanese touranmetns and Ranbats, or even US tournaments and combo videos. BASICALLY A VF CHANNEL though I'm not sure the best way to implement this.
      • An odd example is on Sunday in my Northwest VF Group I run on Facebook I called it "Virtua Fighter 4 Appreciation Day" and I steadily throughout the day posted the first VF4 reveal vid and eventually posted content like the Japanese VF4 on PS2 commercials. It got a decent number of views and likes and the next day I saw a friend post on facebook to everyone old Segata commercials (gotta love that guy). I could have even gone further and posted classic VF4 tournament moments.
    • I'm sure the Europeans and the Koreans have quite a bit of content too.
    • Fortunately we have Wednesday Night Fights, NYC_VF, Shidosha, your channel, and a few others. There is some good energy for all this but there can be a lot more. But I am glad for the energy that has been put out. And for the record, the new VFDC is probably the main reason I'm even watching these streams--the status updates kind of got me, though the twitter updates should have had me long ago and Akai does maintain a stream list and schedule.
    • BTW, an eLive Pro style lecture series would be awesome if someone with a great reputation could do that hehe. I have to check to see if it's already done, but I have to admit I like the eLive Pro thing. Europe probably already has it down?
  • I think at the end of the day, I'm saying that while efforts are made and they are good and are working overall--I'm hoping for even more energy from the community for all the video content we do have and are happening. But at the same time, you can simply blame me, I've kind of been ignorant for awhile. I guess what I'm asking for with VFDC is for it to be in your face about this content lol.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts after reading your post. There's more but I think I've just hit this thread with a multi-ton wall of text (well I know I did that).

 

I really want to go to more tournaments, but all the big ones that I run across don't even include VF.

Part of that is because there isn't really a lot of players in my city (Chicago), but it's hard to justify traveling all over to play a game with a small pot. I just checked the info for the Season's Beatings tourney that's coming up in a few weeks and there's a 5K pot for SF4AE and a 5K pot for MVC3. TTT2's pot won't be less than 1K... no VF to be found. Why?

Say what you want, but if you're paying money on travel, and hotel stays... you should have something worth your while (as far as pot money goes) right?