A whole bunch of words
Yep, though to be clear, the 'questions' I pitched were moreso me outlining the hypotheticals from the perspective of those making a lot of noise about the LI Joe thing. It unleashed a torrent of opinions both for and against which I found fascinating.
Personally, I find the fact that the 'FGC' doesn't have a central authoritative or regulatory body a massive part of its charm. We call our own shots, there's unspoken rules about aspects that just work. Tournament standards, match standards, formats, etc all just sort of fall into line with what we all respect as sensible community driven standards that no Moses really had to etch onto tablets and broadcast to everybody. Organising bodies earn the respect of those in the community via a minimally communicated motivation to maintain a standard of expectations for the players no matter where you go. A dude can play in a tournament in France and then roll into Texas or Tokyo or Canberra and know whats going on. Who decided that standard? We did - not some overseeing overlord (or influencial sponsor!) who commanded it.
Joe being sponsored by a porn company I think highlights the community's diversity. Naturally there will be questions raised about its acceptance by some in scenarios that are perhaps dictated by big name sponsors, but I think that is beside the point. Diversity among the people who are involved in this mess gives it its character and gives it a pulse. If people can't accept that, then they perhaps don't have a handle on what this community is about, which among many things is an acceptance of the diversity of people in it. Over-sanitisation by way of can and can-nots stands to erode the FGS's character in my opinion and it would be a horrible thing to see fade. People wanna raise the 'eSports' debate? I don't give a shit, so long as the monetary injection doesn't mess with the fighting game community's soul.
As for EVO being the godfather of how we go about things, I agree. But only because they embody on a large (the largest?) scale that which we all practise as individual communities anyway. They maintain a standard, but its a standard we all run with whether EVO does it or not (I'll conveniently ignore SFxT's forthcoming format, though that's largely rooted in a sensible logistics solution above all) and I salute Cannon and Wizard for acknowledging and continuing to run with a standard that acknowledges how we as players approach these games in our own communities.
The furor that cropped up a while back re: sponsors and 'eSports' and all that I felt distracted people from what matters the most: just hang out with like minded fighting game players and play some goddamn games and have a bunch of laughs doing it. Congratulate your mates when they net a win, get bummed when you lose, salute a sweet option select or a fine read when you eat it or shit talk a rival. You win some, you lose some, but you get to play another day. As soon as the fun of playing these games and hanging out with those who share the same sense of fun you do begins to get overshadowed by sponsors and petty political crap, I think the FGC will have some serious questions it needs to ask itself with the direction it potentially will find itself headed.
Though yes, EVO does tend to have a pseudo 'say' and right now they've done the right thing without having to swing their gigantic balls around asking us to fall into line. I really hope that standard continues to be maintained because even though its a truly gigantic event, it still embodies the community's ideals and a set of standards we all give the thumbs up to without being pushed around. Thats a pretty impressive feat really.
Also, I've totally derailed. Haha!
Topic: Brazzers sponsoring LI Joe (Read 6721 times)